1. Glazing over the description of Copoka, I thought it was going to be a relaxing, walking sim type game where you just fly around and look at pretty things. It definitely is this sort of game but, more so than that, it uses its gameplay as means to build build a world and unroll a narrative w/in that world.
2. I figured Copoka was named after the bird you play as but it's actually named after the city you are in. Copoka will be well explored w/in the odd hour or so you will spend playing w/ this. Gameplay consists of flying around to pick up things to make your nest w/ but that is really just an excuse to put you w/in earshot of various conversations happening around the city. Building a nest is not some sort of challenge meant to tax you as a gamer.
3. The stage is set initially by announcements you hear on a loudspeaker about the Great Leader and and grand stocks of food, the powerful military and so forth. Conversations overheard reveal that things are not so wonderful as the city sponsored propaganda would make you think.
4. It took me a while to notice Copoka is actually populated by bird people. This seems to have no bearing on anything.
5. Flying around feels pretty good. The default control scheme is a bit gusty and imprecise but it's clearly meant to be that way. Birds can't just stop on a dime mid-air. If this game offers thrills, it's from flying way up in the air and swooping down near a target w/o having to overshoot and come back around.
6. It helps that Copoka is gorgeous. Flying high, when you can see the greys and blues of the city feather out into the brighter greens of the country side, there is just nothing prettier. It's got a low poly style but it doesn't really revel in it. The style is in the service of the use of colors and the colors serve the purpose of creating a mood.
7. The orchestral score fits in w/ this perfectly. It's lush and full sounding but still understated and airy w/ just enough drama to keep it interesting. It reinforces the feeling created by the story and visuals w/o becoming overbearing or getting in the way.
8. Basically, every story element of Copoka is optional. You are
free to fly off and not listen to the dialog if you want but this would be something like going to a bar for the experience of sitting on a stool.
9. The story is presented in a few discreet moments in the city's timeline,
each in a successive season. The change of season--and consequent
change of color scheme and mood--is tied in well w/ the phase the story
of revolution and intrigue is in as it slowly unravels.
10. Since the story is all told through overheard conversations, you get
many varied perspectives on it, esp. if you go off to explore the more
optional content. Some people are completely on board w/ the current
government, some people are ready to personally assassinate the Great
Leader and, naturally, many people fall somewhat in between.
11. One esp. important angle that Copoka does not shy away from is that revolution--even one that overthrows totalitarian rule--does have downsides.
12. The city of Copoka is pretty small ultimately as is the surrounding countryside. If you are looking for an open world to spend endless hours in, this is really not for you. The whole world is open from the outset and there's not really much in the way of secrets or discoveries to be unveiled through diligent search. This is more a game you wander through, taking detours as you see fit, than one where you pour over every nook and cranny.
13. What Copoka does is use its brief time w/ you exceedingly effectively. A full world is built and a narrative is established and completed. It is a curious new way to tell a story and its simple, pretty presentation works very well. I could possibly damn this w/ a "not for everyone" label due to it's general lack of challenge but I think most folks are going to rather enjoy what time they do put into this game.
Monday, July 30, 2018
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
13 Points on Quarantine Circular - Bithell Games - 2018 [PC]
1. I have long thought that short stories were the ideal medium for speculative fiction but games like Bithell's Quarantine Circular are making me reconsider this opinion. The what if questions the genre is so good at offering typically don't require too much exposition so I feel like it's best to dig right in and get to it. Shot stories do that. Games do that and make you a part of the story.
2. Quarantine Circular is not too involved in terms of plot. Everyone on earth is dying of a new kind of disease. An alien, dubbed Gabriel by an AI translator program, has been captured by the team of people who are responsible for fighting this disease. Gabriel, as it so happens, claims to have a cure for the disease. As the player, you are tasked w/ trying to figure out if Gabriel's visit is opportune or if maybe him showing up is just a little too much of a coincidence.
3. This has pretty nice graphics but you really only need the text. Your only real way interact is to chose your spoken responses to any given bit of dialog.
4. There are six characters in the story and you play as all of them. Most of the characters are fairly sympathetic and so I generally found a choice of something like what I would actually say. However, this is one character who I found unpalatable so playing as her was a bit frustrating.
5. So back to speculative fiction and why this game does the genre so well: the questions here are fairly straightforward but highly intertwined: What if our current medical treatments fail? How will society react when faced w/ an obvious and imminent threat of extinction? How will we treat extraterrestrials who come upon us in such times of stress?
6. These are all presented w/in the framework of a few conversations that also manage to paint a portrait of a wide universe of civilizations beyond that of humans on earth. This comes w/ a host of questions in its own right but I will spare you another list.
7. What games and Quarantine Circular in particular add to this genre is perspective. You are not along for the ride in struggling w/ these new problems, you are actually dealing w/ them yourself. It is a more sympathetic standpoint. If you pass judgement, you are forced to pass judgement on yourself.
8. This reliance on perspective makes switching characters for each scene make a ton of sense. Breaking the rules seems appealing when you are on bottom of the org chart but much less so when you are in charge. I even found some sympathy for the one character I didn't much like when I felt the weight that was exclusively resting on her.
9. The central choices in Quarantine Circular almost all revolve around how you treat the alien, Gabriel. He has a compelling offer for the humans, one that can save them all. It is also possible he's lying and leaving him to his devices will lead to disaster. I suspect most people will lean towards helping him out, at least initially, and I think the game guides you a little bit in that direction through its dialog choices.
10. If I have a problem w/ this game is it does not really do a good job of instilling any kind of doubt what the alien Gabriel's real purpose is. If you don't doubt your choice, the ending, whatever it is, is either going to feel either obvious or abrupt.
11. Quarantine Circular absolutely demands repeat playthroughs. For starters, the first time through, it might not end how you want. After that, it is just interesting to see what other outcomes you might find and play w/ some of the less consequential dialog choices. On your first few times through, it maintains the feeling that every choice aside from the most obviously superfluous ones matters. After that, you can skip through scene by scene and rather quickly go through all the branching outcomes.
12. I did find that even w/ the limited choices of dialog, that I wanted to and was able to roll play each character a bit. The grimmest outcome came about when I tried to play everyone as lawful good. Let that be a lesson to you, kiddos, break the law as much as possible.
13. You are probably not seeing the story presented by Quarantine Circular for the first time--a suspicious stranger from outer-space offering to save Earth--but I think this will be the first time you'll have seen it from quite this angle. I cannot speak for its eventual longevity in the public eye but it did seem to draw a great deal of attention from game journalists so, for now, this has the makings of becoming a landmark of speculative fiction. You don't want to miss out regardless.
2. Quarantine Circular is not too involved in terms of plot. Everyone on earth is dying of a new kind of disease. An alien, dubbed Gabriel by an AI translator program, has been captured by the team of people who are responsible for fighting this disease. Gabriel, as it so happens, claims to have a cure for the disease. As the player, you are tasked w/ trying to figure out if Gabriel's visit is opportune or if maybe him showing up is just a little too much of a coincidence.
3. This has pretty nice graphics but you really only need the text. Your only real way interact is to chose your spoken responses to any given bit of dialog.
4. There are six characters in the story and you play as all of them. Most of the characters are fairly sympathetic and so I generally found a choice of something like what I would actually say. However, this is one character who I found unpalatable so playing as her was a bit frustrating.
5. So back to speculative fiction and why this game does the genre so well: the questions here are fairly straightforward but highly intertwined: What if our current medical treatments fail? How will society react when faced w/ an obvious and imminent threat of extinction? How will we treat extraterrestrials who come upon us in such times of stress?
6. These are all presented w/in the framework of a few conversations that also manage to paint a portrait of a wide universe of civilizations beyond that of humans on earth. This comes w/ a host of questions in its own right but I will spare you another list.
7. What games and Quarantine Circular in particular add to this genre is perspective. You are not along for the ride in struggling w/ these new problems, you are actually dealing w/ them yourself. It is a more sympathetic standpoint. If you pass judgement, you are forced to pass judgement on yourself.
8. This reliance on perspective makes switching characters for each scene make a ton of sense. Breaking the rules seems appealing when you are on bottom of the org chart but much less so when you are in charge. I even found some sympathy for the one character I didn't much like when I felt the weight that was exclusively resting on her.
9. The central choices in Quarantine Circular almost all revolve around how you treat the alien, Gabriel. He has a compelling offer for the humans, one that can save them all. It is also possible he's lying and leaving him to his devices will lead to disaster. I suspect most people will lean towards helping him out, at least initially, and I think the game guides you a little bit in that direction through its dialog choices.
10. If I have a problem w/ this game is it does not really do a good job of instilling any kind of doubt what the alien Gabriel's real purpose is. If you don't doubt your choice, the ending, whatever it is, is either going to feel either obvious or abrupt.
11. Quarantine Circular absolutely demands repeat playthroughs. For starters, the first time through, it might not end how you want. After that, it is just interesting to see what other outcomes you might find and play w/ some of the less consequential dialog choices. On your first few times through, it maintains the feeling that every choice aside from the most obviously superfluous ones matters. After that, you can skip through scene by scene and rather quickly go through all the branching outcomes.
12. I did find that even w/ the limited choices of dialog, that I wanted to and was able to roll play each character a bit. The grimmest outcome came about when I tried to play everyone as lawful good. Let that be a lesson to you, kiddos, break the law as much as possible.
13. You are probably not seeing the story presented by Quarantine Circular for the first time--a suspicious stranger from outer-space offering to save Earth--but I think this will be the first time you'll have seen it from quite this angle. I cannot speak for its eventual longevity in the public eye but it did seem to draw a great deal of attention from game journalists so, for now, this has the makings of becoming a landmark of speculative fiction. You don't want to miss out regardless.
Friday, July 20, 2018
13 Points on LostWinds - Frontier Developments - 2008 [PC]
1. LostWinds is a platformer where there is no jump button and a platformer that you cannot play with a standard controller. Somehow, it is actually good.
2. Also somewhat surprisingly, it is made by the same people who made Elite: Dangerous. Odder still is the fact that they bothered porting this old Wii game to the PC nearly a decade after the fact. It is not like this was some landmark title that people were clamoring for. It was either very easy to do or a small passion project or something. I can't imagine folks are getting rich off this title so it's just kinda cool to seem them give this little game a longer lease on life.
3. Subbing in the mouse and keyboard for a Wii Remote actually works really well. This felt like a natural fit on PC.
4. The folks at Frontier actually argue they are an indie game company in spirit but that is going to be a bit of stretch for most people due to their number of employees being in the triple digits. Nevertheless, LostWinds feels very much like an indie game. It's rather short, w/ graphics that are stylish rather than technologically impressive and game-play is focused on a few more experimental mechanics.
5. LostWinds setup is, pretty much, it's a videogame. You are on an exotic-type island being taken over by a dark evil. You've got to save everyone. Along the way, you enlist some wind spirits to help out. It's all good.
6. The wind spirits are the excuse for the game's chief mechanic, which is that instead of jumping, you blow yourself around w/ the wind. For something that is more-or-less a gimmick, it proves to be a remarkably robust gameplay element. It is not accurate enough replace the good, old, press-button-to-jump mechanics platformers usually use but it adds a neat wrinkle.
7. As you push through, your ability to control wind increases and you are able to blow larger objects and enemies farther and farther. This allows for some light puzzle solving elements such as placing rocks on switches or blowing a flame from a torch to burn down a wooden door. It's not exactly braniac stuff but it keeps the mind engaged. The puzzles aren't so much hard as they are satisfying in their cleverness.
8. This is a nice looking game, technically, esp. for something that was originally WiiWare but it is really more about style. The sense you get is one of a fairy tale. The world is cute and vibrant. There are enemies but they feel more like obstacles than something that is actually dangerous to you. In a short game, LostWinds does an incredible job of evoking the wonder of exploration.
9. W/ its cherry blossoms and rolling country scenery, it has a Japanese feel to it which is complimented by its soundtrack. Soft flutes and koto intermingle for a light, airy mood that suits a game about wind spirits quite well.
10. Progression through the game happens in limited a Metroidvania-style. As you gain new wind abilities, it allows you to get to new areas. I say limited because there is very little backtracking involved and outside of the central area of the map that connects everything, you only need to go to each area once.
11. Savepoints are pretty generous and death is fairly rare but there was one particular section towards the end I failed a couple times that set me back by a really irritating amount. Enough so I am wasting a whole point to tell you this.
12. LostWinds is definitely a one and done type game. After playing through, there are a few collectables to explore and find but, really, if you come back, it will be more for the same reason you rewatch your favorite movies rather than the expectation of finding new gameplay. It's going to be about the same experience each time.
13. I don't use this term often but this is something of a hidden gem. I got it in a bundle or I never would have heard of it yet it is not only a solid game but one that feels pretty unique and special. It requires neither a large monetary nor time commitment and provides a tight gameplay experience w/ experimental controls that work and aren't annoying. Yes, I am thinking LostWinds is definitely a game you all should play.
2. Also somewhat surprisingly, it is made by the same people who made Elite: Dangerous. Odder still is the fact that they bothered porting this old Wii game to the PC nearly a decade after the fact. It is not like this was some landmark title that people were clamoring for. It was either very easy to do or a small passion project or something. I can't imagine folks are getting rich off this title so it's just kinda cool to seem them give this little game a longer lease on life.
3. Subbing in the mouse and keyboard for a Wii Remote actually works really well. This felt like a natural fit on PC.
4. The folks at Frontier actually argue they are an indie game company in spirit but that is going to be a bit of stretch for most people due to their number of employees being in the triple digits. Nevertheless, LostWinds feels very much like an indie game. It's rather short, w/ graphics that are stylish rather than technologically impressive and game-play is focused on a few more experimental mechanics.
5. LostWinds setup is, pretty much, it's a videogame. You are on an exotic-type island being taken over by a dark evil. You've got to save everyone. Along the way, you enlist some wind spirits to help out. It's all good.
6. The wind spirits are the excuse for the game's chief mechanic, which is that instead of jumping, you blow yourself around w/ the wind. For something that is more-or-less a gimmick, it proves to be a remarkably robust gameplay element. It is not accurate enough replace the good, old, press-button-to-jump mechanics platformers usually use but it adds a neat wrinkle.
7. As you push through, your ability to control wind increases and you are able to blow larger objects and enemies farther and farther. This allows for some light puzzle solving elements such as placing rocks on switches or blowing a flame from a torch to burn down a wooden door. It's not exactly braniac stuff but it keeps the mind engaged. The puzzles aren't so much hard as they are satisfying in their cleverness.
8. This is a nice looking game, technically, esp. for something that was originally WiiWare but it is really more about style. The sense you get is one of a fairy tale. The world is cute and vibrant. There are enemies but they feel more like obstacles than something that is actually dangerous to you. In a short game, LostWinds does an incredible job of evoking the wonder of exploration.
9. W/ its cherry blossoms and rolling country scenery, it has a Japanese feel to it which is complimented by its soundtrack. Soft flutes and koto intermingle for a light, airy mood that suits a game about wind spirits quite well.
10. Progression through the game happens in limited a Metroidvania-style. As you gain new wind abilities, it allows you to get to new areas. I say limited because there is very little backtracking involved and outside of the central area of the map that connects everything, you only need to go to each area once.
11. Savepoints are pretty generous and death is fairly rare but there was one particular section towards the end I failed a couple times that set me back by a really irritating amount. Enough so I am wasting a whole point to tell you this.
12. LostWinds is definitely a one and done type game. After playing through, there are a few collectables to explore and find but, really, if you come back, it will be more for the same reason you rewatch your favorite movies rather than the expectation of finding new gameplay. It's going to be about the same experience each time.
13. I don't use this term often but this is something of a hidden gem. I got it in a bundle or I never would have heard of it yet it is not only a solid game but one that feels pretty unique and special. It requires neither a large monetary nor time commitment and provides a tight gameplay experience w/ experimental controls that work and aren't annoying. Yes, I am thinking LostWinds is definitely a game you all should play.
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
13 Points on ReThink - Yaeko - 2017 [PC]
1. ReThink is a 3D puzzle game. It's really good... except when it's not. Is this remarkable? I don't know.
2. There is an excuse plot which is you are being detained by some horrific future government and need to solve puzzles to escape. Future governments have odd ideas about imprisonment, I guess. I found this all online, by the way. The game doesn't make it too obvious what's going on.
3. Atmospherically, ReThink really works. The visuals have this unnaturally sanitary cleanness to them and the sound is really sparse. This makes for a really realistic backdrop to the contrived situation you are in.
4. The main type of puzzle here consists of refracting various lasers to hit targets. I've played a bunch of browser and mobile games w/ this sort of puzzle in them, always from a top-down perspective. Putting you in the actual space where the puzzle is being solved adds a lot to the equation. It forces you to think things through a bit more and rely on trial and error less. Or, it did for me. I'm a busy person. I don't have time to be walking back and forth trying every possible solution.
5. You will also find yourself having to walk across a series of switches w/o retracing your steps. You will place moveable blocks on the wall to traverse various gaps and you will have to manipulate walls and platforms to manipulate rolling balls to fall on switches. Some of these puzzles are fun but this content all feels a bit tacked on.
6. There are some platforming puzzles in this that are truly godawful. They'd feel out of place even if they were a fair challenge but the controls are a bit weird and certain triggers are buggy, which often causes you to have to completely restart puzzles you already have mostly solved.
7. Speaking of controls, this is mouse and keyboard only. There is no reason for this that I can tell.
8. I am pretty sure I cheesed at least one puzzle really badly, where it let me use a solution that was not supposed to work. Or maybe in just one instance there was a puzzle element that worked completely differently than it did in all other instances and that was intentional. Who knows for sure.
9. The difficulty of ReThink ramps smoothly up from the beginning then gets easy again when a new mechanic is added. It then gets smoothly more difficult until about the halfway point where there are some really tough bits and then it is really easy for the remainder.
10. During that difficult middle section, there are puzzles that depend on solutions to previous puzzles. The first puzzle can be solved easily but you need to come up w/ a more difficult solution in order to get the required elements to solve the next one. This is a really cool mechanic and I wish they had done more w/ it. As it stands, it lets you peek ahead to the next puzzle but you really do need to get the correct solution to the first puzzle before moving on so never gets all that interesting.
11. There is a bit of side content to complete but unfortunately none of it is in the laser refracting puzzle solving that comprises the game's best moments and some of it is of the infuriating jumping puzzle variety. You have to do a substantial portion of this stuff if you want the minimally different good ending but that is the only reason to do it.
12. Aside from some of the platforming, I rather enjoyed my time w/ ReThink and can definitely see myself delving into similar games from the same developer. Its presentation is pretty cool and the puzzles are satisfying where they work. A bit more polish and this could be a real winner.
13. Finally, I've gotten through a whole review of a 3D puzzle game w/o mentioning Portal... Goddammit.
2. There is an excuse plot which is you are being detained by some horrific future government and need to solve puzzles to escape. Future governments have odd ideas about imprisonment, I guess. I found this all online, by the way. The game doesn't make it too obvious what's going on.
3. Atmospherically, ReThink really works. The visuals have this unnaturally sanitary cleanness to them and the sound is really sparse. This makes for a really realistic backdrop to the contrived situation you are in.
4. The main type of puzzle here consists of refracting various lasers to hit targets. I've played a bunch of browser and mobile games w/ this sort of puzzle in them, always from a top-down perspective. Putting you in the actual space where the puzzle is being solved adds a lot to the equation. It forces you to think things through a bit more and rely on trial and error less. Or, it did for me. I'm a busy person. I don't have time to be walking back and forth trying every possible solution.
5. You will also find yourself having to walk across a series of switches w/o retracing your steps. You will place moveable blocks on the wall to traverse various gaps and you will have to manipulate walls and platforms to manipulate rolling balls to fall on switches. Some of these puzzles are fun but this content all feels a bit tacked on.
6. There are some platforming puzzles in this that are truly godawful. They'd feel out of place even if they were a fair challenge but the controls are a bit weird and certain triggers are buggy, which often causes you to have to completely restart puzzles you already have mostly solved.
7. Speaking of controls, this is mouse and keyboard only. There is no reason for this that I can tell.
8. I am pretty sure I cheesed at least one puzzle really badly, where it let me use a solution that was not supposed to work. Or maybe in just one instance there was a puzzle element that worked completely differently than it did in all other instances and that was intentional. Who knows for sure.
9. The difficulty of ReThink ramps smoothly up from the beginning then gets easy again when a new mechanic is added. It then gets smoothly more difficult until about the halfway point where there are some really tough bits and then it is really easy for the remainder.
10. During that difficult middle section, there are puzzles that depend on solutions to previous puzzles. The first puzzle can be solved easily but you need to come up w/ a more difficult solution in order to get the required elements to solve the next one. This is a really cool mechanic and I wish they had done more w/ it. As it stands, it lets you peek ahead to the next puzzle but you really do need to get the correct solution to the first puzzle before moving on so never gets all that interesting.
11. There is a bit of side content to complete but unfortunately none of it is in the laser refracting puzzle solving that comprises the game's best moments and some of it is of the infuriating jumping puzzle variety. You have to do a substantial portion of this stuff if you want the minimally different good ending but that is the only reason to do it.
12. Aside from some of the platforming, I rather enjoyed my time w/ ReThink and can definitely see myself delving into similar games from the same developer. Its presentation is pretty cool and the puzzles are satisfying where they work. A bit more polish and this could be a real winner.
13. Finally, I've gotten through a whole review of a 3D puzzle game w/o mentioning Portal... Goddammit.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
13 Points on Hot Shots Golf - Clap Hanz - 2004 [Sony PSP]
1. One of these days Sony is going to realize it can easily port Hot Shots Golf to mobile devices and they will make so much money they'll just put their PlayStation division to bed. These games are monumentally addictive.
2. The recipe for this cocktail is simple: arcade-type gameplay w/ rewards doled out occasionally based on successfully completed challenges and some given just for sticking it out. You can do better both by becoming more skilled and by acquiring more these upgrades. One way or the other, you are always progressing no matter what you do.
3. The way you play Hot Shots Golf is you pick where you want your shot to go and then press a button twice w/ and ball ends up closer or farther from where you want it to go based on how well you did that. Environmental factors such as wind and the lay of the golf course are one also affect where the ball lands and you also have control over the amount of spin you put on the ball.
4. It has been a very long time since I hit the links myself but Hot Shots has always struck me as having a same feeling of getting into and falling out of the zone as the actual game. If you don't play golf, billiards has the same feeling and so does bowling. Sometimes you get focused just so and the hole seems as big as the moon.
5. So how does the first PSP game in this franchise hold up to the others? Honestly, the graphics and load times are on the same level as PSP games generally and it is otherwise about the same. It has different courses and characters but the same bright, colorful style. This is not a series that needs to reinvent itself.
6. There is cheerful poppy menu music but it's silent accept for a couple voices and environmental sound effects when you are golfing. This is wonderful.
7. The meat of the game is its challenge mode where you play tournaments and vs. matches up against computer opponents. You get to pick one of two playable characters and are awarded more and more options as you push through the game.
8. My biggest complaint about Hot Shots: Open Tee is that all the shot types are unlocked from the get go and some are pretty basic to your overall strategy. Not only that, you have to re-unlock them for each new character you try.
9. There is also very little in the way of tutorials and instruction in the game. You have to look it up in the manual.
10. You can't back out of a tournament or match once you've started it other than to reset your PSP. I am not asking for the ability to save scum after each shot but it would really be nice to be able to quit a round of golf after you've hit a ball into a water hazard three times in a row on the second hole in a course.
11. You can get through the majority of Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee by sheer persistence. You not only gradually get better stats just through playing but eventually luck will win out if you keep trying. One of my favorite moments playing this game was when I was about to lose a Vs. match if the player I was up against could just make a six inch putt. The random number generator decided at this moment that that player should have a catastrophic failure. He turned and actually putted the ball away from the hole, sending the match into sudden death, which I won. Go me!
12. I really wish the multiplayer in this allowed you to just pass a single PSP back and forth between two people. As it is, you need to have two PSPs and two copies of the game and it is hard enough to make friends let alone ones who buy cartoon golf games from 2004.
13. Maybe it is personal to me but the one thing that gives this series a long lasting appeal is that, for whatever reason, as much as I want to play it, I don't feel compelled to sit there and put long hours in to do well. It works really well in shorter sessions--be it a few holes or a few rounds--and that and the fact that golf is inherently played in discrete little chunks makes it a perfect match for on-the-go gaming on a handheld. If you haven't tried this series, don't be afraid to let Open Tee be your intro to Hot Shots Golf. If you have, well, you will just get more of what you love.
2. The recipe for this cocktail is simple: arcade-type gameplay w/ rewards doled out occasionally based on successfully completed challenges and some given just for sticking it out. You can do better both by becoming more skilled and by acquiring more these upgrades. One way or the other, you are always progressing no matter what you do.
3. The way you play Hot Shots Golf is you pick where you want your shot to go and then press a button twice w/ and ball ends up closer or farther from where you want it to go based on how well you did that. Environmental factors such as wind and the lay of the golf course are one also affect where the ball lands and you also have control over the amount of spin you put on the ball.
4. It has been a very long time since I hit the links myself but Hot Shots has always struck me as having a same feeling of getting into and falling out of the zone as the actual game. If you don't play golf, billiards has the same feeling and so does bowling. Sometimes you get focused just so and the hole seems as big as the moon.
5. So how does the first PSP game in this franchise hold up to the others? Honestly, the graphics and load times are on the same level as PSP games generally and it is otherwise about the same. It has different courses and characters but the same bright, colorful style. This is not a series that needs to reinvent itself.
6. There is cheerful poppy menu music but it's silent accept for a couple voices and environmental sound effects when you are golfing. This is wonderful.
7. The meat of the game is its challenge mode where you play tournaments and vs. matches up against computer opponents. You get to pick one of two playable characters and are awarded more and more options as you push through the game.
8. My biggest complaint about Hot Shots: Open Tee is that all the shot types are unlocked from the get go and some are pretty basic to your overall strategy. Not only that, you have to re-unlock them for each new character you try.
9. There is also very little in the way of tutorials and instruction in the game. You have to look it up in the manual.
10. You can't back out of a tournament or match once you've started it other than to reset your PSP. I am not asking for the ability to save scum after each shot but it would really be nice to be able to quit a round of golf after you've hit a ball into a water hazard three times in a row on the second hole in a course.
11. You can get through the majority of Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee by sheer persistence. You not only gradually get better stats just through playing but eventually luck will win out if you keep trying. One of my favorite moments playing this game was when I was about to lose a Vs. match if the player I was up against could just make a six inch putt. The random number generator decided at this moment that that player should have a catastrophic failure. He turned and actually putted the ball away from the hole, sending the match into sudden death, which I won. Go me!
12. I really wish the multiplayer in this allowed you to just pass a single PSP back and forth between two people. As it is, you need to have two PSPs and two copies of the game and it is hard enough to make friends let alone ones who buy cartoon golf games from 2004.
13. Maybe it is personal to me but the one thing that gives this series a long lasting appeal is that, for whatever reason, as much as I want to play it, I don't feel compelled to sit there and put long hours in to do well. It works really well in shorter sessions--be it a few holes or a few rounds--and that and the fact that golf is inherently played in discrete little chunks makes it a perfect match for on-the-go gaming on a handheld. If you haven't tried this series, don't be afraid to let Open Tee be your intro to Hot Shots Golf. If you have, well, you will just get more of what you love.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)