Kung Fu Panda Demo

It was pretty fun. The pacing was great and it was a pretty darn tight experience. The combat was fun and ramped up in complexity in a very user-friendly way, I love Jack Black's voice acting, and the world was fun enough to explore.

It did present a number of tutorial billboards along the way, but they didn't seem as annoying in this game as they do in others. Part of this is due to length (they were brief), production value (they were entertainingly voice acted), pacing (there was game play in between each one), contextual relevance (you were taught something just before you had to use it), and good mixture of mandatory and optional billboards (so you could skip non-essential ones if you wanted to).

I'll need to go back and analyze it further, but it really felt like a fun roller coaster ride. I added it to my Gamefly Q and look forward to playing through it.

Demos... Sigh.

After geeking out on my Wii for a while it was time to get back to the 360 and check out some new downloadable demos.

I checked out:

• Tenchu Z (retail demo)
• The initial experience was tragic. Lots of character setup that wasn't very interesting. The choice of characters wasn't very exciting. Moreover, after I spent several minutes navigating the game shell and setting up the game, I died instantly and needed to go through the whole process again.
• Combat was... Puzzling. Maybe I was supposed to sneak around the first two guards, but they had spears and I had a short sword and they made mincemeat of me. Player death = start all over (including character setup) which is not very appealing.
  
• Omega 5, Triggerheart: Exelica, Operation Darkness, Rocketmen: Axis of Evil (XBLA demos)
• The first two were shooter-scrollers (side and top-down) in classic Japanese style (scantily clad female characters; buff and strange looking male characters). They seemed pretty hard core in terms of challenge ramp (lots of flashes on screen; easy to die; limited lives). I imagine these games might be most appealing to fans of the genre (and IP).
• Operation Darkness seems to have some promise. Unfortunately the game shell was awkward and let me set up a battle that was not very fun to conduct. There was too much micromanagement - I needed something a little more manageable for an initial experience. I may try it again as it has a kind of Advance Wars feel -- but I worry that the 3d environment and complex UI will make it far less playable.
• Rocketmen: Axis of Evil was an attempt at a quirky/cheesy isometric camera shooter. It didn't really engage me -- but I'm not necessarily a fan of this genre of game.
  

I've got a retail copy of Tenchu Z (and Ninja Gaiden 2 -- perks for working with one of my clients) so I'll check these titles out in a little more detail later on this week.

Finished Super Mario Galaxy...

What a fun ride. It was enjoyable to the end. The pacing and challenge felt just right and the main plot progression allowed for skipping content that was less enjoyable (if you wanted to) while leaving huge chunks of the world to explore at your leisure after you beat the game.

It's the first Mario game I've beat. Usually I give up as they're too hardcore or frustrating. This one reminded me a lot of Ratchet & Clank with all the cool environments and puzzles. The sound and visuals were pleasing and the core platforming mechanic was enjoyable except for a couple of problematic levels where I had to fight the camera.

I'm tempted to play more... But my queue is getting longer by the minute.

More SMGalaxy Goodness

I'm just getting a short Super Mario Galaxy break in. This, of course, is another great feature of the game: I can just take in a 10-15 minute snack if I want, which makes it fit well with my schedule.

Moreover, the game doesn't generally penalize you for forgetting some of the game play mechanics. There is always a learn-as-you-play tutorial at the beginning of each level that introduces (or reintroduces) necessary mechanics. Of course, this is Super Mario Galaxy, so you don't FEEL like you're being put through a tutorial. But, through clever and enjoyable level design and scripted events you are forced to learn without even realizing it. This game is simply magnificent in this respect.

I recently encountered my first hiccup in game play challenge ramp where it took a little bit more of a struggle to figure out how I was supposed to approach the world. That said, the game had already built up so much trust in the way it eventually rewarded "just screwing around until you figure it out" that I felt comfortable persisting and eventually figured out the parts I was supposed to.

I have a feeling I'm going to end up liking this game as much as Ratchet & Clank and Kingdom Hearts 2 -- two games that (at least in my mind) have clearly influenced this version of SMG.

I have "obtained prominence"

I haven't posted here in a while. I've been posting a bunch more business related stuff in my private blog -- more about the ins and outs of my new consulting business.

Anyhow, I've spent the past few days evaluating Ninety-Nine Nights. I remember trying the demo and not being that impressed. But I needed to familiarize myself with the game for another title I'm working on.

The initial experience is lousy, to say the least. As is the challenge ramp, character progression, save system, UI, and the list goes on.

That said, there are some components that give me hope for the game.

It is fun to wade through armies of peons on a large battlefield with some friends at your back and the support of larger armies. While I can't help get the sense that there are simply too many combos that are too randomly computed to make heads or tails of them, some elements of strategy have emerged later on in the game.

The problem isn't so much imputing the rock-paper-scissors of my opponent (though that is somewhat difficult to do in many cases because of bland enemy design and behavior in some cases) but it's more that I can't seem to execute the correct counters because I don't understand what combos are best for each situation.

The main strategy I've uncovered is simply to fight easier grunts and power up my Orb meter. Then unleash the Orb on large groups of tougher opponents. Then unleash the Orb shards on the biggest group of opponents just before a boss battle. Bosses are beaten through attrition: Cower and let your remaining troops distract while you find out its patterns and be sure to save some chests for health potion boosts (or be prepared to wander all over the map in the middle of a boss battle to find one).

I think that a few key changes could make the game worthwhile:

• Add an outermap RPG system. All the powerups in the game currently feel very random. Leveling up only unlocks new combos. What I'd really like is to be able to pick and choose from a variety of areas to upgrade:
• Luck: Increase drop rate of items during battle
• Health: Make it harder for me to die
• Strength: Make my attacks stronger
• Magic: Make my Orb attacks cooler
• Army: Make my armies stronger
• Provide more opportunities for me to practice and master new combos. Specifically, set up situations where I learn the rock-paper-scissors and am reinforced when I do well and punished (but not too severely) when I'm not paying attention. In addition to a combat arena minigame (that lots of other games have) this could also be achieved through staggered level design, better audio/visual cues when I do well/poorly, and achievements that pop up when I try new things and they have positive results.
• Differentiate enemies much more strongly. Exaggerate differences between grunts and captains; between swordsmen and club guys; etc.
• Make boss battles cooler. Involve some puzzle solving or environmental interactions.
• I can't tell yet whether there is upgradeable equipment (it looks like there might be) but add some more of this into the game. I've been playing for 6 hours and haven't received any new gear.