How do you improve upon one of the best adventure film series of all-time? With Legos, of course! That’s just what this May’s Lego Indiana Jones hopes to do. This new game trailer shows plenty of the wit and charm previously expressed in the Lego Star Wars titles. The game’s graphics are quite pleasant and the two natives showcased should perhaps get their own spin off game. The best part? Is that a Crash Bandicoot homage, which itself was an Indiana Jones homage?
Making a bad game may be unforgivable to some, but even worse is making a good game that suffers from the following five design sins. Whether it be an action or adventure game, the following five design flaws can cripple what was potentially a classic.
The Sisyphus Syndrome
Doing the same thing over and over again makes Jack a dull boy.
Killing all the bad guys in a room is certainly fun the first, second, and even tenth time. However, somewhere around about the fiftieth time one has to start to question if there might be something more than just kill, rise and repeat. Even stylish fighters such as Ninja Gaiden fall into the same mundane pattern of doing the same thing over and over again. Sure, occasional boss battles break it up, but short of making a game entirely of boss battles (Shadow of the Colossus) there must be a better way.
One thought would be to change up the approach for different areas. This isn’t a call for more half-hearted mini-games, though. Instead, developers should look to successful games that got the occasional diversion right. Crash Bandicoot’s running to the camera levels. Beyond Good & Evil’s city escape level. Such changes in approach don’t have to be revolutionary, but something new would be nice now and then. (more…)
To celebrate today’s Hallmark induced festivities, here’s a short promotional video for Burnout Paradise produced by Electronic Arts. What? It doesn’t sound very romantic to you? Oh, but it is. Beyond that, it also happens to be genuinely clever and funny. Those are two things sorely lacking in most gaming advertisements today. Who would have ever thought we’d yearn for the days of Crash Bandicoot standing outside Nintendo’s offices with a megaphone? Sigh.
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