Nation Red

Today, I played the Steam demo for Nation Red, by DiezelPower. Like several other titles released recently, including Burn Zombie Burn! and Zombie Apocalypse, Nation Red is an isometric zombie shooter. I enjoyed the demo, the frantic struggle to stay away from rushing zombies while simultaneously being forced to run amongst them, dropped weapons, health, and power-ups essential for continued success. The constantly-available option to adjust the difficulty is also much appreciated.

But, without a doubt, the coolest part was the freaking dive-roll. When I pushed the E key for the first time and shot across the screen, I audibly yelped. Aside from the dive animation looking spotless, the feel is extraordinary. The seemingly-insignificant addition of the dive-roll shifts the game's focus, adding spice to the ever-more-standard strafing still pulled from Smash TV. It's interesting how the dive-roll, extracted from the action game (where it is standard), serves to excite the arena-shooter. Honestly, I'm not yet sure if the dive roll is entirely practical in-game, nor if it only muddles the crisp simplicity of the arena-shooter, but it is dane cool.

Army of Two: The Ties that Bind

Army of Two has been a long time coming, and it wasn't until this week that we knew all that much about the game, thanks to 1up's week long cover feature. Army of Two is developed by EA Montreal and was designed from the beginning as a completely cooperative experience. Whether playing with realistic AI or an actual human, with Army of Two, EA Montreal is set out to reinvigorate the cooperative shooter.We've discussed cooperative games before, in an overview, really, of what they're all about. EA Montreal's main goal was to create a game that required players to play cooperatively. In the 1up preview, Senior Producer on Army of Two explains their premise:

Gears has a really cool co-op experience, too. But what we've been really looking at is 'How do we take what those games have done' -- and I don't want to take anything away from those guys; they've done a really cool job, but it's always just been the add-on -- and figuring out 'How do we make a game where co-op is the focus?

Their solution is a game where in two players take control of two soldiers, named Salem and Rios, working for a private military corporation (PMC). The setting and story is actually really interesting and definitely worth reading about in 1up's various previews and interviews. The point, though, is that the two soldiers (players) must work together to make it through the game. How has EA achieved this requisite realiance on the other player? Well, a big part is something they've designed called the Aggro Meter. Aggro isn't new to games by any means. You'll find it MMO's most prominately, where monsters will swarm players who happen to cross they're path. But Chris Ferriera isn't kidding when he says we've never seen Aggro in a shooter before. This is how it works: players share an Aggro Meter that is displayed across the top of the hud. Its called a meter because thats exactly what it is, just like a speedometer or ticket meter. During the game, the meter pin will swing left or right towards one extreme or the other, each end capped by an icon representing either Salem or Rios.
The meter will swing based on a number of things, but primarily how angry the enemies are. The more attention a player draws to himself, the more aggrevated the enemies will act towards that player. If players blatantly run and gun towards the enemy, naturally, the enemy isn't going to be happy and will start focusing their fire on that character. The other player, meanwhile, may be more reserved in his approach, obviously the enemy will not be as concerned about the player that is seemingly less of an immediate threat, and will focus on fire on the other player. As a result, the pin on the Aggro Meter will swing towards the more aggressive player. Drawing the enemy's attention away allows the other player to, as an example, circle around and shoot the enemy from behind. Alternatively, both players could play aggressively and run guns blazing into the firefight. In this case, the aggro meter may be centered and the enemy fire will be focused on both players. In game, as a player becomes more aggro'd against, his character will glow red. As a character aggrevates an enemy less,on the other hand, he will become slightly transparent. This allows players to differentiate between the two characters' aggro state without looking up at the hud.

Their have been coop games before. But what EA is trying to do is make this a cohesive, neigh, central feature of Army of Two. The aggro meter is EA's answer to cooperative gameplay. The aggro meter is affected by more than just making enemies angry, Army of Two has a big customization system that plays into the meter as well. The game allows players to outfit and customize guns and equipment to great extent, just how the players customize their weapons is what effects their aggro draw, shall we say. For example, if players outfit a gun with a silencer, then shooting at enemies will draw less aggro than it would have without a silencer. A counter example, if players bling out their guns with gold plating, then the enemies are gonna get angry more easily thanks to the player's blatant arrogance. But thats good. For you see, players will have to communicate before each level to decide who will be taking what kind of equipment. One player may want to play stealthily, the other may want to play haughtily. And customizing characters to draw more or less aggro, on average, allows player to strategize about how they're going to cooperate later on, and eventually form their play experience.The aggro meter is a clear design choice that allows players to cooperate at their best. Players will constantly be balancing aggro by drawing and retreating from fire. Aggro allows players to manipulate the enemy to take them out. Working together and using aggro properly will be completely necessary to win each stage. I think that EA Montreal has a fine looking cooperative shooter on their hands, it will be fun to see just how well the aggro works come game time.

The Umbrella Chronicles-Reloading

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles was informally announced a long time ago, but Capcom finally officially announced the title at their Gamers Day Event. Umbrella Chronicles is a first-person-shooter for Wii similar to TimeCrisis or House of the Dead. Players aim a targeting recticule around the screen with the remote pointer. The viewpoint can be moved with the nunchuck analog stick to look around. However, the game is completely on-rails and therefore movement is predetermined and timed. As in any other arcade-shooter, players must manually reload their guns. Reloading in arcade shooters has tradionally been another layer of precision and timing required by the player. Umbrella Chronicles plays to this tradition as well, but to a variety of responses. Yesterday I read about five or so previews about Umbrella Chronicles from various acclaimed game websites. Some of editors like the reloading system, others don't, even when all are basing their judgment on the same reason. To reload any given weapon, all players have to do is shake the remote. Lets start off with the opinion of Chris Kohler, from his "Wired" blog, GameLife.

When the circle runs out -- or preferably, before it does -- you'll want to shake the Wiimote to reload. It's a great mechanic that feels really good, much like aiming off the screen to reload in traditional light gun games -- because just like in real life, reloading forces you to take your gun away from the target and lose your aim.

I love his last statement about losing your aim. Just based on this, shaking the remote to reload seems like an effective yet strategic gameplay mechanism. But lets read other sites opinions.

Gamespy:

We also noticed that the controls need tuning, as the reload doesn't work as often as it should, and the reticule bounces around the screen a bit much.

GameInformer:

On paper, everything sounds good, but in practice it was obvious that they still had a number of kinks to work out. Reloading weapons with low ammunition was quite laggy, and when you need to reload a pistol or shotgun quickly there was a noticeable delay. When you have a number of hungry zombies homing in on you, this proves to be quite frustrating. Sure, shaking the remote to reload is one way to accomplish this action, but there are ways that could make this easier and responsive. Our ultimate control scheme would be for Capcom to map the scrolling of weapons to the Nunchuck buttons, and pressing down on the d-pad for reloading. The gameplay is quick, and we want to be on top of everything.

1up:

All you really have to do in the game is point and shoot, but the hardest part about grasping Umbrella Chronicles' controls in our early test was unfortunately the most important: reloading. Flicking seemed to be the best option in our play session (shaking didn't work too well), but we also tried pointing the Remote down for a brief moment a la traditional light-gun games. It worked, but that was a bit too slow for the quick pace of the game.

Essentially, most people feel that reloading simply isn't responsive enough. However, Kohlers comment still rings true in that the current system forces players to lose their aim. Another things about the control is that it is difficult to steady the pointer. Once again Kohler is the optomist saying that this is the whole point behind arcade-shooters. If shooting is all you will be doing, then shouldn't the aim be as realstic (difficult) as possible? Kohler contrasts this with Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition. RE4 is an action heavy game where players must run around frantically avoiding ganado. The Wii Edition, therefore, has a more steady aim than Umbrella Chronicles. There is also a gameply video available for viewing at IGN if you so desire.

Reloading Chronicle
What do you think of the reloading mechanism in Umbrella Chronciles? How about RE4: Wii?

Shmup Design

Hello readers, this article is a follow up to the previous post, This is how we Shmup. Go ahead and check that out if you havent already, and then please continue with this post. Thankyou kindly and enjoy.

Ray-Hound: Indirect Interaction
Defining Ray-Hound as a shmup, for some gamers, may be pushing the boundaries of the genre. You see, while the Ray-Hound can fly around by moving the mouse, it doesn't have a gun. Instead, the game features an alternative mechanic. Normally, enemy fire will only damage Ray-Hound, not enemy cannons. Click and holding the mouse button, however, will activate a magnetic field of sorts switches enemy shots, allowing the Ray-Hound to take control of them. Holding the mouse button will magnetically cause the shots to draw towards the Ray-Hound and swarm around it. When the button is released, the magnet will power down and the shots will fire away according to Newton's First Law. If you've ever played Warcraft III, it looks very similar to the Warden's Avatar of Vengeance ability. An oft used strategy is to activate the magnet as a shot draws forward, and release it as it comes back to Ray-Hound, sending it flying towards the enemy from which it was shot. The player can also fly around while holding the button, dragging the shots behind the ship and flying them straight into enemy cannons.

What is so great about this design? A few things. Firstly, the control is fantastic. Second, the physics are perfect, really. After playing long enough, the player can direct enemy shots with ease; the magnetization is spot-on. Most importantly, however, Ray-Hounds gameplay is indirect. This is very near and dear to me. Direct gameplay is what we normally play, and can be found in Galaga, Warning-Forever, and most other games in existence; this is where the player directly creates gameplay, basically by shooting. Indirect gameplay is where the player interacts with the game indirectly. Ray-Hound (game, not ship) creates substance for the player to interact with, as opposed to the player creating substance him or herself. You see? Ray-Hound is truly a model example of this.

One last thing I want to mention is balance. The scoring system in Ray-Hound works like this. The players score per hit is multiplied by 4 for each hit delivered with the same magnetic activation. The game awards the player for hitting more cannons per magnetic activation (by point multiplication) then if the player were simply to tap away at the magnet. The goal is to hit as many cannons as possible with a single sweep of shots. However, the player is also pressured by time. Time is constantly ticking down in Ray-Hound. At the end of each level the player is awarded with more time to play with. As the levels progress, the player must balance time with waiting for a great volley of shots with which to turn on the enemies. In the end, it all comes down to skill and knowing when to activate the magnet and when not to.

Warning Forever: Adaptation
Warning Forever is slightly more traditional than Ray-Hound. However, it does bring a few palatable dishes to the table. For one, each stage consists of a single boss fight, and thats all. Unlike Ray-Hound, which has a more calm methodical gameplay atmosphere, the boss system makes for a rather exhilarating rush as you zoom from stage to stage. In addition, you never quite know what your going to get on the next level. Each boss is symmetrically weighted, and built of a variety of different parts around a central heart. The goal is to take out the heart of each boss. How you attack each boss though, will determine what types of bosses you fight in future stages. The bosses will evolve based upon the way you destroy them and they destroy you. If you just kill the front plating over and over, that body section will expand and grow stronger. The game runs algorithms that adapt to your style of play.

Fortunately, Warning Forever allows players to tackle bosses pretty much any way they want to. The ship is controlled with the arrow keys, and can be moved at a slower speed by holding the X key. To fire hold Z. The real skill factor comes in with the fire cone. By pressing D, the ship will activate a cone of fire that will automatically move with the ship. Move right and the cone moves left, up and the cone aims down, etc. Also, the cone gets thinner the further the ship gets from the center of the screen, and wider as you near the center. The fire will be spread out over the entirety of the cone, so a smaller cone makes for a more focused shot, a wider cone for a larger target area. The player must maneuver around the boss and decide the best course of action while avoiding being shot.

Warning Forever design is awesome for two mirrored reasons. One, the game evolves to meet your play style. It will throw bosses at you that rival your latest strategies. However, the beauty of being human is that we can evolve as well. This creates a constantly ebbing and flowing challenge as the player and game compete to out strategize each other.

Shmup Em Up
These shooters are fun, a lot of fun. Why? They employ fantastic design. Ray-Hound features gameplay indirectly manipulated, Warning Forever adapts to meet the players shooting style. Simple, but oh so effective. In what other games feature similar elements to these? What other uses can these elements be put to?

This is how we Shmup

Wow! I am simply amazed, I must say.
Two of the greatest Shmup's (overhead shooter) ever just landed on my laptop.
The first shooter in question was recommended via a 1up article today.
Entitled 101 Free Games, the article features awesome games that are free to download and play, and begins with shooters. Possibly the best on the list is Ray-Hound.

Ray-Hound
Ray-Hound is unquestionably one of the most innovative shooters ever. It can be surmized however as a little bit of Ikaruga and a little bit of Geomotry Wars. Designed and coded by Hikoza Ohkubo under the studio of Hikware, the game was released on January 1st. Before I go on to explain the game, allow me to impart a philosophy. I believe games are meant to be intuitively understood and experienced. This is one reason I like indie games so much, they are designed around this principle. These types of games, and indeed, many triple A titles as well, are much more fun when experienced without prior knowledge or know-how. Instead of me explaining the game and its mechanics, I truly believe that you will be significantly more satisfied by downloading the game and experiencing it first-hand. Its more fun to learn and discover how to play a game then to know the ins and outs entering it, I think. Afterwards, you are more then welcome to come back here and post your impressions. Ray-Hound is absolutely amazing from both a design and gamer perspective (and arent they the same thing anyway? for good design equals good gameplay). One thing to note about Ray-Hound is that there is no background music or sound effects. It could be that my download is broken or that my computer runs it improperly. In place I listened to The Trance Album from Project Majestix Mix. If you do notice any sound or music then please let me know. Thanks. Ray-Hound Get!

Warning Forever
The other shooter is Warning Forever. A cool website that focuses on independent games called Jay is Games tipped me off to it. This shmup was also designed by Hikoza Ohkubo, but was initially released far prior to Ray-Hound in May of 2004. Warning Forever is a vertical scrolling shooter, like Galga, but brings a few very fun and strategic factors into its gameplay. Shmup It!

Tomorrow I will discuss the design of both of these games, so enjoy these games today and come on back tommorrow to check out the designdiscussion. Also, any thoughts you have on these games or shmups in general please post them in comments.

Sources:
1up.com
Jay Is Games