In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost
definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile
games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a
mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the
biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.
However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since
1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason. You
see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like
myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a
keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are
difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller
support.
And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it
for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time. I'll
be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and
frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to
whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile
Game Reviews.
Before I start, let me let the cat out of the bag; yes, I changed the URL and the name of this blog. I'm finally moving away from that Rurouni Kenshin inspired name I carried for WAY too long.
With that out of the way, today's game is a full port of a 3DS game, Dragon Lapis. This game is a full JRPG by Kemco, and it was the first game that showed me that mobile device games could be more than just puzzles and endless runners.
Control: Sadly, we must start with worst part of the game, control. The tapping of menus is fine, but trying to move around the overworld is hardly accurate, no matter which control scheme you use. More than once, I've tapped in one place and it thought I tapped in another to move. But thankfully, a JRPG doesn't need extremely accurate movement controls, so I'll give this game a pass on that.
Graphical Fidelity: Dragon Lapis is a game that would have looked at home right on the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis. It's a retro inspired game that captures the aesthetic perfectly.
Sound: Dragon Lapis sounds like it would have been at home on the Super Nintendo with the chip tune inspired music and sound design. Nothing sounds out of place.
Story: Dragon Lapis is a JRPG where you take control of Lucas and his party of adventurers as they go through the lands and try to gather the Dragon Lapicis to awaken the power in Lucas' blood and stop the evil Silver Dragon with the aid of Iria, the Gold Dragon in human form, Melvin the Rogue and Elodie the mage. And even after you complete that story, there's an...expansion I guess, that you start up immediately after to stop a demon from taking over the world. There's a lot going on in Dragon Lapis, and you'd better be ready for it.
Ads: The ad policy in Dragon Lapis is really bad. When you start the game the first time, you don't really see that many ads, but once you get to a certain point after you recruit all four party members, you get a cutscene where they tell you that "the information deity wants to inform you of products and services you might like", which is an in universe explanation of not only more frequent post battle video ads, but also banner ads at the top and bottom of your screen. You can buy an "upgrade" to opt out of this, but I still think this is an extremely greedy way to get money.
Fun factor: Dragon Lapis is a full fledged JRPG, which means it has all the tropes; random battles, upgrading weapons, leveling up your character from said random battles. But this game has a different ways to handle leveling up. You see, it utilizes job classes, so you can play any job with any character, and when you do so, you get specific weapon and armor proficiency. However, to level these jobs up, you use growth plates to upgrade your abilities and gain new ones. It is definitely a unique way to handle advancement.
Final analysis. Dragon Lapis is a game with a lot of problems, but there's a lot of good there too. But despite all the problems I saw, I had fun with this game from beginning to end. If you're a fan of retro JRPGs, you don't want to miss out on Dragon Lapis.
Friday, August 30, 2019
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
What a Ghost Rider game needs to be good
Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!
To continue my "how to make a good super hero game" series, I'm going to talk about Ghost Rider. Now, as of now, there has only been one Ghost Rider solo game on the PS2/PSP/GBA, and all had pretty bad reviews back in 2007 when they were released.
Now, Ghost Rider's not the most popular character; Johnny Blaze, the most well known, was created in the 67, and only had 7 issues, then 84 between 73 and 83, and then didn't have a solo series again until 2001, which was a mini series, and then again having a full series from 2006 to 2009 with 34 issues, and then another 9 between 2011 to 2012. Danny Ketch, the next best known Ghost Rider, had the most consistently long running series with 93 issues from 1990 to 1998, with issue 94 coming out in 2007. However, comics fans have seen him making a LOT of cameo appearances in other books, like Wolverine's solo series, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and plenty of other places, as well as a TON of team based video games.
But how do you make a good Ghost Rider solo game? Well, I've got a few games to reference, one for a big to do, and one for a big what not to do.
First off, the to do; Devil May Cry. Ghost Rider's powers and abilities could benefit greatly with a combat system similar to the Devil May Cry series. First off, when in his Ghost Rider form, he's functionally immortal, just like Dante. And like Dante, he has multiple combat styles; hand to hand, the chains, and, depending on the character, a shotgun that can shoot hellfire. Hand to hand would be the fastest style, and would allow the Ghost Rider to manipulate hellfire at will. The chance would give him medium range, but would be slightly slower. They would limit the ability to use hellfire, but since the chains are fueled by hellfire, that's not a problem. And the shotgun would grant range and massive damage, but would slower than all the other styles.
Now, if the Ghost Rider can get a grab on an opponent, he can use his Penance Stare, an ability to force an enemy to relive tall the pain they've ever caused anyone. This ability would kill an enemy outright, and would be a great way to regain health.
Now, you can't be the Ghost Rider without the motorcycle, and this is where Ride to Hell Retribution for what NOT to do in motorcycle combat. In Ride to Hell, you become glued to your opponent while you fight them in deliberate padding levels. For Ghost Rider, you'd want something similar to the Road Rash series, so the motorcycle combat needs to be as dynamic as Devil May Cry's combat system, as fast as possible with the ability to use all of Ghost Rider's powers in combat. For example, say you're speeding down a highway chasing down a boss fight and you see mobs all around you. You can use your hellfire shotgun on them to blow them out of your path, your chains to rip people out of vehicles or pull them toward you, or you can melee people with your hellfire fists. You could also use hellfire to boost ahead, jump without ramps, and do all kinds of crazy stuff like stick to walls and ram through buildings and vehicles alike.
And the best part is that you can summon the motorcycle at any time for use in general combat.
Now, if this makes you feel that I advocate an open world, I don't. The best way to feel like Ghost Rider would be a linear level game. You see, Ghost Rider's not about saving people; he's about punishing the guilty. If the Ghost Rider's involved in something, chances are he's after the worst of the worst in the Marvel Universe; demons, devil worshipers and other magical threats. If the Ghost Rider's after you, chances are you are not worth saving.
Which is why Ghost Rider's rogues gallery is pretty much demons from hell, with the occasional wizard thrown in for good measure. So someone like Centurious the souless, Blackheart or Zadkiel would be perfect foes for the Ghost Rider.
Now, this game would also be perfect for something prevalent in the modern gaming industry; DLC. You see, the main game would be about Johnny Blaze, the most well known Ghost Rider, but DLC packs would give you a campaign for Danny Ketch and another one for Robbie Reyes. Now, Danny's campaign would be easy to implement, since both he and Johnny are bikers with the exact same moveset. Just modify Danny's animations a little and you'd be fine. But Robbie? Not only does he drive a car instead of a motorcycle, but he also doesn't use a shotgun, and based on the pictures I've see, he'd use tire irons, hammers and other stuff used in car repair in melee range. And like the bikers, he can summon the car to use in general combat too.
Ghost Rider can be awesome. He looks awesome, his concept is awesome, so he should play awesome too.
To continue my "how to make a good super hero game" series, I'm going to talk about Ghost Rider. Now, as of now, there has only been one Ghost Rider solo game on the PS2/PSP/GBA, and all had pretty bad reviews back in 2007 when they were released.
Now, Ghost Rider's not the most popular character; Johnny Blaze, the most well known, was created in the 67, and only had 7 issues, then 84 between 73 and 83, and then didn't have a solo series again until 2001, which was a mini series, and then again having a full series from 2006 to 2009 with 34 issues, and then another 9 between 2011 to 2012. Danny Ketch, the next best known Ghost Rider, had the most consistently long running series with 93 issues from 1990 to 1998, with issue 94 coming out in 2007. However, comics fans have seen him making a LOT of cameo appearances in other books, like Wolverine's solo series, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and plenty of other places, as well as a TON of team based video games.
But how do you make a good Ghost Rider solo game? Well, I've got a few games to reference, one for a big to do, and one for a big what not to do.
First off, the to do; Devil May Cry. Ghost Rider's powers and abilities could benefit greatly with a combat system similar to the Devil May Cry series. First off, when in his Ghost Rider form, he's functionally immortal, just like Dante. And like Dante, he has multiple combat styles; hand to hand, the chains, and, depending on the character, a shotgun that can shoot hellfire. Hand to hand would be the fastest style, and would allow the Ghost Rider to manipulate hellfire at will. The chance would give him medium range, but would be slightly slower. They would limit the ability to use hellfire, but since the chains are fueled by hellfire, that's not a problem. And the shotgun would grant range and massive damage, but would slower than all the other styles.
Now, if the Ghost Rider can get a grab on an opponent, he can use his Penance Stare, an ability to force an enemy to relive tall the pain they've ever caused anyone. This ability would kill an enemy outright, and would be a great way to regain health.
Now, you can't be the Ghost Rider without the motorcycle, and this is where Ride to Hell Retribution for what NOT to do in motorcycle combat. In Ride to Hell, you become glued to your opponent while you fight them in deliberate padding levels. For Ghost Rider, you'd want something similar to the Road Rash series, so the motorcycle combat needs to be as dynamic as Devil May Cry's combat system, as fast as possible with the ability to use all of Ghost Rider's powers in combat. For example, say you're speeding down a highway chasing down a boss fight and you see mobs all around you. You can use your hellfire shotgun on them to blow them out of your path, your chains to rip people out of vehicles or pull them toward you, or you can melee people with your hellfire fists. You could also use hellfire to boost ahead, jump without ramps, and do all kinds of crazy stuff like stick to walls and ram through buildings and vehicles alike.
And the best part is that you can summon the motorcycle at any time for use in general combat.
Now, if this makes you feel that I advocate an open world, I don't. The best way to feel like Ghost Rider would be a linear level game. You see, Ghost Rider's not about saving people; he's about punishing the guilty. If the Ghost Rider's involved in something, chances are he's after the worst of the worst in the Marvel Universe; demons, devil worshipers and other magical threats. If the Ghost Rider's after you, chances are you are not worth saving.
Which is why Ghost Rider's rogues gallery is pretty much demons from hell, with the occasional wizard thrown in for good measure. So someone like Centurious the souless, Blackheart or Zadkiel would be perfect foes for the Ghost Rider.
Now, this game would also be perfect for something prevalent in the modern gaming industry; DLC. You see, the main game would be about Johnny Blaze, the most well known Ghost Rider, but DLC packs would give you a campaign for Danny Ketch and another one for Robbie Reyes. Now, Danny's campaign would be easy to implement, since both he and Johnny are bikers with the exact same moveset. Just modify Danny's animations a little and you'd be fine. But Robbie? Not only does he drive a car instead of a motorcycle, but he also doesn't use a shotgun, and based on the pictures I've see, he'd use tire irons, hammers and other stuff used in car repair in melee range. And like the bikers, he can summon the car to use in general combat too.
Ghost Rider can be awesome. He looks awesome, his concept is awesome, so he should play awesome too.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
What a Wonder Woman game needs to be good
Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!
After doing both a "How to make a Good Superman Game" and a "How to make a Good Green Lantern Game", I decided to tackle the final part of the DC Comics trinity, Wonder Woman. (I won't be doing a Batman version, because there are already good Batman games out there). And when I did my research, I found something horrifying; Wonder Woman does not have a stand alone game. She's part of Justice League games or games where the League is involved in, the Lego series and Injustice. Not a single solo title out there, even after her popular movie came out. This needs to be fixed pronto, and I can give several ideas on how.
First off, we need to talk about her powers. There's a reason it's been argued that Wonder Woman could beat Superman in combat, and for good reason. She's as fast and strong as any Kryptonian under a yellow sun, and she's nearly as durable. She's survived bludgeoning force from the likes of Superman, Doomsday, Shazam and Darkseid, and while edged weapons and bullets harm her, they are not fatal. Combine that with an accelerated healing factor, her ability to fly and her status as a demigod granting her biological immortality, Wonder Woman is a powerhouse, pure and simple. Combine that with the Bracelets of Submission, made of nearly indestructible 8th metal, which can survive Darkseid's Omega Beams, and her Lasso of Truth, which is an unbreakable rope from the Greek Pantheon, which allows her to force anyone bound in it to tell the truth under any circumstances, even if the subject is under mind control, along with her magical sword and shield, also made of 8th metal, its no wonder she's able to take on some of the most powerful beings in the DC landscape and won almost every time.
Now, unlike Superman and Green Lantern, Wonder Woman's game can function perfectly well as a level based game, though a functional hub world would be beneficial. She could have a base with her friends Eta Candy, Steve Trevor, one with the Justice League and one where she deals with the Olympians, since she is technically among their numbers. From there, she's sent on missions to perform in distinct levels, with boss fights happening every few stages.
The boss fights present a problem, because as Diana said herself, the reason she doesn't have a large rogue's gallery is because when she deals with them, she deals with them, making her one of few heroes who has no problem with killing. Which is why I advocate two things; 1, give her an M-rated game and have the combat system be similar to the one presented in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and 2, make her boss fights be functionally immortal. So, you'd want people like Ares, Circe, Medusa, First Born, Giganta and Cheetah. All but Giganta are immortals, and there have been multiple Cheetahs.
Now, for the tutorial, you start out on Themyscira and teach her the basics of the combat engine, as well as covering how she gained her powers in Wonder Woman Rebirth, which shows her current version of her origin story, then do a timeskip to the current storyline, and move forward her game from there.
Now, do I think you'd want cameos from the Justice League in the game? No. If the League facilities are used as a hub world, she can talk to them, but her game needs to be her own, since she's never really had one before now. Besides, she's on par with Superman in terms of capability, so she doesn't NEED the help of the League for anything outside information or the odd mission.
And before I conclude this, there are two people you want to voice Wonder Woman in this game; Gal Gadot or Susan Eisenburg. Both of these women have done iconic performances for Diana of Themyscira, and both would be perfect for the role. That said, Susan Eisenburg would be easier to get, since she's an established voice actor, while Gal Gadot is more focused on her movie career.
A Wonder Woman game could be awesome if done right, and compared to some other heroes, she's not that hard to do right. Just give her the respect she deserves, make her the warrior she was trained to be while still maintaining what makes her a good person, and you'll get a great game out of it.
After doing both a "How to make a Good Superman Game" and a "How to make a Good Green Lantern Game", I decided to tackle the final part of the DC Comics trinity, Wonder Woman. (I won't be doing a Batman version, because there are already good Batman games out there). And when I did my research, I found something horrifying; Wonder Woman does not have a stand alone game. She's part of Justice League games or games where the League is involved in, the Lego series and Injustice. Not a single solo title out there, even after her popular movie came out. This needs to be fixed pronto, and I can give several ideas on how.
First off, we need to talk about her powers. There's a reason it's been argued that Wonder Woman could beat Superman in combat, and for good reason. She's as fast and strong as any Kryptonian under a yellow sun, and she's nearly as durable. She's survived bludgeoning force from the likes of Superman, Doomsday, Shazam and Darkseid, and while edged weapons and bullets harm her, they are not fatal. Combine that with an accelerated healing factor, her ability to fly and her status as a demigod granting her biological immortality, Wonder Woman is a powerhouse, pure and simple. Combine that with the Bracelets of Submission, made of nearly indestructible 8th metal, which can survive Darkseid's Omega Beams, and her Lasso of Truth, which is an unbreakable rope from the Greek Pantheon, which allows her to force anyone bound in it to tell the truth under any circumstances, even if the subject is under mind control, along with her magical sword and shield, also made of 8th metal, its no wonder she's able to take on some of the most powerful beings in the DC landscape and won almost every time.
Now, unlike Superman and Green Lantern, Wonder Woman's game can function perfectly well as a level based game, though a functional hub world would be beneficial. She could have a base with her friends Eta Candy, Steve Trevor, one with the Justice League and one where she deals with the Olympians, since she is technically among their numbers. From there, she's sent on missions to perform in distinct levels, with boss fights happening every few stages.
The boss fights present a problem, because as Diana said herself, the reason she doesn't have a large rogue's gallery is because when she deals with them, she deals with them, making her one of few heroes who has no problem with killing. Which is why I advocate two things; 1, give her an M-rated game and have the combat system be similar to the one presented in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and 2, make her boss fights be functionally immortal. So, you'd want people like Ares, Circe, Medusa, First Born, Giganta and Cheetah. All but Giganta are immortals, and there have been multiple Cheetahs.
Now, for the tutorial, you start out on Themyscira and teach her the basics of the combat engine, as well as covering how she gained her powers in Wonder Woman Rebirth, which shows her current version of her origin story, then do a timeskip to the current storyline, and move forward her game from there.
Now, do I think you'd want cameos from the Justice League in the game? No. If the League facilities are used as a hub world, she can talk to them, but her game needs to be her own, since she's never really had one before now. Besides, she's on par with Superman in terms of capability, so she doesn't NEED the help of the League for anything outside information or the odd mission.
And before I conclude this, there are two people you want to voice Wonder Woman in this game; Gal Gadot or Susan Eisenburg. Both of these women have done iconic performances for Diana of Themyscira, and both would be perfect for the role. That said, Susan Eisenburg would be easier to get, since she's an established voice actor, while Gal Gadot is more focused on her movie career.
A Wonder Woman game could be awesome if done right, and compared to some other heroes, she's not that hard to do right. Just give her the respect she deserves, make her the warrior she was trained to be while still maintaining what makes her a good person, and you'll get a great game out of it.
Friday, August 16, 2019
What a Superman game needs to be good
Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!
So, after rereading my blog post about how to make a Green Lantern game good, I thought about how to make a Superman game good. And hoo boy, do we have plenty of examples of how to do it wrong. Between Superman 64, Man of Steal and Superman for the NES, there's a lot of "what not to do" stuff.
The problem with making a Superman game is that you have to both feel like Superman while still having some real stakes. So the best thing you can do is take what Superman Returns tried to do and make Superman physically invulnerable while making the city of Metropolis, as well as others that pop up in the story for certain missions, the health bar. Doing this right will make you act like Superman, and not a generic action hero; do you break off from a battle with Darkseid or Doomsday to save civilians, or continue the fight and try to limit future damage to your city? How do you protect the people of the Earth?
Now, the major downfall of the way Superman Returns was how they handled how Superman reacted to civilians and the city. And in this current landscape, with the DC movies and the Injustice series, Warner Bros is more open to a darker Superman. So they must introduce an alignment system; if you let too many civilians die, cause too much destruction or allow the villain cause too much destruction, you take an alignment hit. This still allows you to have access to all the power of Superman, but it allows you to have two different ending; a Classic Superman ending, or a Utilitarian Superman ending.
Now, villains. Unfortunately, Superman's rogues gallery isn't as well known as some other DC rogues gallery; outside Bizarro, Lobo, Cyborg Superman, Brainiac, General Zod, Lex Luthor, Doomsday and the forces of Apokolips, most aren't known to the general public. Heck, I'm looking at his Rogues Gallery, and I don't recognize half of them, and I'm a fan! So, you take those well known guys and make them boss battles, and instead make most of the game's open world missions doing other things that only Superman can do; saving people in fantastic ways. For example, say there's a burning apartment building and there are people still trapped inside. Superman would have to go inside the building, unharmed the entire time due to his own invulnerability, and he'd seek out people in danger. And, as I stated, the people's lives are his health bar; he's got to use his assortment of powers to seek out the people trapped and get them to safety. If he lets too many die, he gets an alignment hit, and is pushed ever closer to the bad ending. From there, Superman can use his powers to put out the fire once people are safe.
You can even have Superman fight other disasters, like dam breakages, tornados, hurricanes (yes, he does have the power to fight natural disasters), and do all sorts of things that protect the people of Earth. And yes, I mean the people of Earth; he may make his home in Metropolis, but his duties are to the entire planet.
In fact, since Superman protect the entire world, you can have cameos from the Justice League to ask for help. You can have Superman go to places like Gotham, Central City, Coast City, etc, and have him aid the resident heroes there in missions they can't handle on their own. And this again brings in the alignment system; do you help, or do you leave them to handle things on their own? And if you do help, how do you help?
And this gives me an easy segue to the alignment system. Basically, you start out with Superman's classic moral code; soft touch with humans, don't kill people, protect innocent civilians while trying to appeal to the better nature of those around him. However, you can lose alignment points if you cause too much destruction, through action or inaction. And if you lose too many alignment points, Superman's outlook starts to darken; a sort of "what are the lives of a few million civilians to the fate of billions?" sort of thing. And depending on how far down you go, you may lock yourself in to the bad ending.
Now, certain missions would give an alignment boost; that fire scenario I mentioned earlier, for example, or things like saving a falling construction worker, repairing a dam or stopping natural disasters. Your ending would be entirely determined by what you do in the game.
And finally, his powers. In order for Superman to feel like Superman, he needs to have access to his full array of powers from the start, and there's and there's an easy way to integrate a tutorial in a natural way; Jonathan Kent. Jonathan Kent is Superman's son with Lois Lane, and he's got access to all of Clark's powers. The tutorial mission would take place on the Kent farm in Hamilton County and would be Clark teaching Jonathan how to use the powers they share. This would be a great way to demonstrate the powers and the alignment system; Clark would teach Jonathan of his classic values, and Jonathan would ask if they took a more utilitarian mindset regarding protecting the Earth, since Jonathan's still a child, but Clark said that they could, but remind his son that they have a responsibility to the people of Earth, reminding him that people can do amazing things without having access to their powers if given a chance.
Superman is the toughest superhero to make a good game for, and for good reason. But if a developer takes my advice, and put the love and care required to make Superman who he is, I'm certain a fantastic game can be made.
So, after rereading my blog post about how to make a Green Lantern game good, I thought about how to make a Superman game good. And hoo boy, do we have plenty of examples of how to do it wrong. Between Superman 64, Man of Steal and Superman for the NES, there's a lot of "what not to do" stuff.
The problem with making a Superman game is that you have to both feel like Superman while still having some real stakes. So the best thing you can do is take what Superman Returns tried to do and make Superman physically invulnerable while making the city of Metropolis, as well as others that pop up in the story for certain missions, the health bar. Doing this right will make you act like Superman, and not a generic action hero; do you break off from a battle with Darkseid or Doomsday to save civilians, or continue the fight and try to limit future damage to your city? How do you protect the people of the Earth?
Now, the major downfall of the way Superman Returns was how they handled how Superman reacted to civilians and the city. And in this current landscape, with the DC movies and the Injustice series, Warner Bros is more open to a darker Superman. So they must introduce an alignment system; if you let too many civilians die, cause too much destruction or allow the villain cause too much destruction, you take an alignment hit. This still allows you to have access to all the power of Superman, but it allows you to have two different ending; a Classic Superman ending, or a Utilitarian Superman ending.
Now, villains. Unfortunately, Superman's rogues gallery isn't as well known as some other DC rogues gallery; outside Bizarro, Lobo, Cyborg Superman, Brainiac, General Zod, Lex Luthor, Doomsday and the forces of Apokolips, most aren't known to the general public. Heck, I'm looking at his Rogues Gallery, and I don't recognize half of them, and I'm a fan! So, you take those well known guys and make them boss battles, and instead make most of the game's open world missions doing other things that only Superman can do; saving people in fantastic ways. For example, say there's a burning apartment building and there are people still trapped inside. Superman would have to go inside the building, unharmed the entire time due to his own invulnerability, and he'd seek out people in danger. And, as I stated, the people's lives are his health bar; he's got to use his assortment of powers to seek out the people trapped and get them to safety. If he lets too many die, he gets an alignment hit, and is pushed ever closer to the bad ending. From there, Superman can use his powers to put out the fire once people are safe.
You can even have Superman fight other disasters, like dam breakages, tornados, hurricanes (yes, he does have the power to fight natural disasters), and do all sorts of things that protect the people of Earth. And yes, I mean the people of Earth; he may make his home in Metropolis, but his duties are to the entire planet.
In fact, since Superman protect the entire world, you can have cameos from the Justice League to ask for help. You can have Superman go to places like Gotham, Central City, Coast City, etc, and have him aid the resident heroes there in missions they can't handle on their own. And this again brings in the alignment system; do you help, or do you leave them to handle things on their own? And if you do help, how do you help?
And this gives me an easy segue to the alignment system. Basically, you start out with Superman's classic moral code; soft touch with humans, don't kill people, protect innocent civilians while trying to appeal to the better nature of those around him. However, you can lose alignment points if you cause too much destruction, through action or inaction. And if you lose too many alignment points, Superman's outlook starts to darken; a sort of "what are the lives of a few million civilians to the fate of billions?" sort of thing. And depending on how far down you go, you may lock yourself in to the bad ending.
Now, certain missions would give an alignment boost; that fire scenario I mentioned earlier, for example, or things like saving a falling construction worker, repairing a dam or stopping natural disasters. Your ending would be entirely determined by what you do in the game.
And finally, his powers. In order for Superman to feel like Superman, he needs to have access to his full array of powers from the start, and there's and there's an easy way to integrate a tutorial in a natural way; Jonathan Kent. Jonathan Kent is Superman's son with Lois Lane, and he's got access to all of Clark's powers. The tutorial mission would take place on the Kent farm in Hamilton County and would be Clark teaching Jonathan how to use the powers they share. This would be a great way to demonstrate the powers and the alignment system; Clark would teach Jonathan of his classic values, and Jonathan would ask if they took a more utilitarian mindset regarding protecting the Earth, since Jonathan's still a child, but Clark said that they could, but remind his son that they have a responsibility to the people of Earth, reminding him that people can do amazing things without having access to their powers if given a chance.
Superman is the toughest superhero to make a good game for, and for good reason. But if a developer takes my advice, and put the love and care required to make Superman who he is, I'm certain a fantastic game can be made.
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Mobile Game Reviews: Vampire's Fall:Origins
In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost
definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile
games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a
mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the
biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.
However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason. You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.
And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time. I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.
Today's game is something I found via an ad; Vampire's Fall:Origins. Published by Early Morning Studio, Vampire's Fall: Origins is a sequel to their previous game, Vampire's Fall. It's a full fledged turn based RPG with a full compliment of weapons, armors and abilities, as well as a full dark fantasy story.
Control: Vampire's Fall: Origins is pretty basic in its control needs; you tap the menus, tap the dialogue windows, and you use a virtual control stick to move around the map. For the most part, the tap focused aspects of the game work properly, big thumbs/fingers issues not withstanding, but it's the virtual control stick that requires a little bit to getting used to. At first, I wasn't sure what I was doing, since it doesn't stay in one spot if you're not careful, but once I was used to the idea of pressing and holding in a direction, it became second nature. And honestly, it's this game that makes me think that virtual d-pads can be a good, accurate control method.
Graphical Fidelity: Vampire's Fall: Origins looks great. All the sprites are modern, all the actions are fluid, all the combat is graceful looking, and the overworld and all the things in it look like what they're supposed to. And since they're different, all the combat sprites look great too. All the weapons and armor make your character look different while wearing, something not illustrated by the overworld sprites.
Sound:Vampire's Fall: Origins takes full advantage of what a mobile device is capable of. The music is a epic as it can be for such a small speaker, enemies and your player character all have cries of pain when they're damaged, and they're all distinct for the type of character that's getting hit; a distinct male grunt, a distinct female grunt, distinct sounds from spirits, wolves, boars, and all the other types of enemies are all distinct and memorable.
Story: Since Vampire's Fall: Origins is an RPG, I'd not be doing my duty if I didn't mention the story. Without spoiling the story, you start out as a human defending a town, learning the ropes of combat and interacting with NPCs and doing quests, only for the big bad of the story to defeat you and curse you to be a vampire. From there, your quest is to track him down across the world in your quest to destroy him. Once you find him, you have access to two possible endings, and from there, a full expansion full of quests with map as large as the main game. There is a lot going on here, and lot of twists and turns to get through.
Ads: Vampire's Fall: Origins is very good about its ad policy. Not a single mandatory ad in sight. You can get bonuses at the end of some battles for xp gain, gold or on rare occasions, loot boxes of gear, and like the better free mobile games, you can buy an upgrade that lets you get rid of ads, and also grants permanent upgrades to your account, including a special badge in the game's chat and a vampire's lair which grants extra storage slots. You can also buy shards for cosmetic upgrades, helmets that ad to your stats and wings that add special abilities. All of these purchases are optional and none of those items are required to beat the game.
Fun Factor: I've enjoyed every minute of Vampire's Fall: Origins, even the mandatory grinding. Battles are fun, the story is serious when it has to be and silly when it can be, and the opportunity to pit your character against other players is not to be missed out on.
Final Analysis: Vampire's Fall: Origins is a fun ride if you're into RPGs. The grinding can get annoying, but not insurmountable. It's a wonderful experience from character creation to the final boss of the expansion. If you're an RPG fan who likes dark fantasy, you don't want to miss out on Vampire's Fall: Origins.
However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason. You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.
And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time. I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.
Today's game is something I found via an ad; Vampire's Fall:Origins. Published by Early Morning Studio, Vampire's Fall: Origins is a sequel to their previous game, Vampire's Fall. It's a full fledged turn based RPG with a full compliment of weapons, armors and abilities, as well as a full dark fantasy story.
Control: Vampire's Fall: Origins is pretty basic in its control needs; you tap the menus, tap the dialogue windows, and you use a virtual control stick to move around the map. For the most part, the tap focused aspects of the game work properly, big thumbs/fingers issues not withstanding, but it's the virtual control stick that requires a little bit to getting used to. At first, I wasn't sure what I was doing, since it doesn't stay in one spot if you're not careful, but once I was used to the idea of pressing and holding in a direction, it became second nature. And honestly, it's this game that makes me think that virtual d-pads can be a good, accurate control method.
Graphical Fidelity: Vampire's Fall: Origins looks great. All the sprites are modern, all the actions are fluid, all the combat is graceful looking, and the overworld and all the things in it look like what they're supposed to. And since they're different, all the combat sprites look great too. All the weapons and armor make your character look different while wearing, something not illustrated by the overworld sprites.
Sound:Vampire's Fall: Origins takes full advantage of what a mobile device is capable of. The music is a epic as it can be for such a small speaker, enemies and your player character all have cries of pain when they're damaged, and they're all distinct for the type of character that's getting hit; a distinct male grunt, a distinct female grunt, distinct sounds from spirits, wolves, boars, and all the other types of enemies are all distinct and memorable.
Story: Since Vampire's Fall: Origins is an RPG, I'd not be doing my duty if I didn't mention the story. Without spoiling the story, you start out as a human defending a town, learning the ropes of combat and interacting with NPCs and doing quests, only for the big bad of the story to defeat you and curse you to be a vampire. From there, your quest is to track him down across the world in your quest to destroy him. Once you find him, you have access to two possible endings, and from there, a full expansion full of quests with map as large as the main game. There is a lot going on here, and lot of twists and turns to get through.
Ads: Vampire's Fall: Origins is very good about its ad policy. Not a single mandatory ad in sight. You can get bonuses at the end of some battles for xp gain, gold or on rare occasions, loot boxes of gear, and like the better free mobile games, you can buy an upgrade that lets you get rid of ads, and also grants permanent upgrades to your account, including a special badge in the game's chat and a vampire's lair which grants extra storage slots. You can also buy shards for cosmetic upgrades, helmets that ad to your stats and wings that add special abilities. All of these purchases are optional and none of those items are required to beat the game.
Fun Factor: I've enjoyed every minute of Vampire's Fall: Origins, even the mandatory grinding. Battles are fun, the story is serious when it has to be and silly when it can be, and the opportunity to pit your character against other players is not to be missed out on.
Final Analysis: Vampire's Fall: Origins is a fun ride if you're into RPGs. The grinding can get annoying, but not insurmountable. It's a wonderful experience from character creation to the final boss of the expansion. If you're an RPG fan who likes dark fantasy, you don't want to miss out on Vampire's Fall: Origins.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)