Name: Heart of Darkness
Platform: Playstation
Year Released: 1998

Storyline
You control Andy, an average child with a penchant for inventions and who is terrified of the dark. One day Andy, and his beloved dog Whiskey, are in the park when a solar eclipse occurs and Whiskey is taken away by an unseen creature. Andy must now travel to the Darklands, fight various shadows and creatures through many levels and get his dog back.



Gameplay
Heart Of Darkness is a cinematic platformer with a linear storyline. You can make Andy run, jump, or climb objects to progress through each level. He can attack or defend by either using his plasma cannon, or by throwing magic energy, depending on which level you're on. As there is no healthbar, a single mistake would result in his death and you having to start from a previous checkpoint that, fortunately, isn't too far behind. To take some of the pressure off, Andy has an unlimited number of lives, so you don't have to worry about dying repeatedly... which i think is a fantastic feature considering the fact that you die so easily. The levels are varied and flow seamlessly into each other with the aid of cutscenes.



Pros
Very interesting storyline! Seriously, even though it's not exactly new, the way they integrated the gameplay into it makes it still fresh. I like the fact that you're not only supposed to just mindlessly run and bash your way through monsters, but you can swim, scale up walls and other actions so it doesn't become monotonous. The monsters are varied and creative, as are Andy's ways of dying. I found myself occasionally "committing suicide" just to see what it would look like.



Cons
The game is way too short!! And there is no lifebar, so every mistake results in death. While the colours are vivid and nice, the graphics fall below standard, especially considering the fact that this game took 6 years to make. However, all in all, this was a good game and I would totally play it all over again. And below is an example of all the verrrrrry creative ways in which you can die:

Vital Stats
Name: Fahrenheit (UK and PAL)/Indigo Prophecy (US and NTSC)
Developer: Quantic Dream
Publisher: Atari

What is it?
Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy is not a video game. As its developers, Quantic Dream, put it, it's an 'interactive film', rejecting conventional video game genre labeling. Using motion-captured actors, split-screen with different camera angles, and organic and intuitive real-time controls, the game creates an impressively atmospheric cinematic experience that is involves more than just watching a film, but is not really like a traditional video game either.


The story involves players solving a supernatural psychological thriller revolving around ritualistic murders, a mysterious child, and various organizations that wish for the power the child can provide. Players primarily control Lucas Kane, the main protagonist in the story and the first character players can control - right after he apparently has stabbed a man to death in a diner bathroom while in a trance.

However during various story sequences later, players may play as other characters or are able to select which character they would like to control at that time.


So how do you 'play' this?

Players who have experienced with the classic arcade games Dragon's Lair or the quick-time events in Shenmue would be familiar to how Fahrenheit is played. The game is originally designed to be played with a gamepad, and is primarily controlled by the two analog sticks. The left stick controls character movement, while the right stick controls context-sensitive actions.

 

The cop might be entering any moment but there's always time for hygiene!

Degree of movement of the right stick also affects the degree of the action it controls - for example, how fast and how far a door opens. This gives the player a very tactile and immersive experience whether he's making his character wash his hands, or moving a dead body into a toilet stall.

This method of intuitive and real-time control also extends to conversations. The game runs on its own process of 'real time', in that progress in conversations and events don't necessarily have to wait for a player's input.

To make conversations feel real and organic, there is a timer involved during which time the player must select a response. Failure to do so either cause the game to select a default response from the player, or the other character responds to your lack or slow response, usually negatively.

There are also scripted sequences during which time, colored directional bars appear on-screen, directing the player to quickly react in order to complete the sequence. Although continuing with its subversion of gameplay mechanics, some sequences play out more positively if the player knows when not to react as well. There is also action sequences that use endurance test style button presses, such as rapidly alternating between left and right trigger buttons to make your character run faster during an action sequence.

 

 

Through all this, there is also a Sanity meter for characters. In the case of the main character, Lucas, initially waking up and finding out he has murdered a man by stabbing him to death causes him to go into a despaired state. Through user actions, a character's Sanity can go up and down, with different reactions and possible responses potentially opening up in any given scene. Having the Sanity meter deplete fully will have dire consequences for the character currently being controlled. For Lucas, it would mean he goes mad or commits suicide and the story ends. Other characters would have different reactions, but generally the game will end if the Sanity meter depletes completely.


Is it a good 'game'?

Well, there is the problem with Fahrenheit not being exactly a game. As its developers assert, it's more of an interactive movie, and what you take from it is how well-written (at least in the front half, the story devolves somewhere in the end of the middle) and how well-acted the entire interactive movie is. Its use of a DVD-like menu structure in its start menu clearly shows its developers intentions of how gamers should perceive this game.

For what it is, Fahrenheit is an excellent piece of interactive media. The supernatural and psychologically thrilling story it tells melds the best of occult dramas, a little bit of the Da Vinci code, and its action sequences are clearly inspired from the Matrix. Told with characters that act better and more well-written than many that make it to the big screen, the game makes you feel completely that you are in a movie, and not just watching it. Players are given just enough control over the characters actions and movements to make them feel still part of the action and the consequence. There are many branching paths and possible outcomes throughout the story, and with its DVD style menu system, it allows gamers to go back and re-tread a Chapter just a little differently, for better or for worse.

Quantic Dream clearly took a huge risk in developing this game so far from conventional norms, and it paid off. They won multiple accolades back in 2005, and now are developing the highly anticipated Heavy Rain which is building on their idea of creating truly interactive movies with characters that act and aren't just polygons. They showed that gaming consoles and the gaming genre should never limit themselves from a good story.

Wahhhhhh... Who has been changing the blog template?? So hardworking! Nice nice... :D

It's crunch time now!

Okay anyway! I'm gonna do a review on Solitaire Showdown. What? It's a simple game with simple rules? Yeahhh that's why it's one of the best games ever?! I used to play this back in poly whenever I didn't wanna do work, hurhur. Anyway I'm pretty sure most of you have tried playing it on a pc-based live msn messenger.

As I'm using a mac now, I cannot play this game anymore unfortunately :( So all images in this post are taken online.

So... Solitaire Showdown! What's up with this game?

Wokays... so basically SS (short for Solitaire Showdown) is an online game.

It is played on msn live messenger.

It has to be played with another msn user.

The game is simple - everyone has played Solitaire before right?

This is just an extended version of it.

What do you need to do in this game?

1) While competing with another msn chat user and following the standard Solitaire rules**, a player needs to fight with time also to complete his/her stack of cards.

** Standard rules of Solitaire ** - Firstly, you need to arrange a random stack of cards in a manner that the colours are stacked alternately (black red black red) with addition that the cards are arranged in descending order (King, Queen, Jack, 10s,........ Aces).

Finally, you need to rearrange all these into an ascending order of 4 piles of the same symbols - Spades, Diamonds, Hearts & Clubs. Once you've stacked all the cards into these 4 symbols, you've completed the game.

2) However, in SS, the 4 symbol-piles that you need to arrange them in are shared between you and your competitor.

3) Therefore it is a race against time to see who can fill up the next spot faster, which clears your pile of cards faster as well.

4) Once that spot is filled by a player, the other player will not have the chance to put the same card there. He/she will need to find another slot to place their card.

5) Both players are able to view each others' cards from an overhead point of view.

6) In one corner, there is stack of cards that holds 13 random cards.

7) The objective is to clear that stack of cards.

8) The first to finish their stack of cards wins!

ADDICTION?

HMMMMMM okay personally I think this game is freaking addictive.

Maybe I didn't have any life back then.

But I would kill to get to play Solitaire Showdown on a mac's live messenger, I'M SERIOUS.

In fact, I would pay for them to integrate this!!!!!!!

What factors contribute to this game being addictive?

1) Playability & Interaction - This game invites you to compete with other players and it's not only other people, it's people who you know which are on msn. The interaction in the game is compelling as you and the other player race against time and compete with each others' skills to finish your stack of cards faster.

2) Simple Concept & Familiarity - As Solitaire has been played by mostly everyone, this game introduces only a few new elements and rules which add on to the complexity of the game. Not too much though. Just nice!

3) Competition - As you are competing with a fellow chat mate, topping the charts become quite a priority as the statistics are public and everyone is able to check out who is the king/queen of SS. (ehem ME)

Bad points of SS??

The only bad point I can find is that - THERE'S NO SOLITAIRE SHOWDOWN FOR MAC MESSENGER?! WHY WHY WHY?!?!?!??!

Oh, and that it's highly addictive once you get the hang of the game.

But I'm sure that's a good thing right.

Easy? Medium? Hard?

I'd say it's fairly easy.

Solitaire is a very familiar game to everyone.

Solitaire Showdown has added elements to make the game more interesting.

Elements like:

The time factor that has a new twist: instead of timing how fast you complete your own stack, the clock now is your competitor.

The final piles that are shared between you and your competitor, therefore allowing interaction.

So that's it!

I believe people who have played it before would think that it's a very fun game!

PURE (Sarah Ab Kadir)

STEP ASIDE TRAVIS PASTRANA.
Time for me to bewilder you with my awesome aerial stunts that I can accomplish with my freakking virtual fantasy.

 

So judging from the cover, you get the whole idea already. The only thing fucking up the whole game is seeing the Disney trademark on the bottom right corner of the cover. Or else it would've still been cool. Thing is, you gotta play this game with cool songs in the background like music from Limp Bizkit, Puddle of Mudd, Nirvana, Ramones, Saliva, Korn etc etc etc, you get my drift.

So what is this game about?

So basically, this game is about being extremely cool. Extending my theory, I'd say, Pure is an arcade off-road racing game with an incredible graphics engine that takes ATV races to another level by exaggerating the natural human limits. The lighting effects are top of the line, along with other visual details such as moving grass, smoking exhaust pipes, and deformable track surfaces. Yeah, you heard me, the terrain surface is fully deformable, but only visually. The whole picture suits with Motorstorm graphics, but here the developers emphasized a lot on the detailed aspect of every track. With every graphical option set at its highest scale, you can see clouds of dust behind the opponents, cameras flashes, birds flying, water and mud that splashes. Yes, you can admire the birds flying because most of the time you will perform extremely high jumps that forces you to perform insane tricks. Hehe. Every landing is followed by another extreme jump influenced by your speed and by how much can you flex the suspension in order to take off as high as possible. 

Every completed jump trick will increase the turbo meter which unlocks new series of tricks which increases the turbo meter much more. Each races starts only with level 1 tricks available. Perform enough tricks and you will gain access to level 2 tricks, and then to level 3 tricks. Level 3 tricks are followed by special level tricks which demand higher jumps to be performed. Every trick has four directional axes in which the movement can be performed. By combining the axes you get improved tricks for each level, but they tend to be hard to be performed from the keyboard due to long button sequences that can sum up to 5 pushed buttons in a single trick. The game was definitely not meant for the PC from this point of view, but if you use the basic tricks including the ones from level 3, you will earn enough boost to win the race.

After 20 races you will get sick of the same tracks, although everyone is an eye-candy opera. Following the classical arcade approach, every track features short-cuts and short secondary routes, but no track features an extremely high complexity. A couple of laps are enough to familiarize yourself with every aspect of any of the tracks and to exploit it at the maximum.

 

What makes the game so compelling?

Errr... okay well I guess it's quite compelling/fun cause you get to choose whether you wanna be a male or female competitor. Just to prove that 'X games' like these can be played by females as well so stop being chauvanistic! The character is already preset with a few options, all dressed(all looking cool so dont worry if you think they look ugly or anything). You get to build your ATV's from scratch though. That's pretty cool cause you get to customize your drive and then screenshot it and show it to your cyber girlfriend when she comes online.

Is it hard?

I wouldn't exactly say its hard. Like I said previously, you'll probably get sick of the rounds by the 20th race, because you'll get familiar with the race-tracks and you'd know where to drift, how to jump whether to boost or not at certain levels or anything. Pretty much similar to Burnout.

Try not to fucking scan your eyes to the bottom left hand corner of the cover as well. Totally don't agree with it cause my 3 year old cousins EAT THE CONTROLLER. They don't use it and play the game, they simply attempt to devour the xbox controllers. So yeah, PURE is somewhat similar to Burnout, just that it's a different type of vehicle altogether.

Limitations?

Ok once again, the title of the game does not describe the game at all. And I think that is a very important aspect to a game. You need to know what exactly the game is about just by reading the title of the game. Clearly there is no meaning to it so potential buyers will most likely just breeze through the racks and overlook this game. That is possibly the reason why this game was given as a free game when you purchase an XboxElite console. Other than that, I've only began playing this game so I can't find major setbacks about this game just yet.

In a wrap?

This game comes free by purchasing the XboxElite package. So that's kind of the only reason why I played the game. Other than that, I really don't think I would've given this game a chance considering I already have a game like Burnout(Extreme) to wreck my anger out on. Though the graphics are superb and you will feel really cool, I'd give this game two popcorns.

Developer: Level-5
Platform: NDS
Year: 2009

Summary:
Solve the mystery of the legendary Elysian box which is rumored to have killed its past owners with Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke.
What is it?:
This is the second game from the Professor Layton adventure and puzzle series. Player have to solve various puzzles and explore different areas to aid the professor in his quest to solve the mystery behind the Elysian box. Each puzzle is worth a certain amount of "picarats", the resource of the game. Collecting the picarats helps unlock special features in the game such as character profiles, story art, etc. If the player solve the puzzle wrongly, the value of the picarats earned will drop. Fortunately there're three hints for each puzzle. Unfortunately, you have to spend a hint coin for each hint which is not easy to collect. These hint coins are hidden throughout the game or they can be earned sometimes through certain tasks. Puzzles can be revisited once again even if they are solved successfully accessed from one of the tabs at the game's menu. There are also some mini-games to be played located in the game.

Is it hard?:
The game is actually quite straight forward. You just need to go to one point to get to another. The only problems are the puzzles to solve to get there. I face the biggest challenge (or temptation) of not going online and looking up for the answers to the puzzles. Because of the variation of the puzzles, you really have to use your head to solve the puzzles. There's a total of 138 puzzles to be solved in the gameplay but there are also additional puzzles that can be unlocked. So I have to say that the difficulty varies from person to person. Some of the puzzles are easy but some can be... difficult.

(A simple puzzle could look like this)

(Slightly challenging...)

Artwork:
I actually like the artwork of the game for it's simple and clean graphics. It gives a nice feel to the game especially the cut scenes. It makes the story of the game more interesting.

(Character design)

Audio:
The background music can get actually quite repetitive at times but it's not all bad. Voice dub is decent but it cannot beat the original Japanese voices. I quite actually like the voice of professor Layton though.

Is it fun?:
Only if you like puzzles.

The trailer to the upcoming movie: (with subtitles)