Adham Aatiq- Journal Entries

[Adham A]

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[Adham A]

Journal Entry #1

Game: Backgammon

[Adham Aatiq]

Journal Entry #1

Game: Computer Space 1971
Created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney
Syzygy Engineering


It was originally an arcade game. Actually the first arcade video game and the first commercially available video game.

Using WASD to fire, go left, Thrust and go right. The controls are a little rough, but it’s manageable. I’m sure that the gameplay would feel much more natural sitting down at an arcade machine. The gameplay is simple, you are a single rocket ship flying about the vast emptiness of space. You can control and shoot missiles from your ship, and as you move you can direct your projectile ever so slightly. The objective of the game is to destroy the alien saucers that are also sharing this space with you. They move and fire directly at you as well, which turns the game into a dog fight of sorts. Just like Pac-Man, the screen loops so if you leave off screen left you will appear on screen right. The goal is to have a higher score than the enemies by the end of the game or you’ll lose. Sounds simple enough, however when you’re actually playing the game it can be a tad more difficult that you would’ve initially thought. If you don’t move often the enemies can just shoot you where you stand, and oftentimes while you’re moving they lead the shot.

It’s a very solid game, given its time. It plays as intended and isn’t impossible, not non-intuitive, which a lot of earlier video games often were. You boot up the game and you can understand what you need to do, how to do it pretty quickly. The game loop is reasonable and there's a challenge to it. The joy of successfully destroying the enemies is surely palpable. All of that said however, the game itself obviously isn’t anything remarkable. It’s not full of depth or have a lot going on. Realistically you only have a few play throughs before you’ve experienced everything Computer Space has to offer you. I do feel that is unfair given the time, but since I’m required to judge the game, my modern standards for video games are present in my judgments. Design wise

it’s actually pretty good, on par with a game like Galaga, in my opinion. The way the ships are animated and leave behind a vignette trail wherever they go is visually appealing. The sound design can be a little grading but this is a 1971 game, expectations should be relative to the time period.

The thing that made it fun was the challenge of besting the enemies. They seem to be programmed to rarely miss, which presents an ever present challenge. Even if you get one down there’s a high chance they’ll shoot you down 3 more times afterward, always keeping the advantage. The only thrill you get from playing is when you can take down the enemies one after another. The accompanying explosion sound effect and visual of the splattering debris give you just enough of the feeling of achievement that makes you want to hunt another one down, just for a moment. Like I said previously the thrill of the game is short lived. After playing it though and doing some research, this game was a front runner in the game industry. Like I said previously, Computer Space is the first attempt to sell a video game to the public as an arcade machine. Its space shooter theming is a genre that will become increasingly more popular in video game history and arcades in general, I believe this game could have easily been the influence for those games. Since it’s one of the first arcade games, this means it set the groundwork for arcade culture, meaning the machine, standing and playing, as well as collecting quarters/tokens.

I would rate this game a 2 out of 5 stars. No hard feelings, if it was rated in context of the time period I’d give it a 4/5. However, given the lack of replay ability I cannot give it higher than a 2 star.

[Professor Watkins]

Graded to here.

[Adham Aatiq]

Journal Entry #2


Game: Croc Legend of the Gobbos 1997

Created by Nic Cusworth

Music Composed by Justin Schavona

Argonaut Games, Virtucraft ltd.


Croc was released for the PS1, which means the method of playing this game was with the PlayStation 1 controller. My sister owned a PS1 and I remember watching her play this game as well as eventually picking it up myself. Since I was so young, the controls on the origami system were far more intuitive than the version I played on the computer. The buttons to allocate movement, attacks the jump etc seemed all over the place.


The gameplay is simple, given Croc was one of the early 3D platformer style games. You play as a little crocodile with a backpack who jumps, ground pounds and spins his way through various levels collecting gems, defeating enemies and saving his family from a villain called the Baron. There are bosses, puzzles and new challenges throughout the entire game experience ensuring the player never gets bored. The movement of the character uses tank controls, which means you must orient the character to face in a direction and hold forward to make them move that direction. Personally I don’t mind tank controls, but I understand people are generally not a fan. Perhaps because I grew up loving this game I too became accustomed to tank controls.


The art design and music of this game are fabulous, and this isn’t nostalgia talking. The praise the game received when it came out was directly targeted toward the games visuals, music and sound. The soundtrack from this game has stuck with me my entire life, and has even made it to my modern playlist. I believe the composer Justin Schavona created a very solid score for this game, which really helps it stay memorable and iconic. Unfortunately I think this game isn’t very innovative, mechanic wise, as a whole. The way Croc gets around is very similar to Mario in Mario 64, and the way his health system works is similar to Sonic the Hedgehog where if he gets hit he drops all of the crystals he has collected. If Croc has no crystals and he’s hurt, the player loses a life. Not having much in its own identity beside the world really stops the game from being a big IP in my opinion, it’s just a very solid game but nothing special outside of that.


The thing that makes the game fun is simply good music, level design and progression. The several levels and world maps that all vary in obstacles, enemies and gimmicks ensures that nothing gets too stale, and if something is difficult, you won’t have to endure it for long. The cute artstyle also helps. I’ve completed the entire game before, I went back to complete it in my free time in middle school, and I noticed how simple it was to put in hours into the game, it was fun and moderately challenging as well. Generally that game was a collectathon, with it either being saving Gobbos, collecting colored gems to unlock secrets and Jigsaw pieces to unlock secret levels which are far more difficult providing a bit of challenge.


I think this might be something of an underdog, unlike games like Spyro or Crash Bash, Croc wasn’t anything too revolutionary, nor did it make big waves in reviews. For starters, as I mentioned before the gameplay was pulled from other video games and the actual game progression was bare bones. It’s very safe, and does what it does to a decent degree, allowing the player to have a pleasant experience and have fun. However I’ve heard that they are creating a remastered version of Croc that’s planned to release on April 2nd, 2025, so it’s not entirely obscure in the video game zeitgeist.


I’d rate this game 3.8 stars out of 5. Safe, fun and entertaining. It really is just a decently made game that plays well, isn’t buggy, and extremely streamlined. The music is great, artstyle is decent on the eyes and generally just a good time. The controls aren’t for everyone, but for me that isn’t a demerit on the score.