Poor Feature :/
The Saboteur
(Xbox 360)
about
enemy response
glitch
Twice now, I've witnessed a large quantity of Nazi Sturmwagens showing up to deal with my antics. Not a variety of different vehicles, like when there's an Alarm on. Just when there's a regular suspicion zone: I take a look at the street, and like, TWENTY OR MORE of these wagens have started to pile up, at a rate of about 1 per second. The second time it happened, I was able to earn one of my Perks by blowing them all up at once, so that was awesome. Otherwise, it's clearly a glitch, and could potentially bog down the gameplay when 100+ Nazis try to approach the crime scene at once. Weird stuff.
by
dwahl
on
7/27/2010 10:24:03 AM
Great Feature :)
Dead Space
(Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC)
about
Control
Dead Space uses an intuitive, yet simple design for all controls. The face buttons let you interact with items, access the inventory menu, and use a health pack by just pressing one of them, and when in the aiming mode, they are all remapped to gun specific controls such as reload, use statis or telekinesis. This allows the player to access many controls by reusing buttons while in a different "state" or "stance"
by
civey
on
7/9/2010 7:20:36 AM
Great Feature :)
The Beatles Rock Band
(Xbox 360)
about
cut scenes
The cut scenes for this game are some of the best I've ever seen. They take the player(s) on a brief journey between chapters, using fantastic animation and imagery along with the Beatles' music, and introduce the next chapter's first song. I especially never get tired of the opening title sequence!
by
dwahl
on
6/27/2010 3:44:01 PM
Poor Feature :/
The Beatles Rock Band
(Xbox 360)
about
song selection
I know why they did this, but it sucks anyway: many of the wonderful Beatles songs you'd like to see are nowhere to be found in this game. They want you to spend MORE money to download additional tracks from Xbox Live, which is just a cheap shot at the wallet, really. I don't know how many people cave in and actually buy them...
by
dwahl
on
6/27/2010 3:37:24 PM
Great Feature :)
The Beatles Rock Band
(Xbox 360)
about
replayability
After playing through a particular chapter, the player has an opportunity to replay it all at once, without any real break in the action, like it's a live performance. When you finish a song, you get a short break in the action, and then start up the next one. An additional challenge/perk: your Star Power and Strikes carry over from song to song. This is a big encouragement to do well on the easier songs in the set, so that you can get through the harder ones.
by
dwahl
on
6/27/2010 3:35:32 PM
Great Feature :)
The Saboteur
(Xbox 360)
about
character design
story
Despite several minor game design flaws, The Saboteur really makes you WANT to play over and over again. It never gets old: blowing up Nazi installations, shooting down Zeppelins, and breaking their bloody necks with your bare hands. (That last one doesn't actually earn you anything, but who cares?)
The characters are richly played, though somewhat predictably at times, and the story is simple and perfect: a rough-neck Irish mechanic, doing his part to take down the Nazi war machine, one stick of dynamite at a time.
by
dwahl
on
6/27/2010 3:30:59 PM
Poor Feature :/
The Saboteur
(Xbox 360)
about
game design
money
As much as I love shooting down Nazi Zeppelins, it seems a serious oversight in game design that I can earn a seemingly infinite amount of Contraband just by hopping into an AA gun. Some of the giant weapons even sit in a location that makes it impossible for the enemy to take you out.
by
dwahl
on
6/27/2010 3:26:41 PM
Poor Feature :/
The Saboteur
(Xbox 360)
about
load times
navigation
As beautiful as the load screen artwork is in this game, I have to say it takes a bloody long time to load ANYTHING. Even the pause menu feels like it could come up a bit faster, and having to press "A" three or four times to finally get to the map screen seems a bit ridiculous. I also don't understand why there is a long loading sequence BEFORE I even get to choose whether I'm continuing, starting a new game, etc. What's loading at that point?
by
dwahl
on
6/27/2010 3:21:40 PM
Great Feature :)
The Saboteur
(Xbox 360)
about
free play
side quest
In this game, the Free Play points make great side missions for Sean Devlin. Although it does help to have less Nazi resistance (especially when making a getaway), these points are totally optional to the player. You can complete as many or as few of them as you like, and taking down Nazi installations never stops being fun.
by
dwahl
on
6/27/2010 3:17:34 PM
Poor Feature :/
Final Fantasy XIII
(PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
about
Level Design
When playing a so-called immersive RPG holding the name "Final Fantasy", one expects to play though a game they can freely explore and crawl about. Not the case with lucky number 13. The linear level design is great for a fantasy action game, but really detracts from the sense of wonder that an RPG player craves.
by
civey
on
6/22/2010 1:57:54 PM
Great Feature :)
God Of War
(PS2)
about
Swimming
God of War got swimming right. Never have i felt so in control when getting around in or getting out of water. One button to rise, one button to dive. Simple enough, yes? i think so.
by
civey
on
6/22/2010 1:44:16 PM
Great Feature :)
Guitar Hero 5
(Xbox 360)
about
accessibility
When the game is launched, a song is loaded up. If the player wants to play they can choose to start playing the song instantly. The player is not forced to traverse any options or create any profiles.
by
wdenier
on
5/20/2010 6:55:00 PM
Poor Feature :/
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
(PS2)
about
camera
preferences
Players can only change the camera inversion of the Y axis in their preferences, only X, and the game starts on a non industry standard orientation.
by
wdenier
on
5/2/2010 8:40:27 PM
Poor Feature :/
Final Fight
(Arcade, SNES)
about
AI
damage
helplessness
speed
The combination between the speed, artificial intelligence and damage output of the enemies leaves a LARGE range of difficulty. In some situations groups of enemies stand perfectly still while you pummel or throw them; other times one or two enemies will be able to travel the entire screen in an instant, lock your character up and end the game, leaving you feel helpless.
by
wdenier
on
5/2/2010 8:36:42 PM
Poor Feature :/
Final Fight
(Arcade, SNES)
about
combo
helplessness
stun
Enemy attacks stun the player, so the enemy can continue to perform a whole combo. Performing the combo quicker or only a single hit would have been less bothersome, but a player can sit stunned (helpless) for a very long time especially if there are multiple enemies. Helplessness is a serious fun detractor.
by
wdenier
on
5/2/2010 8:34:12 PM
Great Feature :)
The Legend of Zelda
(NES)
about
keys
progression
tokens
Often the player is directed through the game with tokens. Doors require keys and impassible areas require specific items (raft, candle). The player progresses by seeking out these items and returning to continue through the game.
by
wdenier
on
5/2/2010 8:26:58 PM
Great Feature :)
The Legend of Zelda
(NES)
about
collection
experience
progression
reward
The player is rewarded through progression and collection. Defeating enemies replenishes the player's inventory and health but no experience is gained and there are no stats. To win, the player must collect treasures from different dungeons to become powerful enough to complete the game. If the player is skillful enough, they can complete the game with less heart pieces and weapons which is more difficult but takes less time.
by
wdenier
on
5/2/2010 8:24:47 PM
Poor Feature :/
The Legend of Zelda
(NES)
about
save files
The main menu has a choice called 'Elimination Mode', I tried it and it erased my save file! The choice should have been named clearer (probably poor translation to English). Also the should confirm with an okay/cancel before something that desctructive
by
wdenier
on
5/2/2010 8:17:00 PM
Great Feature :)
Zombie Estate
(XBLA)
about
indicators
information
When the amount of enemies left in a wave is low, arrows pop up on the sides of the screen to lead the player to the last remaining enemies.
by
wdenier
on
5/2/2010 8:17:00 PM
Poor Feature :/
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
(PS2)
about
camera
lock-on
Lock-on leaves alot to be desired. Often the camera does not focus on the locked target, the target can be completely off screen so the player can not tell what they are locked on at all. Inversely sometimes will swing the camera violently to face. This often happens after the player has manually adjusted the camera.
by
wdenier
on
5/2/2010 8:17:00 PM
Poor Feature :/
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
(PS2)
about
camera
focus
targeting
When the camera is controlled automaticly it often focuses on the player rather than the environment, even focusing on the front of the character. The character model is great, but you need to be able to see where you are going!
by
wdenier
on
5/2/2010 8:17:00 PM
Poor Feature :/
Zombie Estate
(XBLA)
about
camera
The camera is fixed into a 3/4 angle, and allows the player to see farther into the background than the foreground. Enemies away from the camera can be seen on screen most of the time, but enemies in the foreground can not be seen on screen until they are very close to the player. This makes it frustrating to traverse towards the camera. This could be fixed with a shallower camera angle.
by
wdenier
on
5/2/2010 8:17:00 PM
Poor Feature :/
River City Ransom
(NES)
about
loading
password
The password feature is really terrible, they really needed 33 digits with upper and lower case alpha characters? I do like the fact that you can load each player's progress individually though.
by
wdenier
on
5/1/2010 2:38:12 PM