So, it becomes rapidly apparent to me that splitting the webpage was not a good
idea. One of the pages will get neglected, and I have a sinking suspicion that
it will be the ‘games’ one. SO, once I get a bit more time, I will DELETE the
games page and consolidate to just one iteration of this content management
program. Now the decision becomes whether to reinstall in the root directory or
leave some kind of intro page there.
Anyway, with the new net connect, I have decided to try to take more photos, and
upload one every day, with some kind of blurb. My friends Sam and Matt didn’t do
this (Ok, Sam did make a page, but he never updated it), and I kinda wished that
they had, in order to live vicariously through them! Pictures will automatically
make this page 100% more interesting, because the wackyness of Japan is worth
way more than my incoherent rambling.
That sign is next to a barber shop which is right across from my apartment
building. It says “Jishin da! Hi wo kese!” (It’s an earthquake! Erase the fire!)
The kanji at the bottom say “Utsunomiya-shi.” See, told you guys that fire was
the most dangerous part of an earthquake.
I’ve slowly been getting over my annoyance at being a foreigner; mind you, it’s
still there, but perhaps diminishing over time. Possibly part of this is the
fact that my Japanese has gotten a bit better. I now know what the traffic
lights say, and can understand a few of the routine phrases store clerks
spout at me.
One thing that’s been bugging me recently, however, is people who don’t know
Japanese, and make absolutely no effort to learn. Obviously, you can get by
without knowing the language; some things might be a bit difficult, but you can
brazen it out. In fact, knowing a bit of the language is more work: you have to
really struggle to communicate, whereas if you know nothing, you can simply
ignore everyone around you.
Wow, it’s actually really difficult for me to put my feelings for this topic
into words. In any case, I can easily sympathize with immigrants to the States:
it’s ridiculous hard to learn a new language, especially when you don’t have a
teacher, and ESPECIALLY when you have to work full time. It hasn’t really
stopped me from trying, but then again I have kinda stopped progressing recently.
ok, so I just installed this content management system called wordpress, and so
far it seems interesting enough. uhh obviously the design for this hunk must be
redone, as it looks far too professional and templatey.
(Original title: What Went Wrong With Metroid Prime)
Like many people, I’ve always had a soft spot for Nintendo’s Metroid franchise.
Like all the other old-school gamers out there, I found Super Metroid to be just
about the pinnacle of the side-scrolling action/adventure genre. I had hoped
that the newest installment of the Metroid series would be able to capture the
sense of adventure and general coolness the previous games had come to
represent. And while Metroid Prime certainly does have its strong points, it
fails as an overall game.
Let me first point out some of the strong points in Metroid Prime. The levels
are exquisitely designed. The music is a mix of new and remixed tunes from Super
Metroid, which is always a good thing. Of course, the graphics engine is top
notch. The puzzles I played through weren’t too inspired, but they were way
better than any other FPS game; not to mention, Metroid was never a
puzzle-intensive series. In a word, the game made the transition to 3D
fairly easily.
My real problem with the game lies in its control system. The problem is that
Retro Studios didn’t use the standard FPS control style with Prime. The existing
control system is poorly designed. The first problem is that there is no
“free-look” aspect of the control. Every other FPS on a modern console uses
(or has the option to use) a “dual-stick” control style. That is, one analogue
stick controls moving forwards, backwards, strafing left, and strafing right.
The other stick controls “pitch” (looking up and down) and “yaw” (turning
left and right). Metroid Prime does not utilize this method of control,
and it’s extremely annoying to play 3D FPS games without it. The overall feel
of the game is that the player is wearing a neck brace: it’s hard to look around
naturally.
Prime tries to compensate for this lack of control by using a “free-look” button
and “lock-on” button. Both these solutions fail to compensate for the lack of
dual-stick control. The free-look button allows the player to adjust the pitch
of the viewpoint (the player can look around.) The problem with this
implementation is that to look around, the player has to stand still. This
promotes annoyance when enemies come at you from outside your field of vision,
and you have to stop, allow yourself to get shot at, and rotate your view in
order to see the enemies. The problem of having to stop in order to look around
also deals with the “lock-on” button. The lock-on button will automatically put
the nearest enemy directly within your crosshairs, but the player has to be
looking in the general direction of the enemy. Again, this is a problem when
enemies come and shoot at you outside your field of view. The player has to
stop, look around, and then hold the lock-on button in order to shoot.
Another problem that stems from the control is that platform jumping within the
game is really annoying. By default, platform jumping in 3D games is inherently
hard to accomplish, especially in a first person viewpoint. This is why most FPS
games don’t rely on jumping as a staple of game play. The reason for the
difficulty in Prime is because when jumping, the player can’t look downwards to
see what they’re leaping from. Not only that, but when jumping to a lower
platform, the player can’t look downwards at what they’re leaping to. Apparently
when jumping downwards, the camera does slightly pan downwards in order for the
player to glimpse what he is jumping on. However, when I was playing, this only
happened once or twice, and the change in camera angle was not by a significant
enough degree.
I seem to be making a huge point against the control system. Many people would
ask why the control is such a big deal. Well, lack of good control is a glaring
flaw. In my experience with modern FPS games, a 3D environment is only useful
as a game world if the player can totally immerse himself within said world.
Without the ability to view the 3D (realistic) world as a normal human would,
suspension of disbelief doesn’t work (i.e. it becomes too hard for the player
to put himself in the place of the videogame character). If the control system
is bad, it’s impossible to enjoy the game, because the very act of playing the
game is frustrating.
Of course, some might argue that I’m simply bad at games, and can’t adapt to
different control styles. I may suck at videogames, but I’m not a masochist or
a fanboy. Although I have a soft spot in my heart for Nintendo and its
franchises, I won’t be coerced into playing something I dislike simply because
it wears the Nintendo brand. Obviously, control of the game is enough of an
issue for me to dislike the game, and therefore I won’t play it.
Others might totally discount my arguments against Metroid Prime, saying that
control isn’t enough of an issue for me to really dislike it. However, I’ve
admitted that I enjoy Nintendo games. I seriously liked Super Metroid, and
admitted to having no qualms about turning the franchise 3D. What reason would
I have to purposely find trivial areas of the game that I didn’t like?
Some rabid fanboys claim that I shouldn’t hold Prime to FPS standards, because
“Prime isn’t an FPS.” However, whether the fanboys like it or not, all games
can be grouped into a few broad categories. For instance, at first glance,
Pikmin seems to defy categorization. But when you think about it, the game has
many similarities to RTS games: resource management, time management, army
management. The exact same is true about Metroid Prime. Although it’s not
exactly like, say, DOOM, it has many, many FPS-centric components. Since I
expect FPS-like games to play like FPS games, it’s a real letdown when they
don’t.
The expectation of control is a significant factor in designing games. Here, a
conversation between my sister and me (via instant chat) outlines the
frustration of changed game control:
SISTER: I bought an SNES two-pack game today, Tetris and Dr. Mario
ME: awesome
SISTER: but whoever designed it made it so that the pieces in both games rotate OPPOSITE of the way they rotate in the NES games
ME: haha, that’s horrible
SISTER: it is, it pisses me off so much
SISTER: cuz I rock at the NES versions
SISTER: but I can hardly beat the SNES games
Unless the player has extreme will-power to persevere in the face of adverse
control, there is no reason that they would feel compelled to keep playing (and
yes, she is really good at those games.)
To those of you who would say that no one else agrees with my assessment of
Metroid Prime’s control style, I offer the example of EGM. In their January 2003
issue, the review of Metroid Prime notes, “The only real complaint is… with
the controls.” (EGM 186) They also note that the control setup “becomes more
complicated and time consuming [than the standard FPS control style].” (EGM 186)
EGM still gave the game a perfect score, because they felt the rest of the game
compensated for the bad control. I disagree, which is my prerogative as a game
player and reviewer.
In conclusion, I’ve learned my lesson about buying games before renting them.
Although we all know not to believe the hype that some new and improved product
might generate, sometimes it’s hard to stay objective. I was able to recoup my
losses by selling my copy of Metroid Prime on eBay, but next time I might not
be so lucky.
