On Friday, me and the rest of my game design class partook in a playtesting activity where we critiqued two in development educational games based on economics and finance. The first, "Shady Sam's" which was a game where the main goal was to con people by various means to make them pay the greatest loans possible. The second game was a tabletop game prototype to be made digitally later based on credit scores and paying off debts. Both were legitimately enjoyable, and I walked away with what I presume to be a more economically aware perspective. It's important to playtest with your target audience because no matter what, a room of adults will never be able to see completely into the minds of teenagers, so getting their input is more than necessary. As for the games themselves, I honestly see little to no problems at all with Shady Sam's, if anything I wished it could last longer! (Though then again this is coming from a person who can regularly clock in 100+ hours into most RPGs, so don't exactly trust me on this one) As for the prototype however, I feel like if there was a better explanation at the start, that would have eased me into things a bit quicker, and having an actual counter for the number of turns left, rather than a painted die, would work out much better. As for the gameplay itself, there definitely needs to be a bit of balancing done, specifically if you get a bad start, there's not much you can do as long as your opponent plays it safe. After all, if they never take expensive risks, they're almost guaranteed to win, especially if most of the chance cards only affect the individual, not the whole board or just your opponent.
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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 |
Creator InfoThis is a blog for a Game Art Design class. Future programmer and currently an artist and writer. Archives
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