Adrian Garza - Journal Entries

[adgarza8]

Journal Entries for Adrian Garza

[adgarza8]

Journal Entry #1

Name of Game:
"Speed"

Game Author:
The original creator of the game is Pepys Games, published in 1938. However, the version we played is an alternate version of it.

Original Platform & control mechanism:
The game was released with its own unique deck of cards, to be used specifically with their game. However, a version of the game was created using a standard deck of 52 cards.

Describe game play and mechanics:
We ended up playing a different version of the alternate version of speed. Where as normally two people participate in the game, we played with 4. The original rules were to make two piles of 20 per player, leaving the remaining 12 cards to be placed in the center to start and continue the game with. When the game begins, two of the cards placed in the center are flipped right side up, displaying the face of the card. Then, each player attempts to place a card from their hand limit of 5, while eventually drawing cards after using them, with the ultimate goal of placing down all 20 cards, to where then the player declares "Speed!" and wins the game. The requirement for being able to place down cards is to place a card down that is one value higher or lower than any of the two face up cards, meaning if you are holding a face card of 5, and center cards have a face of 4 and 8, you can place your face card of 5 on the 4 card since the value of your card is one higher or lower than it. We played it differently by distributing around 48 cards between us 4 players, leaving 4 cards to be placed in the middle. We then proceeded to play the game as per the rule of placing a card higher or lower, and did not seem to run into many issues.

Describe strengths & weaknesses of art & design:
So a big strength of the game is how fast the game is--no pun intended. The games took less than 2 minutes each, even with 4 players the game never lasted more than that. We took more time figuring out how to set it up than we did actually playing it once we settled on how to set the game up. Being able to carry around a small pack of cards and playing a few quick games with people while on the go is very convenient, not only that but also being able to warp the game rules a bit to fit additional players adds more to the fun. The downside that I found while we played speed is that occasionally there are times where no one is able to place down any cards since no cards are 1 value from each other. This rarely happened to our couple of games because we played with 4 people--expanding the number of available cards, but when it did happen, it felt like the momentum of the game was interrupted. This happens more often when there are just two players since it limits the amount of cards that can interact with each other but I still think that's a notable downside, having to briefly pause the game in order to replace the center cards to open up more opportunities to place down cards from your hand.

What made it fun?
The part that was most fun was how at a certain point, people are starting to scramble while trying to find matches for their cards. Especially when you have a few cards planned out but those opportunities quickly disappear since other players are also filling up those spaces. Leading to certain situations where cards are failed to be placed in time by a matter of milliseconds, which further causes some disruption for some players causing them to be taken aback and forced to rethink their options now that their opportunity had been taken away from them. The fact that cards can be either one higher or lower as opposed to maybe just a number higher gives the game a bit of leg room to open up more opportunities for combos, of linking cards that scale down and then back up. For example, if there's a 4 card, and you have 3,4,5,6, and 9 in your hand, instead of just quickly placing 5 and then 6, you can place 3 to go down, and then place 4, 5, and 6 to get rid of even more cards. It's a very simple concept with simple rules but I believe it's fun specifically for that reason. It makes picking up and playing the game for the first time very enjoyable and easy.

Now that you’ve played it, Why would this game be considered influential? How does it fit into the evolution of games?
This game could definitely be the inspiration for many fast paced, pocket sized games that people love to play. There are games like Unstable Unicorns, where turns can end up going very fast by placing down cards that all interact with each other, not only that but the game is carried in a small box so it makes it very easy to carry around and play whenever possible. Games have been around for the longest time, and these types of games that lean into the importance of playing quick and easy games with others help push forward the creation and ideas of future, similar games. People play games like these and want to create something similar, in this case it'd be a game that plays with a few people, doesn't need too many components, is easy to understand, and is easy to set up and put away. This type of game definitely inspired so many small table top games that can be quickly enjoyed by friends and family unlike some larger ones like The Binding of Isaac Four Souls. Where there are hundreds of different items, monsters, items, and unique situations that occur that can only be understood by playing several hours of the game.

How would you rate this game (1-5 Stars (5 stars good)):

I'd rate this game a 3.5 out of 5, it's a fun and simple game, easily accessible to everyone.

[adgarza8]

Journal Entry #2

Name of Game:
"Backgammon"

Game Author:
Ancient Civilizations

Original Platform & Control Mechanism:
The game is played using two decorated boards and two colored sets of black and white pieces, 15 per set. The game is played with moving and stacking pieces together around the board while using dice.

Describe Gameplay and Mechanics:
Gameplay revolves around having to distribute your pieces throughout the two boards in several sections, your opponent does the same in a mirrored pattern. The goal of the game is to move your pieces throughout the board until all of your pieces have ended up on your small section of your board. Afterwards, you are able to move pieces into the end zone as long as you roll high enough for the pieces to enter. The amount pieces move throughout the board is determined by two dice rolls. And each die has to be used on a piece each. A notable rule is that the amount rolled with the dice can not be added together in order to move one piece that equal value. You can, however, eventually move that piece that amount of spaces so long as you are able to move the piece one die at a time. The reason this comes into play is that whenever you want to move your piece throughout the board, you will inevitably have to go past some of your opponents pieces, which is good. But should you roll a number that allows you to land in a spot that is populated by the pieces of your opponent, there is a good chance you are unable to. The only way you could do so is if your opponent only had one piece in that same spot, and would therefore be captured by your landing there. Capturing an enemy's piece means that it will be sent to be held in a separate spot and will have to roll dice to see if it can escape and begin its journey all over again from the start. Once you have sent all of your pieces to end zone, you have won.

Describe strengths & weaknesses of art & design:
In terms of weakness, one could say that it's visually very boring. Which I would argue is true, at least compared to all of the other board games I've played. However, this could also be its strength, this is because its simplicity could easily be replicated using pieces of cardboard with scribbled sections and using little rocks or even other pieces of colored paper as the pieces. The only thing that would be missing would be the dice. However, nowadays people can just pull out their phone and easily just use an app for rolling dice assuming they just don't play Backgammon using an application. Adding to this strength, its simplicity made it relatively easy to understand, just playing through a few turns makes it quick to understand the game. Another strength of this game is that it more easily allows "house rules" to be implemented, if playing Backgammon with the same rules becomes boring then it's quite simple to change or add certain rules in order the make the game more interesting.


What made it fun?
The aspect that makes the game the most fun is the risk factor. There will be several opportunities where you are faced with a decision of moving pieces in a way that leaves you much safer, or moving them in ways that give you an immediate advantage while leaving yourself open for attacks. One example of this is using a piece to jail your opponents piece, rather than moving other pieces to safety. This in turn could leave your piece also vulnerable if your opponent is able to quickly free his piece and is able to attack yours. Another aspect is the strategy aspect, there were several moments in the game where either of us refused to move in order to play it safe, waiting for the perfect opportunity to roll doubles and allow two of our pieces to escape while giving them yet another turn to further flee to safety. Of course playing with friends is also incredibly fun as sometimes they can and will make decisions that have no benefit other than to annoy you, one example of this is jailing an enemy's piece right as it barely leaves its jail, instead of moving your other pieces to a better and safer position closer to your home board.


Now that you've played it, why would this game be considered influential? How does it fit in the evolution of games?
This game could have easily been the first game to introduce the aspect of moving pieces throughout a board through random chance while being able to hop over your opponent's pieces as well as being able to capture them. It's a game that is known throughout the world and has had several variants be created as a result of its popularity. I'm sure many game developers involved in creating board games, toy games, card games, and video games have all used Backgammon as a reference on how to go about traversing the game and interacting with your opponent. This same idea goes into how this game fit into evolution, it has remained to be a popular game throughout the world while not changing its general appearance or its rules and components,and with good reason. Which is why it makes for a great reference to study as to what a game needs to remain fun and engaging for centuries to come without being too complicated. A similar game that it can be compared to is chess, where the ultimate goal is to capture the entirety of the enemy's pieces, and allows a player to reach the other side of the board in order to gain advantage, in this case it'd be to turn a pawn into a queen.

How would ou rate this game (1-5 Stars (5 stars good)):

I'd rate this game a 4 out of 5, yet another fun and relatively simple game, but with more strategy involved. The Components are quick and easy to set up and it is a game that I plan to add to my collection of board games.

[adgarza8]

Journal Entry #2

Name of the Game:
"Computer Space"

Game Author:
Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney

Original Platform and Control Mechanism
It was the first arcade style game that was also commercially successful. Ran on a arcade system. Using the original controls the game definitely would feel different, but I argue even just using a keyboard it feels great to play for me.

Describe Gameplay and Mechanics:
The gameplay consists of earning points by controlling a ship around space and shooting projectiles at a pair of enemies that move at certain intervals, that also try to shoot you back with their own projectile. The enemies have certain advantages over you and you have certain advantages over them. For one, the player character can change the direction their ship is heading to, and can speed up and slow down which can constantly change the player's movement. The enemies only move in straight lines in a set path which players can adjust for by leading their shots. Additionally the player's projectile doesn't only move in a straight path, it can also be directed using the left and right buttons to strafe the projectile in either direction. This is important because although the enemies can shoot from any part of their ship, directly at the player, the player can only shoot from the front of his ship, meaning that the player has to potentially fly towards the enemy ship head on just to get a good shot. Though the fact that you can curve your shots lets you remedy this.

Describe strengths and weaknesses of art and design:
Because this is one of the most early video games in history, it has a very simple design, mainly just using enough resources to give the characters a bit of aesthetic. And having a bigger focus on the gameplay aspect of the game. But considering its time, the designs are rather charming and can be easily identified for what they are, a space ship that is closer to what a human would think its design would look like, and a rather strange and foreign looking space ship that represents the aliens that the player has to fight against. Additionally, the fact that the visuals from the game left a residual mark on the screen allowed the developers to use this intentionally or unintentionally for the purpose of adding really appealing visuals to the projectiles used for both the player and enemy. It helps also direct the player to where the shot is leading to in case the player is momentarily distracted by watching his own movement.

What made it fun?

Coming up with strategies of staying far behind and trying to snipe the enemies by leading and curving shots was pretty fun, as well as trying to do drive-bys by speeding past the enemy ships almost perpendicular to where their shot would originate from to try to land a cheap shot by trying to fire prematurely and strafing it into the enemy. It was also a nice learning experience, I only read the instructions until afterwards because I really wanted to go in blind and try to figure out how the game was played. At first I was a bit confused, but quickly realized how the controls were set up and led me to do decently well at the beginning. After a while I noticed that my projectiles were starting to curve, but I wasn't sure how or why. They generally seemed to steer towards my enemies so I had a suspicion that they were heat seeking. But after I stayed still and tried to use cheap tactics to snipe the enemies I quickly realized that it only changed its direction under specific circumstances. Causing me to quickly see it was controlled my inputs of left and right, which immediately encouraged me to try new tactics and try to essentially defeat the enemies in the most stylish way possible. Figuring out new ways to take out the enemies was what was so fun with the game.

Now that you've played it, why would this game be considered influential? How does it fit in the evolution of games?

These types of games were the ones that were pushing the newest and first mechanics in the video game market as well as beginning to expand the visuals of these games further than just pixels that made up simple squares and lines on a screen. These early games are what spark the ideas in game developers that think how they can push these ideas even further. An earlier example is how I believed the projectile was heat seeking, and although it wasn't, it was most definitely something that others thought and wanted to see a reality but couldn't due to limitations. This game also introduces player and enemy interactions that aren't 1 to 1, meaning that the player and enemy are not on the same playing field and have to resort to a different dynamic between them in order to make the game more engaging. And it's mechanics like these that snowball into the future and cause game developers to make even more dynamic differences between a player and enemy. So much so that games come out with players playing as the enemies in certain games. One such example is the game Crawl, where 1 player plays as the hero and up to 3 other players play as the monsters that lurk in the dungeon that attempt to defeat the hero. These kinds of dynamics all stem from games like these.

How would you rate this game (1-5 Stars (5 stars good)):

I'd rate the game a 2.5 out of 5 stars, rather entertaining and definitely not a bad game. One that I could see myself playing if I'd be bored waiting for something and can only play low storage games.

[adgarza8]

Journal Entry #3

Name of the Game:
"Donkey Kong"

Game Author:
Shigeru Miyamoto

Original Platform and Control Mechanism
Arcade Machine, a joystick with a button to jump, and the main way to traverse the map was through the joystick.

Describe Gameplay and Mechanics:
Gameplay revolves around climbing a stage and avoiding or defeating hazards in order to reach the top while earning points, in order to rescue a woman. Donkey Kong is the main antagonist and he constantly throws projectiles and obstacles to thwart the main character. Running around the map you can find several points of interest that allow you to either build up points, obtain a certain level of invincibility, or generally traverse the map. There are ladders to climb to get to the top, although some are broken and can't be used. There are hammers scattered throughout certain maps that allow you to pick them up and be able to entirely be safe from previous threats, because if they touch you while you have the hammer, you end up destroying them and earning points for doing so. Lastly there are certain items that are randomly placed that do nothing except let you earn points for collecting them, effectively building up a higher score.

Describe strengths and weaknesses of art and design:

The art of the game makes it really clear what the objective is, and the contrast with the points of interest laid throughout the map make it nice and easy time to traverse the map and collect all of the collectibles. The vibrant colors and seemingly simple designs along with keeping the overall industrial theme with steel beams and ladders make this game immediately recognizable and incredibly charming. A small weakness of the art and design might just be the visuals of some of the enemies or obstacles, there are certain moments where the colors are relatively dull and can look boring at times. On the flip side, there are several times where this is the opposite and the games makes it really obvious when something is coming your way and going to put you in danger. Another small note is the simple addition of certain details to some objects. like giving barrels that tiny design in order to properly keep track of which direction it's going, even if that answer should be obvious enough already.

What made it fun?

a main reason that the game is fun is that it requires a good amount of skill. Obviously that's what makes most games fun but this is no different for this game. However, there is a certain rush that you get when you're barely leaping over a barrel that is rolling straight towards you, or quickly trying to get under a barrel coming down a ladder. And even when you have to quickly time two jumps because there are two barrels approaching you that have just enough space between them to where you can barely land and jump again. A smaller component of the game that made it fun was collecting all of the items that give you points, but this doesnt appeal as much to some players. As well as trying to dodge barrels by quickly running up and down ladders so that you can hold that position while several barrels come rolling by. One of the most satisfying parts of this game are when you end up picking up the hammer and gain that confidence of being indestructible, allowing you to destroy any and all of the enemies coming your way, all the while gaining points while doing so.

Now that you've played it, why would this game be considered influential? How does it fit in the evolution of games?

This game sparked so much for the future of not only the career of Miyamoto, or Nintendo, but of the entire gaming industry. Its design has cemented itself in the brains of millions of people, so much so that even the one off character has eventually evolved to easily become the most recognized video game character to ever exist. This also inspired Donkey Kong to further evolve in to a more refined character along with so many sequels to further push that character into a new level. Not only that but the original dame that was rescued has even gotten several updated iterations. Though the absolute main reason as to why people would consider this game to be one of the most influential video game in early video game history is that is it the origin of Mario, and managed to somehow snowball into one of the biggest franchises in the world. Its charming visuals, it's solid gameplay, and everything that stemmed from this one game from Miyamoto makes this one of the most iconic video game ever. It goes to show how a simply designed game can charm so many people into immediately falling in love with it and sequels.


How would you rate this game (1-5 Stars (5 stars good)):
I'd rate it a 3.5, it's a great game but it's generally not something I'd play.

[adgarza8]

Journal Entry #5

Name of the Game:
"Pitfall"

Game Author:
David Crane

Game Studio:
Activision

Original Platform and Control Mechanism
The game was originally released on the Atari 2600 using the classic controller using a single joystick and a single button. Used for basic movement and interaction with enemies and obstacles in the level along with jumping.

Describe Gameplay and Mechanics:
The objective of the game is similar to many others, and that would be to build up your score with points to see how many you can end up to get the highest score. Where this game differs is that you play as Pitfall Harry, a treasure hunter who is seeking loot and treasure to claim, and runs around progressing to new parts of the level going either left or right of the screen. Very quickly you will end up running into several obstacles and enemies that you have to dodge by timing your jumps to either jump over them, or land on them while their attacks are not active. Eventually you will find pieces of loot and treasure that will give you points to keep on building up your high score before you end up losing all three of your lives, all taken instantly if your character ends up being hit by any of the previously mentioned obstacles or enemies.

Describe strengths and weaknesses of art and design:
This game was highly praised for its graphics, and with good reason. While its art style is very limited due to its hardware, it was able to effectively communicate to the player what it was that they were looking at, despite the lack of pixels. It created the most realistic rendition of what a human would look like traversing the screen and interacting with their environment on a home console. It was praised for its very nice animations, specifically with its run cycle, and I'd have to agree on it. It's clear colors and visuals allow this game to be so amazing for its time. The main character even had specific animations for jumping, climbing, and even swinging on rope. Which at the time was something very exciting for players. This kind of game could be seen as early versions of the genre of roguelikes, which are comprised of games where you are meant to eventually lose, only to use the knowledge of that game or "run" and get further each and every time since you had gained experience.

What made it fun?
A big plus of this game is its art style, kind of repeating a bit of what was previously mentioned. Its art style is what gave this game its charm, nice animations and great controller to game feedback allow this game to play wonderfully, even on a keyboard, which was obviously not the intended controller. I had the most fun jumping on or swinging over the alligators, that provided the most excitement in the game, feeling incredibly rewarding after jumping on the head of the closed gators' mouths. The audio was very repetitive but also had its own charm, referencing music and sound from other games and media. A quick example was using the Tarzan yell while swinging from a rope, as if imitating that character. Although one thing that did manage to hinder the fun was how often you had to run and traverse basically empty levels before finally finding a money bag in order to increase your score. Something that made it also fun was that the logs rolling to hit you wouldn't automatically kill you, and didn't do any damage. Instead, it simply removed score from your total in relation to how long you stayed in contact with the log.



Now that you've played it, why would this game be considered influential? How does it fit in the evolution of games?
This game was obviously a huge hit at the time and inspired many people to style their games off of it, taking inspiration on how this game handled the body mechanics of humans and even animals, to make the most out of the limited pixels that were able to be used. As well as inspiring others to also reference media they loved in their own games. Early games had little to base their content off of, so several games felt like ripoffs or heavily inspired by others. Some felt that it reminded them of the original Donkey Kong, but that it felt unique and refreshing enough to keep it fun and interesting. This game was also being used as an example for how player feedback between the game and the controller was incredibly important. And how many games at the time felt really awkward to play sometimes, despite being played on their original components, this game had really solid collision boxes that kept the game fair and smooth to play, especially while barely dodging any hazards in the levels.This fits in the evolution games as being one of if not the best Atari 2600 games and will never be forgotten in its role in the history of gaming.

How would you rate this game (1-5 Stars (5 stars good)):
I'd rate it a 3, a fun game, but hard to enjoy it when comparing it to more recent games.

[Professor Watkins]

Graded to here.

[adgarza8]

Journal Entry #6


Crash Bandicoot


Created by Jason Rubin

Studio: Naughty Dog

Originally created and played on the Playstation1, using its controllers provided, connected to almost any modern TV for its time.

I played this game using a keyboard, it is 100% a worse experience playing on a keyboard, eventually one could get used to the controls but the game was not designed for this controller layout so it doesn't end up working out very well.

The gameplay is really straight forward and mostly involves you running in a set path down an environment in order to get past the level, all while avoid and defeating enemies, along with getting any collectibles like the fruits and destroying the boxes.The game have several simple but charming mechanics, you have a standard jump button and an attack button. Whenever you attack you spin around very quickly, and hit everything in touching distance from you, either destroying it, or sending stuff flying. This allows you to get into a certain position to align enemies in a row and then knock one into all of them, quickly defeating them all with one swift attack. You do die in a single hit, however you can find this mask that ends up helping you by essentially counting as a free damage, you can stack this mask if you end up finding another. There is also a bounce mechanic to the game, you can bounce on most enemies, and even some require you to specifically defeat them by jumping on top of them. And you can also jump on certain boxes, they could be used to just progress through the level but they also allow you to combo these boxes with fruit boxes to get several fruits quickly by repeatedly bouncing upwards and hitting those boxes.


The general art of this game is incredibly vibrant, the colors are very saturated and the characters all have interesting designs.Even with the limitations of the polygon count with characters and the environments, they manage to jam pack as much as they could in a single level, with enough space to comfortably move around the play area, while also being able to appreciate the scenery around. Because the Crash has a very low poly count, one would think it'd be difficult to animate him being very energetic without moving his entire body. What I mean by that is although Crash has very little geometry to work with, he manages to make display lively emotions and facial expressions that can be easily seen from a distance, which is aided by his colors. There are a few characters--specifically enemies--that have a bit too much going on, and are just a little awkward to look at. I personally did not find the carnivorous plants very interesting in terms of their color palette, I love the idea behind them, as well as how they were constructed, animated, and defeated. But I mostly just dislike the colors and the overall textures they went with it. I also thought the skunk seemed a bit boring, it just seemed like a random animal just walking around waiting to be killed by us, I'd much rather see it have more crazy proportions to make it seem like it's something unique and not just a random skunk.

Everything made this game fun, the camera felt like it was placed in a very nice spot to where the developers were able to control what you were able to see from any given part of the level. One example is when you go through certain levels, if you're running through trying to go as fast as you can, you might not be able to react in time to save yourself from a cliff because the camera wasn't able to reveal the hole until you got close enough. An interesting mechanic is that generally speaking, a lot of games that have a very straight forward path don't let you backtrack too much, and when playing this game, the camera placement makes me feel like you wouldn't be able to go backwards, but to my surprise you're more than able to return to previous parts of the level and continue exploring stuff missed previously. Another reason is the general destruction of the boxes found throughout levels, this game allows you to tear through levels and destroying almost everything you see, while rewarding you with dozens of fruits that give you extra lives and also more masks to protect against hits. Destroying a giant pile of boxes followed by collecting all of the different items found gives a huge dopamine rush to those playing, at least it sure did for me.The sound design is quite fun as well, the sounds are funny, responsive, and not too repetitive.


I do consider this game influential and I believe was quite pivotal towards the future creation of 3d platformer games. Even now there are several 3d games that are just 2d side scrollers, and Crash succeeded because it dipped its toes in new territory and tried something to new to maybe set new expectations and push new limits to see what was possible with level designs. There were certainly crazier games before this but this stays on the border of it being too crazy and lovable, the main character is easily recognizable due to his comedic proportions along with the villain of the game having an iconic N on his forehead. Many games were also trying to push for realism, seeing how far games could go to look as realistic as possible. Now it's incredibly common, but before it was such a challenge that so many developers wanted to have the title of most realistic. This game disregards that sort of art direction and completely embraces its silly theme, games like these are the ones that are the most memorable. And I think it's games like these that influence other games like Team Fortress 2, where they scrapped the realism war for a more stylized and fun gameplay. It also paved the way for amazing new games like Jak and Daxter, where although they originally went for a relatively light hearted story and gameplay, ended up shifting into a much serious tone while keeping it's amazingly stylized look.

Rate: 4 stars out of 5. Really fun, challenging, and charming.

[adgarza8]

Journal Entry #7

Super Mario 64

created (Directed) by Shigeru Miyamoto

Studio: Nintendo

Originally created on the Nintendo 64, using the N64 controllers, including a joystick.

Playing with a keyboard is yet again not optimal at all, but even having a different type of game controller feels much better

The gameplay revolves around running around and traversing a specific level in order to collect stars. The reason you collect stars is so that you can eventually use those stars to unlock other doors to progress through the game, eventually reaching the final door requiring the most unlocks to finally challenge the final boss, which is Bowser. The simple mechanics of the game revolve around your basic movement, your walk/run are used with the same input except this time using the analog feature on the joystick to more accurately be able to control your running or walk speed. This along with long jump, high jump, backwards jump, triple jump, ground pound, punching, wall jumping, and a few other mechanics make the game feel liberating in the sense of having so much freedom with your controls. This game also differs from previous Mario games by having a dedicated health bar, rather than an instant death system if you don't have any power ups. Making the game feel more fair overall by allowing the player to take more hits than they previously would.

The art of this game is yet again incredibly vibrant, contrasted with other N64 games like the Legend of Zelda games where the game does have its vibrant colors but it also has a large amount of non saturated colors along with some colors kind of blending in with each other, at least that was my personal experience. Seeing Mario and his universe be brought to 3d for the first time ever is really charming, seeing the direction that they took from those original 2d assets and converting them into these new 3d models. And eventually seeing how these characters have grown over the years in their 3d form, evolving from their original 2d forms in order to make them more appealing. The overall aesthetic of the game is really pretty, and even uses several forms of 2d assets for its game, like the trees scattered throughout several levels in the game.


A big aspect of what makes any game fun for me first and foremost is how it feels, if the controls are very responsive and the game feels like I'm using an extension of my body with the controls then it'll help to convince me to like the game. And I feel like this game does a good job in doing so, especially for it being one of the first for its kind of game. There are moments where the character feels a bit too floaty or that Mario slips or slides in a direction a little more than I'd expect, causing me to get hit or die. Those moments are the ones I hate the most, but they are thankfully not as common. Because the controls handle relatively well, it feels very fun to be able to use several different types of jumps in order to beat the stage. Either using jumps to skip certain areas to conserve time, or using them to quickly and effectively dodge an enemy, they both feel really fun to use and they also don't lock you in specific direction or speed when you do them, giving you a little control of your movement in the air. Seeing how big some maps are further add to the fun of the game, exploring new areas of the same map because they were locked before also is a brilliant way to save memory by using the same maps, but also keeping the player engaged by altering it just enough, or guiding the player to a different part of the map so that they can have a completely different experience while playing through that level despite being placed in the same map as before.

So many of Nintendo's games are seeing as incredibly influential and for good reason, Nintendo had tried to stay on top of the industry in every way they could along with taking risks that would eventually bite them in the butt, like strictly limiting 3rd party participation. Mario 64 also fits nicely into the history of games because it shows why it became Nintendo's best selling game for the N64 console. Through solid concepts, fun gameplay, astonishing art direction, and replayability, Nintendo was able to create yet another smashing success, leaving a firm imprint on several millions of lives throughout the entire globe. This game showed what more could be done in the world of 3D, and no doubt further paved the way for future games to able to draw inspiration and further push limits farther than what Super Mario 64 could ever do. One thing that can go unnoticed is how they tackled the game mechanic of moving the camera to keep the main character in a proper position while also being able to see a great distance in front. This differs a bit from how other games which even came out a bit after this game, like Crash Bandicoot handled their 3d camera, not allowing the player to control it at all, and instead being placed on what are essentially trolleys for the camera to follow.

Rate: 4 out of 5 stars, Iconic game, hours of fun, challenging enough, and amazing art style.

[adgarza8]

Journal Entry #8

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Pierre Hintze was the Halo Publishing and Executive Producer

Studio: 343 Industries / Published by: Xbox Game Studios

Originally released for the Xbox and Steam. However, this game features several different Halo games within it, that were originally released for the Xbox, Xbox 360, and the Xbox One. Using their respective Xbox controllers.

I played the Halo Reach version from the game, and I played the game using a mouse and keyboard.

The gameplay revolves around completing set objectives within a given gamemode. In the campaign mode you have to progress through the story of Halo Reach by finishing objectives that require you to destroy structures or kill enemies, ultimately ending the story of the Noble Six-- the main squad that we follow in the campaign. You are also able to play multiplayer in either campaign, or in their own section of multiplayer modes. Multiplayer modes mostly consist of eliminations, capture points, holding key objects, and capturing flags. There are several different types of weapons that suit the play style of any given player. There are close range, far range, explosive, automatic weapons, semi auto, and some alien weapons as well. This game specifically was the first in its series to include perks, a new way to enjoy the game by adding new abilities that range from sprinting, jetpacks, shield bubbles, invisibility, and a few more. This added further customization for players to enjoy, additionally this was the 2nd game that allowed the ability to play as the Elites, an alien race found within the game that you often fight against.

A big strength of this game that is carried over from the previous game is the amount of customizability between players, allowing them to swap out several different armor pieces to create unique armor sets that allows players to differentiate themselves from others. This also extended to the armor of the elites, but they didn't have as many armor pieces that were able to be swapped. These armor pieces had to be slowly unlocked by beating missions, and usually took several hours to finish obtaining. This game mechanic has since been carried over to future games and has continued to grow in the amount of armor styles. The general art style of the game has a more realistic spin to it despite it taking place in a futuristic fictional world. The world is overall pretty unsaturated, but this gives the characters an opportunity to really stand out by having really colorful sets of armor that all have really unique shapes and glows to them. The only characters I'd say that don't really stand out very much are some of the basic soldiers that you fight along side, as well as certain enemies like the brutes that generally have a relatively gray appearance. A nice contrast between the humans and the aliens is that the human weapons are all dark grey or black, with a few colorful features to them that don't really stand out, and the weapons for the aliens all have very saturated colors with lights on them, along with interesting organic shapes.

A reason this game is fun is that the story of the campaign deviates from following the main character of the franchise which is Master Chief, this game gives an insight on other spartans carrying out their own mission. Which is further contrasted by how Master Chief is typically the only spartan that is in any given game up until that point. The story allows us as the players to connect and grow with the other spartans on this mission, which makes their loss feel much more impactful and longer lasting in our minds. In the multiplayer modes, the added perks further allowed the game modes to be played in new ways, which makes new metas form and new custom games to be created. A large majority of the Halo Reach players each have their own fond memories of creating their own game modes and their own maps using the Halo Forge option, which allows creation and posting of maps made within the game's engine. And I think games that allows the creativity of players to shine through keeps the game fresh from the influx of new ideas from players that the developers would not have been able to add to the game.


This game experimented with several aspects within Halo, like the addition of new game modes, new armor pieces, perks, expansions to the Halo Forge feature, deviating from following the story of Master Chief, more options for playing as elites, and the addition of the firefight gamemode. This game allowed the further growth for the franchise and really sticks out compared to the latest halo games as being more memorable than them. Halo had continued to have leaps with each new iteration of games, but it really feels like the innovation with Halo as a whole slowed down after the release of Halo Reach, no game since then at least for me has had that same impact that Halo Reach did compared to Halo 3. Halo 4, 5, and Infinite all seemed to have dropped in audience reception and consumers are itching for a new Halo release that captures that feeling of excitement with playing a new Halo entry that brings in many refreshing ideas like Halo Reach did. The fact that it kept its place in so many people's hearts I think is what makes this game particularly important in the history of Bungie, 343, Halo, and even the history of games as a whole.


I would rate the Halo: The Master Chief Collection a 4/5 stars, and reach specifically 4.5/5, amazing game, love the story, love the multiplayer, and made so many memories playing that game.