So another E3 has come and gone. Still have a few things worth mentioning, though. Firstly, I guess Nintendo decided to recycle Kirby's Epic Yarn with Yoshi. The game looks okay, but I can't help but feel like a lot of the "neat" mechanics they showed-off in the trailer are mechanics that I already got my fill of in Epic Yarn (to the point where I'm pretty sure they're using a lot of the same sound effects). Seems that if they didn't have any new ideas for the whole "yarn" mechanic, they should have held off for a while. Still, the game could be interesting if the gameplay holds-up; though I doubt any Yoshi game will be able to hold a candle to Yoshi's Island. I think the most impressive thing about the game is how the graphics look like actual cloth; as though the game was animated using stop motion.
So I guess there's going to be some dragon game on the 360? Can't say I'm all that impressed, though. Hopefully the game's advertising wreaks of "This is meant for kids", because that's honestly what the trailer felt like. The way that the character had this playful (and annoying) whimsy about him while fighting, and how he puts his headset on while charging into a fight (ho damn guys, he's listening to his tunes, it's on now!)... the whole thing just feels like the kind of fantasy I might have had while I was eight. Being meant for kids isn't necessarily a bad thing though, maybe I'm just annoyed that it's a game that I should be 100% pumped about, but can't really see myself getting into because of the blatantly-aimed-at-a-different-generation main character. Though the worst thing about the game wasn't even in the game, but rather the poor guy who was forced to make the obvious "action on a whole new 'scale'" pun, meanwhile having to pretend that the Monster Hunter series doesn't exist so that the statement itself can be not a complete lie.
So I didn't notice back when I mentioned the game, but apparently Yager is going to have some involvement with Dead Island 2's development. Hopefully they bring along some of their storytelling prowess to turn Dead Island into a game worth talking about. Don't forget that these are the people who released a game who's gameplay would have left the game as forgettable, but then included a story that had such biting commentary on the very genre in which it was set that people couldn't NOT talk about it. Still, they'd have Telltale's The Walking Dead to worry about; if they do try and release a zombie game with a deep story, the comparisons will be inevitable. On that note, I looked them up and I guess they slipped a trailer passed me at some point during this E3. It's a game called Dreadnought, and looks to be set in a sci-fi setting, possibly focused on piloting fighters, but it's hard to tell. After Spec-Ops: The Line, though, this is a company to keep an eye on. Will they continue to impress, or will The Line be their one moment of glory?
I think that'll do for E3 this year. Though who knows, it might be all that anyone is talking about for a while, so I might have to talk about it again tomorrow for lack of anything else going on in the industry. I guess we'll see tomorrow. Until then, game well.
Showing posts with label Dead Island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dead Island. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014
PAD #15: E3 Lethargy
Almost forgot that E3 was coming up, and suddenly here it is. Of course one of the first things I noticed was a Dead Island announcement. Anyone picking through the archives on this blog would know that I have a bit of love for zombie games, and Dead Island is no exception. It's a bit disappointing that there's going to be both a class and a level exclusive to the PS4, but hopefully that's going to be a timed thing. Still, it's something that's becoming more common that I don't really care for. I think a game should be the same from system to system. If you want a game to be system-exclusive, then make it system exclusive. I don't really like this practice developing content that's exclusive to another system, then charging me full price for the game anyway.
A new top-down Tomb Raider has been announced, and it still leaves the same funny taste in my mouth. Similar to the first game like this, I just feel weird calling it "Tomb Raider". Yeah okay, so these games are called "Lara Croft and the [Blank]", but it is what it is, and what it feels like is a completely different game where they just replaced the main character with Lara Croft and then called it a Tomb Raider game. It does sorta beg the question, though, of why a character like Mario can be in just about any game and feel natural, where this Lara Croft series of games just don't feel like Tomb Raider titles despite being thematically similar.
And naturally, since the "first" one sold so well, they're putting-out a sequel to the Tomb Raider reboot from a few years back. It has a completely laughable title, but I was willing to just ignore the game and move-on until Lara had to open her mouth. She harps-on about some "destiny" crap, to the point where you look at the title and suddenly "Tomb Raider" isn't just the name of the franchise, but apparently it's what Lara is "meant to be"? Like there's supposed to be a specific "Tomb Raider"? I dunno, I'm not buying it. Smacks of "We don't care about the series, but we gotta put together another one because the last one sold, so we'll just call it 'destiny' since that's certainly what it feels like to us."
Okay okay, that's enough complaining about E3. I do like to try and keep positive, so tomorrow I'll dig-up some stuff that I'm actually looking forward to seeing (aside from Dead Island 2). Until then, game well.
A new top-down Tomb Raider has been announced, and it still leaves the same funny taste in my mouth. Similar to the first game like this, I just feel weird calling it "Tomb Raider". Yeah okay, so these games are called "Lara Croft and the [Blank]", but it is what it is, and what it feels like is a completely different game where they just replaced the main character with Lara Croft and then called it a Tomb Raider game. It does sorta beg the question, though, of why a character like Mario can be in just about any game and feel natural, where this Lara Croft series of games just don't feel like Tomb Raider titles despite being thematically similar.
And naturally, since the "first" one sold so well, they're putting-out a sequel to the Tomb Raider reboot from a few years back. It has a completely laughable title, but I was willing to just ignore the game and move-on until Lara had to open her mouth. She harps-on about some "destiny" crap, to the point where you look at the title and suddenly "Tomb Raider" isn't just the name of the franchise, but apparently it's what Lara is "meant to be"? Like there's supposed to be a specific "Tomb Raider"? I dunno, I'm not buying it. Smacks of "We don't care about the series, but we gotta put together another one because the last one sold, so we'll just call it 'destiny' since that's certainly what it feels like to us."
Okay okay, that's enough complaining about E3. I do like to try and keep positive, so tomorrow I'll dig-up some stuff that I'm actually looking forward to seeing (aside from Dead Island 2). Until then, game well.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Poor Dead Island
So Dead Island is a great game. I love it, and if you head to any forum for the game to talk about it, you'll find that most people there also enjoy the game immensely. So why does it seem to do so poorly? Why do so many people dismiss it so easily, despite many not even having played it? Well, I'll try and explain what I feel are some of the bigger problems that acted as a barrier between gamers who might have enjoyed the game, and the game.
Dead Island could be best described with the title of a 2004 Jim Carrey movie. It was basically doomed to failure for a few main reasons. The first issue was the trailer. While very well made, and wonderfully dramatic, it didn't show any gameplay during a time when gamers were starting to revolt against trailers that used heavy cinematic footage with little to no gameplay; a common tactic with a lot of games that are trying to hide that the game itself isn't much to look at. So after finally hearing about a trailer from this hyped "melee-focused" zombie game, a lot of people weren't okay with a trailer that didn't focus any of the melee-focused gameplay. Later trailers did include gameplay, but by then a lot of people had lost their interest.
The second issue is simply deciding to release a zombie title during a glut of zombie games. With the popularity of games like Left 4 Dead 2 and Resident Evil 5, nearly every developer decided to jump on the zombie bandwagon; be it through full-on zombie games, or several games that included the apparently-obligatory zombie-focused DLC; so gamers were starting to feel stuffed and bloated on their feast of zombie-killing madness. Doesn't matter if the trailers looked good or not. Doesn't matter that this game was trying something different (EVERY game "tries something different"). Just... enough zombies. Plenty of people just didn't wanna care anymore.
The third big issue, and this at least can be blamed more directly on the developers of the game, was when they accidentally released the developer's build instead of the final build when the game came out. For those who don't know, the quick explanation is that the developer's build of a game still has all the bugs and glitches that get ironed-out during the beta phase of the game. They were quick to fix the issue, but the damage had already been done. Once word got out that the wrong build of the game was released, a lot of people decided they didn't want to risk their money on the game. In fact, many people specifically wait until after a game is released to see if the game has any major issues, a buying strategy that is often justified.
And granted, even with the final build of the game, it was still fairly glitchy. It suffered from what can only be described as PC Illness. With so many possible ways for a PC to be put together, not to mention different drivers and other non-related programs on the PC that can cause issues, it can be tricky to create a game for the PC without SOMEONE having some issue or another despite both his PC being just fine, and your game being just fine; something just won't get along between them. Unfortunately, Dead Island was worse than most games with this problem. When the game ran fine, it was great, but if you were one of the many unfortunate people who's PC just didn't agree with the game you just fed it, it could be a nightmare. Game freezes, random quests not completing properly, items disappearing from your inventory, and many other possible glitches that could be tricky to figure out how to fix.
In the end, Dead Island became a game that you had to WANT to enjoy. You had to be patient enough to be willing to deal with any glitches that might come your way; you had to enjoy zombie games enough that, even in the middle of a flood of zombie titles, you still wanted more; and you had to be tolerant of a trailer that doesn't show-off much gameplay. With those three factors all added together, it's easy to see how Dead Island, despite being a great game, had a fairly narrow target demographic with which to work.
Dead Island could be best described with the title of a 2004 Jim Carrey movie. It was basically doomed to failure for a few main reasons. The first issue was the trailer. While very well made, and wonderfully dramatic, it didn't show any gameplay during a time when gamers were starting to revolt against trailers that used heavy cinematic footage with little to no gameplay; a common tactic with a lot of games that are trying to hide that the game itself isn't much to look at. So after finally hearing about a trailer from this hyped "melee-focused" zombie game, a lot of people weren't okay with a trailer that didn't focus any of the melee-focused gameplay. Later trailers did include gameplay, but by then a lot of people had lost their interest.
The second issue is simply deciding to release a zombie title during a glut of zombie games. With the popularity of games like Left 4 Dead 2 and Resident Evil 5, nearly every developer decided to jump on the zombie bandwagon; be it through full-on zombie games, or several games that included the apparently-obligatory zombie-focused DLC; so gamers were starting to feel stuffed and bloated on their feast of zombie-killing madness. Doesn't matter if the trailers looked good or not. Doesn't matter that this game was trying something different (EVERY game "tries something different"). Just... enough zombies. Plenty of people just didn't wanna care anymore.
The third big issue, and this at least can be blamed more directly on the developers of the game, was when they accidentally released the developer's build instead of the final build when the game came out. For those who don't know, the quick explanation is that the developer's build of a game still has all the bugs and glitches that get ironed-out during the beta phase of the game. They were quick to fix the issue, but the damage had already been done. Once word got out that the wrong build of the game was released, a lot of people decided they didn't want to risk their money on the game. In fact, many people specifically wait until after a game is released to see if the game has any major issues, a buying strategy that is often justified.
And granted, even with the final build of the game, it was still fairly glitchy. It suffered from what can only be described as PC Illness. With so many possible ways for a PC to be put together, not to mention different drivers and other non-related programs on the PC that can cause issues, it can be tricky to create a game for the PC without SOMEONE having some issue or another despite both his PC being just fine, and your game being just fine; something just won't get along between them. Unfortunately, Dead Island was worse than most games with this problem. When the game ran fine, it was great, but if you were one of the many unfortunate people who's PC just didn't agree with the game you just fed it, it could be a nightmare. Game freezes, random quests not completing properly, items disappearing from your inventory, and many other possible glitches that could be tricky to figure out how to fix.
In the end, Dead Island became a game that you had to WANT to enjoy. You had to be patient enough to be willing to deal with any glitches that might come your way; you had to enjoy zombie games enough that, even in the middle of a flood of zombie titles, you still wanted more; and you had to be tolerant of a trailer that doesn't show-off much gameplay. With those three factors all added together, it's easy to see how Dead Island, despite being a great game, had a fairly narrow target demographic with which to work.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
And After Nearly 4 Years, I Exist Again.
I guess writing a blog is one of those things that once you fall out of the habit, it's hard to get back into it. Lately though, the urge the start writing has been itching at me again, so here we are, and here I am. I want to get back into updating this blog fairly regularly; I doubt I'll get to it on a daily basis, but a few times a week would be optimal. As for my mission goal, it'll be more-or-less the same as before. I wanna post about what I'm up to; including gaming, movie watching, and otherwise; post reviews of the games I play, and make blogs talking about my thoughts on game design theory.
Looking at my older posts, I noticed I got started on some rules for good game design, and I'd like to keep on that list; expanding it with more habits to be avoided to engaged; things I notice that tend to consistently make a game better or worse; as well as maybe clarifying on any rules that I find people consistently misunderstand. Heck, maybe I'll even find, with feedback, that a rule or two should be scratched.
As for what I've been up to lately, mostly Dead Island Riptide and Fire Emblem: Awakening. In fact, with May being Zombie Awareness Month, I was thinking I'd probably start-out the reboot of Idle Thinking by talking about the under-appreciated gem that is the Dead Island series. I wanna get a couple reviews up for each game, as well as a post or two talking about what I do and don't like about both games. Maybe next month I'll talk a bit about Fire Emblem and my history with the Strategy/RPG genre.
As for what I've been up to the past 4 years, mostly just life. Working, sleeping, gaming, forgetting that I had a blog on which I wanted to post, that kinda thing. I've somehow shaken-off my addiction to World of Warcraft in that time. Not to say that I was specifically trying to quit, just that it ran its course and now... I dunno, just not as much drive to play it anymore. I guess that the guild stopped raiding would be part of the reason, and getting a new job that made it so I couldn't make the raid hours anyway is another factor.
So here goes, hopefully this time I actually keep-up with something of a schedule on here. Until then, game happy.
Looking at my older posts, I noticed I got started on some rules for good game design, and I'd like to keep on that list; expanding it with more habits to be avoided to engaged; things I notice that tend to consistently make a game better or worse; as well as maybe clarifying on any rules that I find people consistently misunderstand. Heck, maybe I'll even find, with feedback, that a rule or two should be scratched.
As for what I've been up to lately, mostly Dead Island Riptide and Fire Emblem: Awakening. In fact, with May being Zombie Awareness Month, I was thinking I'd probably start-out the reboot of Idle Thinking by talking about the under-appreciated gem that is the Dead Island series. I wanna get a couple reviews up for each game, as well as a post or two talking about what I do and don't like about both games. Maybe next month I'll talk a bit about Fire Emblem and my history with the Strategy/RPG genre.
As for what I've been up to the past 4 years, mostly just life. Working, sleeping, gaming, forgetting that I had a blog on which I wanted to post, that kinda thing. I've somehow shaken-off my addiction to World of Warcraft in that time. Not to say that I was specifically trying to quit, just that it ran its course and now... I dunno, just not as much drive to play it anymore. I guess that the guild stopped raiding would be part of the reason, and getting a new job that made it so I couldn't make the raid hours anyway is another factor.
So here goes, hopefully this time I actually keep-up with something of a schedule on here. Until then, game happy.
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