Overview
Over the past summer, Riot Games released a new game called Valorant. Valorant is an attacker vs defender game similar to the popular game Counter Strike Global Offensive. In the game, you choose a character with different abilities that you use to battle and control bombsites in order to win. Valorant is a game that is free but allows for cosmetic skins for each of the guns available. Like CSGO, the goal is to win a certain number of rounds and after 12 rounds, the attackers and defenders switch sides to get to the final total of 13 to win. In the time that I have played it, I find that I really enjoy the game. While I say this it must also be said that it takes a lot of time to get better at aiming and movement which creates a high skill ceiling for the game. In terms of narrative, there is not a clear one. Narrative The only narrative is the underlying one that is each character wants to win and they are competing in order to survive and protect their home. In terms of dialogue, the only dialogue is the character voice lines which I find very entertaining and they make the game more interesting. Gameplay The gameplay is kind of linear but because it is a player versus player game with different maps the different tactics that are created allow for expansions of gameplay and the game does not become disinteresting. In terms of the skills, it takes some time to get used to like CSGO but after awhile it is easy and the only thing that can improve is your aim. Overall the game makes sense for the gameplay and it is a huge part of the game because of all the different abilities and guns. Visually, I find this game very similar to League of Legends as they were created by the same studio and I think that it helps the game a lot. Visuals The visuals are very simple but also have very bright colors that pop. This makes the game very different from games like CSGO which use very dull and dark colors to simulate real-world experiences and battles. Almost all of the animations for the characters and abilities make as much sense as they can while keeping the fantasy theme. Because of these abilities, it feels more like a fantasy game. The actual violence is toned down along with the minimal amount of blood in the game. This style helps the game by introducing a younger player base and it makes parents feel better as there is minimal blood. Overall the visual style is simple but designed well and it helps tie together the game while separating it from others in the genre. Audio There is main menu audio which is a very chill soundtrack that doesn't overpower anyone talking. There is also audio for every time a button is clicked which makes sense and adds a needed element to the game. When you are in the game, it is very easy to tell when someone is running versus walking and the sounds of different abilities and guns. This helps the player as they can locate the enemy depending on how fast they are moving and gives intel to what abilities and guns have been used. Finally, when you plant the bomb, a beeping sound starts that speeds up as the bomb is about to explode. This helps notify the defenders that they need to defuse the bomb and how urgent it is. Interface If there is one thing that is perfect about the game it is definitely the interface. Whether you are in-game or in the menu every interface is sleek and the design is well thought out. It is very easy to find the settings and what abilities and guns you want to buy all while having an amazing visual design for each button. Along with this, going from menu to menu feels natural and logical and it makes for easy access to every option available in the game. Accessibility and Technical In terms of accessibility, it is inclusive for everyone. Riot implemented color blind modes of different varieties that allow anyone with colorblindness to play easily. They also make the controls very easy even though the only option available is with keyboard and mouse. While this is the only option, almost every key bind can be changed to the preference of the player. All of the text was easily readable and there were no errors. In terms of technical errors, there were almost none. The only errors that arose were connection issues which most likely stem from my spotty WIFI. Overall, the game never crashed and I have not had many errors with the game itself. Conclusion Overall, I would recommend this game to anyone with a good enough computer to play it. This game makes the concept very engaging and has long-term playability with its ranked system. I find the visuals and interfaces to be sleek and simplistic while also tying into the fantasy concept they were aiming for. The gameplay is crisp and the mechanics allow for a high skill ceiling and many different tactics. The maps that are available and the fact they are making more allows for replayability that needs to be present in any game. Overall, I give this game a 5/5 and would recommend it to anyone who likes first-person shooter games. Summary
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Among Us is a mafia style game where players take control of astronaut characters. A select amount of these characters are known as imposters. These imposters are trying to sabotage the ship or kill all the other players in order to win. The crew mates on the other hand are trying to finish all their tasks to win while also stopping all of the sabotages. The other way to win as a crew mate is to vote all the imposters off the ship. This game is a great party game to play with friends and is 5 dollars on steam and free on mobile. It also allows for cross-platform so you are able to ply with friends on Steam and mobile. Each game is also fairly short and it is common to play multiple times within a session. This game has a lot of replay value because of new strategies people can acquire and also the fact that each round is different.
Gameplay The gameplay in this game is fairly simple but that is something common in mafia style games where you are constantly trying to figure out who is evil. The main gameplay is when crew mates do their tasks. On each map there are many different tasks that require varying amounts of time from five seconds to thirty seconds. Every task is different and multiple players can have the same task. This part of the gameplay is vital as it is one of the ways the crew mates can win and also how they can tell who the imposters are. Almost all the tasks do not require much skill and are very interesting when you first learn them. As you play the game the tasks can get boring but thy are vital to the success of the game. The rest of the gameplay is found through the imposters eyes. The imposters can sabotage different points on the map and it forces the crew mates to fix them or they lose the game. Along with this, there are vents across the map where only imposters can go. These vents allow imposters to hide and travel across the map very quickly. Overall the gameplay is very logical and makes sense but at times can be boring if played for too long. Visual The visuals in this game fit very well for the style the developers were going for. The visuals are fairly simple but make the game have a great overall feel and you can tell easily what everything is. As for the characters, they are astronauts with different colored space suits. You can easily tell that these characters don't look like normal humans due to their body shape but that is done on purpose to make this game more kid friendly. The visuals tie the game together really well and the environments that the characters are in look like they could be real but the game developers chose to make it look more animated. The animations in the game are very good besides some minor visual bugs from time to time. The only real animations we do get to see are the animation when someone dies, a door is opened, someone jumps in a vent, or animations in tasks. Overall while the visuals are very simplistic, they help the game stand out and is a really good fit for the concept as the main focus is on figuring out who the imposters are and not as much on the visuals. Audio In the game, there is almost no music besides the menu music which is mainly just ambient noise. The other audio is very well designed and implemented in just the right way. The sound of your character running down a hallway is just how it should and almost every task has audio ques or audio for when it is completed. Just like the visuals, the audio is fairly simple but it is executed in a way that feels natural and is pleasing on the ears. This is somewhat due to the fact that there is not much focus on music but rather the sound effects when different actions are preformed. The most useful part of the audio is that whenever you complete a task it gives you an audio piece that lets you know the task is finished and you can move on. This is a very simple thing but it helps by not just using visuals but audio as well for the tasks. Interface The interface in the game is very simplistic which fits the style of the game. There are not many things on the home menu and every option can be chosen by the click of the mouse. When you are playing the game, each item whether that be a task, the map, or even the sabotage button is able to be controlled by the mouse and shows clearly what options are available by highlighting them. Another thing is that the map shows you what your tasks or fake tasks are and where they are located on the ship. This is very helpful and it is one of the most important pieces of the interface. There is a section to adjust the audio but you are not able to change the controls which is a downside. Overall the menu system fits the style of the game and the in game map is very useful as it explains where things are and where your tasks are located. Another interface that they did well is when you are voting a player out, the cast vote option is very simple and easy to understand and they give you a big check mark or an x so you can verify your choice. Accessibility The one feature that this game does not have is a colorblind mode. Because everyone has a different color, it is easier to remember which color you saw instead of the name that is displayed. This means that if you are colorblind, you can still read the name of the person but it may be harder to remember and is therefore a disadvantage. While this is the case, there are many extra colors that can solve the problem of colorblindness and let them play the game completely. As for all the text, it is grammatically correct and everything is spelled correctly and is easy to read. The only main drawback is that there is no colorblind mode. Technical The only technical piece I have to add is that the servers are not very good. There are many times when people are kicked from lobbies or are unable to join lobbies and are forced to restart the game. While this doesn't happen all the time, I usually find that at least one person has a connection issue during a session we are playing. Conclusion Overall I have so much fun playing this game and I have played countless hours over the past month. I would give this game a 4.5/5 and I would say that unless you really want to play on the computer, the mobile version works just as well and is free compared to spending five dollars. Overall I recommend this to anyone who has a group of friends to play with as it is one of my favorite party games to play. For about the last week and a half, I have been playing a lot of the new Pokemon game, sword and shield. At the moment, I am really enjoying the game because while they have added the feature of wild pokemon spawning in the overworld in other pokemon games, I have yet to play one of those games so it was a very interesting experience for me. While I do think that this system is very easy and nice for new players I do wish that they would go back to the random spawns because it mixes the game up and gives older players something to grind for. As for the visuals of the game, I find that Gamefreak has done a very good job with the cities and wild areas while also making them very different and new which is a very nice touch. While the mechanics for the game have not really changed from other pokemon games, I personally feel like the dynamax form kind of takes away from the level of the game. While I understand that they are trying new concepts, I wish they would not change the forms pokemon can take every generation of game. I find that they are doing this because they need sustinace for their game and that after they saw the success that mega evolutions had, they felt they could repeat the process and changing it slightly, the same for Z-moves. Another thing I personally do not like in the game is that they removed the national dex which means that you cannot catch all the pokemon in the game. This was very disappointing for me because I try and catch all the new pokemon in every game and it left me a little disappointed. I really enjoy the new music that the game has added that brings back a similar style as some of the originals. All of the elements were also very easy to understand and they added a new marker which shows you where you need to go to continue the story which really helps as some of the conversations with NPCs can become confusing. I also really enjoy the menus because they have a simplistic art style but look very nice and clean. I have not experience any problems with the game working and the internet connection works very well and I have not yet been automatically disconnected. One thing that I personally do not like is that there are a lot of talking cutscenes in the game but they have finally added a feature in which you can automatically skip cutscenes which makes the game progress faster but still gives you the option to enjoy the thought out story in its entirety. While I have said some bad things about the game, I do not regret my purchase and I believe that this is a genuinely good game even though there are downsides which is why I would give it five stars.
Summary
Mario Kart Tour came out September 25th and brought a lot of the hype of Mario Kart to the mobile world after being released on IOS and Android. While Mario Kart Tour is the first of its kind, it was a little overhyped before the release, allowing a lack of enjoyment to some of the players. While the enjoyment was lost for some players, having the game released on mobile, allowed it to still gain popularity and a large player base. The game does a lot of things visually that are very appealing to the eye like having colorful tracks and designs in-game with some of the classic tracks from older Mario Kart Games. Along with the Nostalgia of the classic tracks, the game plays music on each of the tracks from the original games along with new music which keeps new players and old players interested. The gameplay itself is a little clunky with it being played horizontally and the controls being very basic,only allowing you to steer and throw items. This makes the gameplay not as interesting because the steering is very basic and you start with smart steering (steering assist). This means that you can get around the track without touching anything. While the gameplay is very simple, it allows the game to run at a great speed with almost no lag throughout races. The game has still gained a lot of popularity even with a couple of improvements that can be made. This is because Nintendo released it as a free game. Overall while some of the gameplay may be lacking in depth and ability, because this game is the first of its kind being on mobile, and is very addicting, I have to give it a rating of 5 Stars.
While I have been playing League of Legends for a long time I wanted to write a review on how I feel about the game at its current state and how Riot Games have chosen what they want to do with the game. Right now I find that the game is still interesting to me even after playing it for awhile and because there are so many champions to play and learn, it makes it a game that you can play for a long time. On the other hand, because there are a lot of champions to chose from, it makes it harder for newer players to understand the game and grow an interest because the knowledge you have to have to play on a high level is way above the optimum flow line. I find that Riot games tends to also not care as much about certain champions compared to others. After playing this game for more than a year, most of the same champions that were good when I started playing are still good now and there are champions that throughout my time playing the game I have never seen used. Riot Games could either reduce the amount of champions to chose from, which would make other characters see more play, or increase the stats of other characters to make them viable in the game. Both of these solutions would lead to a better game and do not require a ton of work on the part of Riot Games. Overall while there are a couple bad things about League of Legends, I have mostly enjoyed playing it and will continue to in the future.
Summary
Recently, I have been really addicted to a game known as rocket league. While I have been playing Rocket League for well over a year now, I still really enjoy playing it. My favorite thing about the game is just the concept of it and how something like it has never really been done before. Along with this, I find this game really enjoying because as I continue to play, I start to be able to do things and hit shots that I would have never thought I would be able to hit. For those who don't know, Rocket League is basically a game of soccer where you control rocket cars in order to hit the ball and score goals. Because the cars are rocket powered it allows you to fly across the map and hit aerial shots that would not be possible in a normal match of soccer. This adds a totally new element to the game that increases the skill cap and even after the game has been out for four years now, allows for increase development of the limits the game has. Overall Rocket League is one of my favorite games to play with my friends casually or just try to get better at that I know I will continue playing for a long time.
Summary
So, there is this new free to play game called Apex Legends that just came out and if you haven't heard of it you are probably living under a bus. Anyway Apex Legends is a new battle roayle game that is based in the titanfall universe and is obviously made by the same company Respawn. Respawn has been bought by EA who has a history of making games really bad and way too overprices. Apex Legends is a good change to that because firstly it is a free to play game, and secondly all the available things to buy are mainly cosmetic. Aside from that, for a free to play game, Apex Legends has some of the best graphics I have seen and runs very smoothly even after barely being released. Along with that Apex Legends brings a new aspect that many battle royale games don't have which is classes. Each class in Apex has different abilities and thus changes the game up a lot. Along with that Apex Legends also brings along a variety of guns, including some from the titanfall games which brings fans of titanfall and new players together to experiment. Overall Apex Legends has been really fun for me to play and I rarely get bored of playing it.
Summary
I've been playing NBA 2k19 for over a month now and I have to say I am having a good time in the game. The main mode in 2k19 that I play is MYcareer which lets you become your own NBA player and compete against other NBA stars. I have been playing this a lot because while you can have offline play against the computer, you can also have online against other players and their NBA players. Most of this has been really enjoyable for me because while I am still upgrading my player, I can still compete and have fun against other players that are more upgraded than mine. I think one of the coolest things is that you can choose which aspects of basketball you want to focus on for your player. For instance you can focus on 3 point shooting, dunking, defense, dribbling and others and you get to choose what your player is good at. This mixes up the game a lot and while some players may have better aspects that are more relevant, most of the archetypes are still relevant. As far as the game play goes, for the most part it is pretty smooth with the occasional frame drop or latency issue. This makes the game very fun for a lot of people and a lot better than 2k18 which had a lot of issues throughout the main stages of the game. Overall I have been having fun on this game and will continue to have fun on it because of all the choices that are made possible when creating my Myplayer.
Summary
Recently Destiny 2 came out with a new expansion called forsaken. I was really excited for forsaken because when I looked at how large the update was it was larger than both of the previous two combined. This with a lot of new abilities and content had me really excited for September 4th when it finally dropped. When I first got to play it I thought it was pretty good, they raised all the levels and gave me something to grind for again and they also created a whole new story and a new raid boss. They also created new abilities for all the classes and a new game mode that combines PvP (Player versus Player) and PvE ( Player versus Enviornment). As I have been playing I have noticed how much of a grind it is and how much effort it takes to level up and get better gear. So far I really like this update a lot because of all the new things that have been added but I do find it very annoying how you have to play for a long time just to reach even close to some of the end game content. Overall I really like the new expansion and all the things that are still to come as part of the expansion.
Summary
So recently I have been getting back into the game For Honor. For Honor is a fighting game based in medieval times between the knights, the vikings, and the samurai. This game includes 18 characters each with their own abilities and combos. I really enjoy this game because while the mechanics are pretty simple, you can still do so many things with the different characters are their combos. As I have gotten better at the game I have realized how unbalanced some of the characters are. I think that Ubisoft could have focused more on this and put more effort into releasing patches and updates then they have been. While this could have been improved I really like all the details that are in the game including all the maps, customization of characters and more. Overall while this game is not too recent it is still enjoyable and easy to get the hang of.
Summarry
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AuthorHi, my name is Nick Bayer and I will be posting blogs about every 1-2 weeks in the 2020-21 school year. I am doing this for my Advanced Game Design class at Durham School of the Arts(DSA). The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools. Categories
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