by Kenneth Chen | Aug 1, 2016 | Kenneth on Games
Puzzle and Dragons is a strange case of game design. It’s a mobile game that’s as maliciously monetized as they come, but it’s built upon an amazingly deep mechanic that the developers seem to have stumbled upon by accident. Even with their latest updates, they struggle constantly to balance the two attributes of character-based statistics versus player-based skill. The latest content to hit NA is a dungeon where you fight against a half-dragon girl named Myr, and she introduces several new mechanics that force players to change the way they play… but for better, or for worse?
by Kenneth Chen | Jul 23, 2016 | Kenneth on Games
It’s rare to see a game as divisive as Pokemon Go. Half of its players say that this is the game that will save the world. The other half would burn Niantic at the stake with their own overheated servers. Even though the game has been successful in terms of numbers and statistics, players are starting to see the cracks through the nostalgia glasses. Once the magic fades, it seems all that’s left is a long grind. How could this be solved?
by Kenneth Chen | Jul 11, 2016 | Kenneth on Games
A week ago, I picked up XCOM: Enemy Unknown when it was on sale. I haven’t put it down since. Why is this game so fun despite being built almost completely off of a random number generator? As far as I’m concerned, Invisible Inc proves that you don’t need a percent hit chance to make the XCOM formula work. But this got me thinking: what would actually happen if XCOM removed randomness? What consequences would this change have on the rest of the system?
by Kenneth Chen | Jul 1, 2016 | Kenneth on Games
I’ve never really been big on sports, but when the world gets in an uproar about Iceland vs. England, even game designers should be taking note. Why is it that soccer can stay the same for hundreds of years, but every online game nowadays needs to be patched every few months? As it turns out, controlling a physical body rather than a digital avatar actually makes a big difference. And what would be a better way to analyze that difference than to compare Iceland vs. England to Supergiant’s surprise sports game, Pyre?
by Kenneth Chen | Jun 23, 2016 | Kenneth on Games
Like it or hate it, modern shooters always seem to be defined by a fast time to kill (TTK), starting with the infamous Call of Duty series and even moving into Halo 5’s Breakout mode. But this E3, Respawn teased a bit of work-in-progress footage from Titanfall 2, and I was a big fan of the first one. One of the most interesting things about Titanfall is how it twists the idea of TTK through the relationship between pilots and titans. From what we’ve seen so far, it seems like the sequel is committed to exploring this connection even futher.
by Kenneth Chen | Jun 12, 2016 | Kenneth on Games
Like most of the gaming world, I was super excited about the first Watch Dogs. Well… it didn’t turn out to be a masterpiece, and I fully expected Ubisoft to drop the IP. Imagine how surprised I was when they announced Watch Dogs 2 before even trying to do anything about their bad reputation. But I want to get off the Ubisoft hate train and look for the silver lining. From what we know so far, Watch Dogs 2 starts off with a new character in a new setting, and I honestly think that they’re moving on the right track considering the prequel’s mistakes.
