Time Hollow Review

Image Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/Timeholloweurope.jpg

Time Hollow is one of those games that had a great concept, but was implemented poorly. Initially I was hooked to this game, but then it was getting overly repetitive, dull, and annoying. I did manage to finish this regardless, because at on point it was an interesting game.

Warning: Risk of spoilers from reading the review.



Story: Time Hollow's story starts with Ethan Kairos (English version anyway) who wakes up on his 17th birthday finding out that his parents have disappeared 12 years ago. This is strange for him because he remembered last night he was just talking to them about his birthday. He is also seeing weird flashbacks and has no idea why he's getting them.

He also finds a pen called the "Hollow Pen" which apparently creates a small hole to the past. You can use this to fix things in the past so the present may also be fixed. Throughout the whole game Ethan uses this pen to fix things, from his parent's missing to his friend disappearing, so on and so forth.

Now, this deals with time traveling, so it at one point will start to get confusing.
What really confused me though was when Irving suddenly became Jack Twombly. If anyone can explain how time traveling can change your identity altogether other than killing that person in the past and changing your name to his, please comment, because that confused me in so many ways. There may be some loopholes and inconsistencies at this point due to all the mingling with the past, but let's overlook that (except for the Irving changing identity bit).

What am I talking about? There's a part in the game where Irving Onegin goes back to the past and seals himself there. In present time, someone who looks EXACTLY like Irving Onegin (and technically is still him) appears and becomes Jack Twombly (who note is a different person altogether and in no way related to Onegin), Ethan Kairos' homeroom teacher. Ethan of course does not understand how it's possible (neither can I) and Irving explains that he got rid of the original Jack in this reality. Yes, it doesn't make sense. This is probably the weirdest part, that also does not make sense AT all to me. Time traveling is confusing enough, but CHANGING IDENTITIES?

Gameplay: It has a simple core gameplay, and that's all it has. This made the game repetitive, and thus boring.

Here's the procedure:

1. You will be having uncomfirmed flashbacks. These are your guides when you start "digging" into the past using the Hollow Pen. They are uncomfirmed because you have no information about it. This is where you go asking information from people (You USUALLY go to the library for this).

2. Once you have the information you need, update/confirm your flashback (System Menu -> Flashbacks-> Click related flashback) and you can now start digging. Note you have to do this ALL the time, because the game will not update the flashback automatically for you. Honestly, this is a waste of tapping on the screen which could irritate some players.

3. Go to the area where the flashback is, dig, and do the appropriate fixing. (This is probably the ONLY variation you're getting from the game - you can add/remove items, examine stuff or talk to people if you can).

Now, initially this was a cool idea, but there's hardly any variety to it and it doesn't get any harder than what I just stated. Other than gathering intel, this is ALL you do...and it sucks. I think if it weren't for the slightly interesting story, I probably would have not finished it.

Another annoying thing is that this game is TOO linear. Even when the facts are really obvious that you think you can start digging, you can't. There are still certain steps to do to progress the game, regardless how unnecessary they may be.

The game also had some parallax scrolling, but it was very minimal and thus didn't give much depth to the static background. The developers sadly didn't maximize it to somehow make the game a little more challenging.

Art: This is probably one of the good points to the game. It had nice art. It had a lot of art to give the characters expression and personality. It made it eye-catching. Their videos were interesting too like a mini-sode to make things more interesting. While I do love games with cutscenes and stuff, this is still a game after all.

Characters: I don't really have much to say about them, since there was nothing interesting about them. Some barely have any impact to the story at all.

Overall, this game had good potential but it was overly simple and linear that could bore the player. This may have had been better as an anime series than an actual game.

Oh, and for those who DID finish the game once, just so you know you can play it again and given the right choices you can actually just move to the last chapter without having to do a lot of other stuff. Yes, am serious. Your second playthrough can be finished in a matter of minutes. From the first part of the game where you are at home with your folks, you can end up going to the school the next day (As if you were on the last chapter) to make everything right.

I dunno if this implies that the story could have been MUCH shorter than the one I went through, or the developers just wanted to place this for a kick, but there you have it.

That's all for now. I'm off to play Kingdom Hearts on the DS.
Read More......

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 Review

ANOTHER DS GAME? Yes...that's all I play now.

Hotel Dusk is another adventure game similar to the Phoenix Wright series. It's heavy in dialogue and to progress you need to know the right words to say. The story sets in around the 1970s, just after Christmas. Kyle Hyde, an ex-detective who is now a salesman travels to Hotel Dusk to do business as well as to find out whatever happened to his old partner, Brian Bradley. His only clue is a old crappy hotel called Hotel Dusk, and from there he learns the answers to all his questions...one by one.

Detailed review is below:



Story: HIGHLY COMPLEX, in sum. I can't put a start and end to how this goes, but it's not complex to the point that you don't understand what's going on. The game was designed in such a way that you learn these facts little by little (explains why there are 10 chapters in the game) and after every chapter you do a review. While the pop-quiz thing was kinda "WTH" to me, I thought it was a good way to make sure the player understands the situation in the game. Plus, it's not like you're punished for it. You can keep guessing.

The setting and theme of this game is darker and more serious compared to the colorful and animated theme of the Phoenix Wright series. The colors are very bland and...normal.

Characters: I can't really say that they had a rich personality, but putting all these characters in one game makes it kind of amusing. I'm amused at how their dialogue reflects their personality by using slang or something.

Now, about the main character...if there's one thing I remember in Game Design, it's that you should make your main character like-able. Why? Because if you don't you'll piss the player off and the player won't want to play the game. Kyle Hyde, in my opinion was sometimes a jerk. He pretty much played "dark bad cop" for the most part, which irritated me a bit because it didn't feel justified to me. He wasn't a total asshole of course. Just that the way he handles conversations was kinda annoying. Luckily, you can sorta control that attitude by choosing what he should say, but then again, you can just choose "No thanks" and then see Kyle Hyde mention how annoying the person was and so he's not interested.

Gameplay If you broke down the gameplay to simple terms, it's similar to the Phoenix Wright series. You need to talk to people, show them items so they talk more, and investigate the area for clues. What made it different was the UI and some minor details. Is it better? No. It worked for this game.

Unlike the Phoenix Wright series though, Hotel Dusk has mini-games or puzzles that you need to solve to get by. These CANNOT be skipped, but these games are just so simple I'd rather call them micro-games than mini-games. These mini-games have something to do with the story, not some game that they just inserted for the hell of it.

Oh, interesting thing about this game is you can experience a "GAME OVER" by choosing the wrong answer to say in a dialogue. Yes, this has happened. Sometimes it's merely just not listening to the characters hinting to you that could make you repeat the chapter or last savepoint.

Overall, what do I think of it? Well, I had high hopes that this game would be something spooky or creepy given how it was presented in the title cover and how it was summarized. I was sadly disappointed because that's not how the story went and compared to what I thought it was going to be it was kinda...dull. So, let me put your expectations in a proper place: IT'S NOT A HORROR GAME. IT'S A MYSTERY GAME.

Since I categorize this to something similar to a visual novel, I say it was pretty well done. The game still makes the player interact with the game and it brings back the whole dating-sim feature where conversations can count in progressing further...and it didn't have to be a dating sim game.

If you're not fond of heavy dialogue and lots of reading, this may not be the game for you. If you like mystery stories though and don't mind an interactive environment to it, I suggest you try this out.
Read More......

Do casual games need a good story?

Today I'm not going to be writing a review. So, unless you're interested with what I have to say you may not want to check it out.

For this entry I have decided to write about casual games and having a good story. I'm a newbie with the gaming industry, as I am young and have not been playing so many games for a while, so feel free to leave a comment to correct me or what not on what am about to say.



STORY MODE HERE. SKIP THIS PART IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED

I've been working with a game development company that focuses on making casual games. I was given a project to test a game that they were about to release.

So, I tested it and played it out. It looked like it was practically finished so I didn't have much bugs to comment on. Instead, I started questioning on the grammar and how the flow of the story went.

I felt a little upset when I found out that I didn't sound "tech-y" enough probably because I didn't point out a lot of other things in the game like buggy buttons or something off in the graphics. However, someone came up to me and praised me for my comments.

I found out months later that the reason why I was praised for it because other than the designers of the game, I was the only one who cared about the story. Nobody else bothered to read the dialogue unless it looked off in terms of format or most likely grammar bugs (I was the only one so far who seemed to care, or had no idea at the time that they don't prioritize that). Nobody apparently asked questions on how the flow of the story went. If ever, people would just ask the designer/s "So, is the story good?" or something of the sort.

STORY MODE OVER. POINT OF BLOGGING BELOW:

This surprised me. Is that the definition of a casual gamer? Someone who just plays a game and moves on with their life?

For the past few months this question bothered me, because I thought like movies, games SHOULD have a good story, whether casual or hardcore type of games. Sure, I admit not ALL games have a story and don't need one, but if you're going to put one in you may as well make it decent right? Not to mention a lot of the games lately (usually the triple A kind of games) have them to pull the player in.

Another reason this bothered me was because I hope that one day, I would become a game writer/designer as well. But knowing that putting a REALLY thought-provoking story may end up totally destroyed because the publisher doesn't want it or it will just be a hindrance to the player doesn't make me feel good. While I know money is VERY important to get a game company to get by, I don't like the idea of having to scrap something I worked my brains out and find out that "Uh, this is A CASUAL GAME. They will just get annoyed reading the dialogue." Or something.

This once again made me wonder, what ARE casual games anyway?

So I check out Wikipedia to get a quick recap on this.

A casual game is a video game or online game targeted at or used by a mass audience of casual gamers. Casual games can have any type of gameplay, and fit in any genre. They are typically distinguished by their simple rules and lack of commitment required in contrast to more complex hardcore games.[1] They require no long-term time commitment or special skills to play, and there are comparatively low production and distribution costs for the producer.[2] Casual games typically are played on a personal computer online in web browsers, although they now are starting to become popular on game consoles, too. Casual gaming demographics also vary greatly from those of traditional computer games, as the typical casual gamer is older [3] and more predominantly female,[4] with over 74% of those purchasing casual games being women.[5]

Most casual games have similar basic features:

* Extremely simple gameplay, like a puzzle game that can be played entirely using a one-button mouse or cellphone keypad
* Allowing gameplay in short bursts, during work breaks or, in the case of portable and cell phone games, on public transportation
* The ability to quickly reach a final stage,[6] or continuous play with no need to save the game
* Some variant on a "try before you buy" business model or an advertising-based model

Notice you don't see any "simple story" here. Yup, you don't.

So, to summarize my whole point the question I have is: Can you make a casual game that has a REALLY good story, and will it sell?

So far, the games I've played with good stories are: Phoenix Wright, Ravenhearst, Hotel Dusk, and Drawn. There are probably more but these are the first things that were in my head. These are GOOD games, and some of these have had good ratings.

...I'm starting to realize my blog may not have a point anymore...BUT ANYWAY. If you're a casual gamer, what do you think? Do you care about the story? Do you want a game where you'll have to read through dialogues to understand what you're doing or of the sort?

Or are you totally content with just matching 3 or more object to get to the next level or shooting zombies with plans?

That's all.
Read More......

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Review

WARNING: SPOILERS MAY BE PRESENT

Until now I have yet to start with my Avenue Flo review, which was suppose to be my next review. However I just finished Apollo Justice and I HAD to talk about it.

Yes am a big fan.

Apollo Justice is part of the Phoenix Wright series except that you are now playing another character. If you wanted to know who, it's Apollo Justice who like in Phoenix Wright's first game is an new attorney.


Story: Setting is around 7 years possible after T&T. Apollo is about to take on his first case and his first client...IS PHOENIX WRIGHT. *gasps* You learn that Phoenix Wright is no longer an attorney because in his last case 7 years ago his attorney badge was revoked. He also has a daughter now, but note that this can't be possible since if it were he would have had her when he was only 18 years old.

Ema Skye from Ace Attorney returns as a detective who replaces Gumshoe from the Phoenix Wright series. She is now very moody-which is a disappointment because I loved Ema Skye- and she loves snacks. LOVES IT.

The cases, similar to Trials and Tribulations are connected because they all slowly unravel the mystery of what ever happened to Phoenix Wright on his last case. I'd tell more, but I think I spoiled you enough as it is. It's just as good as Trials and Tribulations, trust me.

Gameplay: Gameplay is the same as always, with possibly 2 major differences. First of all, you can only present profiles ONLY when required so when talking to people you can only present evidence. Second of all, now that you are Apollo Justice you no longer use the Magatama to discover secrets or lies from other characters. Instead, you have this power to sense tension between others so you can "perceive" when they are lying. In simple terms, it's actually more realistic for a lawyer to have this ability - to notice a habit a witness is using when they're lying. The creators just designed made it look so MAGICAL and possible to use as a feature.

Now that Ema Skye is back, the forensics have returned, and there's more of that when she was just 16. Not only do you test fingerprints, you test for poison on items, test toeprints, test for shoe marks, and read through unopened letters. The interactiveness of the DS is definitely used with this game.

Characters: You can actually sorta put stereotypes to the characters in the game. The main character is always a newbie and unsure of what he or she is doing. (ex: Phoenix Wright in the first 3 series, Mia Fey in Trials and Tribulations, and now Apollo in Apollo Justice), you have a sidekick who is full of energy and may not make sense at times (Maya Fey from Phoenix Wright and now Trucy Wright from Apollo Justice), you have a mentor who seems to know it all and makes you figure it out yourself (Mia Fey from Phoenix Wright, and now Phoenix Wright from Apollo Justice), a prosecutor who was supposedly your rival but helps you out in the end (Miles Edgeworth from Phoenix Wright and now Klavier Gavin from Apollo Justice) and always, at the final case, the guilty one will always be highly super evil but not look it at first (Demon Gant from Ace Attorney, Matt Engarde from Justice for All, Dahlia Hawthorne from Trials and Tribulations and finally, Kristoph Gavin from Apollo Justice)

And in between you will meet characters with their own quirks and if given the proper evidence their break downs are always exaggerated.

Overall, this was just as addicting as the other Phoenix Wright games and a really good game if you like this kind of genre. I don't think Capcom plans to continue the Apollo Justice series, but you never know right?

Miles Edgeworth's game should be out on Feb of 2010 if am not mistaken. CAN'T WAIT.
Read More......

Phoenix Wright- Trials and Tribulations

Warning: Spoilers may be ahead. Read this review with caution (and comments are loved)

I've been a fan of the Phoenix Wright series for a year or so, but it was only recently that I played the third installment, due to the fact that I could not take it anymore. (I've sadly been playing on an emulator due to my lack of cash for my own DS, but now that I received one it's only the matter of finding the cartridge.)

So anyway, while I don't know if I can consider this a "casual" game, I decided to write about it anyway while the game is still fresh in my head.

First of all, before you play this game, I highly recommend you play the first 2. That would be "Ace Attorney" and "Justice for All." Why? First of all, Trials and Tribulations contains plots and details that happened in the past 2 games. Second, I feel it could be said that Trials and Tribulations is difficult for someone who is not familiar with how the game mechanics work.



I would think Capcom made sure that their targer market would be those who have already played the previous series and would not make it any easier to finish the game. After all, it would suck if their latest game did not do justice to the first two.

Anyway, let's talk about the game.

Interactivity One of the cool things about the DS is that it's quite interactive, with the implementation of a microphone that can actually be used in games. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney made use of this during some of the investigations where it's like you're part of the CSI. However, Trials and Tribulations did not implement this. You don't do any CSI stuff in this game, but I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It might be...if you like that stuff.

Story and Character Development The cases that had happened, all have something in common. They all revolve around the main antagonist, Dahlia Hawthorne. There was only one case that didn't have anything to do with her, but it was still a pretty interesting case. (Well, Recipe for a Turnabout was KINDA silly with the whole Tigre looking like Phoenix but I suppose they needed a side-case somehow to sorta sidetrack the player for a while)

This is where we get to learn more about Mia Fey, and how her life was before Phoenix Wright took over. It was a good thing to do this actually, since her death was kinda surprising considering we all thought she was going to be a MAJOR character and then gets cut off so early in the game. It's also interesting to see how it all started before Phoenix Wright came in, during the first case where Mia Fey and Miles Edgeworth made their debut and in a sense, how the last cases related to it. (On another note, Mia and Miles 6 years ago == WOW)

Other than the DL-6 incident from Ace Attorney, we also are brought back to a case in Justice for all which was the murder at the Kurain Village and Maya Fey was put to the stand. In T&T, we learn more information about the Kurain Village and the cruel family feud where the branch families are fighting for the main bloodline, and as promised from Justice for All, Morgan Fey did try to cast revenge.

It's amazing how one case connected these 2 past cases, and older cases that were only brought to light in this chapter of the series. We've come to understand more about how Mia Fey grew up to the lawyer she was before she died, and how Phoenix has also become more mature to handle his cases. If you've noticed, Phoenix is rarely unsure of himself when he makes objections unlike before. He knows his stuff now, which I feel is a major development. After all, even by now the players are more familiar with how the cases go so it makes sense that Phoenix has a more confident attitude than he did before.

Miles and Franziska have slightly changed as well. While Edgeworth is still arrogant and Franziska still whips anyone she finds annoying, they actually do help out Phoenix Wright when he needs it, and are vital characters in this game.

Larry is still an idiot though, but I think we can all live with that.

Art and Gameplay These 2 haven't changed since the first game which is no problem at all. The only major game update of the 3 was starting from the second game you can now present profiles for evidence and the feature of the Magatama. Phoenix Wright never had the need to change their art, and I don't mind that at all. The only thing that seems to change is the cases and the challenges of getting your client the "not guilty" verdict.

Overall: Trials and Tribulations is yet to be one of the best Phoenix Wright games I have played, and if you're a fan, you'll miss out if you don't play it.


Read More......

Mystery Case Files- Prime Suspects Review

For my first review, I'll be starting off with Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects.

Story: Someone stole a diamond. There are 20 suspects. Find the culprit.

Game Mechanics: Basically the goal is to go through around 20 set of possible suspects by searching through random locations on the map. Once you've found all the "clues", you go through your Crime Computer and piece them out through mini-games to see if the person is innocent or not.

This cycle continues until you have to find the actual diamond.

Here are some screenshots of the game:




The case report, which talks about the different suspects.



The map of Capitol City, where there are different HO scenes to find your clues



The Crime Computer

My opinion:

Story-wise, it looked like they focused more on making the game and then just making a story out of it. While they say that casual gamers don't care too much about a story, for me I felt that story is STILL important which is why games like Ravenhearst became so popular.

Like a lot of HO games, it borders around the "find clues by finding random objects" idea. So, yes it's possible you need to find 3 kinds of keyboards which has no relation to the case.

Difficulty wise, Prime Suspects is kinda tricky. Not only is the area messy like a lot of HO games, I noticed they love to mess with the ambiguity of the English language.



THE MESS

Example: 2 spades. A spade could either be a face of a card, or a shovel. You'd think once you'd find a shovel the second one would also be a shovel.

Wrong. Most likely the second spade you'll be looking for is the one you see on playing cards. It makes one think out of the box, which is great.

Along with ambiguity, they added another feature that may make it easier or harder for the player which is the x-ray/flashlight feature.



X-ray feature



Flashlight feature

To make things a little interesting certain parts of the map required that you find a battery in other locations to be able to find other items. I don't know if this makes the game easier or harder, because it has it's pros and cons. Still an interesting thing to place though.

So for every time you find all the clues per investigation, you use the Crime Computer and play 3 different mini-games. One is puzzle-type game, one is crossword-type of game and the last is a memory game. All 3 have one goal which is to see the underlying picture.



Sample Mini-game (Puzzle)

These mini-games are the easy to finish. The hardest one of all was the crossword puzzle, since that required me to think. (The first one was to find 10 breakfast foods...not only do I not eat breakfast, but I'm unaware of what Americans usually eat for breakfast.)

Overall:

If you're the type who just wants to find things, with no other complications like finding a key to open a door or to have a deep complex story, Prime Suspects is the game for you. Note that like the Ravenhearst series items are REALLY tricky to find due to the messy scenes, but that's worth the challenge right?


Read More......

Introduction

Hi there.

Apparently to Blogger, my name is Blood on the Mirror, but Minaru is also another name I use.

I would like to call myself a gamer, but I'm not the type who is a big fan hardcore games like WoW or Mass Effect, etc. (I really need to learn how to play doTA though)

I'm more of a casual gamer. I love click management games (Diner Dash), Hidden Object games (Ravenhearst), 3-match puzzle games (Bejeweled) and so on. You're most likely going to find me on an uber powerful PC playing Jenny's Fish Shop or something. Or, if I want to, Solitaire. (Yes I ALSO love that game to bits)

I'm currently hoping to be a game designer one day, and I think the best way to do so is to learn from the people who've played games.

So from now on I'll be posting reviews of random casual games. For now I'll be starting with Hidden Object games because my laptop is full of them. Then I'll work with other genres (maybe DS games I hope?)

So there. That's all. Read More......