ColecoVision to iPhone Games 29
In this twenty-ninth part of the series we will examine some more of those classic moments where video game designers undoubtedly got it right and delivered a memorable, enduring and progressive gaming experience.
In this ongoing look at significant moments in the history
of video game design, we have already taken a look at Nintendos Kid Icarus,
Electronic Arts Mirrors Edge, Raven Softwares Soldier of Fortune 2 and several
others.The goal of this series is to go beyond simple gaming magazines and
iPhone Apps, and take a closer look at what defines memorability and quality in
game design.In this twenty-ninth part of the series we will examine some more
of those classic moments where video game designers undoubtedly got it right
and delivered a memorable, enduring and progressive gaming experience. Tomb Raider
(Multi-Platform) Part 1 Lara Croft.The name has become as well known as any
female character in gaming history.An archaeologist-adventurer, Lara can be
easily described as a sort of female Indiana Jones.Her adventures revolve
around her desire to track down items of historical interest so they may be
displayed in museums.She accomplishes this task by various means including
leaping, climbing, traversing and otherwise overcoming the obstacles in her
way, as well as defending herself from the enemies she encounters along the way.Laras
adventures have spawned major Hollywood movies and nearly ten game titles.Her adventures
have become a billion dollar franchise, but how did she go from anonymous video
game character to international icon? The original Tomb Raider was a third
person shooter/platformer that saw release on the PC, Sega Saturn and Sony
PlayStation.The PlayStation release was of particularly high quality, and
largely contributed to the success of that new platform.Few games had used 3-D
space as effectively as Tomb Raider, and the graphics were strong enough to get
people excited about the abilities of the new hardware.For the purpose of this
article we must single out a particular aspect of the game that stands out and
merits acclaim, and with Tomb Raider that aspect is its legitimacy of females
as video game heroes. Now, anyone who has completed a Tomb Raider title will
agree that the games are not difficult in a traditional sense.The enemies do
not pose a particular problem and the puzzles are not extremely demanding.The
issue with Tomb Raider that causes a lot of frustration among gamers is the
fact that often times the player is left clueless as to what their next move
should be.With no obvious pathways or clues to follow, many players find
themselves aimlessly circling a level until they stumble onto the next portion.While
some blame the game design for this, the actual culprit is typically the muddy
graphics rather than vindictive designers.While Tomb Raiders graphics were
advanced for its time, the surface textures in-game were severely limited by
the PlayStations limited resources.The result was higher poly characters than
had been seen in games before, but textures that were often blurry.In a game
that depended on the player locating small cracks in walls to latch onto, or
small visual cues and clues, these low-resolution textures often caused players
to become lost and, eventually, frustrated.It should be noted that while these
limitations sometimes come across as purposeful concealment, they are actually
merely incidental.
Source: Free Guest Posting Articles from ArticlesFactory.com
About Article Author
