I first came across this game during Nintendo's seasonal sales advert. Usually I'm not too keen on browsing digital catalogs, but this time around I figured I have some spare cash, why not take a look? I'm about 5 pages down, looking through page after page of discounted games that all seemed to have the same premise, color pallet, or the same 3 anime characters posing in the same 4 stances each and every time. Then, I spotted this one, instantly drawn in by the psychedelic color schemes and the dazzling visuals, and the short demo videos provided clips of interesting gameplay and a unique visual style. Now let's dive into this review and see if it lives up to it's dazzling name. Gameplay and ControlsThe game starts off simple enough, giving the user a basic tutorial and instructing them to chose their preferred play style, i.e. would they rather play as a carnivore (tighter controls, faster base speed), a herbivore (slower less responsive play style, but faster eating) or an omnivore, a mix of both. As you play around and explore the levels in a fashion similar to Spore's cellular stage, you advance and level up by consuming materials of a certain type, red for carnivore, green for herbivore, and blue for omnivore. Simple enough right? The goal of each level is to simply devour all materials of a type and end up consuming more so than the CPU. The controls play very well, and do in fact feel like you're navigating a creature underwater in the sense that you're not steering the whole body, rather just the head and the rest of the creature follows. There's also an interesting little mechanic where you can delve beneath the different layers of the void/the waters, to explore new previously invisible scenery. There also is a nice touch where flashes of red green or blue will alert you to unclaimed collectible materials so that you're not just aimlessly wandering around the landscape. Overall the game is fairly simple, not too challenging, and makes for a great leisurely way to kill time without getting super invested in any extensive story or complex side quest. There's also a decent amount of levels packed in too, not too many but nothing to scoff at either, all in all making for at the very least a solid 5-6 hours of game play. It also provides you with a multitude of save states as well, allowing you to replay the game pretty much as many times as you'd like. Visual Style and AtmosphereThe visual style is extremely unique, the bright flashy colors against sometimes colorful and cheery other times dark and foreboding backgrounds feels like something I'd see in a dream about mathematical equations. It's strangely biological, yet oddly mechanical, and all so very captivating. I especially love the creature designs, and it's fun to see and point out which deep sea creatures inspired which designs, as someone who's always been a fan of deep sea marine biology that is. The player characters are also eye catching, almost hypnotic in the way they move, each suiting the feel for their respective game play styles. From the carnivore build, a sleek, sea serpent with sheering mandibles, the almost grasshopper or locust like fish design of the herbivore, and the geometric eel build of the omnivore. The music too is also very fitting for the game, soft piano overlaid upon a baseline of harmonious synths, creating almost a randomized, dreamlike yet calming melody that compliments the game play very well, definitely enriching the general atmosphere of the overall game. It creates a near seamless immersive experience that draws you in deeper without a doubt. The levels are also nicely designed and usually have a unique spin to each one, especially during the later stages. CriticismsNow while in my mind this is a good game, it is by no means a perfect game and there are most definitely a few hang ups and bang ups that in my mind keep it from being a great game. For starters, at the beginning, it felt like that great decision of finding your play style was something great and important that you could never change later, and I was disappointed to find that you can actually change you play style quite easily by simply collecting enough of a separate material, killing some potential replayability. A part of me in this way wishes that you could choose your base species, and by collecting different materials you could make it so that you could end up with different types of your base build (e.g. a more tanky carnivore vs a lightweight minmax one) instead of only switching between carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore throughout your entire journey. Another issue is that the omnivore and herbivore play styles are only marginally different, you're still defeating the same prey the same way just with different colors, which is fine I suppose but it's still a bit of a letdown that there wasn't anything more to it. There's also a few enemies that appear far too commonly or not often enough at all which isn't anything major but it would be nice to see some more variety. There are a few boss fight stages here and there that while visually impressive, didn't add much to the overall experience, usually consisting of "wait your turn then widdle away" style game play that without anything to spice it up just drags on and on. The CPU at times can be a little too easy to beat and despite being able to take damage, I'm not sure if you can game over from excessive damage so it seems a little pointless to include. There's also a few visual and audio issues, such as slightly jerky camera movement in a few levels, issues with being able to properly see color flashes depending on the background, and audio occasionally restarting but without a solid loop so the extension is very audible, however these are minimal concerns. Final thoughts: Is it worth it?Well, for a $2.50 pick I got off of the Nintendo E shop after some Christmas bliss, I'd say it's well worth it, however it will only really be a satisfying play if you're like me in the sense that you either love interesting creature design, have a thing for games with similar mechanics to spore, or have an eye for colorful almost psychedelic artwork. Otherwise, I'm not so sure you'd take to it, particularly if you're a fan of fast paced and more exiting game play, since this is a casual and leisurely game that basically works as a beautiful time killer. However, if fantastical art styles and slow building game play is something you particularly enjoy, then this might turn out to be one of your new favorites. Game play and mechanics: 3/5 Visuals and Atmosphere: 4.5/5 Replayability: 2.5/5 Overall Score: 3.5/5
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Reflecting on my current hyperfixiation of the week, I've become obsessed with a film "Annihilation" and what makes it such a good example of turning an impossible narrative into a film. What I've come to find is that most video game to film adaptations fall short because they try to rely too heavily on the source material, creating a fixed story line of a game where no matter how linear the game play is, there is still player choice to be accounted for, and film takes that away which is arguably one of the most important aspects of video games as a whole; interactivity. Why mention Annihilation? Well simple, the director knew that it would be impossible to make a film revolving around characters whose names are never mentioned, and where 80% of any description takes place in the character's mind, or in a journal reflection. As such, instead of trying to keep the film loyal to the source, he instead tried to capture the feeling of the novel itself, by only reading it once, and writing the entire script based off of what he remembered and the emotions it brought forth. As such, the film feels very dreamlike, fitting for it's Lovecraftian and eldritch undertones. I feel like with the sudden surge of video game to film adaptations as of late, they can learn a thing or two from director Alex Garland, and instead of trying to capture the entirety of your source line by line, create a narrative that is unique yet stands for everything in your source material. That way, instead of providing a line by line retelling of a particular game, ergo locking our your audience by taking away the interactivity, instead try to play on the sense of nostalgia and the base feelings you recall your first time experiencing the subject. The only issue with this technique in my mind is the inevitable backlash you'll receive by diehard fans who are upset that you didn't follow the lore of the original to an exact T. (But being fair, any video game to movie adaptation will receive backlash, as is the unfortunate nature of them.)
While I do have a deep love for surface modeling, especially when it comes to making 3D models out of 2D splines, I am a little amused and bewildered by things such as working with particle effects and simulations, most notably things such as cloth modifiers and particle systems. While I also enjoyed working with mental ray lots, after the update to the 2019 version I am unfortunately unable to work with it anymore, knowing little to nothing about the Arnold renderer. Mass effects thus far has been a bit of a challenge, but nothing I can't handle, and I've been steadily coming along with it. Foliage has been nice already, and as you can probably already tell, knowing me, I jumped straight into the cherry blossom trees and the weeping willows. I am also a little exited as I have predicted that we might work with cameras more, or at the very least tap into some more environmental effects. This also might come as a shocker, but my more masochistic side is a bit disappointed that we haven't really gone into rigging yet. It seems rather odd, a student talking about wanting to go into rigging again after experiencing the horrors of it the last time they did so, but yes, I wish I could continue with it. Then again, while it is very improbable, it is still possible that we may tap into working with cameras more and rigging in the coming quarter, though that is mere speculation. I do not know for sure, however this would not be out of left field in the slightest, seeing that these have been worked on before in previous years. Either way I am very exited for what's to come. This is probably been my favorite modeling project thus far, aside from the chess set we did forever ago
I have been working with Audio and Video editing far before I took this class, so it's not necessarily a new subject for me, though I have been readily excited to learn more in class, and so far I feel quite at home with these subjects. Most of the work that I've done in class is made using Adobe Premiere Pro, (Or when we're working solely with audio, Adobe Audition) which is vastly different from my measly $40 software Wondershare Filmora. In sharp contrast, Premiere pro would have the capacity to do far more than whatever I would ever need from it, so I think I'll just stick with what I use currently. That isn't to say I haven't learned anything from it, I've actually learned quite a bit about flow and movement in film. Regardless, I am very confident that if I ever were to have a large scale video or audio editing project in my future classes, I am secure in my skills and I am certain that I would have the full capacity to complete such an assignment. In all honesty, my biggest problem with such assignments would probably be struggling with creating text and graphics, since Wondershare Filmora has a vastly different UI system. And I will say this, the more I work with any of these editing softwares, the better I get at producing any of my next big video projects accordingly. As of now I am not looking to go into any sort of career that would require being proficient in A/V editing, however it is nice having these skills under my belt so that I could do something else on the side that tapped into those sort of skills, and I'd actually find that to be rather enjoyable.
These are still probably my best two examples of A/V editing
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Creator InfoThis is a blog for a Game Art Design class. Future programmer and currently an artist and writer. Archives
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