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

_________________________

______________________________________

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

______________________________________

_____________________________________________

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

_____________________________________

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

__________________________________________________

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