Tetris is a long living title from the arcade era whose name remains relevant to this day, but does it still stay consistent at keeping people playing and having fun? Well I sure think so, the game is all about planning ahead in a game of randomized blocks and slowly building speed of said blocks. The game rewards players who rank up a lot of points and think strategically, which is an aspect that hasn’t evolved from the original arcade game and for good reason. The visual style of different shaped blocks and charming simplistic graphics helps all different Tetris games stay consistent and appropriate. Since Tetris dates back to the early days of arcades, there isn’t a lot of music playing in game besides the Tetris theme, there are little sound queues for when a block is placed down or if the player gets points by lining up Tetris blocks but other then that the audio is lacking. When playing Tetris there are different little windows showing you the main game play where you control the Tetris blocks, a window showing the next blocks that will drop, a window for a block you want to save for later, a window for what level the player is on, and a window showing the player the score. Now a days, Tetris on almost all platforms is a free to play game that anyone from newcomers the veterans and pick up and play any title available, newcomers tend to play faster and lining up blocks to get points while veterans take their time and build up their blocks to get lots and lots of points. As a game, Tetris isn't technically demanding, the frame rate is smooth, there is little to no input lag and the graphics aren't slowing anything down. All and all, Tetris is a fun game that anyone can play and get into, its arcade style of point based objectives and leader boards holds up to this day, it’s a fun game series that I’m sure everyone has played at one point in their lives.
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Super Hot is a first person shooter game where time only moves when you move, with a story that isn't as simple as the game play. The game starts with you talking to a friend via an online chat, they tell you to download a game called Superhot.exe which you do and begin playing the game, which is both unique and enjoyable. Time moves whenever you move, a mechanic that makes the game fun to play yet at times frustrating. Super Hot is a puzzle game as much as a shooter, the players have the same objective of beating all the enemies in the level, each level has a unique theme like being stuck in a elevator with three red enemies with guns attack you or being forced to dodge bullets without anyway to defend yourself. While the characters in the game are really just red guys, the player and the game itself aren't exactly three dimensional characters, they aren't supposed to be, the red guys serve as basic enemies, the game is the main antagonist and protagonist (and I'm not talking about controls, the game of Superhot.exe is a character) and finally you, the player. Character and a thrilling story take a back seat to player experience, where in levels it's always the objective of kill all enemies and it's up to the player on how to execute that. The graphics of Super Hot go for a old late 90's to early 2000's era graphics with the characters made of visible polygons and the UI of the main menu looks like a old game launcher, even the computers and VR headset look like 90's futuristic gear. Now there is little to no music in Super Hot, there's the buzzing sound of the level starting or the noise of a crash slowing becoming bit crushed as you died, to even the victory screen repeating only SUPER HOT SUPER HOT SUPER as your actions throughout the level play in real time. The lack of music is I think a choice to immerse the player into the mechanic of time only moving when you do, it would be annoying for a song to keep starting and stopping or continuing playing while you play, it would ruin the fun. The only times Super Hot crash is when it's intentional, remember the game of Superhot.exe is conscious and will sometimes send you out of bounds and crash for story purposes rather than a simple bug error. This game doesn't have any real replay value since all the surprises are spoiled and the game is very long, but other then that Super Hot to me is a 5 starts, it's engaging, fun, frustrating, the story sucks you in, the world sucks you in, it's a amazing experience that is worth every penny.
Games and gaming has existed for thousands and thousands of years, and have served to entertain people in their time of boredom. The job of a roman soldier is not an exciting one, soldiers need something to pass the time, a game that's easy to pick up as much as it is to put down in case something happens and you need to do your job. The easiest game or games to pick up and put down are card games, card games are most popular around the roman era and other eras to people in a militaristic job. This is due to the wide verity of games you can play with playing cards and as well as gambling games. The Romans also had dice games where they bet on a roll and won money if they got that exact roll. Another game would be checkers, while checkers isn't exactly a pick up put down kind of game, it was still easy for beginners to understand but hard to master and a good time waster. Now what kinds of video games would Romans soldiers play? To me the same principles apply where it should be easy to pause, so online games where you play against people from around the world are out of the question. So singleplayer or couch multiplayer games are good genres to play while on a job, games like Minecraft or Sims where there isn't really a goal and you're just building a world and can stop and save whenever. Mobile games are created as time wasters, something without plot or sometimes without a finish, something you can drop immediately if needed. So if I was a roman soldier or anyone in a militarized job, I would play the quick and easy time waster games that you can put down whenever.
Source for Roman Games: quatr.us/romans/roman-games-play-ancient-rome.htm |
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and Do Not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools.
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