Wokays Review 12!!

(Recess week not counted right?!)

Okay anyway!

I decided to try this game this week.

Personally I have a phobia of all these ghost nonsense.

So I try not to play any creepy games.

Or games that would freak me out.

But this week I decided to 'challenge' myself.

And try something new.

Okay ah this game that I reviewed this week is not necessarily scary or creepy!

But still.... 

Okay so let's start with the review already:

Objective of the game:
It's pretty simple.
You are a ghost hunter.
And you visit a 'haunted' place.
You are to accomplish a list of things.
Some include taking photos of certain objects.
Some include finding certain things.
Some include decoding certain cases.
Main thing: Unravel the mystery behind this haunted place.


What makes this game compelling?

1) Okay first it's a web-game:
I like web-games because they are basically no-strings attached games.
You don't need to download anything, maybe just wait a bit for it to load but that's it.
Simple use of mouse to control movements and actions.

2) Interesting storyline:
I know there are similar 'mystery' games out there.
But since this was my first try at this genre, I thought that it was pretty interesting.
The whole 'ghostly' theme and scary effects played off pretty well.

3) Content of the game:
As mentioned above, good storyline.
Also, the objects that you were supposed to pick up & things that you have to do were in sync with the game's theme.
The many areas that you can explore also made the game fun.
I spent an hour playing this game!

4) Aesthetics & Sound:
As always, I like to play games which have nice aesthetics.. don't we all?
I thought Ghostscape2 had a right look for it.
I also thought the pop-ups while you're clearing the tasks were very helpful.
The black and white feature made players focus more on the game this time.

Sound-wise was okay. It fitted the theme.
However I thought it could be more creepy-sounding.

5) Level design:
Since this was a one-level game, I thought the way the game was divided into parts was interesting. It was made in a way that you have to remember where you went. And what have you found in those places. Miss one place and you might miss finding things at that area.

6) Mystery:
I think the major attraction for this game was the mysterious factory.
It attracted me based on my curiosity to find out what was the ending and how to get there.
I think this game has achieved what most games want to achieve: to get a player to stay and play it till the end.

Play Ghostscape2 HERE.

Developer: Tecmo
Platform: Playstation 2
Year: 2003
Summary:
You follow the story of two twin sisters,Mayu and Mio, who find themselves trapped in a village cursed to forever replay the day of a failed ritual. As Mayu becomes possessed by the village's spell, it is up to Mio to solve the mystery of the village, find her sister and then get themselves out of the village.

What is this:
The second installment of the Fatal Frame series which is a survival horror game. During the game, player have to explore the curse village and solve puzzles while at the same time survive attacking ghosts. These ghost can be defeated however by a special antique camera, Camera Obscura. Taking pictures of the ghost will allow you to exorcise it. There are various ammunition that can be found collected and used in the game which gives the camera different power. The camera can also be customized by special items found in the game which would help the player during battles with the undead. The filament of the camera also turns red when there is a hostile ghost around, a good indicator to start running or prepare to fight.

(smile for the camera)

Is it hard:
Not for the the faint hearted I'm afraid. As you have to take pictures of the ghosts in order to defeat them, you are really meeting them face to face. Sometimes you have to let the ghosts get near to you in order to deal a lot of damages. The boss battle can be tricky as well sometimes. What you do in the game can affect the ending which you get in the game. So if you want to achieve a certain ending, you better check if your the conditions done right. Player can choose the level of difficult at the start of the game of if they are starting the game again. But trust me when I tell you nightmare difficulty is called nightmare difficulty for a reason.

For beginners, it will take some time to get use to the camera. Most of the time you will lean towards the 'take as much pictures as you can' strategy. This thus leads to the player not making full use of the camera's function. But once you get use to it, the gameplay will get easier.

(don't turn back... don't turn back...)

Artwork:
The game is in 3D and there are some scenes which are done very realistic. The cut scenes are something to look out for. They really look as if they could be used for a horror film instead.

Audio:
Hauntingly chilling. The music they used for the ending theme is actually pretty nice though. Would leave you in tears especially when you hear it after getting the true ending of the game. Won't spoil it for you but the ending is really amazing...

Is it fun:
It really is. What actually drew me was the story inside the game, the tragedy of some of the characters (yes, they're ghosts but they were people too!). The game is more fun if you're playing together with an audience. One, for the thrills. Two, for the chills. Three for... well when you hear your friends scream when a ghost suddenly pops up unexpectedly.

Game: Square meal
Developer: Nitrome
Platform: pc

What is it?
This game is a game whereby you have this square-looking monster. YOU as the player has to control this square monster to eat other monsters(enemies) in each level. The objective is simple and direct and quite typical.


Uniqueness?

Gameplay
However, this game added something interesting. The square monster attacks with its mouth. YOU as the player controls the monster to stuff different type of blocks into its mouth and then shoot the blocks out to knock out the monster enemies. Thereafter player can go and eat up the monsters while it is in a dizzy state. However if the monster wake up and the player touches it,the player will die and have to restart the level again.There are various different types of blocks in the game.Examples like stone,metal,wood blocks. Each types of blocks has a unique attribute to it. For example, the wood will be destroyed once it hit the walls in the game. This meant each wooden blocks can only be used once. The unique attributes of each type of bloacks are not known to the players at the start of the game. Thus it adds in a surprise element to the players as they will discover it while playing the game.


Enemies
There are various types of enemies in this game and each type of enemies have different attributes to it too. The brown looking jelly like creatures are the easiest to kill and the game will get harder as more difficult/sly enemies are added in the later levels. The character design of the enemies looks good to me as it sort of tells me what special attributes it has. For example, the bull skull like creature looks like a bull to me and hence its attribute is to charge upon seeing the square character(player).


Levels
The game is a top down view game ,similar to the bomberman game that i reviewed perviously. The levels are carefully think of as it is kind of a strategy game too. Players have to carefully think which types of blocks to pick up and deal with the different types of monsters, or else they might end up with insufficient blocks to kill the monsters.


Drawbacks
One of the drawbacks of the game is that once the square monster touches other monster, the square monster dies and player has to restart that level again. this is quite irriating to me as i feel that player should have at least 3 lives for each level before they have to restart the same level when they die.
















Screenshot of the gameplay

Wokays... Review Number 11.

This game starts off as boring and annoying.

But eventually after playing a few levels, I got hooked!

I'm on level 31 now!

Objective of the game:

Use the snake that swings right and left (depending on its speed, you need to aim properly) to throw the guinea pigs so that it lands near the other animals that are in trouble or trapped. Once the guineas land, they will explode the bubble gum. Once the bubble gum hits the other animals, they are free! Aim is to hit all animals with the bubble gum explosion.

What makes this game compelling:

1) Physics game:

I think I have a thing for physics-based games.

I seem to like them a lot.

Anyway, this game, similar to some other games, uses physics to allow you to control the movements.

It's interesting because the mechanics are based on how fast the snake swings from left to right

2) Graphics:

The game art is supremely cute and simple.

They are very cartoonish and you can make out what the animals are.

However I found that some of the game art doesn't sync at the intro.

Don't know.. or maybe it's just me.

(something to take note of when I design our group's game)

3) Interesting features:

As you proceed up the levels of the game, more and more features are added, which keeps the game interesting.

They are innovative with the features, such as the magnetising polarity features which pushes away the guinea pigs when thrown.

4) Level Design:

Their level designs are creative and fun to explore.

Like their features which they keep adding, there are also game structures which are implemented to make the game slightly harder at every ascending level.

Therefore strategy and good timing must work hand in hand to complete the game.

5) Controls:

And since this is a web-based game, controls are extremely simple.

Usage of mouse + click, that's all, making it easy to learn and control.

6) Clear Instructions:

As they add on features/ level-ups, there will be pop-ups before the start of each level to explain how something functions.

Which I taught was a good thing.

Interesting?
Hmmmm okay honestly it wasn't at first.

But I wanted to continue playing it because I was curious to how the levels were like.

Eventually I found myself wanting to complete every level because I cannot help it, the game's pretty interesting when it proceeds!

Now I'm stuck at level 31, which is very frustrating!!!

Flaws?

Hmmm maybe like I said, the art for the intro can be improved?

It's near perfect actually! (to me)

And the background sound/reaction sound...

Don't like it! Don't think it fits also...

Go check it out lah... I don't think it suits the game.

Where to play?

HERE!

Simpsons Game
XBOX 360

Apart from The Ghostbusters, one of my childhood favourites (and still is) are stuff from the Simpsons. So this week, I'll review this game that originally came out on the Playstation 2, but was ported over to the XBOX 360. Published by Electronic Arts in 2007.

I bought this game not because I knew it existed (I didn't), but because my 'mentor' at my place of internship recommended it to me. I hunted this game down on the local forums and bought it second hand for $20. Not bad for a game! I like buying games at $20.

Anyway, this is a 3rd person action-adventure game in which players control different characters throughout the game. There isn't a real storyline in this game: players traverse the town looking for both special tokens that unlock stuff, and special points of interest. At this point in the game, it pretty much reflects a beta version of Grand Theft Auto if it was made in the 90s.

As you enter one of these points of interest, the game will enter a short cutscene, and the game will 'formally' begin. The first mission is the one where you control Homer in his land of chocolate. Everything, from lampposts to bunnies, are covered in chocolate and naturally Homer would go all crazy and spastic. The overall mission objective would then be to follow the white chocolate rabbit, which Homer remembers as being in the storybook 'Snow White and stupid town'. After that compulsory tutorial/level, you are given free reign to explore both the town and the Simpson's place.

Art is excellent. I really really love how they managed to fit the game artwork into almost something like that in the television series. Everything is colourful and strong, and fits very well together.

Game design is great. I love how they made each level and the GTA-style mechanic they employ. Each 'formal' level is differently themed and is very varied. For instance, the player gets to control Bart in one of the level entitled 'Bartman Begins', which is a reference to Batman. In that level you have to recover an item which one of the enemies stole. Other levels have really funny references to them, like an EverQuest themed level, or one that is a gameshow that is exclusively about the different countries in the world. Each character also got has a different playing style and special attack: for Homer, his breath can kill enemies much quicker than his punches. For Bart, he can transform into Bartman and do stuff like gliding with cape.

For the most part, this game is all about references and jokes that a normal intelligent sentient being is able to understand. It is also probably one of the first game that references itself inside in the game (shown in an opening cutscene), which is really funny.

One of my pet peeves is the terrible camera control. Most games which employ a third person perspective tend to have lousier camera control than a game which doesn't employ one. In this game, perspective is almost non-existent and it is extremely difficult to gauge the distance between two platforms, and there is almost always a death involved when you try to jump the gap. Fortunately, lives are infinite and so the user can always try again. But it is really annoying to keep dying!

There is multiplayer support for this game. I bought this game because I wanted to exclusively play it with my younger brother. In co-op mode, players can still play the 'campaign' (for lack of better word) mode of the game together with their friends, so it is reaaaaaaaaaaallly great. For a game like the Simpsons, you HAVE to play it in co-op mode.

Overall I like this game a lot, if I were to compare it to the old arcade version, I would still say that the arcade version is a lot better (because of the 4 player co-op) but this one comes reallly close. It would have been higher if not for the camera control.

Rating: 8.5/10