Monday, April 30, 2012

From Dust


Game players who put the position as the god usually always talk about power and strength. Players are free to choose to be a god of good or evil, cruel or kind. The player is given the power to lead his servant, the ability to give orders, the ability to help his servant or destroy it. Players are free to fantasize in the simulation genre game that puts players to have full power in the existing gameplay.

From Dust is a type of game that puts players as gods, but in different ways. Players do not have super strength power in this game, and have the ability to control the entire island is in the game. Players can also change it with the mainland and take the resources that exist in nature, making a bridge across the land, and also can make the dry land and made of cold lava lake in the middle of the desert. Existing population in the region of power players, it depends on what region are made by players, but players have no control over what people do.


Players also can not control the natural forces that can destroy the villages that are in the game, such as natural fires or when the tsunami hit. Players must be brave indeed to face the natural disasters that will slightly reduce the pleasure of play, the forces of nature can not resist a player in this game.

From Dust is an amazing game, both technically and visually. Natural change over time, the land changed and evolved dynamically, such as a diorama of life. Existing water sources in the desert into a lake, and then developed into a small creek, and eventually became like a network of small streams that meander. Players can feel the magma and water has properties that are very natural in this game. Moving very realistic for a simulation type game, although sometimes looks fast and very aggressive. Players can also see a volcano spewing hot lava, and when cool, the lava would be a natural stone bridge. Players will spend much time in the game to direct the flow of lava or water flow to a raging river by building a dam of rocks or sand, to help deploy the resources needed to survive the arid regions.


The real goal of playing From Dust is to keep the existing population in the region we can survive, helping them to rebuild their civilization or culture is lost and forgotten. Guiding the population towards the totems to establish the surrounding villages. Totem will give players the power of god is of course limited, such as the ability to freeze the water, making players like having the power when Moses had made the sea split. There are features that can be used for players to put out the fire for a while, drain the water, or suck a range of materials that exist in nature to be a black ball-shaped crusher. Residents can also learn how to defend themselves from floods and fires that occurred in their settlement with the magical touch of rock surrounding the map, ensuring their long-term safety.

Each totem that is filled the gate to open the next folder, which will always be more dangerous. Residents also have the unfortunate habit of choosing a place that is inhospitable to live in the colony. At the beginning of the game, people often prefer a nice beach and the valley to settle down, the player must do is to ward off the occasional high tides come in and build a bridge of sand around the body of water. In the end, residents emerged from the Sacred Gates into the rocky hillside and tormented in turn by volcanic eruptions or tsunamis that can be every minute, or hanging on the rocks towering in the middle of the ocean, or caught up in the crater of the volcano.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Metro : Last Light

For fans of first person action games tired of all identical in the genre was definitely swollen, Metro last year 2033 a pleasant surprise. Based on a novel by Dmitry A. Glukhovsky and developed by Ukraine 4A Games, Metro 2033 he joined the players in the Moscow subway shortly after the Apocalypse, where the atmosphere was poisonous, the safest area was underground, and even that was devastated by the monstrous "The Dark. " The game had a unique atmosphere, and survival horror elements, the player has very limited resources, put a new spin on a tired genre. However, Metro was too small for 2033 several bugs and glitches permeates the design, and many thought that any criticism of the game is not fully realized.

Fortunately, THQ will release a new Metroid game next year, and is more than the original smooth edges committed. The new game, Metro: Last Light, do not deviate much from the formula established in 2033 in the Metro. A story from the pen of 4A, but under the supervision Glukhovsky, a year after the original, and again follows the young survivors Artyom. And while the dark ones have left the previous game, a neo-Nazi group has taken over, and Artyom must find a mysterious creature called "The Prisoner", to save what remains of the world. (Note that this game has nothing to do with the novel Glukhovsky Metro 2034, the most appropriate of a bad artistic experiment was an action game).


However, the elements of the Metro: Last Light is the most convincing ones made by Metro 2033. 4A is a unique world, players play with more care than they require to create. Other survival horror games require careful conservation of resources, but in the underground world, everything is limited and difficult to replace. The economy remains the use of bullets as currency, players must balance the amount of ammunition used in battle and how much they are prepared to use their hand-made air guns. The air in the upper world is toxic, players need to conserve and manage the oxygen back the character of the mask filters gas. And the environment is to remain most important asset of a player, covering all players in the Moscow underground catacombs can be found to avoid enemy fire and cover its own tracks. These elements have been hampered by errors in the original design and even 4A relate to your own game as "flawed", a masterpiece. Its main objective is to eliminate the "bad" in this statement.

Despite the atmosphere of the last light is very similar to its predecessor, the game received a design review. 4A Games to openly acknowledge the weakness of the Metro 2033, and the developer of Ukraine is determined to build the game from the beginning. Problems with stealth and fight sequences were not treated, promising improvements in enemy AI and a pardon inconsistent for headshots. The graphics have also improved fidelity, so that the dramatically lit the underground catacombs of Moscow, and even more afraid to add details to the dynamics of the field, and that breaks mid-battle.

That is an admirable goal. In an industry that continues to be a homogenous group "Westernization" embrace, could be another dose of 4A Eastern flavor is exactly what many players looking unhappy. You still have to wait long until THQ publishes Metro: Luz past, and there are still many unanswered questions (like exactly what it says is the multiplayer mode 4A). But it's safe to say that his second trip through the Moscow metro in ruins on the right track.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Granado Espada

One of interest is an MMO from the creators of Ragnarok Online, Granado Espada namely, that brings the player to play the characters who come from afar to help the colonization and exploration of new-found world. The characters are based on design and architecture of the 17th century, but the monsters and creatures that exist in Granado Espada was created with a mix of classic style and a surprising fantasy.

The characters in Granado Espada are made with the concept of a family who came to explore the new world. Player account will be met by many characters, all of whom joined in a large family. The character will also have two names (first name and last name) like real people. Players will create a family name at first, then choose the name for each character. Some of the class and gender are also available for players to choose from.

The biggest difference between a traditional MMO Granado Espada with others is the ability to control three characters at once. These characters can be combined and match from a collection of characters contained in the barracks. Each character can be combined at will, so players can use two high level character and help a lower level adjacent character to level up faster. Players can choose any character to run at the front, and two other characters will follow behind. The party could also be set to automatic, so that the character will do a basic attack and defense, without spending a skill or use of unnecessary items.

Character skill can also be accessed easily by the player via hotkeys. Unlike other MMO, hotkeys are not numbers, but a row of letters on the keyboard. The first character to use row QWERTY, asdfg second character uses the line, while the third character to use row ZXCVB. It is not uncommon, but it makes sense considering we have to control three characters.



The third development in a group of characters that can be arranged at will is a profitable and attractive. Players can make the party a balance with the fighter-elementalist-healer or create a super party with three elementalist offensive at once. In addition, each class also has a different stance, which will determine his behavior. For example, by default, the Scout will act as a healer, but if equipped with a dagger, then the Scout will change his stance to be more attacking, more offensive and will again if it is equipped with two dagger. When a character's stance changed, the available skills will change.

Stance is an exciting addition in the character creation system. Although all three characters have indeed have different functions, but the stance system will make players more comfortable because it does not collide with only a single character to a character. If he was in an area that does not require a healer, then he can change the character stance and fight with more offensive.

Granado Espada also displays a faster pace than MMO's in general. Party will often meet with the enemy wherever they go, because of the high concentration of enemies and the respawn rate. It is certainly keeping the tempo fast and the fight still remains intense.

One thing that immediately looks different in Granado Espada is visual. Most fantasy MMO set in vs orcs. human castle design with stone, iron axes, green monster, and the rotting undead hordes. Granado Espada concept in the Baroque era, especially for architecture and clothing. It is a style rarely seen in an MMO and it may take some time for adjustment, but it probably is the uniqueness that can make this game special in the eyes of the players.