Quick Impressions: Portal 2 (PS3)

Note: If you are reading this and haven't played Portal 1. Stop. Go to a PC/Mac/PS3/360, get Portal, and play it. Do not return until you are done. Don't read on until you are familiar with Portal 1.

I am not responsible for spoiling Portal 1 for you from this point onwards.

Portal 2 (Played on PS3, single player completed, ~7-8 hours?)

When Portal first came out in 2007, it was one of those groundbreaking landmarks that caught everyone by surprise: A FPS where you avoid combat? Puzzle Solving? No Multiplayer? Portal was one of those games that, despite being unconventional and boxed in between two excellent titles, stood out as a jaw-droppingly memorable every step of the way.

Fast-forward to 2011. Portal 2, as a "full game", feels just as jaw dropping as the first game. While it loses some originality, it gains a healthy dose of even wittier writing, fantastic pacing, and a much more even learning curve. After finishing the game for the first time, I'm itching to get right back into it for both the Dev Commentary (Just started it and it's already fascinating), and the Co-op multiplayer (interesting that they added multiplayer, but from all accounts, seems like a natural fit, I'll try it later). In my mind, Portal 2 comes dangerously close to matching Dead Space 2 as the current front-runner for game of the year (and the similarities don't end there either).

One of the brilliant things that Dead Space 2 did was recalling player's past experience in the first game (I should write about Dead Space 2 too, that game has a lot of interesting talking points), Portal 2, interestingly, pulls a similar trick at the start of this game, taking the player for a ride through areas they have experienced in the first game. New players to the series should find the first few stages sufficient in teaching them the basics of Portal's gameplay; Veterans of the series will find the first few stages interesting too, as the new visuals tell a great story of the time between the first and the second game, and some minor tweaks to the early puzzles makes the experience even more memorable. I like to think that this technique of recalling previous games help players strengthen their experience and their connection to the game world: it's like seeing an old friend, trying to catch up to what happen, and see what's changed. In both Portal 2 and Dead Space 2, this "mechanic" was used to build anticipation and create surprises that a new player may not notice. While these sections may seem trivial and well designed to new players, they felt extra special to players who've seen the first. I've caught myself walking through different areas wondering what "twists" they will apply here.

The first Portal suffers from the same issues that typically plagues puzzle games: designers can try to iron out as many spikes in difficulty for a general audience, but all it takes is one stumbling block to throw a player off. While Portal 1 was fantastic, there were parts in the end game scenario that would have been potentially game breaking. To me, it seems like Portal 2 did a much better job of guiding the player to the key points they needed to see. Even though I was new to all the stages, I was able to pinpoint the exit, and the possible steps that I needed to take to reach the goal; the clever level design, layout, and organization made me feel smart about solving the problem (whether any intelligence was involved was debatable). One can say that some this new focus have made the game too streamlined (instead of a full wall, there's only a small section where you can put portals), but it really feels like there's been actual play session tests to make sure the game will feel challenging for players yet not to alienate people and discourage further play.

(As an offshoot, there's two specific points in the end game scenario where I was able to do things with lightening quick-reflex. I highly doubt it's voodoo magic, but there were enough psychological hints and telltale signs that motivated me to react properly on pure gut instinct. When you get there, you'll do it too, and we can talk afterwards.)

One of the key design elements mentioned in the first game's developer commentary was the "second act", where players walk through the "hidden underbelly" of the test chambers. While this was an enticing story arc, I've wondered how many players gave up on Portal before getting that far (some of the puzzles were brutal, requiring both reflex and mental capacity). I do think that Portal 2's story allowed much greater freedom for Valve to weave players through both "Real" tests and the "behind the scenes" sections. Fairly early on, players would be tossed between both the real and fake sections of the labs, giving a greater sense of decay in the environment, and the connection between what is real and what isn't. In the first game, you were essentially a lab rat until the world was revealed; here, you are shown right away that the labs, the tests, and the setting was part of something bigger. Every time a transition between the lab and the real world takes place, I would start looking around for other cracks within the facade, possible for things that give me a greater glimpse of the world. It's a beautiful done mechanic, and would-be designers should take note.

Perhaps the best part of Portal 2 for me was the writing. Portal's GLaDOS was fantastic, but here, both GLaDOS, Wheatly and the other characters are so well written that I often stop and wait to listen for more dialog. GLaDOS' snaky remarks, Wheatly's crazy incoherent banter and Cave Johnson's seemingly insane statements are delivered so pitch perfect, it brings life to the entire game (even though you are the only living person in the entire game). Without the dialog and chatter, Portal 2 would not be half the game it is right now.

Oh, and there's the ending, but let's not talk about that. It's absolutely Lunacy!

I've probably written way too much for a "first impression", but I think the parts I mentioned seems important enough to write about. There's a lot of good design substance here that any designers or would-be designers should take a hard look at how things work and why people enjoy them when they work.

On My Mind/Post Play: Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (Facebook)

For all the hype Facebook games have been getting in the press recently, especially the Zynga "ville" games, I've stayed cleared of many of them. I considered sampling some of them before, but they just don't seem to grab me enough for me to care. A lot of them seem to go for the cheap route of appealing to people's hoarding sensibilities: give people enough carrots at the start, and dangle it in front of them and make them beg fore more. Then I started playing Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy.

Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (On Facebook, played for a duration of ~2 months, mostly during weekdays)

So, why Assassins Creed? For one, it's tie-in to the console game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (AC:B); it's also not a true Facebook game, lacking in both monetizing and socializing features that exists in most Facebook games. But let's start from the beginning...

...during a play session of AC:B, I noticed one of the uPlay points (UbiSoft's own internal award system, clever, I must add) references an event that needs to be unlocked via the Facebook game. Being the completion-ist that I am (or try to be), I decided to check it out. At the very least, I'd get an extra mission or two, I hoped.

Like most Facebook games, it starts out slow and simple, with relatively quick progression and "high rewards" to start. At first I wrote it off as a simple Mafia Wars knockoff, with a relatively menu driven gameplay based on clicking through events. It was interesting to notice that even with a different skin, it doesn't stray too far from the formula of capping Action Points to slow down play progression, with a simple XP and leveling system encouraging players to move forward. The idea of earning items outside of currency isn't new either, but the secondary and tertiary economy systems work well enough and support different ways of tackling progression. While the game itself wasn't terribly interesting, I as still relatively far away from unlocking the two things I wanted into AC:B, so I kept on coming back daily, almost being trained by the game in a pavlovian way.

I think I really started taking interest in the game right before the "content" unlocked. I started messing around with the other timelines, and I realized that the game actually extends the side stories revolving around the world of AC1, AC:B and to a certain extent AC2. My desire to play was no longer driven by the need for leveling up (nor was it by the unlocks or loot, while that's cool to unlock things in AC:B), but rather to find out more with the story, the characters, and how they impact the main game. In this sense, AC: Project Legacy has succeeded in adding to the overall experience of the franchise.

It's interesting to note that while this game exists on Facebook, it lacks the hallmarks of a Facebook game: monetization and socialization. There was nowhere in the game to exchange real money for ingame XP, AP, currency or items; there was also no interactions between friends who are playing the game save the potential recruit links. Maybe the lack of these things were what appealed me to the game.

Outside of habit or boredom, I'm done with the game now until new missions are added. I've exhausted all playable events now, seen all the story has to offer for now, and hit a game breaking glitch that gave me 400 billion dollars. Overall, it's was pretty interesting, and at least from a story perspective, added quite a bit of "substance" to the AC universe.

I have to say I like what UbiSoft has done here in trying to tie in a Facebook game with a "core" franchise. It's a slow rising trend, and I really do believe that companies who are willing to experiment with such integration in the near future will come out ahead. I don't want to sound too pompous, but I saw this trend coming for a long time, and there are plenty of games that stands to benefit from this sort of integration. In the past few years, we've seen web leaderboards (Need For Speed), Twitter integration (Uncharted 2), Facebook integration (DSi, Blur), Youtube integration (PixelJunk Eden), but I look at this AC Facebook game, and have to say this maybe the most realized version yet, and I can't wait to see what's next.

Administrative Stuff: Oh, the important stuff...

You know what, I almost forgot...

...I don't think I've ever formally introduced myself on this blog. Might as well, right?

If you look on the right, you'll see my name, Harold Li. I'm not going to give my life story here (it's not all that interesting or important), so here's the shorthand, interesting, and relevant version. I've been gaming since I was 6 or 7, Game Boy, Famicom, the usual suspects. I'm primarily a console gamer, and have kept up with consoles games (mostly Nintendo stuff). Games to me had always been fun toys or a hobby, until late in high school when I realized that programming could lead me into games.

Five years and a University degree in CS later, I ended up working at a games company called Koei Canada, working initially as a programmer and eventually a designer. On the side I ended up buying a lot of games and played a lot (I always say it's for research, but sometimes it really isn't).

Let's say right now that I'm "in between jobs", so what better way to exercise my design skills with writing stuff about design? OK, maybe making something is better, but, oh well...

...other administrative stuff: It'd be great if I get some feedback on posts and stuff. I'll try to get a quick sample of each column, so I can get some feedback to work with and improve (iterative design process doesn't just end with games!). Also, it would help that I know people are reading, so use the follow button on the right side, thanks. :P

Administrative Stuff: Relaunch 2.0

I know I haven't been updating this blog for a while, and with all this new-found free time I have, I really should. I think one of the major things that bogged me down (besides lack of time), was my insistence on writing out my gaming history in a linear fashion. I still believe that knowing where I came from, and what games I gravitate to do matter in how I analyze things, but it's also made writing this EXCESSIVELY SLOW.

So, I'm going to try to harness the power of Tags, and writing out different "sections" of updates instead. Assuming that the "Cloud Tag" widget works the way it should, you'll start seeing it to the right of this blog. The few categories I'm thinking of using include: "Gaming Past" (What I've been writing), "Post Play Analysis", "Quick Impressions", "In The News", "On My Mind" and "Design Teardown". I'll probably add more as I see fit. This way, I can quickly jump from one topic to the next, and still be coherent. (ADD wins again!)

I'm not going to remove the old posts, it seems like a big waste of time re-writing them. Think of them as "the prototype".

Gaming Past: SNES In depth (Part 2) - Super Mario Kart

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My top 3 SNES gems (cont.)

Back in 1995, I traveled back to Hong Kong for vacation. While in Hong Kong, I managed to bargin my way to get one game on the SNES. At that point, I really had no idea what I wanted to get, so as I browsed the windows at stores wondering what I would get. I stumbled upon a copy of Super Mario Kart at one shop and bought it on the spot, I figured that since I liked Mario games, this game can't be that bad (Thank God I didn't get Mario is Missing, that would have been just weird). Fortunately, it's probably one of the best games then, and a genre defining title.

At first I was quite underwhelmed: Donkey Kong Country was such a visual tour-de-force that it shames every games before. Sure, it had Mode 7 tech, which was something I hadn't seen before (We'll get to F-Zero :P), but just how plain the visuals looked compared to DKC was a setback for me. The Pseudo 3D effects were nice, but it was no SGI GRAPHIXLOLOLOL (I still can't believe I bought into that, but then again, people bought into "Blast Processing"). While the flat shaded artstyle fit with the designs of Super Mario World, the fact that lacks the look of "depth" sort of pushed me away. The fact that the game only displayed half the screen never really bothered me though. I thought that using it as a full map displaying where everyone was was a nice touch, never knowing that it was a "technical limitation".

The gameplay, however, was anything but disappointing. Even at the most basic level, the game creates many player decisions: Heavy or Light driver (My go to guy? Yoshi, followed by Mario, then Toad); Max coin on first lap or stick to the racing line (Always max coin); hold back and wait for better item in the first item area, or jockey for position (Always wait for items). Every track and "world theme" has their own unique trick to learn (like boosting through the gap in Donut Plains 1), and it was always entertaining (and sometimes frustrating, in a good way) to play through each cup. Learning the timing for the hop/slide was a long process, but I eventually got the hang of it (after countless trial and errors on Mario Circuit 1).

At the time, I never understood how heavy rubberbanded the AI was, but it created intense exciting races. Sure, this badly rubberbanded AI would run into frustrating situations of overtaking first place just at the last corner, but it also taught me to be ruthless in hoarding items, racing a sub optimal line to block, and holding a banana/green shell back for protection. Sometimes the AI would end up costing me the entire series because of one cheap lap, but it was merely another chance for me to replay the series again (Yes, my cart does have all tracks completed, with a 40/40 for all series).

Looking back, I'm surprised how well I took in the attempt at re purposing all the items: coins gave speed increase; mushrooms were speedboost; lightening to shrink, the list goes on. Yet the most interesting use was the Feather. Except for a few shortcuts, the Feather was pretty useless in the main mode. For the longest time, I though someone had to have screwed up somewhere, then I discovered Battle mode. During one game, I got a feather and managed to jump into a closed off pool.

A GLITCH! - I said.

Nope...

I never found a good strategy to properly use that trick. I know that in all those pools, there are jump pads or item pads that will allow you to get out with ease. To this day I wonder whether this feather design was by design, or just another happy accident that turned into a feature. It is interesting to see Battle Mode to be considered now as the beginning of the "car combat" genre. To think, all the multiplayer missile shooting owes it's origins to a game where people lay down banana peels...

Oh, and before I wrap this up: Worst Rainbow Road ever. Even though I hate the new ones, this one takes the cake for having no barriers whatsoever. Who thought that was a good idea?

...to be continued...

Gaming Past: SNES In depth (Part 1) - Donkey Kong Country

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My top 3 SNES gems

As mentioned last time, there were three SNES games that I would consider "pinnacle" of the SNES. Obviously, this is a list of what I actually owned back then (pretty small list), and what I've played (which weren't much). Donkey Kong Country 1 was an eye-opening experience on how much visual and graphical fidelity can affect immersion and gameplay; Donkey Kong Country 2 built upon that with even more imaginative world and level design; Super Mario Kart entertained me for countless hours with it's fantastic balance of weapons and racing; and finally, Uniracers, an accidental purchase that I stumbled upon. I've technically cheated a bit here, as I'm wrapping "DKC 1/2" as the same game (I'll get to why DKC3 isn't in there :P). So with the intro out of the way, here goes nothing.

I no longer remember why or where I've heard of Donkey Kong Country, but I NEEDED it (chalk it to magical marketing hype, I guess). So much so, I remembered putting that, and only that game on my Christmas List, over and over. As you can guess by now, yes, I did get the game for Christmas, and I played nothing but that for months on end. Comparing this to Mario World at that time was an unfair comparison, and to a 11 year old, it was a visual feast that made me forget everything that has come before it. Donkey Kong Country, at the time, used this magical "SGI rendering" to create these incredible color and detail in the world that I haven't seen before, and it felt more "fun". The two areas I remembered the most was the underwater swimming stages and the snowy mountain stages; both which were richly detailed and full of character and life. Additional, the music created an unforgettable atmosphere that was a joy to listen and play through (the visuals showing blizzard in Ice Age Alley, combined with the tension inducing soundtrack and the echo effect has been burned into my memory - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ3wMiPV7DM).

By the time Donkey Kong Country 2 was released, I had made sure I got it as soon as possible (which happened to coincide with my birthday). Visually, the game dramatically improved from it's precursor, with far more detailed characters, enemies and environments. I was so immersed with it's detailed worlds, I ended up playing this fairly quickly just to see everything that the game had to offer. Like the first game, it had memorable environments (the volcano levels, and the marshlands were the most impressive) and suspenseful stages (Screech's Sprint - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6hq-CS3pwA, to me was the most memorable one, especially because a) the awesome music, b) how stupid hard it was, which meant I played that stage way too many times to count, and c) that roll -> jump gap at the start of the stage, which blew my mind when I figured out how to do it).

However, even though I've actually completed the game with 102% (in contrast to DKC1's 87%), I came out somewhat more disappointed at it. So much so that I never did end up buying or ever playing DKC3 (even to this day). Both these games were great, but I've had enough of the platforming by that point to not want to care about the new one. Looking back, I think it's easy to see why:

1) Donkey Kong Country 2 were slowly showing hints of Rare's trademark obsessive collect-a-thons. Each stage had the KONG letters (carried over from the first one); the DK Coin; and numerous banana coins and kremkoins, which were currency for opening up even more content in the game. This drive to collect things were great in forcing replay, but by the end I was sick of trying different tricks to reach for hidden areas to collect things.

2) While Miyamoto might not have actually said that the gameplay was mediocre because of the graphics, I do agree that because of it's awesome graphics, people have dismissed it's somewhat derivative gameplay as a trivial issue (I am also guilty of this). Looking back, while DKC1 had "new" mechanics like barrel blasts, mine kart jumping, they weren't hugely innovative and refreshing. DKC2 suffered even more, as it was merely gameplay refinement and polish over the first. However, in both cases, since the graphics were such standout features, most people were more than willing to forgive it being less than refreshing.


...huh. Didn't realize that I've written way too much for just one game. Looking at the last few post, it seems like it's a bit too much to digest, so I'll try to cut down the length, and maybe switch up to more frequent posting instead. How's that?

...to be continued...

Gaming Past: 16 Bit Gaming

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My real foray of console gaming

It's been a week since I wrote the last entry, and looking back, this title seems a little too much. It's not that I didn't consider the Famicom that I had a system, but instead, it's the first time where I would be stuck picking and choosing a much more limited choice of what I can play. The end result, for me, is a much deeper appreciation for what each games did and didn't do.

I got my SNES at Woolco (yeah, remember those, yeah, they don't exist anymore) soon after moving to Canada. It was the crazy bundle that came with Super Mario World, Mario Paint, and Mario All-Stars for some ridiculous low price (I recall it being around $130, it's the good old days when consoles can be bought with games for sub-$200, good times). Those games lasted me for a good year, and with very good reason.

Let's get the surprise out of the way first: Mario Paint. Mario Paint, for me, opened up a interesting view into what entertainment can be. Like most people, I gravitated to the only thing resembling a game in the package: "Coffee Break". Using the mouse to wack flies was infinitely entertaining, and even though it was obvious that most of the game was pure chance (enemy position is random). Difficulty ramped up as the stages started to repeat, but that didn't matter to me back then as the high score was the only thing that mattered.

While that game never got too tiring, I did eventually discover the joy of creating both art and music with the "game". I never really had the patience to properly paint a full screen of something, but creating the small pixelart icons and music tracks was a blast. The MIDI music creator baffled me in the details of creating a full music track, but I never got tired of replacing the mario theme with just dog and cat barking sounds. I also never really considered myself to be awesome at creating those small icon pixelart, but I remembered having fun creating alternative colours of the 1Up mushrooms (changing colours was the easiest thing to do, and I made an awesome yellow/red one that Nintendo went on to steal with the Mega Mushroom.

The second pack-in was Super Mario All-Stars, a collection of Mario Bros 1,2,3 and Mario Lost Levels. This became the first opportunity where I completed Mario Bros 1 from start to finish (with improved graphics!), and my first exposure to both Mario Bros Lost Levels, 2 and 3. Lost Levels was a baffling experience, clearly created to spite my 10 year old brain. A mushroom that shrinks you/kills you? EVIL! To this day I still haven't gone back to play through the entire game (which I should someday). Mario Bros 2 and 3were also eye-opening experiences, breaking down my conception of what a platforming game is (which was mostly formed around Mario Bros anyways).

Mario Bros. 2 was an interesting game because it was just so weird. Floating enemies that chases you when you take a key? Pots that shrinks in size? Potions that create doors and alternate paths? Birdo? BIRDO! Timing that stupid egg was annoying! However, the idea of having 4 playable characters, each with slightly different jumping and running mechanics was very very appealing. In hindsight, the Princess' floating mechanics (Yes, it's Princess, not Peach, what the hell is going on there?) was a brilliant move in making me (and probably many people) feel like they're cheating the game and making them feel awesome. I've probably abused every single jump in that game with the floating move.

Mario Bros. 3 was even more interesting, with the frog suit and all, but unfortunately for me, I finished Mario World first, which made 3 feel like an awkward time warp of a game that I didn't really enjoy. A lot of the mechanics were wonderful in hindsight, and I really wish I had learned to appreciate it more back then. The bonus item for clearing each world was empowering; the new abilities were fun to use; the end level bonus reward cards reinforced stage grinding; the silver blocks where you can crouch down and find a secret path was brilliant; the idea of equipping an item into any stage was the best thing ever created since slice bread. Similar to the Princess' floating jump, the idea that you can bring an item into a difficult stage is an empowering cheat that makes players feel like they've gamed the system, even though clearly this was a planned possibility.

However, all the above games are overshadowed by Super Mario World, which was a fantastic experience from start to finish. The first time finding Yoshi; finding out chaining 8 hits in a row earns an extra life; finding out how to get the feather, and mastering flying; finding the ! switches; discovering about multiple branching exits on the red stages... everything about it was carefully paced to deliver a new discovery at every level.

More importantly, the jump from the Famicom to the SNES created a new sense of atmosphere. The SNES, like all my game systems, was placed in the basement with the main TV. Playing games often makes for a chilling experience, where the temperature drops to around 15 degrees on average. This fact greatly contributed to what I remembered in Mario World: The Ghost House was haunting and scary; the mines was cold and echo-y; the Butter Bridge was breezy (hmm... apparently all of the game was just cold, which I guess, doesn't work as well at the Valley of Bowser). The Forest of Illusion, by far, was the most memorable set piece, a haunted forest with no clear exit.

The most mind blowing fact of Super Mario World was when I found out about Star World, and eventually, Special World. Branching multiple paths was cool in other stages, but this "broken glitch" created this illusion of awesomeness about my gaming skills (which, of course, most people did stumble upon anyways). In hindsight, what I appreciated most about it is how all of this was put together: Star World represented "bonus stages", but were also special places to have unique mechanics that were not placed together (Like Star World 3's Football guys, Lakitu, and Grab Blocks); Special World were even more extreme applications of awkward mechanics, like Gnarly's extreme use of vertical space, or Awesome's slippery floor.

To wrap up SMW: Yes, I do have a 95* save; All the turtles are now walking heads; I have opened up every stage, including the Cheese Bridge exit to Soda Lake; Tubular was designed by the devil; Yes I exploit Star World 2 for Blue Yoshi; Yes, I have cleared Bowser's castle once as regular Mario; Forest of Illusion 3 still has it's mid-checkpoint, as it's the fastest ways to rack up 1Ups.

One of the goals for these introductory posts for me was to do a fairly detailed chronicle of the types of games I sunk deep into. I hoped that by looking into the past, it gives better insight into who I am as a gamer and a "designer". At this rate, I'll end up covering way too much detail about too many minor things, without getting on the eventual goal of "actual design topics on my mind". I guess I'll map it out now (at least for maybe the next 2 posts), for both my sake and yours...

Even though I only have 10 SNES games, they have made such a huge impact on how I see games are be played and what made games fun and magical. In the next post, I'll cover what I considered the 3 greatest games of that generation (and miraculously, some of them are also well regarded too! :P ) : Donkey Kong Country 1/2, Super Mario Kart, and Uniracers. After that, I'll cover the rest, for example: Super Mario RPG.

Up Next Time: My top 3 SNES gems.