Thursday 6 September 2012

Top 10 things I love in video games


Just to show that my view on video games aren't negative I'm writing one on the things I love about video games in contrast to my earlier post on things I hate in video games. So let's begin.

Cartoon Like Style

There's times where I still feel like a child and that's one of the reasons why I love cartoon like art styles, most of the time cartoony games manage to show alot more emotion and life, than realistic ones.



Creativity

Everybody loves creativity in a game, be it character creation, car customization or so on it's brilliant, you can make your character look like you and you'd have the feeling you're there in the game, making stuff in games can give you a great sense of accomplishment that players never get tired of. Do they?



Easter Eggs

Who doesn't love Easter eggs, it's a chocolaty ticket to diabetes ... oh wait not that kind. I love these in video games it's like a reward for the players who can find it (whether or not you used YouTube or Google). One example is Crash Bandicoot 2, all my childhood there was things in it I didn't question "Why is this room full of Nitro" for example, everyone will remember that feeling the got when they found a Easter egg like the Nitro room, turned out the wall at the back of the room didn't have a collider and it had another room behind it. They're so good aren't they.

Childhood + finding the secret warp room = mind blown


Morale Moments

I love these bit's in games, you know where it's a case of you can kill the person or let them live, I love them it just adds alot of adrenaline and can create a strong sense of guilt, justice and other emotions depending on you choice, I especially love the ones where it makes you loath and despise a character for so long then when you get to kill them you realize, you don't have to, part of you does still want them dead but another part feels sorry for them and wants them to live, these are moments in games that stand out and I remember them clearly, long after I've turned the console off.

BioShock 2, you were brilliant at this.
 

Music

No I'm not talking about Guitar Hero or anything like that. No I'm talking about game music, music in games can be amazing, my favorite's mainly come from the Sega and PS1 generation as the heavy use synthesizers worked wonder to the ears, sure the PS2 had some good soundtracks like the Silent Hill franchise but it seems to be a dying art now as less and less games have music in them or they do but they class music as banging noises, screeching and other random and eventually annoying noises. Music is a work or art. Simple.

Faith in PS3 music, restored



Speed

Speed is really cool in gaming it's amazing to see your character race by opponents and scenery, which is why the Sonic games are brilliant. Speed just makes everything better -not the drug- (yes I'm aware of the awful joke). 

The boosting in new Sonic games make it that much better.


Story

Let's face it we've all played a game -or a bunch- where the story in the game is way better than half the crap that Hollywood calls "movie plots" a game without a story is ... well the majority of the 90s games, games need to have stories now, it adds a layer to the game that players can immerse themselves in and feel compelled towards the characters own goals, such great game story lines such as Final Fantasy X  proves that a game can have a really emotional ending and it's not just movies that can make us cry.



Stylized Violence

I don't care if the game fights aren't realistic or if they're over the top, as long as it looks cool then that's fine by me, I love stylized violence, maybe it's because of the choreography, maybe because of the acrobatics, at the end of the day I'm not sure exactly what it is I like about it but hey, it's still pretty bad ass.



Superiority

I love it when games have the enemies really weak yet having alot of them on the screen, I do like stronger enemies to be in with the mixture from time to time too, but I love the feeling of superiority I get when I create a path of destruction with the enemies lying everywhere, it just makes you feel so much stronger.



Trophies

Okay not everybody like trophies or achievements but I love them, once I complete a game I look at all the trophies for that game that I missed, and I re-play the game to try and get as many as I can get, this adds replay value to my games and it also acts like challenges that the game presents us with, kinda of like bonus missions.

That felling you get when you get the platinum.


Wednesday 5 September 2012

Top 10 things I hate in video games

Okay so everybody's played a game and there's been something in it that just really frustrates them and makes the game less enjoyable, everybody's experienced it at some point, but what would happen if they took my top ten most annoying gimmicks in games and incorporated it into one game ... Suicide. 

Bosses With Obvious Weak Spots

Okay listen developers, this isn't the 90s anymore we don't need bosses to have their weak points pointed at right in our faces it's almost insulting to gamers intelligence, we're not stupid we can figure it out. I'm looking at you Nintendo. 

It took me months to realize how to beat it, dam you subtle Nintendo.

Cutscene Events

We've all been there, a cutscenes on so we relax, put the controller to the side and watch, all of a sudden BANG, press (insert some random controller button). 

Oh no what happened were you not ready for that and you died cause you didn't react within the 1/8th of a second it gave you to press it. No of course you weren't nobody ever is, it ruins a game when you can't watch a cutscene as you look all over the screen for this one random trigger event button you're required to press because you died the first time and now you can't get the story. Resident Evil !


It's not enough it happened so suddenly but now we gotta keep pressing it.


Fallen One Attacks

Fallen attacks happen in RPG games mainly it consists of the boss using a over the top move (you know the ones where they tend to destroy a planet in a cutscene that takes about a minute every time they do it, and you can't skip it) which leave you with one hp left, I hate this because there's two options:

1. Keep fighting
2. You are meant to die in this battle

The problem is that you don't know what one it is so you either keep fighting and use all your items when you were meant to die. Or, you willingly die only for you to get a game over and have to start again.

Do I die or do I fight? DO I DIE OR DO I FIGHT !

Game Over Screens

It's not the fact I died that I hate them, I just loathe the ones that give you no option to retry, they simple state Game Over, put you back to the start screen only to have you watch a loading screen then start way back from where ever you last saved it which could be hours back, why is that a good thing developers? it's really simple to make it have a retry option.

It may mock you but it has a retry option.
 
Losing Abilities

I HATE games that start off with your character having everything, letting you get use to it, then taking it away like taking a toy from a child. It's awful, not only does it make most of the game about getting them back, it also makes you feel alot weaker as enemies that you could easily kill off now become stronger than you .... It's so pointless, sometimes even the way you lose your abilities are pathetic, look at metroid prime you lose them simply by being thrown into a wall, how does that even make sense ?

So obvious weak spots and losing abilities, you're doing well Nintendo.

Random Final Bosses

Final bosses in games always have a build up to it, allowing you to take it in and prepare yourself, but that's not always the case, in some games the final boss will start without any build up or warning making you wonder if it's really the final boss, if you die too bad you probably didn't think to save it so you could be miles back and I bet you didn't stock up on items either, no why would you, you didn't think the end was near did you it gave no indication?

Where the hell did you come from Necron?

Repeating Sections

Just because I enjoy a part from a game it doesn't mean I want that segment to come back again later on. Worst offenders, Super Smash Bros Brawl, it has you playing the entire game all over again near the end of it, that ain't fun. Also lot's of games tend to have the character face EVERY boss again before the final one ... Why? I already did it I don't want to do it again. Okami, you made me fight a boss three friggen times in one game, as if two times isn't enough.

You could at least vary it's strategy.

Repetitive One Liners 

Zelda:  Hey! Listen.
Resident Evil:  Leon.
Shadow the Hedgehog: You know what they say. The more the merrier.

For those of you who have played one of the above you know what I'm talking about, games where a character constantly says the same lines over and over again.

For those of you who have played one of the above you know what I'm talking about, games where a character constantly says the same lines over and over again.

For those of you who have played one of the above you know what I'm talking about, games where a character constantly says the same lines over and over again.

For those of you who have played one of the above you know what I'm talking about, games where a character constantly says the same lines over and over again.

Go .... Away .... NAVI !!!!


Survival Missions

Not to be confused with survival games, I hate survival missions, they appear all of a sudden, having you being attack all around you, didn't give you a chance to save, and oh yes makes you use all of your ammo then you run everywhere looking for some while being attacked from everywhere still ... Ah, it's easy to do oh wait no it's not, and then if you do survive it all which takes for god knows how long you have no more ammo or items of healing as you used them all making the rest of the game alot harder as all the time you spent getting stocked up has vanished within minutes. Genius.

Hope you aren't planning on completing this game with ammo to spare.

Underwater Levels

Why god why are these put into games? the changes in the physics are never for the better, the gravity is changed under water which can take time to adjust the characters new limits,  you move alot slower, and the laws of physics don't seem to apply (you float in water but not in the games somehow), these are always without doubt the most frustrating levels in any game. Period.

Am I right in saying everyone hated this?