Some time ago I wrote about Red Faction: Guerrilla and how it’s competitive gameplay shaped the feel of it’s on-line community. Today I would like to talk about pretty much the opposite. A game that focuses on creativity, cooperation and sharing – Little Big Planet.

Turns out the reason why you never got around to create anything of value in LBP is not because you are lazy moron… well, not necessarily at least.

As with Red Faction, I decided to spend some time on-line with this game. I expected an experience quite contrary to Red Faction. In many ways I did. I many ways I didn’t. As it turns out, cooperative gameplay and user-generated content alone does not a healthy community make. It seems like a common mistake. A mistake that even yours truly once did.

Continue reading “Little Big Planet: Browsing Content”

Continuing the theme of games I’ve played a long time ago but only now came around to write about – let’s talk Need For Speed: Shift for a second. Like for so many people, Shift came out of nowhere for me and won my heart by injecting fresh ideas into the dry genre of simulation racers. Of course new ideas means also new mistakes but that’s precisely the kind of game I love to write about here on Game Design Reviews.

NFS: Shift overtakes as its two over-powered opponents battle it out. See what I did there?

The beauty of Shift is not only that it is an excellent product for the kind of climate it has come out it. Because it dares to make mistakes, it also created a start-off point to further evolve this particular franchise and possibly the entire genre. Gentlemen, start your engines:

Continue reading “Need For Speed Shift: Product Identity”

Collectibles. Fellow German co-blogger Pasco commented recently that collectibles are one of the characteristics of modern games. Also, the always superb Experience Points Podcast discussed collectibles as part of their “In Search of Secrets” Episode. Finally, being an achievement whore myself, collectibles are something I deal with on a regular basis. More than enough reasons to take a closer look at them. And in fact, for such a seemingly simple gameplay element there are quite a few variations on how they can be implemented. So many that I have been struggling to write a definite review. Instead, I decided to start yet another category of posts: the Collectibles Reviews. I will do separate reviews of implementations of collectibles in different games and hopefully, after some time, we will start seeing patterns of what works and why.

Mars. You will never find a more deceitful hive of collectibles and hidden doodads. We must be cautious.

I’d like to start with Red Faction: Guerrilla. For once because it is the game I’m currently playing and as I mentioned in the podcast, a surprisingly decent game. But also because it is a game that has A LOT of collectibles.

Continue reading “Red Faction Guerrilla: Collectibles Review”

Judging by my recent posts on Mass Effect one might come to the conclusion I was a Fallout 3 fan. Both games are often compared when discussing modern western RPGs. I think their relationship is quite complimentary. The one has strengths where the other has weaknesses. Nevertheless, I indeed think that Fallout 3 offers a more complete, insightful and better crafted experience.

-1 Endurance due to minor radiation poisoning. No word about the adverse effects of not eating or sleeping for weeks.

But that doesn’t mean it is without flaws. This time around I would address a particular, not quite obvious problem. It is a hereditary disorder – a feature that Fallout 3 inherited from previous RPGs but one that turns out to have devastating effects in the specific environment of Fallout 3. I’m speaking of the fact that like in many RPGs, the mere survival of your character in the wilderness is taken for granted.

Continue reading “Fallout 3: Survival by Default”

This is my (very) subjective review of Okami. To summarize it: I can’t play the game. It’s unbelievably unplayable for me, due to shockingly bad details.

Ever since it was released on PS2 and got rave reviews about its style and concept I wanted to play, even own it. Then Yu-Chung reviewed it and even mentioned that a Wii version would be released. Over one year ago I purchased the Wii version but haven’t played it until now, due to the lack of time and my backlog. Last evening I could play it at last.

Great box design, i really love it.

But boy, was I shocked about how bad some simple aspects of the game turned out. They made me end my playing session after approximately 30 minutes of (play)time.

Continue reading “Okami: Disapointments”