Working as a QA (quality assurance) is notoriously one of the worst gigs in the game industry. It is actually a pretty cumbersome, tedious march of degradation toward the goal of a layoff at the end of a project. And the best part is that I was not beneath considering doing it for a living at one point. A few years ago, I had an interview lined up and was ready to jump on a plane in search of a dream. But to this day, I can draw my hand across my forehead and heavily exhale knowing that I made the right choice to cancel that appointment.
Case in point: Sony's excuse for a reality show called The Tester on Playstation Network.
To be honest, I'm not watching it. Which I guess is bad for Hal Sparks because if nobody is watching the smarmy bullshit on VH1 or this crap then nobody is watching Hal Sparks. But seriously, I'm having a great time reading the Game|Life recaps of the show. There's also a Twitter-style real time commentary on the episodes over at Kotaku but it's not nearly as interesting or entertaining as the Wired updates.
The recaps are very fun of course, but Penny Arcade's brief commentary on the matter cuts right to the bone of the problem with this show. The payoff is a booby prize.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Difficulty Spikes
A few weeks ago, I purchased Trine, an interesting platform puzzler that has you switching between characters to solve various puzzles or get past obstacles in your path. Each character has their own unique abilities. For instance, the thief can attach a grappling hook to wooden surfaces to swing Jungle Hunt style between platforms. The wizard can create boxes and platforms that you can then stack and arrange to avoid troublesome jumps altogether. The fighter hits things. A lot.
The game is the perfect length for someone who only wants to sit down for thirty minutes at a time. Each level offers a slight upgrade to the challenges which include using new abilities as you acquire them and harder enemies which is only to be expected. I really do recommend this title. It's interesting, it introduces a couple of unique mechanics, and the physics are well-implemented.
My one huge gripe, however, is the difficulty spike of the last level. There were occasions throughout the game where I failed a mission or a level and had to restart. That's fine. I expect that. But the last level of Trine is difficult enough that it's approaching comedy. It's another one of those situations where I'm so close to the end that I must complete the game but the last level/boss/whatever is so difficult (for me) that if I weren't that close to the end, I would simply stop playing. But I won't. I'll keep playing until I master it. At this point, I've probably attempted the level about twenty times. In the old days, I would have probably bought a replacement controller by now.
I will say this, though. The difficulty curve for the whole game is very manageable. It's just this last level that I'm stuck on. I've played other games like Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth in which the difficulty spiked constantly from one part of the game to the next. It could have been such a great game but I ultimately abandoned that one simply because of the parts that jacked it up to 11.
If you're interested in Trine, here's the trailer.
The game is the perfect length for someone who only wants to sit down for thirty minutes at a time. Each level offers a slight upgrade to the challenges which include using new abilities as you acquire them and harder enemies which is only to be expected. I really do recommend this title. It's interesting, it introduces a couple of unique mechanics, and the physics are well-implemented.
My one huge gripe, however, is the difficulty spike of the last level. There were occasions throughout the game where I failed a mission or a level and had to restart. That's fine. I expect that. But the last level of Trine is difficult enough that it's approaching comedy. It's another one of those situations where I'm so close to the end that I must complete the game but the last level/boss/whatever is so difficult (for me) that if I weren't that close to the end, I would simply stop playing. But I won't. I'll keep playing until I master it. At this point, I've probably attempted the level about twenty times. In the old days, I would have probably bought a replacement controller by now.
I will say this, though. The difficulty curve for the whole game is very manageable. It's just this last level that I'm stuck on. I've played other games like Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth in which the difficulty spiked constantly from one part of the game to the next. It could have been such a great game but I ultimately abandoned that one simply because of the parts that jacked it up to 11.
If you're interested in Trine, here's the trailer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)