Gaming Vixen

Want to be our gaming Vixen?

Why do People Play a Campaign Multiple Times?

There have been games that I’ve wanted to play over and over, even once I’ve finished the single player campaign. The first such game was Warcraft II and I don’t even remember the plot anymore. I just remember going through it something close to like 5 times. I wonder what makes a game like that – what makes a game replayable. Is it the same thing that makes a book re-readable and a movie re-watchable?

With games it should be easier to encourage people to play the same campaign more than once, because a little change in your actions in the game can change the twist of the game. If you play differently, the game is affected and becomes different from the last time you played it. But is this really enough to encourage people to play through it time and time again?

I know that for some people it may be the difficulty of the game – they will start on normal difficulty, move up to hard, then move up to very hard. This is how I was when playing Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri.

Some games, Alpha Centauri included, allow you to play the game through different characters – with different skills and from differnet points of view, which also adds a fresh aspect to the storyline. But I found that with that game I would normally only choose one of two factions to play – the military-focused Spartan Federation or the nature-focused Gaia’s Stepdaughters (I loved the Mind Worms for this one).

So what makes you play through the same storyline again?

Booby Traps

I’m semi-watching a documentary about booby traps. About how they’re found near illegal marijuana fields and how usually law abiding citizens or shop owners rig their own booby traps against burglars and other criminals. Doing this is illegal, by the way. I wonder if there’s a game about booby traps out there. You have to run around the city finding booby traps, but have to be careful not to trigger any yourself.

If I Had to Pick Another Console

My favorite gaming console has always been the PC. And in recent months I’ve found myself playing games on the iPhone quite a lot as well. Despite how awesome the PSP and the Nintendo DS seem, nothing beats a good ol’ computer in my eyes. But if I had to get another gaming console, it would be the Xbox 360. For its Guitar Hero, nice price tag (in my opinion), and its range of games. The PS3 has never really appealed to me much at all and I always saw it as an overpriced Blu-ray player. But hey, Sony is reporting that the PS3, which came in 3rd (behind the Xbox 360 and the Wii, which topped the rankings) in sales, is picking up speed again this year. Good luck to them and all.

Bloxorz – Fun Puzzle Game

I’m playing a really interesting puzzle game on Miniclip called Bloxorz. You move a blog through 33 levels using your arrow keys, your goal in each level being to drop your block into a particular square. But you can’t fall off of the edges or fall into other holes. You have to maneuver this 2×1 block to get to your destination, watching out for levers and fragile blocks that hinder your way. There is no time limit to each level – it’s all about thinking your path through.

PC Games With Parents.

It’s nice to see family playing games together. I’ve only played a game with my parents once, and that was Spyro on PlayStation back in the U.S. My dad and I stayed up for hours trying to climb up this ladder while flames were shooting at us. Actually, there was another time – we played our first PlayStation game together, though I can’t remember what it’s called by now. Some sort of Legend of something (no, not Zelda -.- PlayStation, people). Anyway, so now seeing the bf’s little brother playing Far Cry with his dad and the two of them yelling at each other like maniacs and him teaching his dad how to play is a very touching moment for me. How many parents play computer games with their kids, anyway?

(LOL he just went into the room where his dad is playing and said: “You don’t seem to get it, do you?”)

Why I Don’t Play First Person Shooters

I get scared when I play first person shooters like Bioshock or S.T.A.L.K.E.R. This is one of the things that makes me not like them very much. Though at the same time, while I’m genuinely on edge and jumpy as I’m playing because something may jump out at me, I also have trouble getting into the storyline of the FPS. These things combined make me unenthusiastic when playing FPS. For the first 20 to 30 minutes I’m loving it – but then it just gets boring. It’s like Fallout 3. For the first hour that I was playing it it was great, but after that it just seemed to get tedious. Added onto the fact that I’m the only player in the game with NPCs all around me make me exit and switch to a MMORPG or multiplayer browser game instead.

Frustrating Presidential Election Game

I am playing what is possibly the most frustrating game ever. It’s called McCain vs Obama. I’m Obama and my opponent is…also Obama. You take turns walking around the U.S. map with your candidate and his three supporters (which you pick at the beginning of the game). Each supporter has its own attacks and special abilities, like the money bag attack for the fund raiser supporter and the mud sling for some political supporter or something. Your candidate has other cool attacks and special abilities, like a campaign ad which insults the other candidate and damages his supporters and other cool stuff.

Why don’t I like this game? Because I lost. Not really – because it just seems to be going so slowly . Even when you know you are definitely going to lose, the game just drags on and on.

Chronicles of Riddick – Vin Diesel’s Voice is Funny

My boyfriend’s little brother is playing the Chronicles of Riddick game and I can’t help but laugh at Vin Diesel’s voice. It’s deep and manly, sure, but in a really…funny…way for some reason. I’ve just always thought of Vin Diesel as someone who gives off that awkward-type trying-very-hard energy in his movies. Even hearing his voice in Chronicles of Riddick is like hearing the awkwardness pour out of him.

On another note, I remember seeing Chronicles of Riddick the movie years ago. It never seemed famous to me, it seemed like a really good movie that nobody really knew about. Is it really that well known? When did it get to the stage of meriting a game?

Purble Place Game TWO

So Megaphase was right when he said in a comment that Purble Place actually had three games in it. Tonight I decided to play one more. I have no idea what it’s called, but to get to it you click the rightmost cartoon building in the main GUI. It’s all about guess work and strategizing – another learning game! This is obviously another game for kids, but I liked it – sue me. Basically you have to put features on a cartoon character. You put the features on the face, press the tick to signify that you are done, and the game tells you how many features you got right. You then have so many guesses to get all of the features correct. I won every time on Beginner . Just kidding….it was Intermediate….>.>

Paparazzi Game – What Was It?

What with my new Digital SLR acquisition, I’ve been thinking about camera games. What was that one game where you are an annoying papparazi trying to snap risque photos of a movie star? I can’t remember. Maybe I should make a weekly challenge – post a screenshot from a browser game and get people to guess what the game is. Whoever guesses correctly first gets nude pics. Of me? Sure, we’ll let you think that.