Rogue Trooper: Quartz Zone Massacre

Company: Nintendo

Publisher: Eidos Interactive

Developer: Rebellion Developments

Genre: Third Person Shooter

Platform: Wii

ERSB Rating:T for Teen

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Premise:

The premise of the game is to take control of Rogue as he battles the Norts on Nu Earth.
Play:

The games pacing is set by the player. The world is not fully open, but it is big enough where the player can choose how he wants to tackle certain battles. So the player can sneak and take out enemies without alerting any one, or he can go and knock on their front door. Since this game is on the wii the control scheme is unique to the system: wii mote aims the gun, "A" button rolls the character, "B" button shoots the gun, "C" button makes the character crouch, "Z" button to zoom in with certain weapons, nun-chuck to throw grenades, D-pad to switch weapons and grenades, "+" button to bring up the quick menu, and "-" to cancel.
Engagement:
This game took a great idea and followed through on it. Play how you want. Even though the game is linear, the levels are open to be explored at the players pace. When the player spots an enemy base he can decided how he wants to proceed: sneak in and kill them without alerting every one, set up traps and lure the enemies into them, or walk in guns abalzing. The player can choose, a walking one man army. The story is great! Taken from the pages of the British graphic novel "2000 A.D", and it very accurately represents it. However, if the player is not a fan or has no idea what "2000 A.D" the story can still be enjoyed.
Story:

The story of Rogue Trooper is about an all out war between the Norths and Southers on Nu Earth. Nu Earth is located between two black holes, being a great strategic importance for either side(Black Holes can transport an army anywhere in the galaxy). The war has been going on for so long Nu Earth's atmosphere is inhospitable for any kind of organic life due to repeated nuclear bombings. So both sides were reduced to fighting in bio-hazard suits. However, late into the war the Southers created a bio-human that was the perfect soldier in every way. They were trained from birth to be killers, and they can breathe the poisonous atmosphere of Nu Earth. During one skirmish Rogue and his friends were sent to battle the Norts in the Quartz zone. The battle went bad, it was an ambush. Every one was killed but Rogue. From here Rogue abandons the Souther army and goes “rogue”. His mission was to take control of the quartz zone, now it’s a vendetta against the man that plotted the ambush and to revenge his friends death.

Resources:

There are only 2 resources in the game health and ammo. In order to find more health rogue needs to create it from scrap metal he finds, or he can take med packs off of dead enemies. Ammo is the same thing. If Rogue can find scrap metal he can manufacture ammo and sometimes gun upgrades.

Challenge:

The challenge in this game varies. The enemy A.I ranges from incredibly stupid to downright hard. This throws the challenge aspect off a little bit, however it does not ruin the game. Another challenge comes from the player. He has to asses the situation he is in: “Storm the base or sneak in”. Both of which has its advantages and disadvantages. Choosing the wrong approach can make the game much more difficult. The most difficult challenge however is maintaining your resources. Although ammo can be manufactured deciding what type of ammo is important: “frag grenade or stun grenade?”

Silent Hill Shattered Memories

Company: Nintendo

Publisher: Capcom

Developer: Capcom

Genre: Survival Horror

Platform: Wii

ERSB Rating: M for Mature

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Premise:
The premise of the game is to take control of Harry Manson as he searches Silent Hill for his lost daughter, Cheryl

Play:
The games pacing is balanced between exploration, puzzle solving and chase sequences. The exploration involves the player searching Silent Hill, looking everywhere, in gas stations, schools, hospitals …. Harry must find keys to open doors while using his cell phone to discover hidden ghosts. Since this game is on the wii, the controls make it fun to play. The wii mote controls where the flash light points, “A” button calls Cheryls name, “Z” button to make Harry run, press down on the d-pad to look behind you, move the control stick to activate the character, and push the plus button to take out Harry's cell phone.
Engagement:
This game is extremely engaging because the world of Silent Hill is so well designed, employing such realism, that it almost feels real. The game is known for its psychological interpretation. During the game, the psychologist will give the player questions or pictures to color. Depending on the player choices, the game changes characters appearances, manipulates the monsters, and upends the environment. The game analyzes the players responses in order to create a horror environment specific to the current player. The monster chase sequences set this game apart. During the game, monsters will appear and all the player can do is run. Fighting back is not an option. The chase sequences are scary because the monsters are smart and work as a team against the player.
Story:
The story starts with a third person view of Harry Manson, whom the player assumes is alone, driving an old car, in an unidentified location. He slides on the snow, crashing into a ditch. He passes out. When he wakes up, he checks his surroundings and then looks for his daughter, Cheryl. Harry believes that she was in the car with him. Harry grabs his trusty flash light from his glove compartment and searches the town of Silent Hill for his daughter, only to realize that everything is not as it seems.
Challenge:
The games challenge is unbalanced. The investigation is insultingly easy. For example, most of the keys needed to open doors can be found within a couple feet of the door. The only time where this game was challenging was during the chase sequences. The monsters work as a team, and the player cannot fight them. The most a player can do is use a flare to keep the monsters at bay, but once it runs out, the chase begins again.

Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles

Company: Nintendo

Publisher: Capcom

Developer: Capcom

Genre: On Rails Shooter

Platform: Wii

ERSB Rating: M for Mature

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Premise:

The premise of the game is to take control of one of the many characters as they try to survive and combat the zombie virus outbreak. Characters: There are many different characters the player can take control of within the game: Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield, Jack Krauser and Steve Burnside. All the characters play the same, however, their view points of each level are completely different from their partners.

Play:

The games pacing is balanced between hardcore on-rails shooting with random quick time events. Each level has common enemies with a few unique ones tied in. The quick times events are level specific but they are all solved the same way, shaking the nun-chuck or by doing contextual button presses. The controls are unique since its on the wii: aiming with the wii mote, b button to shot, z button to bring out the knife, shake the nun-chuck to use the knife, and + button to use the green herbs to heal.

Engagement:

If you don't know your Wesker from your Wiskers the story aspect of engagement is going to be lost for most new players. However, that does not mean the game is a failure, its just hard to follow. The FPS person views allows the game to mess with the player and build up dramatic tension as enemies are jumping from all parts of the screen. Also the light gun action forces the player to have fast reflexes to kill the zombies as quick as possible, because they cannot move the player, only the game can.
Story:

The Resident Evil story never lets down for fans, but it can be hard to follow for new comers. The story takes place in South America with classic characters from the franchise, Leon Kennedy and Jack Krauser. They were dispatched by the U.S government to search for a man named Javier and destroy the t-virus he mysteriously obtained. The t-virus has the ability to turn people into zombies and plants and animals into B.O.W's (Bio Organic Weapons). Leon and Jack reach the South American village and realize that the t-virus was released and the village, which is now littered with zombies. Jack and Leon go through the village looking for the guide that was supposed to take them to Javiers mansion. They find him dead and move on. Eventually Leon and Jack fight through hordes of zombies and reach a mysterious church. Within the church they find a teenage girl named Manuela, she passes out from loss of blood before Leon and Jack are able to talk to her. Then a giant amphibious looking monster jumps out, which force Jack and Leon to kill it. Once they kill it, Jack demands that Leon tells him all their is to know about the t-virus. Leon does and the game takes a flash back to Resident Evil 2. In Resident Evil 2 Leon is a rookie cop on his first day of work. On his first day, there is a t-virus outbreak. While Leon tries to escape from the city, he meets a woman named Claire Redfield. Claire was searching for her brother before the t-virus was released into the city. Leon and Claire escape and the flash back end. When Leon finishes his flashback the search for Javier continues. Resources: There are only two different resources in this game: ammo and health. Ammo can be restored by shooting environmental objects i.e: crates, barrels, dressers, lights, cars, etc. Another way it can be managed is by finding it scattered throughout the environment. The same thing applies to finding health packs.

Challenge:

This game actually follows the traditional easy, medium, hard, and extreme levels perfectly. Easy there are less enemies and they do less damage. Medium they do normal damage and there are moderately more enemies. Hard there are lots of enemies and they do 3X the damage then they do on medium. So a player can cater the challenge to his liking. In addition the boss battle requires intense pattern memorization, in order to defeat them. Once the player completes the game, un-lockables become available: tofu showdown and alternate costumes. The tofu showdown replaces all the zombies with giant pieces of tofu which do extreme damage. Another challenge of this game is thanks to the online leader boards. Players can compete too earn the highest score possible on certain levels.

New Super Mario Brothers

Company: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Genre: Side Scrolling Adventure
Platform: Wii
ERSB Rating: E for Everyone
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Premise:
The premise of the game is for Mario and his friends to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser.

Characters:
Within “New Super Mario Brothers”, there are 4 characters that the player can control: Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad and Yellow Toad.

Play:
The games pacing is all platforming and minor puzzles. Within each level, the player has to run through the level jumping on enemies or jumping over obstacles. The minor puzzles are secret areas that the player can uncover by finding a hidden block within the level. The game has two control schemes: wii mote only or wii mote and nunchuck. The wii mote control scheme uses the d-pad to to move, the 2 button to jump, the 1 button to run, and the + button to pause the game. The wii mote and nunchuck set up uses the c button to run, z button to jump, and the analog to move.

Engagement:
Played alone, or in a group, this game is engaging and fun. For solo players, the challenging platform, combined with nostalgia from other Mario games, makes the play captivating. Playing Multiplayer, the engagement comes from players helping or competing against each other.

Story:
Mario games tend to have basic stories that are easy to follow. The story starts off with Princess Peach having her birthday party. Suddenly, the party is crashed by Bowser, Bowser Junior, Koopa Brothers and Bowsers’ minions who kidnap Peach. Mario and his gang then give pursuit in order to rescue Peach and defeat Bowser.

Resources:
There are many different resources in the game, and they come in a variety of shapes and sizes. For example, there are several kinds of mushrooms: Red, Green, Blue, and each has it own function. Red Mushrooms make Mario grow bigger, blue mushrooms make Mario shrink, and green Mushrooms give Mario extra life. The next resources are power ups: fire flower, propeller mushroom, ice flower, penguin suit, and the star. The fire flower allows Mario to shoot fire balls at enemies, the ice flow allows Mario to shoot ice balls to freeze enemies, the penguin suit allows Mario to slide on ice and shoot ice balls, and the star makes Mario invincible. The resources can only be found by hitting yellow blocks within levels.

Challenge:
Mario games are known for their incredible simplicity in their controls combined with an unrelenting challenge in play. The first levels are very easy, but they’re to let the player get used to the game. Once the first world has been beaten, the game gets much harder as the levels start to throw more environmental hazards and enemies towards the player(s) while power ups show less frequently.

No More Heroes

Company: Nintendo
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Genre: Action-adventure
Platform: Wii
ERSB Rating: M for Mature
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Premise:
The premise of the game is to assume the character of Travis Touchdown. The goal is for Travis to fight his way up the ranks of the United Assassins Association finishing as the number one Assassin.

Characters:
The player only controls one character: Travis Touchdown, a young adult anime loving, wrestling fan, who lives day to day trying to become number one.

Play:
The game's pacing is very balanced; it’s an open world, but it can only be progressed by following a linear path. The player has to earn enough money doing odd jobs like collecting coconuts or filling up cars at the gas station. Once enough money has been made doing menial jobs, the player can enter a ranked assassin match. Then the games pacing changes to combat, and the player has to fight and win against multiple enemies, most especially the character (the boss) who holds a higher rank . Once the boss has been defeated, the whole process of collecting money and re-entering is repeated. The controls being on the wii system add a different control scheme: A button to attack, B button for strong attack, C button to lock on, Z button to block, swing controller in any direction triggers a death blow on an enemy.

Engagement:
This game has been a mixed bag with critical reviewers: either players love it or hate it, there seems to be no in between. However, there are many reasons why players liked the game. First off, the writing in the game is brilliantly done (sometimes it doesn't make sense, but its all in good fun), the combat is something that is completely new in how it utilizes the wii mote functions, and the cell-shaded graphics make it look awesome. The combat is extremely engaging because the player can choose how he wants to decapitate the enemies, or he can choose to kill them using wrestling moves. The variety and depth makes no two battles play out the same.

Story:
The story to this game is laugh out loud funny. Extreme gore is mixed with various types of humor ranging from potty humor, to black humor, historical humor, literature humor and so much more. To move on, the main character Travis Touchdown is a man with many obsessions: money, women, wrestling, violence. The stereotypical young man living in poverty (he lives in a motel called "No More Heroes"), he lives day to day. One day, he wins an online auction for a beam katana, and paying for this auction item ruins him financially. He can no longer buy his beloved wrestling videos and video games. He eventually meets a women named Sylvia Christel and she offers him a job to kill a man named Helter Skelter. Travis kills him and is dubbed rank 11 by the United Assassins Association (UAA). Once Travis regained financial footing he wants to go back to his normal life, but Sylvia convinces him that he can become number 1 assassin. Travis then sets out to kill the other 10 assassins in front of him..

Behaviors:
The behavior for the character has already been created by the game designers, this includes: walking, running, talking, melee attacks, climbing, driving, and swimming. Given the range of behaviors available, the progression of the game should be much less predictable in its outcome and game play. However, the combat and overall challenge of the game is so fun , that its linear progression can be forgiven.

Resources:
The player has to manage a three resources: health, money, and beam katana energy. In order to restore health, the player has to find health packs that are scattered through out the open world, or he can restore it by saving the game. The next resource, money, can be earned by doing menial jobs, or by killing high ranking assassins in a UAA rank match. The final resource, beam katana energy, can be restored in two ways. The first is by shaking the wii mote charging the katana until the energy meter is full. The second way is by finding batteries pick ups from killing enemies.


Challenge:
This game is very hard right from the start. The Enemy AI do a lot of damage, and they block (even on the easy setting). One downfall on the challenge in combat is that the enemies do not work together, they just appear in groups. The biggest challenge are the boss fights. Each of the 12 bosses (there are 11 UAA assassins, but there are other bosses besides them) has their own weakness and a specific strategy necessary to kill them. For example, Destroyman announces his attacks before the actual attack. Memorizing those patterns allows the player to pre-empt the attack. If the player does not do that, he will be quickly killed. The next challenge within this game is the menial jobs. While the task is menial, the actual playing of it is very hard because they are timed, and complex to master. Also, how well you do in the job determines how much money you get paid.

Eternal Darkness: Sainty's Requiem

Company: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Silicon Knights
Genre: Psychological horror,Thrid Person Adventure
Platform: Gamecube
ERSB Rating: M for Mature
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Premise:
The premise of the game is to control the main character, Alexandra Rovias-a college student, as she investigates the mysterious murder of her grandfather Edward Roivas and searches for the “Tome of Eternal Darkness”.

Characters:
The player controls many pre-designed characters throughout the game. Each character has their own unique magic abilities as well as Stamina, Health, and Sanity meters. These characters drive the game play. The game’s characters are as follows: Alexandra Roivas, Pious Augustus, Ellia, Anthony, Karim, Dr. Maximillian Roivas, Dr. Edwin Lindsey, Paul Luther, Roberto Bianchi, Peter Jacob, and Michael Edwards. All the characters are related, each from a different era of history, and they can be played consecutively.

Play:
The pacing changes drastically throughout the game. When the player controls the main character, Alexandra, they are able to go anywhere within the mansion (open world) while searching for "Tome of Eternal Darkness" entries and clues to her fathers death. When a piece of the "Tome of Eternal Darkness" is found, a flash back sequence is initiated, and the player takes control of the new character introduced in the flashback. During these flash back sequences, the level is very linear with some mind twisting puzzles. As with all games, there are enemies to combat, the player must kill or be killed. So, all in all, this game is balanced between linear sections of combat and puzzles and open world environments.

Engagement:
This game has received acclaim for its engagement with the player: well written story, unique innovation, complex magic and battle system. The battle system is very engaging because it makes the player think before they start their attack. This battle system incorporates a strategic dismemberment which requires planning ahead. For instance, if you see a zombie, you should cut its head off before you start your attack. Although the zombie does not die,it’s mobility is inhibited, making it easier to eliminate it. This also applies for magic with one exception: the player needs to memorize the monsters magic alignment. If the player cuts the monsters head off using the wrong magic, instead of the monster becoming impaired, the player will be severely hurt. The most engaging aspect of this game is its sanity meter. The sanity meter is drained when enemies spot you. Once the entire meter is empty, weird things start happening within the game. Strange noises can be heard that frighten the player including footsteps, women and children screaming, doors slamming, the rattling of chains and the sound of a blade being sharpened. Another effect is that the player can walk into a new room and find themselves on the ceiling. A very scary effect, that is common in horror movies, is that walls start to bleed profusely. At times when the sanity meter is low, the game will do something very interesting: it breaks the 4th wall. For example, the game will simulate the television volume being lowered by having a fake volume bar or the T.V will simulate being shut off, and will remain off for a couple of seconds. The worst tactic(that every gamer is afraid of) is the game telling the player that the memory card is corrupted and needs to be reformatted. The game starts reformatting the memory making the player think they are losing all their data.

Story:
The story of Eternal Darkness is about the main character Alexandra Rovias. Alexandra is summoned to Rhode Island because of her grandfathers’ mysterious death. The police tell her that they have no leads, and have given up on the investigation. Alex then swears to investigate the murder herself and find the answers. While searching through her grandfathers mansion, she discovers a secret room. Within that room, she finds a book called "The Tome Of Eternal Darkness". When she touches the book, she has a flash back in history to the time period of 26 BC. She watches the Roman soldier named Pious, who was led astray from his army by enticing voices coming from a temple. Within that temple, he touches an artifact that transforms him into a undead warlock, and he becomes a slave to an ancient. Further into the story, Alexandra discovers Pious is trying to summon his ancient god into physical form on earth. If that happened earth would be thrown into Eternal Darkness.

Behaviors:
The behavior for the character has already been created by the game designers, this includes: walking, running, talking, melee attacks, using items, magic attacks, climbing, and swimming. Since the range of behaviors available, the progression of the game should be much less predictable in its outcome and gameplay, however, since the levels are linear it detracts from the second play through.

Resources:
The player has to maintain 3 resources: Magic, Health, and Sanity Meter. All three resources are easily manageable. Health can be recovered by killing certain enemies, using magic, or using artifacts. Magic can be restored by walking around, or finding magic pads that restore it. The sanity meter can be replenished in many ways: performing a killing move on an enemy, using magic to restore it, or finding a sanity meter artifact.

Challenge:
This game is very challenging because of its combat system, and its puzzles. The player has the ability to target specific enemy body parts during combat. Attacking certain body parts helps the player in battle. For example, while fighting a chimera, cutting off one of its heads can make it bleed to death or hasten the death process. The games puzzles are very challenging because they blend magic and traditional puzzle aspects (finding a key to a door). The player can use magic to destroy barriers to progress further in the game, however the challenge is that the player has to use the correct spell to break the barrier. The final challenge is that the player has to watch their sanity meter, to make sure it does not drop too low. The sanity meter creates challenges for the player allowing the in game character to even create fake monsters that can be dispersed with only one hit.

Spyborgs

Company: Nintendo
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Bionic Games
Genre: 2.5D side Scrolling Beat'Em Up
Platform: Wii
ERSB Rating: T for Teen
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Premise:
The premise of the game is to assume one of the three roles of a cyber soldier. The goal is to prevent the evil villain, Jackal, plans for world domination

Characters:
Within Spyborgs, there are three different characters the player can control and team up with in combat. The characters are: Clandestine, Bouncer, and Stinger. Each Spyborg has their own unique advantages and disadvantages. Clandestine is a speedy and agile ninja, Bouncer is a slow, lumbering tank and Stinger is the average soldier but armed gun projectiles.

Play:
The games pacing is very hard. Right from the start of the game, even on the normal or easy setting, this game is challenging. The 2.5D environment sends squads of enemies able to inflict high damage towards the player. The player must defeat them before moving onto the next level within the environment. There are no puzzles within the game, just fighting. The controls for the game feel great, because there are two settings to choose from: buttons, or motion controls. The buttons are simple, A button is the weak attack, B button for strong attack, C button to jump, Z button to block, and Z+A to initiate a special attack. The motion controls moving the button mashing to wii waggling.

Engagement:
The game would be more engaging but for some serious flaws. The story is reminiscent of an action packed Saturday morning cartoons. Although, the cut scenes had a great detail of polish(that is very uncommon for a wii game), the dialogue is corny and cheap, causing the "wow, that was incredibly stupid moments". The gameplay is basic and simple which makes it monotonous and repetitive, forcing the players to hit the same buttons over and over, performing the same actions.

Story:
The story behind Spyborgs can be fun at times or it can be the most generic and completely unoriginal thing ever played. The story starts out with the team leader named Stinger who wakes up from a coma caused by his last mission. His other team members, Clandestine and Bouncer were waiting for him to recover so that they can tell him what happened on the last mission. As they are briefing him, the base is attacked. The Spyborgs team up and battle the attacking enemy robots. After defeating the robots, the teams realizes that one of their own, Jackal, has gone rogue. The Spyborgs set out on a mission to stop Jackals plans for world domination..

Behaviors:
The characters behavior in the game are created by the game designers and are not influenced by the player. Behaviors include: walking, running, shooting and, melee attacks. Since there is such a range of behaviors available, the progression of the game should be much less predictable in its outcome and gameplay. But due to the linear gameplay, and 2 button combo system, the repetitive behaviors bring the game down and make it generic.

Resources:
The resources within the game are extremely manageable. The player has to watch their health bar, and their team combo bar. In order for players to restore their health bar, they need to find red orbs. To find red orbs, the player can kill enemies using a special combo or destroy the plethora of crates within the level. The same thing applies to finding the yellow special orbs, which allows you to uses a team combo.

Challenge:
The challenge in this game varies because there are 6 difficulty modes to play on: very easy, easy, normal, hard, hardcore, Spyborg Extreme. On the easiest setting, despite the restricted combat system detailed above, this game can be challenging . The challenge arises from having to use the limited tools to achieve a winning outcome. However, the game does allow you to bring a computer controlled ally of your choice and this does make a little easier. But, the player will need to save the computer instead of fighting his own enemies so it a limited assist. The enemies do massive amounts of damage to the player, so blocking is a necessity to make it through the game. Also, the option of choosing what character you want to play can change the challenge for the game. If the player chooses Bouncer, the player can easily defeat enemies and take the most damage. However, if the player is not careful, and just mindlessly mashes buttons, and does not block, they will die very quickly. When a player dies, he has to start at the very beginning of the level, having to re-fight the same enemies. This lack of check points means any mistakes make for a steep penalty: restart from the beginning.

Time Splitters: Future Perfect

Company: Nintendo
Publisher: EA Games
Developer: Free Radical Design
Genre: First Person Shooter
Platform: Gamecube, Playstation 2, Xbox
ERSB Rating: M for Mature
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Premise:
The premise for the player is to battle against Time Splitters while traveling to different points in time to find the Time Crystals

Character:
The player takes control of the character, Sgt. Cortez, who is an officer in the Space Marines.

Play:
The games pacing is easy because it is focused on basic gun play. Besides the gun play, there are small, simple puzzles which are inserted only to break up the gun play. The game progresses in a linear fashion and rarely involves back tracking for the player. It is easy for a player to just go through the motions that the game requires and still enjoy it. This game was made during the last gen era, so it does not support the wii mote abilities. The play rests solely on the gamecube controller set up which means that all the actions in the game are mapped to the physical buttons on the controller.

Engagement:
This game is very engaging for players due to its solid gameplay, comedy, and its incredibly well written time traveling story. The story is humorous because it makes fun of other first person shooters, and movies. For example, during the first level one of the NPC soldiers sees a mass gathering of Time Splitters. He then references a line from the movie Alien: "Oh God they’re everywhere, they’re coming out from the walls". Other humorous moments occur when one of the characters breaks entertainment’s 4th wall by saying something like: "oh man, that would be a horrible idea for a video game." To move on, the gameplay is all done in First Person view (except for the cut scenes) so you are only able to see what your character can see. This makes sense because there are a lot of little Easter eggs to notice within a level. Due to the time traveling part of the story, players are teleported to different eras in human history ranging from the future to the prehistoric age, and Cortez can partner with many different characters ranging from: a 60's spy hippie, a super robot, and a conformist teenager. This range of characters makes the game particularly entertaining because they all speak with their own unique dialogue. In addition, the gameplay is reminiscent of 007 Golden Eye, which has been rated as the top FPS shooter in history. Timesplitters gun fights work just the same, making for interesting interaction.

Story:
The game starts where the second game ends: Cortez in his current time period of 2401,and the space station he is at is being attacked by Timesplitters. Timesplitters are aliens that have waged a war on the human race. They travel in time and disrupt human history. In Timesplitters: Future Perfect, the game begins the opening scene with Sergeant Cortez escaping the space station that is being attacked by the Timesplitters. During his escape he crashes into Earth, and finds out that the Timesplitters have followed him there. Cortez then fights his way through the timesplitter army and reaches the base where he is informed of his mission. Cortez has to find the remaining time crystals before the Timesplitters do. During the missions in time, Cortez teams up with people from that time period, and himself due to time warp holes. Cortez finds out that the timesplitters were created by an evil villain named Crow. The last segments of the story deal with Cortez chasing Crow through a different future that he warped.

Behaviors:
The behavior for the character has already been created by the game designers, this includes: walking, running, shooting, talking, melee attacks, using items, and swimming. Since the range of behaviors available, the progression of the game should be much less predictable in its outcome and gameplay, however, since the levels are linear it detracts from the second play through.

Resources:
The resources within this game are typical of a first person shooter. The player needs to manage their health, ammo, bullet proof armor, and grenades. If the player runs out of ammo, the weapon becomes useless until more ammo is found. The rule is the same for grenades, health, and bullet proof armor. The resources in the game are easily found because most enemies drop ammo and health for the player to recover.

Challenge:
The challenge for Timesplitters is what grabs players right into the game. When starting the single player campaign, there are 3 challenge levels the player can choose: easy, medium, and hard. One challenge that was a little to hard was battling the Timesplitters. Timesplitters turn invisible when they fight the player, and the only time they are visible is when attacking this makes them extremely hard to hit. Their are also a few physical puzzles scattered throughout the game, but they are extremely simple, so they present little challenge to the player. Other than that, Timesplitters: Future Perfect boasts a great challenge that any gamer type can enjoy. In addition to the single player, Timesplitters has over 150 characters to unlock, along with over 300 trophies to collect. Along with the characters and trophies there are arcade style missions that are quick and fun, but hard to get a high score on. So this game will keep any player occupied for a while, if they pursue the game to completion.

Dead Space Extraction

Company: Nintendo
Publisher: EA
Developer: Visceral Games
Genre: On Rails Shooter

Platform: Wii

ERSB Rating: M for Mature

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Premise:

The Premise of the game is to survive the Necromorph infestation on the Mining ship and the Aegis VII colony.

Character:

The player takes control of 4 different characters: Gabriel Weller, Nathan Mcneill, Lexine Murdoch, and Warren Eckhardt. The game play does not change when the game forces you to assume these characters, but their personalities are completely different from one another making the experience different. 

Play:

 The play in the game centers on using the wii-mote and nun chuck set up. The Wii Mote acts as the gun while the nun-chuck serves many purposes: swinging it activates the melee attacks, moving the control stick changes weapons, the C button activates the stasis, and the Z button reloads.

Engagement:

The player is totally immersed when playing this game. The in-game cut scenes and dialogue is so well written it’s like being inside an terribly familiar horror movie. Even though some of the plot points are a little cliché, the player will still feel deeply for the 4 main characters But story aside, this game plays like a typical rail shooter with some unique twists: story driven, original weapons, and interesting dismemberment system. Rail Shooter games are always played in First Person View and this game is no exception. First Person View means that the player sees out of the person he is controlling. The game developers did this on purpose so they could add little nuances that will cause the player to ask themselves: did that really happen, or is my character going crazy?

Story:

The story in Dead Space is not for the faint of heart. The story begins on a distant planet far from the colony. Lexine Murdoch, a surveyor for a mining companyy, has a boy friend who goes crazy when he mines an artifact called a "Marker". The character Nathan Mcneill determines that he has to kill the boyfriend as the boyfriend was clearly out of his mind, and had murdered too many other miners. There was no saving him . Two weeks later, weird cases of murder and suicide started to appear outside the mining area in the Colony. So Nathan along with Gabriel who is another security guard go and investigate. They go to the morgue and notice that all the bodies are gone and know that something is not right. For some unexplained reason, the Marker causes everyone on the Aegis VII colony to start killing themselves and attacking others (Eventually the civilians on the colony start to turn into an enemy called Necromorph). The Necromorphs first appear in the morgue and all hell breaks lose. Nathan and Gabriel try to find an escape pod to the mother ship. Along their journey, they find the egocentric, VIP Warren Eckardt , and the strong willed do-gooder Lexine Murdoch. So now, the 4 of them try to escape. They eventually do and once aboard the mother ship they realize that the Necromorphs are onboard too. From there, the new goal is to make it back to the escape pod in order to send for help. But since the second game is already out, players know that the 4 heroes meet a tragic fate. 

Resources:

The resources in the game are very manageable, because of a piece of equipment called RIG. The RIG (which is basically the HUD) displays the characters health, current ammo, and stasis energy. Other than that, the resources in this game are typical of most rail shooters. The player has to maintain health, ammo, and stasis energy by finding hidden ammo pack and health packs. The stasis energy, however, recovers over time, if it’s not used for a while.
Challenge:

The first challenge that lies within this game is the weapons. The weapons (like previous Dead Space games) are all futuristic mining tools, with the exception of the few weapons like the battle rifle. Mining tools are used to cut rocks apart, and this concept carries over to how the player kills Necromorphs. The only way the Necromorphs can be killed is to strategically dismember their body parts, so getting the classic head shot won’t save you in this game. Besides the tools helping you in combat, you have an item called the stasis. The stasis freezes enemies to a slow crawl to help you dismember them. Another challenge is managing the in game inventory. The player can only carry 3 different weapons out of 10. Each weapon has its own unique qualities and disadvantages. For example the battle rifle has a lot of ammo, but it is very poor at cutting of the enemies body parts. Another challenge is the games puzzles. While they are simple, they are fun because you have to hack into a terminal while Necromorphs are coming to attack you. So if the player does not solve the puzzle in time, he will have to deal with a horde of angry Necromorphs. Another puzzle the game gives to the player are called “Zero Gravity”. Zero Gravity is when the gravity inside the space ship is gone and everything is floating. The player has to point and click on the safe areas to land or risk being torn apart by enemies or getting sucked out into space from holes in the ship. While the challenge in some of the puzzles is lacking, its still fun because it fits with the atmosphere of the previous Dead Space game. Also while the enemies are numerous and difficult, most of them attack in the same way. This is one of the biggest flaws because once the player figures how certain enemies attack, its easier to manage who to shoot first. All in all the game does not get difficult until the last two chapters where the main characters are trying to escape from the mothership and every single Necromorph is coming after them. In the horror movie genre it’s called their "Last Stand" The last and optional challenge this game has is called "Challenge Mode". This mode plays like an arcade style House of the Dead shooter where the player is trying to acquire as much points as possible. This mode is probably the hardest thing in the game because it never ends, and the enemies keep coming.

Where They Got Their Ideas For The Game:

The game designers are the same team who developed Dead Space Extraction’s sequel called “Dead Space” In an interview, the designers said that they wanted to create a wii specific, innovative horror game that pushed the limits. In my view, they did that. Having played the previous Dead Space, the dialogue, combat, and atmosphere is completely the same: eerie and out of this world.

Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga

Company: Nintendo

Publisher: Marvelous Entertainment, XSeed Games

Developer: Marvelous Entertainment

Genre: Action Role Playing
Platform: Wii
ERSB Rating: T for Teen

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Objects:
The objects in the game are armor, avatars, weapons, and enemies. The objects are determined because they interact with other game objects in complex ways. Their relationships will be explained further in the blog.
Properties:
Within Valhalla Knights, there are only 4 objects that have properties: Main avatar, weapons, armor, and enemies. The properties are elemental: Earth, Ice, Fire, Wind, and Posion(in the game its called Toxic). For example, a weapon such as a great sword can have a fire property cast on it, thus making it stronger against ice enemies. Conversely, if the enemies have the earth properties, fire will do little or no damage at all. The game allows the player to create an avatar endowed with the same opppositional powers: for example, an avatar can be developed with strong fire resistance which means he will strong against ice, but weak against earth. Armor only increases the resistance powers while decreasing the opposing resistances.

Behaviors:
The behavior for the Avatar, created by the player, includes: walking, running, fighting, talking, casting magic, using items, creating items, and swimming. So, because of the range of behaviors available, the progression of the game is much less predictable in its outcome and gameplay.
Relationships:
The avatar begins as a blank slate, and the player must choose a job class for him : thief, ninja, swordsman, knight, chainsaw, priest, mage, fighter, and bard. Only certain classes can equip and use certain pieces of armor and weapons. For example, a bard cannot use a 2-handed sword, this sword is only available to the swordsman, and the knight. Another relationships seen in Valhalla Knights is in the form of hit points, and basic damage. As mentioned above, the different classes can only equip certain armor/weapons, so that means they all have different levels of hit points and basic damage, thus making them strategically different.
Economies:
Valhalla Knights contains a complex market. When the player creates his avatar, he also begins the game with a small number of resources: little gold, minimal armor, and a single weapon. Then the player must take on low-level quests that are found at the guild and this earns him a menial amount of gold. In addition, any items or parts of the monster that the player finds on the quest, can be used to make more complex items. For example, the player can find mythril and use it to make mythril weapons. The player can make the complex item and sell it to the system agents (shopkeepers, NPC's etc) to increase their gold. Then once the player has more gold they can take on higher and more challenging quests.
Information Structure:
The information structure in this game is very poorly executed. The player will receive a quest from the guild that says to find a certain person. However, it does not tell you where that "person" is, so the player has to search through the huge world of Eldar looking for this person. If the player does manage to find the person, he or she will give you additional information on your next course of action. However, most of the time the additional information is useless and the player is on his own. If a player is not determined to play out the game, he will give up and move onto a new game.
Control:
There are many types of control in a video game. For instance, how the game physically controls, and it can also mean what the avatar/player has control over in the game. The physical controls are what a wii rpg gamer would expect from the wii mote:

• The + and - uses the selected skills
• The left and right buttons on the directional pad rotate the camera
• The down button on the directional pad opens the menu and is used to navigate through it
• The up button is used to navigate through the menus
• The A button is used for weak attacks, talking to other in game characters, and targeting a enemy for magic
• The B button is for strong Attack, shooting arrows, and closing menus
• The C button is to sprint and to pick up Items
• The Z button resets the camera
• The 1 button uses selected items
• The 2 button changes camera views
• The control stick on the nun chuck moves the actual in game avatar
• Swinging the wii mote triggers the avatars special attack

In addition to the physical control, the player has direct control over the avatar in the game. This allows the player to have influence on the state of the game. In addition, this gives the player direct control over their selection of items: potion, elixirs, arrows, smoke bomb,etc. The player also has free control over in-game decisions that affect how the story plays out.

Muramasa: The Deamon Blade

Company: Nintendo
Publisher: Marvelous Entertainment
Developer: Vanillaware
Genre: Action Role Playing, Side Scroller 2D

Platform: Wii

ERSB Rating: T for Teen

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Challenge:

This game is rarely boring and always challenging, especially in terms of combat. The combat in the game takes extreme skill because the enemies do an insane amount of damage to your characters. So being able to master this combat system creates a sense of accomplishment in all players, but it will cause many players' flow to go into the frustration levels. When this game gets boring and the flow slips into "boredom", the combat is over and only the exploration aspect is in play. Traveling across the beautiful, hand drawn, Japanese Art styles is amazing, but it takes forever to get where you need to go, demands a lot of backtracking which is repetitive, and there are no shortcuts of any kind to leap ahead.

The Merging Of Action And Awareness:

The combat system completely absorbs the individual player. When playing this game, the player becomes so absorbed in what they're doing, that the activity becomes reflexive. For example, when you notice the enemy ninja swipe his hand, the player knows to hit the block button. The player is so absorbed that the combat flows naturally from the two button system.

Clear Goals and Feedback:

The game clearly defines its goals, and the player receives feedback from achieving these goals . The player knows that in order to advance, he needs to travel to the new area, defeat all the enemies, including the boss in order to obtain a new sword; and that new sword will unlock another new area. After each boss is defeated, the player receives feedback from the game about where to go to next.

The Transformation Of Time:

This game is able to absorb people who are willing to put in the time. With enough practice time the player loses track of real time because of how engrossed he is in the game.

The Nature Of Play:

The Nature of Play within this game is serious and educational. First the game challenges you with a serious system of combat which demands the player's complete attention. It is impossible to beat this game (even on the easiest setting) without paying attention to enemy attack and defense patters. To move on, the education aspect of this game is very interesting. The game deals with Japanese folk lore and mythology. The player will learn the Japanese legend of the demon blade, as well as the fox deity story, among other cultural lore.

Types Of Players:

This would game appeal to 3 types of players. There are many collectibles to gather and achievements to obtain within the game so the "Collector" type player will enjoy gathering all the extra equipment and weapons. The second type of player that would enjoy this game would be "The Achiever" who would be engaged by the games varying levels of difficulty and challenge. In "Muramasa: The Demon Blade" the game throws countless enemies at the player that can deal some serious damage to the player's health. So if he's not careful, he will be dead in one or two hits. Finally the last type of player type that would enjoy this game would be "The Artist" because the games levels/backgrounds are all hand drawn to reflect Japanese art work.

Levels Of Engagement:

There only way to truly measure a players level of engagement is to play the game. Because a spectator would be watching a player who seems to be hitting the same buttons and repeating the same combos,there would be limited interest or engagement for him . In reality, the player may be hitting the same buttons, but the combos need to be strategically thought out in reaction to the hard hitting enemies. This game will defiantly increase a player's reaction time both in the game and in the real world. It will also heighten a players attention to minor patterns in every day life.

Premise:

The premise in "Muramasa:The Demon Blade" is that the player takes up the mantle of the ninja warriors Kisuke and Momohime as they battle their way through feudal Japan.

Characters:

The characters Kisuke and Momohime are the protagonists within the game, and they are different from each other with their own conflicts and characteristics. Kisuke is a ninja that mysteriously lost his memory, and cannot remember why his ninja clan is trying to kill him. This gives him extreme hatred for his clan, and goes on a quest for vengeance, until he realizes what he has done. The sense of redemption that Kisuke symbolizes gives the players a sense of connectivity through this common theme. The other character Momohime is the princess of feudal Japan who gets taken over by and evil ninja spirt. Due to this spirit, she is in constant battle with her self , giving herself two distinct personality’s that the players get to observe.

Story:

There are two stories within this game, and each is unique in their own right. The first story deals with the character Kisuke. Kisuke story is his journey to recover his memory and find out why his ninja clan he once belonged to is trying to kill him. Along the way, he discovers that his memory loss is due to an epic battle that is about to break out in Japan, a battle ultimately caused by him. Momohime is a princess that is possessed by an evil ninja spirit who was unable to accomplish his mission before he died. He uses Momohime as a vessel for himself to travel into Japan with the plan to conquer the country.

The Dramatic Arc:

In Muramasa, Kisuke and Momohime are the protagonists. Their goal is to accomplish their mission(which is different from each other) within feudal Japan. The antagonist for Kisuke is his ninja clan and the emperor of Japan, and Momohime's antagonist is the evil spirit inside her. These situations create conflict for both characters. The tension starts to rise within the game as more of the story is unveiled. Finally, they must both face the consequences of their actions as well as the inner evil residing within them. In the climax, Kisuke regains his memory, while Momohime expels the evil spirit inside her. The story resolves when both characters acknowledge their actions and make penance by exiling themselves, isolating themselves from society.

The Conduit

Company: Nintendo

Publisher: Sega

Developer: High Voltage Software

Genre: First Person Shooter
Platform: Wii
ERSB Rating: T for Teen

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Players:

The definition of players can mean different things. But for my purposes, let's say that "player" means:

Within a game, it is noted that "The rules of games take on certain power and a certain potential. Bound by the rules of play, we perform actions that we would never other wise consider-shooting, killing, and betrayals are some. But we also perform actions we would like to think ourselves capable of and have never had the chance to face- courage in the face of danger, sacrifice, and difficult decision making"(pg49).

"The Conduit" partially fulfills the above definition of "players". In this game, the player is not given the opportunity to make decisions; it's completely linear from start to finish. However, it does give you the fantasy world of aliens taking over Washington D.C, and the role of the 1 man army bent on taking the aliens out and uncovering the conspiracy that surrounds it.

Invitation To Play:
The invitation to play for this game is based solely on appeal: the FPS appeal, that is. In FPS, you can only see the world through the main character, Mr. Ford. You can see how the aliens destroyed Washington D.C and they are coming to get you. Another draw to the game is due to the wii mote. The wii mote in this game serves to turn your hand motions into gun movements to shoot down your enemies. By having the wii mote follow hand replications, one can fantasize that they are Mr. Ford

Number of Players:
The number of players for the game can varies. The offline single player pits the individual against the system, while the online component has 12 other human players for the individual to fight against. Therefore, the number of players is dependant on whether you're playing online or single player. Also, the physical form of the opponents can change because they can choose drudge, trust, or military forms.

Roles Of Players:
Offline, there is only one role for the player, and that is to take up the mantle of Mr.Ford. Mr. Ford starts off as a secret service agent to the President of the United States. Then he works for the secret organization known only to the President known as the "Trust". After a short time the player goes rogue when he uncovers the truth to the alien invasion, and what the Trust is really up to.

Player Interaction Patterns:
Within "The Conduit", there are many different types of player interaction patterns. There is: "single player Versus Game", "Player Versus Player", "Multilateral Competition and "Team Competition". All these aspects ,however, are part of the online portion of the Game, except for single player verus game. The offline portion deals with single player Versus Game. The online portion deals with Multilateral Competition (Free for All, Bounty Hunter), which are the game modes.

Rules:
Normal real world physics apply in this game, you cannot walk through walls or destroy buildings in one punch. In addition, the rules in "The Conduit" are simple to follow. First, if the player loses his health, he'll die, forcing the player to re-start back at the last check point.

Procedures:
To start the game, the player hits the "A" button to go into the screen menu. Once at the menu screen, he can choose to play single player, go into the extras menu, or jump online. So, when you start the single play game, all the rules and boundaries start to effect the procedures in single player game by completing the objectives

Resources:
There are many different resources found within "The Conduit". For example, to reload the guns the players needs to find the correct ammo that works with the gun i.e: trust ammo to trust weapons, drudge ammo to drudge weapons. Another resource are grenades. There are three different types of grenades and they each do different things. The first one, flash grenades blind the opponent for a small amount of time. The second one is a radiation grenades which creates a small radiation bubble that sticks to any surface (including players) and sucks the life out of any player. The third grenade is the frag grenade. This is a normal grenade that explodes after one bounce. Another resource to the game is a health bar. In the beginning, the player must mange his health with med kits that are placed throughout the level. Later in the game, simply waiting in an area will recharge health.

Conflict:
Conflict emerges from the players trying to accomplish goals of the game within its rules and boundaries. In addition, conflict is also designed into the game by creating rules, procedures and situations that do not allow players to accomplish their goals directly. The game constantly is undermining the player, challenging him to resolve the situations. In the game, conflict is created by having many factions trying to stop the player from achieving goals. Further, there are puzzles that must be solved, puzzles that derive from the conflict.

Inventory:
The inventory in the game is typical of most FPS. Only a certain amount of ammo can be held for the respective weapons and the player is limited to one pistol type (of any variety: drudge, Trust, Military) and one regular weapon (of any variety). Another aspect of the inventory system is that it also limits players on how many grenades can be carried(8). Health and grenades are parts of the inventory that are not easy to come by. Either a lot of enemies must be killed while health and/or ammo packs are not easily discovered,

Obstacles:
The most obvious obstacle in "The Conduit" is the common puzzle. Every now and then, the main character will have to use the "All Seeing Eye" to uncover hidden puzzles, or land mines to move foreword in the level. The Game Designers also used parts of fallen rubble, or prison bars to keep the game linear and destroying the concept of exploration through an alien invaded D.C

Oppenents:
The main opponents in the single player game are called "Drudge", and they take on various forms. Drudge range from foot soldiers, to flying foot soldiers and huge aliens that are as tall as buildings. However, there are other opponents that occupy the game, too. Trust soldiers use human weapons that have been infused with Drudge weaponry making them extremely dangerous to encounter. The final Enemy types are military soldiers. These soldiers are nothing but cannon fodder, yet they can be dangerous if they have grenades. However, once the individual jumps "online" the opponent changes from computer to human giving the game a new aspect: a thinking human opponent vs a computer. Also the player can use any of the mentioned enemy types to battle on the online matches

Cursed Mountain Breakdown

Company: Nintendo
Publisher: Deep Silver

Genre: Adventure, Survival Horror

Platform: Wii

ERSB Rating: M for Mature

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Premise:
The premise of the game is to assume the role of a mountain climber who ascends a mountain to look for his lost younger brother.
Character:
The player takes control of a character named Eric Simmons.
Story:

The story of Cursed Mountain is completely original in its own right and kudos to the screen writers for pulling off such a completely new idea. The developers at Deep Silver clearly researched Buddhist and Tibetan lore, and it pays off. To start, the game takes place on a fictional mountain in the Himalayas called Chomolonzo(the natives in the game call it "Scared One"). The famous mountain climber Eric Simmons begins the game when he embarks upon a mountain ascent. Eric is searching for his brother Frank who disappeared while climbing the same summit. Frank was hired by a man named Edward Bennet to find a ancient artifact called a "terma" which is only found on this mountain. As Eric begins his ascent, he sees sprits of the deceased local natives and he shrugs it off as hallucinations caused by the altitude. He comes upon a monk who teaches him how to attack the evil sprits lurking in the mountain. Eric also learns that the sprits are the villagers who could not escape the curse that was placed upon them by the mountain Goddess. The game consists of Eric battling his way up the mountain to find his lost brother and rescue him, while learning along the way what had happened to the villages and his brother.
Play:
The game's pacing is perfectly balanced between exploration and combat. Eric searches the dead villages for clues to the lost villagers and his brother. During his search, he meets up with some of the dead residents of the village and is forced to engage them in combat. Another segment of exploration is climbing the mountain. This aspect was done perfectly because as you climbed further up the mountain, you are able to look back and see all the progress you made.
Engagement:
The player is able to immerse himself into the world of the Himalayas through perfectly designed levels and cut scenes. I actually stopped progressing through the game to take notice of the unique village huts and temples throughout the levels. Also, the combat system involves hand motions that are supposed to replicate actual Buddhist rituals. So that adds another layer of immersion.
Challenge:
This game has a slow pace from the start and it unfortunately does not pick up until the end of the game. In the beginning, enemies are easy to kill and sparsely sited through the environment. However, at the end of the game the number of enemies picks up and it is more enjoyable as the challenge heightens. The control for the combat system is suitable, except for when the game calls for foreword motion from the wii mote and nun chuck, the game does not read it, so the sprits are able to get cheep hits on you. To move on, its easy to see that Cursed Mountain borrowed some survival Horror concepts from other games. For instance, searching for that one key that unlocks that one door you need to move on-we’ve all seen that over and over. While this concept is a little outdated and a little too gimmicky for today’s gaming culture, its not a detrimental flaw, however it is annoying. I think the developers got lazy at this point. But to sum up, all in all, the challenge is about medium to hard.

Dylan E