Maybe a Game Review

I know I haven't written since Sunday, but not much has been happening. I think I'll start picking random topics when I don't have anything to report. So today... video game review.

Trace Memory (Nintendo DS)

This game is a point-and-click mystery following a 14 year old girl as she searches for her father that she hasn't seen since she was a child.


Presentation (Graphics and Audio):

The graphical art style in this game is very anime, and very good looking. The main world is an animated 3D top down environment and whenever Ashley gets close to a certain section of the room you can switch to a hand drawn visual to explore point and click style. The lighting and detail really sets the abandoned mansion mood they were going for.

The sound track is very good. Well above most handheld soundtracks.

For Presentation this game gets full marks.


Literary Value (Story):

Point-and-click games don't have much going for them except the story. So I'm often disappointed when point-and-clicks have bad stories. BUT, this game's story works. The main events of the story mostly involve Ashley rummaging around in the old mansion, but while rummaging around she gets bits and pieces of the history of the game. There are two main story lines: one following the original owners of the mansion, and another following her inventor father and the secret project he's been working on.

I will admit that I didn't get the best ending in the game, but even the bad ending was very satisfying.

Literary Value for this game is splendid.


Entertainment (Game play):

I don't really like the point-and-click genre. I usually feel like it doesn't give enough interaction to the player and I usually get stuck on one of its hundreds of ridiculous puzzles that don't make any sense. This game worked better than any point-and-click game I've played. The materials to solve the puzzles were located near-by. All the puzzles made sense, I got stuck a few times, but I knew what to do I just wasn't doing it quite right. My only complaint about the gameplay was the occasional use of the DS's microphone without any hint to use it and the fact that it was a point-and-click and therefore kinda dull to play. Very relaxing though.

It should be noted that this game is very short. It was my first time playing it and it only took seven hours, and it felt like less, I probably left it on while I was looking at something online. It was quality all the way, but very short.

Entertainment gets half-credit.


Respect (Gamer cred):

I will usually use this section to set apart the great games from the legendary games. I'm afraid it's going to set this game in the great game category. This game isn't obscure or anything, but it wasn't that popular. It's not multiplayer so you can't invite your friends to play it, and it's not the most manly game so it'd be hard for me to talk about it to a stranger without sounding kinda weird.

Sorry Ashley, but this game gets no Respect.


Overall

Presentation: Check
Literary Value: Check
Entertainment: Half-Check
Respect: None
Final Score: 2.5 / 4 (Above Average)

P.S. I bought this game for 6.99! It's worth twice that at least.


So today in class, my professor started teaching us about Flux. I almost lept out of my seat and yelled, "Great Scott!" In reality it's just a concept about something flowing past some surface.

And then...

We walked down a long flight of stairs. The temperature significantly dropped as we dove lower into the bowels of the facility.

"So Ash, just out of nagging curiosity, who's place was this?"

"Somebody from Reeva."

"Right."

We passed several empty hallways. Every once and a while, Ash would type into a computer terminal and read something in a language I didn't understand. I had to ask...

"So Ash, these people of Reeva, what exactly..."

"Happened to them!? You're asking a lot of questions. Questions you probably shouldn't ask. Just because I know how the people of Reeva died, doesn't mean I had anything to do with it!"

She looked aside realizing that her outburst had revealed too much. She turned around curtly and kept marching. The situation was obviously touchy, so I thought I'd keep my mouth shut from now on. I found that getting women angry is a bad idea, especially when they have guns.

We could hear the low stomping of the Golem class robot in the next room. Ash motioned us to follow her.

"The bigger they are..."

"No Ash, no. That's so overused."

"Fine. How 'bout..." -cocks gun- "I think he needs more lead in his diet."

"We'll work with it."

The Golem was tall with short stubby legs and a huge cylindrical torso. His one red eye glowed from the top of his head. He had one cannon attached to one arm, but the other just looked like a hand. These robots have an access panel on their lower backs with a convenient shutdown emergency cord inside. I ran out in front of the robot creating a distraction. The robot fired right away. These things were big, but not that slow. The blast landed next to me and threw me on my ass. I stared up into the monster's eye, but I should have been looking at his cannon because it was charging another blast.

I ran straight towards it and slid underneath it. I wound up lying next to Ash who was busy dismantling the access panel. She took a quick glance over at me and then her eyes opened in realization. The robot spun around promptly staring at me lying on the floor and Ash kneeling next to me where his access panel was just a minute ago. I decided now was a good time to head to bed back on Earth.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Just Taking a Walk

Today was pretty quiet. I woke up and took one of my long walks I like to take. I just can't get enough of walking to faraway places. I'm like a walk-a-holic. I was actually going to walk down and take a bus to Heroes and Dragons, a favorite comic store of my friends and mine, but I decided on postponing that to a later date. I just walked down to the GameStop on Rosewood and drooled for awhile. Did some homework, then I went to Blue Cactus for dinner. I probably shouldn't have, but I was craving. I came back and played some games.

And then...

I pulled out my adamantine saber. Archaic, I know, but it's got a flair that you just can't beat. Ash and I were standing in the doorway and we could see the red glow of the robot's one eye. Ash was muttering some plan using one of Captain's crew as bait, but I wasn't listening. The thing hadn't spotted us and it was on a patrol routine. I waited for it to turn its back and then I rushed in. The humanoid robot barely had time to turn around, let alone aim its pitiful gun, before I cleaved deep into its mechanical cranium.

"Come on Ash, it's not brain surgery."

Ash told me not to get so cocky. Then she asked why I had appeared to flicker before the fight. I explained that I had gained the ability to warp between two points in space and that I had just come back from Earth. I told her that I had been there about one day, but no time passes between these two places. Why you ask? Well, thanks to Special Pirate Relativity if two pirates are at least 1.7 trillion leagues apart then no time passes relative to the other.

"Okay Keelhaul, but you gotta be more careful with the next robot. It's a Golem class; he's big and he's mean."

I should note that my name on Earth is Chris, but I chose a more piratey alias for my adventures in space. Keelhaul. It's funny 'cause if you get keelhauled in space then you like, explode... Well I thought it was clever.

Until next time fellow pirates.

I Love Fridays.

It's the weekend, yay! It looks to be a pretty quiet one this weekend. That's okay though, Dragon*Con is next weekend so I should probably spend this weekend getting ready. I finished reading the Dark Tower II recently and started the Dark Tower III. I really like this series. I've heard that the later books aren't as good, but I hope the reports are greatly exaggerated. The ACM had Bad Movie Night and we watched, Death Bed, The Bed that Eats. It was bad. The worst part I think was how calm everyone was while their friends were being eaten and even when they were being eaten.

In Business Communications we watched the opening scene of Joe Versus the Volcano. I want to see the rest now. It looked good. He was trying to illustrate miscommunication in business, but I noticed that it seemed well produced.

I came home, worked on some physics homework, played some Mario.

And then...

Captain Comic's ship descended to the surface of the planet Reeva. He was beginning to doubt my ability to pick places filled with "Adventure." The place looked desolate. The atmosphere was breathable, unbelievably, but there was no vegetation or signs of life. Just gray jagged mountains and fields of metallic ash. I lead a small party towards a cave our sensors had picked up to the north. The mouth of the cave was two stories tall and oddly rectangular. The cave wasn't perfect but the walls were too flat, too straight for natural formations.

We marched into the cave with the low sound of wind howling behind us. At the end of the cave was a door. A big, metal door with an electronic lock that was turned on. I began to feel nervous, but when life throws you big scary doors, you do what every good pirate does. You knock first, cause who knows, might be a big scary dude. The door slid open and standing right behind it was my contact, Ash.

"Looking for something?" she said. We marched deeper into the facility. The walls were now lined with computer interfaces and access panels. She explained that this facility was abandoned, but the Refractor Crystal powering it was still operational. Then she mentioned how we might run into resistance with the local robots.

"I thought this was a dig, strictly treasure hunting. How many of these things do we have to deal with?"

"Three. But they're security droids and heavily armed." I was mad at her. She lied to me, but I couldn't help notice that she was actually kind of attractive. Her green hair was cut short, but it fell gracefully around her neck ending in dainty blond tips. Her gray pants and tank top fit tightly around her Well-developed muscles. (and other features)

"And you're sure no one is going to miss this crystal?"

"What do you care, you're a pirate?"

"Good point."

Until next time fellow pirates.

First Log

Okay, I'm not a Galatic Pirate Lord, but I will be one day. Currently, I'm just your run-of-the-mill space pirate, but even being a normal space pirate is quite exciting. I live a double life here on Earth to make my friends and family think that I'm just a normal human student. I've decided to chronicle my adventures in space and the one's here on Earth too, I guess.

I recently started school at USC again. This will be my fifth year here. I am ready to get this degree already. I say that, but I also need to start working on a professional portfolio and contacting various companies that I'm interested in working for. I am staying in an apartment near campus. I was recently forced to have a roommate. The guy's name is Noah, he's okay. My classes look pretty normal this semester, some programming, some English, some Physics.

I am looking forward to going to Dragon*Con soon. My friends and I go to a convention once a year and this year we decided to go to Dragon*Con on Labor Day weekend. Ben says he can get us at least two nights of hotels free. I am a little concerned about the money, but I'm going to budget myself so I don't wind up running out of money this year, again.

It was a pretty normal day today. I got my glasses which my mother had sent to me. I had to go running all over the city to get them. The postal system had decided to play hot patato with it or something. I went to an ACM meeting. I think I'm going to try to be more active in that community. I got some supper and headed home.

And then...

I boarded Captain Comic's ship. I've been serving under him for almost two years now. He's a good guy besides the whole scavenging the stars and taking everything valuable from the helpless space merchants, but you know, we all do that from time to time. He keeps things clean and organized and our operations are very efficient, but everybody's kinda lazy and figures that everyone else will cover for their lack of looting.

I would expect my crew to be full of fire and take everything they could get their hands on like a pack of starving wolves. I've been working on getting enough money to build my own spaceship. A wooden one. Yep, it is quite a challenge, but I've got most of the details worked out. With today's Varia shielding and standard gravity manipulators, you can keep a pretty solid atmosphere and protective barrier wrapped around any vessel. I plan to use a N.O. warp drive supplemented with a rocket propulsion system in the back for short ranged manuevering. I can't wait to captain my own space pirate ship.

I met a girl named Ash during our stay on planet Edwar. She told me about a Refractor Crystal in the Reeva system. Refractor Crystals are very valuable, they can power starships for years on end. I'm supposed to rendevous with her on the surface of Reeva tommorrow. I managed to convince Captain Comic that Reeva is filled with "Adventure" and we should head there post haste. Until next time fellow pirates.