Review: Cloning Clyde

This is supposed to be a gaming website, but there are only three reviews? That doesn't sound right. How many have I written? None? Well, let's solve that problem today. I could choose a new'ish game, or arbitrarily choose some game that I enjoyed...

Cloning Clyde
Xbox 360


Overall Score: 7.9
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Quick fix:
++Smooth controls, and easy platforming let you focus on the puzzle aspect of the game
++Many different types of Clydes to transform into, most with unique and fun abilities
+ Switching between clones makes for fun puzzles, and you get to work together with yourself

--Multiplayer mode was thrown together, and isn't worth it
- Not that difficult
- Feels a little repetitive at times
- Destroying security bots is just button mashing

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In Cloning Clyde, you are the subject of a scientific experiment gone completely awry. As the name implies, you have been cloned. In fact, you have been cloned a lot. Your goal is to make it out of the lab, and if you're nice, bring as many clones of yourself as possible too. What's stopping you? Evil security machines which are pictured below. In order to escape the lab, and beat the game, you must destroy all of these security machines, and pass through the levels.


The gameplay is a mix of platforming and puzzles. The controls work pretty smoothly, and allow you to move Clyde up and down ladders, to pull switches, and throw rocks to let yourself escape. You can also switch between Clydes and work together to solve the puzzles which let you escape. As for the destruction of the security machines, it's pretty boring; just tap X and you'll use your pathetic looking kung fu skills to destroy the machine while it throws exploding chickens at you.

From that it sounds decent, but nothing special. The clones add an interesting spice to it, but still pretty mild. How could they make it better? Genetic modification. Not only can you clone yourself, but you can combine your DNA with other things. What happens when you cross your DNA with a monkey? There's a picture below.

These genetically modified Clydes allow you to have special abilities. Splice yourself with a chicken, and now you can fly! A frog? Easily swim through water and not drown. A barrel of dynamite??? Repeatedly explode at will.


The combination of multiple Clydes to manuever, and a variety of Clydes to choose from leads to some pretty interesting puzzles. I didn't find any of the puzzles to be super challenging, but definitely fun. The platforming aspect of is not difficult at all, in most cases just a means to maneuver through the puzzles. That's not a problem, it's just not the focus of the game.

A downside is that there aren't that many cases where you utilize more than one type of Clyde per level. It happens some in the later levels, but I wish they would have done it a lot more. While there is a nice variety of levels and mechanics with all of the different Clydes, it still feels a little repetitive at times.

The video above is one of the earlier levels, but demonstrates the gameplay pretty well. Since this is on the 360, it of course has achievements. They're a great motivator to explore every aspect of the game. I'll discuss some of them here:

Killer Kudos: Throughout the game there are Killer Kenn Action Figures scattered about, just tokens for you to pick up, and if you collect all 100 of them you get this one.
Poultry Party, Becoming Baaaad, etc.: Achievements are given for turning into various forms of Clyde. You'll collect these as you go through the game.
Duplicone Dash: Each level has a target time, and if you beat all of the levels' target times, you'll get this one.
Foolish Freedom: As I mentioned earlier, you can let your clones escape the lab as well. If you pass all of the Clydes through the levels, you'll get this one.
Battle Addict: This you get just by playing multiplayer once, which I will discuss next.

I did not like the multiplayer mode at all; it wasn't well explained, and it didn't work unless people knew what they were doing. There are two modes: co-op and versus. You can either work together through the levels, or try and destroy each other's security machines. Honestly, I didn't give it too much of a shot, but the game is also over 2 years old, so there aren't many people to play with either.

As a whole, it's a great single player game, and well worth the $10, er 800 Microsoft points. To sum it up the puzzles are fun, and the idea is great, but it's not hard enough, even in hard mode, and they shouldn't have bothered with a multiplayer mode.

Overall Score: 7.9

Screenshot: MTV Multiplayer
Screenshots: IGN

Godspeed.

Flashy Friday: Flash Gear Solid VR: The NIKITA Missons

I loved the VR missions for Metal Gear Solid. The mini-missions were so much fun, which was surprising since it spawned out of a stealth game. This flash artist took the VR mission digital style and made a really awesome flash game out of it.


You play as Snake in a box and you have a certain amount of NIKITA missiles that you can shoot. You need the missiles to hit the targets and you can control missiles much like you control them in Metal Gear Solid, meaning you can control their direction as they fly.

The game uses a top-down view but you can switch to first person (of both Snake AND the missiles) by holding down X on your keyboard. The graphics are really sharp for a Flash game and the first-person view actually adds a lot to the gameplay. Even if you dislike Metal Gear Solid, you'll probably enjoy this game as the controls are smooth and it gets pretty hard towards the end.

Click here to go play Flash Gear Solid VR: The NIKITA Missions right now.

Top 40 Most Memorable Games #39

-Hey, aren't you supposed to post on Thursdays? Lima's timeliness is almost as bad as her taste in games!
-...Yes. And this week will be no exception.

Lima's Top 40 Most Memorable Games!
this week, ONIMUSHA: WARLORDS


The first Onimusha. The sequels had better graphics, but I never played them after the first game for PS2. If I didn't know any better, I'd be shocked that this game made it onto my list. It was the opposite of memorable. Onimusha is one of my favorite examples of a cookie cutter game.

I have a little soft spot for Capcom, mostly because of the Resident Evil series which has made notable appearances in my life since childhood. (More will be said about this in later posts). But Capcom for all its history and camp has never been known for its originality. Onimusha is essentially Devil May Cry (also a Capcom series) in samurai armor.Both games are a series of battles with enemies that warp into the room and can be destroyed by hitting X repeatedly, intermingled with puzzles along the lines of Destroy enough enemies to make the magic barrier in front of the door go away! or The statue is missing a gem! Kill things until one of them drops the gem! The fighting styles are nearly identical.

Maybe the memorable part was the helpless/useless Princess Yuki that you have to save from the demons that have kidnapped her. That's original, right? Or what about Kaede? An attempt at a female character that can kick ass except she DOESN"T. Could that be unique? Or perhaps it's the main character Quiet Inner Turmoil that is never explained in the storyline (because it's an excuse the write less dialog) I'm not even going to link this one, there are just too many examples.

No, This game sticks in my memory for one reason and one reason only. If you collect enough fluorites (a.k.a the shiny things I couldn't find a picture of) you get to play the game in a panda suit. Yeah. That's it.



Heh.

Dream Land: Drop it Like it's Hot

Some of you have probably already seen this video (it does have over a million hits) but I was only introduced to it a couple of weeks ago. I pretty sure avid readers like Lima and Shawn haven't seen this, so this post is not a total waste. Either way, I thought I should share this with you. It was quite amusing. Who would have thought that Kirby and Snoop Dogg share the same beats?



Bravo to the person who realized that these two songs share the same tempo. You clearly have too much time on your hands but, I thank you for making this awesome remix.

Look at the Typeface

You might have figured this out by now but, if there is an NYU tag at the bottom of the post, that means I have to do that post for a class. Sometimes those posts don't relate to gaming, though regardless of the post I'll probably tie it back to gaming somehow. Also, that means in those posts I should probably keep my language PG, meaning I can't just randomly say penis or things like that. Either way, the post will still be enjoyable, so feel free to read them.

Helvetica:


Helvetica is both the name of a certain typeface (font) and of a documentary I recently watched in class. The movie was surprisingly awesome, as it highlighted the birth and overuse of the Helvetica typeface in our culture. Pretty much every sign you see, either corporate or public, uses this typeface. Helvetica is widely used because of its perceived normality and non-assuming tone.

Different types of font can display different sorts of emotions. Times New Roman has a sense of formality to it, for example. And that's not just because we use Times New Roman for boring Word documents. Graphic designers would argue that Times New Roman has a sense of formality because of the way the letters are shaped and formatted.

Typeface is very important in video games as well as designers always want to convey as much emotion as possible within the confines of a text box. A game that used typeface very well was Super Paper Mario. The text was usually the same for most characters but, by either using wavy text, shaky text or all caps, you could feel more emotion coming out from the characters. Take a look at this clip below (you only need to see the first two minutes) from when Mario faces a boss called Fracktail. Notice how each character gains a different voice by the different styles in the text and the text box.



That scene actually made me laugh. In retrospect, I probably would not have laughed if Fracktail's text was not in all caps.

Obama's Typeface:
Typeface also makes a different in politics, since politicians want you to feel good when you observe their ads. Obama's campaign workers have a great grasp on how to effectively use graphic design and typeface in order to invoke positive feelings. Take a look a the campaign poster below.


The font used in this poster is called Gotham. A recent New York Times article analyzed the impact of the typeface Gotham in this poster. Here's a perplexing quote from the analyst:

"...there’s an oxymoronic quality to Gotham, which is why I think it’s become so popular. It has a blunt, geometric simplicity, which usually makes words feel cold and analytical, but it also feels warm. It’s substantial yet friendly. Up-to-date yet familiar. That’s a tough hat trick. And Gotham has another quality that makes it succeed: it just looks matter-of-fact."

It just goes to show that every little piece matters, even how the text is displayed in politics or video games makes a difference as to how you feel or interact with that object.

Augmenting Human Intellect:
Thinking in terms of typeface (and its effects) is something we really never thought about until we started using computers. The printing press was made way back in 1439 and more fonts came about over the generations. However, just look at the oddity of advertisements from as recent as the 1950's.


Text is all over the place. The ad is hokey and a little hard to read. One possible reason for why ads are smoother now (and more effective in terms of marketing) is because computers have allowed us to tackle those difficult problems of expressing emotion through print. Instead of having to conceptualize an ad, draw it, and print it, we can use computers to fine tune the ad so that it is more pleasing to the eye.

Not only have computers made processes more complex, they have also made them faster. In addition, once we have learned how to effectively use a program in order to make something more complex and faster, we then learn how to manipulate which, in turn, makes things even more complex and speedier. Humans therefore, grow with the technology, become smarter and more efficient.
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If you've read this far, you probably have two things burning in your mind right now. Go outside and see for yourself how almost everything uses Helvetica. Then, you might think about how the knowledge of Helvetica's power has grown with computers, and how you might be a bit smarter with this knowledge. Regardless, now you are at least more aware.

Top 52: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (#39)

I know I keep saying I don't like shooters that much. Really, it's true. I don't enjoy them that much, even though this is the fourth one on my list. I even especially despise the glut of World War II shooters but luckily, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is not a WWII shooter despite every other game in the franchise (including the upcoming COD5) are from that era. However, I fell in love with this game as soon as I played it.
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Title: Call of Duty 4
Console: PS3
Release Date: 11/06/07 (US)
Genre: First-Person Shooter
My Ranking: #39

Call of Duty 4 was nearly flawless on every aspect of what makes a shooter popular. The controls were fluid and intuitive, the multiplayer was engaging both online and offline, the single-player campaign was challenging and the graphics were stunning. All in all, COD4 felt like a complete game since every part of it was fun.

I remember picking up the controls very quickly, which is hard to do with shooters on a console. The L1 button zooms, the R1 button fires, the L2 and R2 buttons were grenades, O made your character duck or crawl, square made you reload and X made your character jump. The buttons all seemed to be placed in the right spot, and playing a shooter on a console never felt so good. (We all know that a mouse and keyboard pwns for shooters).

The first thing a friend showed me in COD4 was the first mission inside the battleship. I ran through the level, killing some bad guys, getting shot and all that normal shooter stuff. Then, something completely awesome happened. The boat was hit and was beginning to sink. Your character falls to the ground and the screen starts to get all fuzzy like you're about to pass out. Another officer gets you to your feet and tells you to hurry up. As soon as you start moving, you see that the boat is filling with water and that the boat is tilting to the left. Debris is falling everywhere and you just barely make it off the boat by making a close jump to your helicopter. It was epic.



There were a ton of scenes like that in COD4, all moments that make your jaw drop. I don't want to give away most of these moments but I will say that one of them involves a gigantic nuke. Those who have played the game know about that moment and how awesome it was when you first saw it. Graphically speaking, COD4 was one of the best things I've seen in shooter (though I've never played Crysis, mind you).

A good single-player mode is almost a bonus to me though in a shooter. My love or hatred for a shooter lies within the multiplayer. COD4 did not disappoint in that regard. Taking maps from the single-player campaign, you can play online or offline in COD4. Since the controls are really smooth, the games are really competitive. If you're off by a centimeter, chances are you will die first. And since you don't have an enormous amount of health, quick and accurate shooting will win the day. That, or a really well placed grenade.



I love playing this game with people from PLAY, since each of my friends have different styles that all work very well. Chris will gun you down with a shotgun if he's not planting C4 (bastard); Paul will never miss with the damn M203; And I... will just suck. The weapons are also surprisingly balanced and do make a great difference depending on what situation you are in.

I still actively play this game on PSN. My PSN name is Lavoscloud. If you ever want to play a game with me, just leave me a message and I'll take you on. I'm not spectacular, but I can hold my own against most people. Also, I know Call of Duty 4 is multi-platform but since the version I own is the PS3 one, I'm marking it as a PS3 game for the Top 52 list.
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My Top 52:
#52 --- Star Fox 64 (N64)
#51 --- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
#50 --- Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)
#49 --- Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
#48 --- Metroid Prime (GC)
#47 --- Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
#46 --- Bomberman 64 (N64)
#45 --- Guitar Hero II (PS2)
#44 --- Super Street Fighter II (GEN)
#43 --- Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)
#42 --- Soul Calibur II (GC)
#41 --- Gears of War (Xbox 360)*
#40 --- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
#39 --- Call of Duty 4 (PS3)

*- Denotes highest rated game for that console

October Lookout: Little Big Planet

There are a ton of games coming out this month as people prepare for the holiday season. I don't think there is any question though, that the biggest game coming out this October is Little Big Planet for the PS3 on 10/21.


LBP is more than just a game, it looks to be the greatest level editor ever conceived. Here's a great description of what the game is all about from the Little Big Planet forum at GameFaqs:

"The LittleBigPlanet experience starts with players learning about their character’s powers to interact physically with the environment. There are obstacles to explore, bits and pieces to collect and puzzles to solve – requiring a combination of brains and collaborative teamwork.

As players begin to explore, their creative skills will grow and they will be ready to start creating and modifying their surroundings – the first step to sharing them with the whole community.

Creativity is part of the gameplay experience and playing is part of the creative experience. Players can make their world as open or as secretive to explore as they like. When it's ready, they can invite anyone within the LittleBigPlanet community to come and explore their patch -- or can go and explore everybody else's.

This genre-busting PS3 offering is turning with its quirky ragdoll, unique patchwork visual style, and revolutionary approach to level design. While you and three friends can simply tussle and hop through premade 2D stages, the game's true appeal lies in the ability to design and share your own levels.

The goal with the game is to have users creating tons of new content that will continue to keep the game active long after release. Sony has confirmed that there will be a group of set levels ready to play out of the box -- and even a single-player offline mode for those who don't want to experiment with the community ideas and simply want to play it like they would a traditional platformer." -Balloon_Popper

Creativity is the key to the game. If don't have the mindset of a level designer, you probably won't enjoy this game as much as other people. I've just started to work with level design in programs like Maya and Virtools, so I'm really excited to see how I can use the tools I've learned in class and apply it to the LBP world.

Little Big Planet is also drawing attention outside of the gaming world. The New York Times recently published an article about LBP, raving about the potential of turning gamers into creators. In fact, some students at the Parsons New School for Design (one of the premier colleges for design students) have received advance copies of the game for the purposes of creating an interactive experience. One student remarked on her LBP experience in the NY Times article:

"I don't think of it as a videogame -- even though it is, I look at it as a different form of creativity."

Since the beta came out last week, a few thousand lucky gamers have had the chance to mess around with Little Big Planet pre-release. Here are a couple of videos of some of the levels people have created and shared. Keep in mind this are completely user made so you could make levels like these with this game:







Lolz at the last video. Some people are just fixated/obsessed over one thing. Seriously though, this game looks amazing. I can't wait to play it and make some cool levels. Maybe I can make a version of my Lego Labyrinth in LBP. Hm....

I'll try to do lookout segments every month, highlighting one game of the month that I'm really excited about. Below are other big titles that are releasing this month. The links jump to the trailers for each of the respective games.

Saints Row 2: 10/14 (X360, PS3)
Wii Music: 10/20 (Wii)
Little Big Planet: 10/21 (PS3)
Fable II: 10/21 (X360)
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia 10/21 (DS)
Guitar Hero: World Tour: 10/26 (X360, PS3, Wii)
Fallout 3: 10/28 (X360, PS3, PC)