I played Crisis Core some time ago and wanted to comment on its Digital Mind Wave “Mechanic”.

Aeris is actually spinning in her grave.

It is a somewhat puzzling game feature and they way I thought about it changed a lot during my playtrough. First I was confused. Confusion then quickly turned into disaffection throughout most of the game. But in the very last minutes, the DMW suddenly gained a whole new meaning which made me question my take on it.

Continue reading “Crisis Core: Digital Mind Wave”

It’s been quite a while since my last review. I have been planning to do this particular one for quite some time. I would like to discuss a game that has inspired me to think more carefully about collectibles in the first place: Beyond Good & Evil.

Useless collectibles. I mean all they do is to empower characters in non-violent ways, reward curiosity and celebrate socio-biological diversity. Pshaw.

The reason why I find this game so remarkable is because the way collectibles are implemented in this game is exceptionally well thought-out. Let me explain what I mean.

Continue reading “Beyond Good & Evil: Collectibles Review”

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”