Restaurant City by playfish

Restaurant City (RC) is a game where a player sets up a restaurant. He/she can decorate the interior, as well as the exterior of the restaurant. He/she also is allowed to change the menu, learn the menu as well as upgrade food quality. Being a real time-based game, RC is another challenging game from playfish.

Game mechanics are very much simple. Every interaction between the players and the game, is just by clicking. Players can move the cursor to wherever he/she may go within the screen of the game. As boring as it may sound, clicking can be as exciting as player will be racing against time. You would not want your restaurant to be open when your employers are dead tired. So, the idea of clicking, unlike other facebook games such as Farmville, is quite interactive and able to keep the players busy.

Similar to SIMS, this game allows players to decorate. Items such as furniture, fridge, cooking pots, etc are for sale. However, they are not cheap. An average dollars invested everyday, is approximately $5000. However, a furniture can cost up to $10,000. It may seem to be unreasonable but this heightens the intensity of the game itself, adding a layer of difficulty and distance between player’s desire to purchase, in comparison with the ‘income’ that they get.

Other than decorating, one of the key factor in this game, being a food-related theme, is the dishes that players can prepare. Unlike Cooking Mama where players do not have to worry about ingredient but they actually ‘cook’ the dishes by cutting, sauté-ing, frying etc, RC focuses on getting different ingredients. For example, to cook a Mushroom Soup, players would need Mushroom and Butter. Once players have the two ingredients, which can either be bought, harvested or given free daily, they can unlock the Mushroom Soup dish. A dish can be upgraded until Level10, where it will give more points when served to customers. Interestingly, there are a vast range of ingredients, up to 40 different types and up to 60 different dishes. Again, this makes the simple game into an experience of collecting. Not missing the fact that some dishes have limited time to be unlocked before they are gone forever.

Those are the two main feature of the game which made more entertaining with minor features such as buying clothes for your chef, visiting other restaurants, etc. Such ‘mini-games’ are also important in magnifying the enjoyment of playing. Also, there is an educational side to the game where daily, players can take the Food Quiz once and if they answer correctly, they’d be given an ingredient.

RC seems to be boring at first sight, where players can not control the movement of the characters. However, this is replaced by the other features that the game provides, which apparently seem to overcome the disadvantage of control. Moreover, RC is not a mere game, but educates too. It seems to fit, the overly used term, work hard and play hard.

Kelvin

 

 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is part of a very successful game franchise developed by CAPCOM about literally, lawyering. Different cases are presented in each chapter, with a variety of different characters and with over-arching story arcs throughout the series. You play as the titular character, Phoenix Wright, as you can solve these cases as the underdog lawyer who simply believes in the truth.

So how you play this?

The original trilogy of the Phoenix Wright games were originally produced for the Gameboy Advance platform, before being ported and re-packaged for non-Japanese speaking countries on the Nintendo DS. Hence, the game mechanics of the games are quite basic (an additional chapter specially made for the NDS Ace Attorney port featured several Nintendo DS exclusive features).

The franchise has been described as an interactive visual novel by some gamers (it is an established genre in Japanese games). Playing as the main character, they talk to various characters and investigate various scenes in order to gather up clues and evidence to help their client in court.

While exploring, gamers have four choices of actions within a location. They can Examine the location for additional clues, picking points of interest on-screen with the stylus or direction pad; Move allows them to go to another location that is linked to the current one; Talk allows them to talk to the character in the location; and finally Present allows Phoenix Wright to present a piece of Evidence or a Profile to the character in order to gain more information or a reaction.

The Court Record is basically the inventory screen for Phoenix Wright, displaying all the evidence, clues and his permanent Attorney's badge he has at his disposal in order to use in court.

As this is game about a lawyer, typically the most dramatic moments in the game happen in the courtroom. They are handled as a battle of wits between the defense attorney Phoenix Wright, and the Prosecutor intent on declaring his client guilty.

"Rounds of battle" occur with the currently called witness first declaring his testimony. Phoenix Wright is then allowed to Cross-Examine the witness, in order to discover contradictions in their testimony, usually by Presenting contradicting evidence or information.

 

The ultimate goal is for Phoenix Wright to get his client declared Not Guilty, as he trusts his clients to be completely innocent (barring certain plot-points, this is usually true). As all the cases involve a form of murder, this process also includes discovering the plot and murderer behind each case.

What makes this game memorable

A lot of kudos must be given to to the English localization team in charge of the Phoenix Wright franchise and spin-offs. In a game that revolves around listening to testimonies and logical thinking, the game's script is most important. Character dialogues are coherent and detailed enough that gamers are allowed to make logical decisions and reasoning, without having to blame any stuck point based on a lousy incomprehensible script.

In short, the game's script does not insult the player's intelligence.

At the same time, the localization writers found opportunity to pepper the games with pop culture references, and to give each character their own unique personalities to make them endearing and important to the player.

What has made the Phoenix Wright franchise endearing and successful is the attention and detail given to its characters and story. Every character is memorable, and their backgrounds, motivations and effect on one and other are not one-off and continue through each iteration of the series.

Scenes in the courtroom often escalate into dramatic tension and revelations. Nothing is more satisfying than getting your client a clear Not Guilty verdict (in most cases), but even more so is the ultimate conclusion and final resolution of the truth behind every crime. These moments can match up to the best of the courtroom dramas seen on television.

As such, the entire series is more of an interactive crime drama than game perhaps, or the best example of Japan's unique visual novel genre for a Western audience.

Current status: Phoenix Wright trilogy concluded, Apollo Justice (continuing), Miles Edgeworth Investigations (spin-off); immense amounts of merchandise and official fan/artbooks

Spelunky

Developer: Derek Yu
Platform: Windows
Website: http://www.spelunkyworld.com/

Spelunky is supposedly inspired from La-Mulana, a 2D platformer made 10 years ago with the same premise -- the protagonist explores a tomb and hoards as much of its treasure as he could while avoiding the numerous death traps. He is equipped with a whip and other tools to aid him in his quest. So how does Spelunky fare against its older counterpart?

Like La-Mulana, Derek Yu chose to make a 2D game with 8-bit graphics and sound. The lo-fi style is popular among indie game developers as it is relatively easier than creating 3D artwork and orchestral soundtracks. In fact, it's simply not practical; many of them financed their own games and do not have the time or budget for the quality seen in AAA games. Lo-fi doesn't necessarily mean low quality either. Many indie games raise the bar with unique art styles, moving towards innovation and creativity. While some may lambaste Spelunky for its DOS era graphics, it does come with a kind of charm and retro nostalgia. Pixel art might be dismissed as cheap or dated but it is not easy working in a very limited canvas and color palette to create an image that is to be understood as more than the sum of its pixels.

That was a close one.

The tutorial level guides new players through the controls. You could walk, jump, run to gain momentum to jump further. The standard weapon, a whip, efficiently eliminates smaller foes as well as break containers for the treasure inside. Ropes could be used to gain access to higher places or to safely climb down a cliff and bombs, which destroy everything within a few squares, are useful to open up new areas.

The key feature of Spelunky, and probably its greatest hook are the procedurally generated levels. What this means is the levels are generated by the game instead of manually designed by the game designer. What this means for the gamer is a completely different experience every time you play Spelunky or every time the hero gets killed by a speeding boulder or a man-eating plant (and trust me, this will happen a lot). As such, the gameplay never gets stale and is fun to play over and over again. Procedural generation has existed in games before. Spore randomly generates worlds, environments and creatures, even creates the animations for user-created creatures on the fly, which was quite a technical feat. However, the problem of unpredictable situations and thus complexity arise when procedural generation is used. With Spelunky, the game designer still maintains control over the levels; every level has a solution, a path to the exit door, even if the player has run out of bombs and ropes. A well designed level is the difference between a frustrated gamer and a player that comes back for more "punishment".

The rules of the game mechanics make for varied and complex gameplay. For instance, the simple ability to carry objects. The player could pick up anything from treasure chests and rocks to damsels-in-distress and bombs. From there, they could drop it, throw it, or use the object if it has a function. Carrying the damsel to the exit nets the player an extra life but most players will learn that she has more uses than that. A common strategy is to throw any object you have in hand at enemies to kill them with the impact, even the damsel you're supposed to rescue. The damsel gets up unscathed and you're free to reuse her as a weapon. Interesting enough, this "unplanned" feature generated some controversy about objectifying females and whether or not the game is sexist. Still, the point of the game is fun and these crazy quirks add a lot of humor to the game.

Furthermore, the interactions with objects and various characters in the game create a lot of depth in the narrative. Imagine: our hero lops a bomb at a wall to rescue a maiden in distress. Instead, he miscalculates; the bomb bounces off the wall and lands on an altar. The impending destruction of the altar angers the dark god who summons a swarm of spiders after our hero. In the ensuing panic, he slips off a cliff and lands on a yeti. The yeti flings him into a wall and the impact instantly kills him. As the lifeless corpse bounces off the wall and back into the hands of the yeti, it throws him back with the same force. We see the "Game Over" message but not for the yeti, who continuously plays with the dead body like a sport.

Rarely in a game has dying been so much fun: death by snake, death by school of piranha, death by exploding frogs, death by spikes, etc. Spelunky is not a forgiving game; you start out with 4 lives, it takes a great deal of concentration to spot death traps, and being calm in dangerous situations so you don't run off a high cliff. At this time, my death count is 186 while my sister has crossed the 1000 threshold. What makes the game so addictive? The key factor is in how the game handles death, or failure. The difficulty is different every time because the levels are always uniquely generated. There exists an element of luck. Consider the jackpot machine: it is addictive because the player knows there is a chance of winning and even when they do not win, the flashing lights and sounds are fun to experience. It is important that the player feels that they learn something from their mistake and would possibly be better the next time round.

And these are what makes Spelunky one of the best indie titles. It reminds us that games do not need to rely on next-gen graphics to be fun, harking back to a golden era of games with 8-bit graphics. Also in the spirit of indie games, it is released to the public free and the source code is also available to anyone. The game is also slated for a XBLA release.


-- Benjamin

LEFT 4 DEAD

Hasbullah Johari

Overview

The basic story here is that you're part of a group of 4 survivors trying to make your way out of a city infested with zombies. Alright, they're technically infected with some kind of super-rabies, but it's easier to just say zombies. The big thing about this game is that these aren't slow, shambling creatures- these guys can really bite you hard in the ass .

The fast zombies make for a very different experience than you're used to, and the fact that each character only can get knocked down a few times before they're dead for the rest of the level means that you really have to watch their backs. If they get knocked down by a creature you have to run and help them up, or shoot it off them- carefully, because your bullets will hit your friends.

You get bonuses for helping them out, and, of course, the added firepower that another character brings. It's going to be nearly impossible to beat this one when you start losing your friends and getting injured (you will start to limp unless you heal yourself). You can always see the silhouette of the other survivors even behind walls, a smart idea that makes it much easier to see at a glance where people are and when they need help.

Gameplay

It is a cooperative first person shooter game. There are four game modes: a single-player mode in which allied characters are controlled by AI; a four-player, co-op campaign mode; an eight-player online versus mode; and a four-player survival mode.

The game is focused on cooperation and team play; colored outlines of teammates are visible through walls to help players stick together and coordinate their movement.

If a survivor's health is depleted, then they become incapacitated and can only be revived by another survivor, at which point they continue playing with a low amount of health that decreases over time. If a survivor has been incapacitated and revived twice without tending to their wounds, then they will experience distorted black and white vision, and the next incapacitation will kill the character.


Characters

Zombies

• The Boomer, a bloated infected whose vomit and bile (which may be released at will and upon death) blinds the player briefly and attracts a horde of common infected.
  
• The Hunter, an agile infected that can pounce on survivors from great distances.
• The Smoker, an infected that can ensnare survivors from a distance with its long tongue and, upon death, releases a cloud of smoke that obscures vision.
• The Tank, a gigantic, muscular infected that is powerful and difficult to kill. It can knock players backwards, dealing massive damage, or attack from afar by throwing a lump of debris. It also has the ability to bash certain objects, such as cars and dumpsters, towards survivors, causing incapacitation on contact.
• The Witch, a passive female infected, who, when provoked by loud sounds, lights, or proximity of survivors, will attack her provoker. She is able to incapacitate or kill the provoker (depending on the difficulty setting) in one hit. If her victim survives, she will attempt to kill them if not killed herself.

Why i love it?

This game spells fun in the way that you get to play with your friends and shout at the top of your lungs not caring about what other lan-gamers think cos they do the same thing as well.

It will keep you at the edge of your seat!

Its awesome graphics and sound effects!

The levels are not too difficult and not too easy and the fact that you really have to work your asses off as a team is a plus point for me.

Why I hate it?

Always have to wait for a long time to play this game as more often than not, the lan-gaming lounge are fully booked!

When we have more than 8 people to play, we have to break into smaller groups. 8 is the optimum number as the 4 main characters can rally against the 4 main zombies.

"I was more sober after I smoked weed than after I played Hotel." - anonymous player

Hotel isn't so much a game as it is an interactive narrative done by Dutch digital artist Han Hoogerbrugge.


Synopsis
The story revolves around Dr. Doglin, who does research on "freak accidents" and requires volunteers for vigorous physical experiments. In exchange for payment, volunteers agree to undergo tests that Dr. Doglin performs on them. There is even a mock website called Preconstruction that Hoogerbrugge created asking for physical trauma volunteers to make the story seem more authentic.

Hotel comprises of 5 parts, or chapters, and each chapter contains 2 episodes, and there are 5 scenes in each episode (confused yet?). Basically, each chapter has 10 scenes in total, and since there are 5 chapters, there's a total of 50 scenes for you to work through. It may sound like a lot, but it really isn't.



Gameplay
The gameplay is undeniably simple. The player clicks on objects located throughout the scene to learn more about them. Important objects that can be interacted with have a tiny oscillating orb above them.

Progress through the scenes of an episode is controlled by a timer in the upper left hand corner (refer to photo above) that counts down for each. When the timer reaches zero, the player is automatically taken to the scene. However, if the player wishes to spend more time in the scene, they simply have to hit the Stop button, which freezes the timer, and then press Jump when they are ready to head on to the next room.

Why I like this game

1. I think the main drawing point of Hotel to me is the fact that it depends solely on a solid storyline, and not on gameplay. There is no win or lose in this game, as the main point of it is just simply the experience.

2. It is extremely twisted and trippy. If Salvadore Dali made an animation, I wouldn't be surprised if it wound up looking something like this. I'm not kidding when I say that Hotel has a deep impact on people who are willing to immerse themselves in the storyline.

3. It has a naked clown in it. Seriously. It doesn't get any better than this.

Why I DON'T like this game

1. The timer goes off too soon. I like to take my time to explore each scene, which results in me having to stop the timer every time I change scenes. While it's not a major flaw, it certainly is irritating.

2. What you do has absolutely no impact on the outcome. This is a strictly linear narrative, and there's no way to deviate the storyline from the intended course of action. This, to me, inhibits replayability because the viewer already knows what the ending is going to be like.




Summary

Hotel is a visual experience not to be missed. I would go as far as to call it one of the most impactful interactive narrative released. Seriously, what are you waiting for? Click here.

Creator: Alejandro Guillen
Platform: Flash
Type: Online Game

Summary:
Magic Pen is a simple flash game where you solve levels by getting the red circle to collect the flag(s). You use your mouse to create various shapes using your crayon (the cursor) such as other circles, triangles and squares to help you. Hinges and pins to your advantage. This game really requires you to think at times how to move the red circle to collect the flags. There's no definite answers on how to solve the level sometimes but just using what you can do with the crayon.


What makes this game compelling:
1) I really like the visuals of the game. The simple graphics and the crayon like effects are really nice.

2) Though there are 26 levels to solve in the game you can jump to any of the levels as you like even the ones you previously solved. They even display how many shapes you took to solve that particular level. You can challenge yourself into coming out with different ways to solve the level or taking as little shapes as possible.

3) Magic Pen is not a hard game to play but it can really challenge your mind. Shapes created are immediately in use so sometimes you have to plan ahead or else you find your red circle heading off screen because there wasn't anything to stop it from rolling away.

Is it fun?
Yep. If the background music gets on your nerves you can turn it off from the menu. There is even this free play mode where you can just just create shapes and do whatever you want. The fun part is not only in solving the level but how did you solve it.

Is it hard?
Depends on the individual playing this game. Frankly I don't find it hard except the occasional problem of judging how big to draw the shapes. You can always restart the level or jump to another one before coming back to try again. The instructions are also located under the menu for reference besides the tutorial at the start of the game.

Anything bad about the game?
Well sometimes it gets frustration when things don't go your way and you have to restart the level to try again. There was a time where my 'bridge' gave way and my red circle when falling altogether with it just before getting to the last flag. Music can get on your nerves since it is the same one looping all over again but you can turn it off.

Conclusion:
It's an entertaining casual game. Nothing fancy but it's not that simple that you can just brisk through it. Don't take it seriously if you get stuck on a level just skip, come back again or watch the online video walkthrough on youtube.

Try it here:
Magic Pen

WORLD'S HARDEST GAME

Oh shut up. I didn't name it but I surely played it and I felt like Tom Cruise from Mission Impossible in the form of a red square. No really trust me.

The whole gist of the game is manouvering your way, avoiding the moving blocks and eating the yellow dots(must do) and getting to the other side of the board. There are 30 levels to this game but I reckon the gamemakers had NO INTENTION or whatsoever for anyone to ever complete this game, hence, the name of the game. If you manage to complete all 30 levels however, you can compete for a spot on the World leader board.... I, on the other hand, kindoff got stuck at level 17.... or was it 9? no let's just stick to 17...

Ok so this is a screenshot of Level 1,

Basically, you get the rough idea of the game. No, sorry, no shooting, no ammunition to reload, no need to build houses, buy furniture, make your character happy or whatsoever. In order to complete each level, you need patience, willpower, and determination.... Well if only I put in that amount of effort into my studies...
Ok so yeah.

The interface of the game is really easy to understand.

As you can see, at the top middle of the screenshot, the number 4/30 represents level 4 of 30. The number of Deaths would be recorded on the top right hand side for you to reflect on your self-esteem towards this game. Because when you reach level 17 and have died 178 times, then you will be a loser like me and you would click the cute red X button on the top right hand screen of your monitor. But if you have enough patience, willpower and determination (like i said on earlier) then this is the game for you... Fairly simple instructions, no manuals, just simple, downright logic... To which I only have upto level 17.... urgh.

RUN, FOREST!!! RUN!!!!

I understand now that the game has been developed into some 3D form or something, but I think that it's best played in 2D. To give you that Atari and vintage feel. And also because it's just better being a flat and under-designed or developed and complicated, compared to the hundreds of other games that ooze sex appeal. I mean, game appeal. No such thing as awesome graphics or interesting storylines here, this game is for serious gamers like me who can't be bothered about all that because all we want to do is to cut the right wire when debombing a bomb. We are THAT serious.

If you'd like to try and beat me at level 17....... then why don't you get yo self over to
www.addictinggames.com/theworldshardestgame.html
and try it... it seriously IS addictive.

So yes, throw out your PS3, your Wii, your Xbox etc2... Get back to basics.
Elementary my dear Watson.

 Defense of the Ancients, more commonly known as DOTA, is perhaps one of the most captivating and long lasting games to hit our shores. 

Dota is actually a custom map made for the game Warcraft III and is not an official map by Blizzard (the creators of Warcraft III). However, the map has established for itself an ever-growing cult following of gamers and I'm not surprised to say the least.

In a nutshell:

- The nature of the game is multi player and can be played across LAN and web.

- Two teams are present at the start of the game

- A maximum of 10 players are split across the 2 teams 

- Each team has it's own base where a heavily guarded 'Ancient' lies

- The bases are heavily guarded with towers (that inflict heavy damage on opponent forces)

- Each player controls a powerful unit known as a Hero

- Other units are controlled by AI and are known as creeps

- Creeps attack enemy forces by default and spawn at intervals from the base

- Gold is attained from slain enemies/creeps and can be used to buy items for the player

- The team that destroys the other team's ancient - wins

The Map

The map is divided into 3 lanes. Dota players affectionately refer to them as the top, center and bottom lanes. The two bases are located at the Southwest and Northeast corners of the map respectively.

The Southwest base is known as the Sentinels and they protect their ancient known as the Tree of Life. The Northeast base is known as the Scourge and they protect the Frozen Throne.

The Heroes

Unlike Campaigns in Warcraft where players must build unit producing structures, towers, etc, etc, in Dota, players only have to worry about controlling their Hero. An example of a Hero is found here below.

Heroes revive after they die. The time they take to do so depends on their level. Higher level heroes take longer times to revive.

In this example, the player controls the Lich King. Each Hero comes with 4 skills that a player can choose to 'pump up'. A player obtains the ability to do so when he levels up. A level 25 hero is the maximum that one can go in Dota. A level 25 Hero has all 4 skills pumped up to Level 4 each. 

In the case of the Lich king, the player can pump up the following skills:

- Frost Nova (Hero shoots out a frost blast which damages other heroes/creeps and slows them down for some time)

- Frost Shield (Gives extra armour to the player and slows down non-range enemies that attack it)

- Dark Ritual (Kills a friendly enemy and exchanges its life for Manna - which is needed to summon spells)

- Chain Frost (Sends out a frost nova which bounces off enemies dealing very high damage)


All skills have hotkeys assigned to it making gameplay much easier.

The fourth skill is also known as the Ultimate as it is the most powerful one.

Multi-player Aspect:

Team members must cooperate well with each other to kill enemies. Players typically choose to attack in swarms and coordinate their attacks to better increase their chances of bringing down an opponent or enemy structure. The game is extremely intense and lasts for roughly an hour each. The best teams often cooperate well with each other.

Also, it is key to note that not all Heroes are good for killing. Some heroes are also known as Pushers or Support Heroes.

Pushers:

An example of a pusher is shown below:

While not the best pusher, the Death Prophet has certain skills which make her an ideal Hero to bring down enemy structures.

The Ultimate skill for the Death Prophet unleashes up to 16 spirits which roam around dealing damage to buildings and enemy units. The spirits lasts for a limited time when summoned and cannot be destroyed unless the hero is killed. The Death Prophet also possesses a skill which unleashes a wave of damage at oncoming enemies. Very useful indeed in clearing out swarms of creeps.

Support Heroes:

Support heroes possess skills which make them ideal in helping out other heroes. They may possess skills that allow them to Heal other players, give them armour, silence them (prevents them from conjuring spells) and many more.

The Goblin Techies seen encircled above is an example of a support hero. This Hero can plant mines around the map which can also be remotely triggered. The hero can also blow himself up dealing immense damage to the opponent Heroes. Unfortunately, when you blow yourself up, you die too. Makes sense doesn't it.

Tanks:

Tanks are heroes that have high life and take lesser damage due to increased armour. They generally are controlled to go into battle first and serve as a 'forced distraction' to enemy heroes while other heroes attack the enemy heroes from behind.

Encircled above is the Treant Protector. This hero has high life, takes lesser damage, moves really slowly but serves relatively well as a tank at times. 

Items:

Players can buy different items to increase their stats and damage. 

- Items that add more intelligence gives the player more manna to conduct spells. This is good for heroes that are spell-based.

- Items that add more strength gives the player more life.

- Items that add more agility gives the player faster attack speed and evasion.

- Other items may give the Hero other special attacks/talents/damage.

Players typically buy for their Heroes items that correspond to their Hero's make. 

For example, the lich king is an intelligence based hero and thus would function best with intelligence giving items.

What keeps this game captivating:

If I said that Fun and joy were the only emotions that came up during gameplay, I'd be lying. One can expect high levels of competitiveness, frustration, anger, disappointment together with happiness and the feeling of accomplishment. This game basically evokes the entire chain of emotions to run in you. Except maybe love. I really don't know how that would fit in here and I really wouldn't want to sit anywhere near you if it did anything like that for you.

Initially, the game is frustrating as too many things may appear to overwhelm you. So my advice is - play with newbies first. One needs time to learn the game but it grows on you eventually. I've seen this game transform the quietest and most introvert people into screaming idiots. Perhaps, it's the mission based and cooperative aspect of the game that keeps things interesting. I've played this same map many times over and I'm not sick of it.

Perhaps the most fun part is the fact that all over the world, players head to LAN shops or link up over the internet to play together and against each other. After an intense game, it is not uncommon to find players discussing the game and tactics that were used. The combinations are endless and the tactics needed keep the game extremely engaging.

Verdict:

The game is an immediate success. Maps have been updated and new heroes have been added routinely by independent parties. The game is played at the World Cyber Games Expo and is regarded as one of the benchmark games of our time.

Do not forget, Warcraft III was released in in 2002. That's 8 years ago. The game however is still running strong and is played by hundreds of thousands of people everyday in different gaming centers all across the world. The graphics are still regarded as acceptable by many even up till today - 8 years later.

Truely, Dota is one of the most epic mods to have ever been made. I recommend everyone to give this game a go. Though it may be frustrating to pick it up initially, get the hang of it and you'll find yourself engaged in one of the most exciting game mods to have ever been made.

Rating: 9.5/10

Pravin Mahtani

Karoshi Suicide Salaryman

http://armorgames.com/play/2407/karoshi-suicide-salaryman
by Karoshi

Wednesday, 19 January 2010




If there ever has to be a game that encapsulates the state of Japanese workers, this is it. This flash game plays over 50 levels with a weird objective: to kill yourself. You play a suicidal businessman who has to navigate through the levels by pushing boxes, activating traps, firing a pistol, which, at the end of every level, will unlock itself to allow you to run or jump into spikes or electrocute yourself.

The controls are deceptively easy: up, down, left, right, spacebar. However, puzzles do get a little bit tougher each level, with the first few teaching the player the mechanics and objectives of the game. However, as the level progresses, the game breaks even its own mechanics to bring surprises to the player. For instance, in some levels the player is supposed to use the mouse to click and build a staircase of blocks to reach up to the top, where the spikes are located.

The puzzles have a good range of difficulty. Some are simple, but the majority of them require some thinking and forward planning. However, the puzzles are not that difficult as to stall players for too long. The game designer makes good use of simple physics to improve gameplay: at some levels, you get to jump on a trampoline while firing a pistol, in others, you have to push a button to let fall a safe deposit box to crush yourself. As there are not many elements in the game (there are probably only 6-7 assets in the game), the players will not feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of assets and instead focus on the gameplay since they already have an inkling as to how each assets 'should' work.

Art style is simple: the entire game is in 2D side scrolling format. But a game like that doesn't need to have superb graphics. Instead, I reckon the game wouldn't be as fun if the graphics were actually better than what it is already. The music has a funky jazzy groove to it, which is really unexpected because you wouldn't really expect a beat to accompany such a theme.

All in all, I would say that it is a fun game, as I went to play the sequel after completing this once. However, I have to comment that the owner of this game really knows how to milk it. He has already created 4 games using the same character with the same type of game objective (kill yourself), save for a few minor additions to the game.

 
Screenshots after the break.

RATING: 8/10

Karoshi preparing to meet his maker.

"Geronimo!"

Splat!

Alternate way of dying 1: getting electrocuted.

Alternate way of dying 2: death from above by a safe deposit box.

Kawaii neh?

Harvest Moon is a 3D life/farm simulation/RPG originally conceptualized by a Japanese gamemaker, Yasuhiro Wada, in 1996 and since have generated a whole line of Harvest Moon series.

The one I'll be reviewing is 'A Wonderful Life' for PS2.

I like how the environment, called 'Forget-Me-Not-Valley' follows a serene Japanese countryside setting which is affected by seasons that will change the species of plants that can be found and the kind of crops that can be grown by the main character- a boy who inherited the farm after the death of his father.

Crops have to be sown and grown, life-stock reared and bred, pets cared for, building relationships with people, etc.

Sometimes pleasant surprises will prop up such as the hens laying golden eggs which could be sold for a lot of money, the cows producing top grade milk, attaining gold wool from the sheep, meeting new interesting people, new births of the farm animals (in which they can be named) and the main character could even get married to a babe of his choice from his countryside and...

Make Baby!

These other NPCs (non-player characters) such as the life-stock/people will also mature over time. Death of some of the villagers will occur and even to the main character at the end of the game storyline/chapter which will then unlock a free-play mode.

Some screenshots of the game:

Let's work hard today! ;)

Fishing requires some experience and skill on the players part cos the fish won't be caught if it's reeled in too fast. The species of fishes caught varies and sometimes rare ones will fetch more money.

Even cows need to be treated with TLC.

Night time reveals some magical plants at particular locations which can interacted with.

Special pen for a newborn cow.

Drawback: The environment is really large and traveling around it feels kinda slow once I'm familiar with the environment (though the character is running). But i guess this is the problem not specific to Harvest Moon and that most RPGs will have the same effect once the player is familiar with the environment.

Other than that it is truly an immersive game for me and I like being in this fantasy world of farm life.

Okay... this game that I'm gonna review is THE BEST GAME EVERRRRRRRRRRRRR! I think I've never been so addicted to a game like I was to Patapon... You have got to try it out if you haven't.

SO WHAT IS PATAPON EH??
(I figured since you guys followed my old template.. I'm gonna make a new one for myself, haha)

THIS IS PATAPON! It is a PSP-based game.It is a story-based game that has one objective; destroy the enemies and get to the end point. How to do that???Go through all the different levels by using drum-beats to navigate your army through the stages.

 So.... what makes people like me get addicted to this game??
1) Aesthetics: Graphics are extremely simple yet interesting. The use of colours and shapes play a big role in their aesthetics.
2) Character design: The extensive use of different characters makes the game even more complex. Every group of character has their own unique strengths/flaws.
3) Sound design: EXTREMELY cute sound effects!!! Have you heard them before?! You must... I'll provide a video at the end of this review so don't forget to check it out.
4) Storyline: I'm sure this factor here is a pretty important one for most games. And the storyline for Patapon is straightforward and simple.


So! While pressing the buttons XOSquareTriangle buttons on the psp, you have to memorise the certain combinations. It is vital that you remember which symbol is for which drum beat.
 O = PonSquare = PataTriangle = ChakaX = Don

For example:
Square Square Square O = Pata Pata Pata Pon = Move ForwardO O Square O = Pon Pon Pata Pon = Attack!
And so on and so forth...

And while you hit the beats according to a rhythm that they will hint to you.. the army does as you ask them to. Here's a print screen of the army once you've built it.


What's next??


You have food excursions... where you kill creatures to gain food, items or $$$



Which enables you to make your soldiers! Different kinds of soldiers will need different amounts of money and different combinations of items to make. Needless to say.. the harder it is to retrieve the asset, the stronger the certain soldier is!


Over here... we can see the entire army getting ready for war. Your army's statistics are all available to you and should you want to change soldiers, you are able to do so.



One feature of the game: You can engage different weather conditions if you want to. Sometimes it helps in your missions to obtain a certain weather condition. For example, you want the wind to blow from left to right so that your arrows will shoot further. This is possible if you enter the weather realm which will require you to beat a certain combination of drum beats before being able to obtain that certain weather condition.



Over here we have the main tribal area where the storyline is fed to you after each mission.



This is during one of the boss mission where you find a boss to kill at the end of the mission. There are different bosses in different missions, each one harder to kill than the previous one.



Another feature of Patapon - you get to play side games to obtain certain items to build soldiers. There are many of these side games. Here is one of them where you have to hit the correct combinations after a singing tree.



Another one is the singing plant. You have to water the plant by hitting the correct combinations and in return, you will also be awarded with valuable items.



As I mentioned previously, Patapon has a compelling storyline that makes you keep on going on and on and on and on and on. It keeps you addicted to the game because you want to find out what's next, what's in the next mission, what's the next reward etc etc. It's really damn interesting! I spent every waking hour playing this game lah....



And once your mission is complete... hooray hooray!!!!


So is this game tough to play?!Honestly? Yes! Maybe at the beginning.. but once you get the hang of it, you never wanna stop. I'm serious. But as with every good game, this game has levels which increase the difficulty with each stage. If not, every level will be so easily accomplished....cannot right?? It'll be boring if it was like that!  Flaws in this game??HMMMM I think the Japanese were too smart for this. I cannot find any flaws though I'm trying really hard to. Really!


Wokays, last Question: Is it fun?NEED I SAY MORE?????? GO PLAY IT NOW!!!!