Alone In The Dark - Inventory System Gone Bad

So this weekend, I decided to finally pick up the new Alone In The Dark game for Xbox 360. I was intrigued by the preview videos as it appeared the game was doing some interesting things with the inventory system as well as the way the character interacted with the environment. It has probably not been since I first played Fatal Frame for the PS2 that I truly seen a somewhat different approach to the survival horror genre. I was not surprised, however, that after playing the game lived up to the negative press it was receiving.
There are two points regarding this game that I thought were detrimental to its fun factor: the inventory system and an overly clunky attempt at immersion. In this article, I only wish to talk about the inventory system as I think it is rare that I even notice an inventory system, much less find one that throws the game for me.
In Alone In The Dark, the inventory is represented by pockets inside the player character's jacket. When it is accessed, the player actually opens up his jacket and peers down at his body to reveal the items stashed away. The inventory system provided is limited space with stacking, real-time and gameplay blocking. This basically means we only have so much space to store things of differing types, any attempt at access does not stop the game and the game screen is completely obstructed by the inventory system when activated. Normally this would not be an issue if the implementation was sound, however, what we have next is a combination of:

1. An awkward inventory access system - On the Xbox 360 the inventory is accessed via the control pad. Within the inventory, items are individually selected either by rotating the thumbstick to slide through the items or individually with the control pad. In essence, this means that the player must take their thumb off of the control stick in order to fiddle with their items and since the game screen is blocked by the inventory when active this essentially means the player must come to a stop to poke around in their inventory. This is a not a fun situation to be in during some of the combat heavy scenes. To be fair, there are "hotkeys" into certain inventory items and combinations of items, but these are selected via a combination of the control pad and one of the four face buttons. Not much better really.

2. An overabundance of items as well as the ability to combine items into yet more items - There are a lot of items in this game. A knife, a lighter, a gun, ammo, various types of bottles (empty, water, brandy), tape, bandages, first-aid spray, and mosquito spray all make of the types of items that can be placed in the player's inventory. Along with these base items, some can be combined into sticky bombs, Molotov cocktails, fire bullets (pouring liquor onto bullets??!), etc. Combining items again was awkward by first selecting one item and then selecting the other and pressing X. Once again, there was an awkward "hotkeys" that was the same as above to instantly create combinations.

So in essence, I spent the vast majority of my time in the game dying due to fumbling with items in my inventory. So how could this have been better? Well, I think for starters just pausing the game when inventory was accessed would have saved a lot of headaches. It may be that the inventory was meant to induce a sense of anxiety in the player as they were involved in certain high-adrenaline scenes, but I don't think any player finds it fun to lose to a system that is bogged down in awkward controls and a rigid attempt at realism. While I applaud the designers for at least thinking in a different direction, my experience was not positive of the way it was implemented in the game.

Psychonauts (Not Quite) Finished

There are some games that I play simply due to my love of games in generally and not for any love for the genre. Some games achieve such a cult following that they practically compel me to experience them and subsequently love them as much as every other cultured gamer on the planet. Psychonauts definitely fits into both of these categories and I am here to proclaim that this game has defeated me.

Of course, this is a modern platformer, so it would not be fair to mention the numerous collections that you are given in the game. There are a ludicrous amount of item types that you are constantly scavenging for in order to upgrade your psychic powers. There is also a wonderful psychic theme in which the main character is constantly being thrust into the minds of others with often hilarious results (this game actually was laugh out loud funny at times.)

Rarely, is there a game that I do not finish, but the increasing difficulty of this game forces me to stop for its own safety. I just wish that game designers could create a challenging game that rewards the player when needed and punishes in such a way that does not include repetition and/or memorization. Come on, I know there has to be a better way....

Games Demystified: Super Mario Galaxy

It seems that most of my updates previously have either been review or rant types, so I thought it might be a nice change to track some of my favorite technical articles regarding games.

Games Demystified: Super Mario Galaxy

This article is the first in a recent series of articles by Jeremy Alessi that goes under the hood of some techniques utilized in recent popular games. Here, Jeremy describes how Nintendo developers basically fudged realistic gravity using the surface normals of the polygons that make up the planet's surface.

Braid

So I thought I'd throw my two cents in regarding Braid, the recent Xbox Live Arcade title that is receiving consistently positive praise from critics and fans alike.

I have to admit that when first reading about the game, it did not interest me that much. However, when I booted it up and was not even treated to a title screen or introduction, I knew I was in for a different experience. Transitioning to the game, I was pleased with how well, I was introduced to the mechanics of the game without any prompting by the game itself. Just a few graphics hidden among the terrain of the first level to make sure you knew which buttons to press and the rest is left to experimentation by the player.

As far as game mechanics go, the idea of each level presenting a different time-manipulating element keeps things interesting and the puzzles are appropriately difficult and experimentation is well rewarded.

Thematically and artistically, this game was likewise excellent. The abstract story had a very thoughtful conclusion. Gamer karma maybe? I loved it...

Planescape Torment Complete!

So, I've finished Planescape:Torment and as with the other Black Isle/Bioware games, I was impressed. This one seemed a lot more story driven than the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale games, but depending on your character class there was lots of beatings to put forth if one so wished.

I definitely like the way you were able to easily switch back and forth between fighter, mage and thief character classes. I suppose they had to allow this as you were not allowed to customize your character beyond his stats and beginning class as the story was heavily dependent on the main character looking and acting a certain way for the most part.

Regarding combat, I found this game slightly more tedious than the Baldur's Gate games, perhaps it's my faulty memory at play, but there seemed to be something off. I did notice that there was not a lot of options for character weapons and armor, which again goes to show the story-driven nature of the game. I do admit it was nice not to have to continually futz with character inventory before every battle.

Well, now it's on to Tron 2.0. I heard this was an interesting FPS with some slightly different play-mechanics and a storyline that is actually worthy of the Tron name.

Game Queue

I have been very busy between school and work, but somehow I've still managed to have a full game queue at the same time. Here's what I've been playing lately with a very short comment on each game:


1. Planescape: Torment - When I first bought this game back in '99, I think I was burnt out on the Bioware/Black Isle RPGs, so it went unplayed for many years. Now that I've picked it up, I realize what a great experience it is! Really great story and lots of moral choices for the player. However, there seems to be something lacking in the combat...maybe more later...

2. Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter - An early Xbox 360 game that I'm finally getting around to playing. It's your typical tactical FPS, that I personally think was surpassed with the Rainbow Six: Vegas game. Story and script are hokey and remind me of any number of mid-90s war/action films (This is not a bad thing for me, as Nicole and I had a hoot laughing at some of the dialogue during the cut scenes).

3. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars - I picked this one up mainly because I was interested in how the control scheme would translate from PC to the Xbox 360 and I must admit that it is mostly successful, unfortunately, I don't pick this one up often enough, so I'm constantly having to peek back at the controller map to remember how to play the darn thing (i.e. controls are not intuitive...yet).

4. Psychonauts - A PS2 "cult" classic 3D platformer. I really like the theme of this one, but I can tell why it was a commercial flop as from first appearances it looks like a kid's game. Even though it follows the typical collection/scavenger hunt game play of most 3D platformers since Mario 64, a quirky cast of characters and a goofy sense of humor keep me coming back to this one.

Board Games / Card Games

I have lately been putting some time into playing some board and card games. Here are a few of the titles I have picked up lately:

1. Fluxx - Awesome card game where the rules are constantly changing. This is good coffe-shop game since it can last anywhere from 1-30 min.
2. Carcassone - This is a classic strategy game where players attempt to score points based on placing followers on a tile-board.
3. Blockus - This is an abstract game where players attempt to place all their pieces on the board. The catch is that the pieces can only be played with same colors touching at the corners.