General gaming

General gaming

Varying Difficulties of the 2D Platformer

Posted: 08 Oct 2012 01:26 PM PDT

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF OCTOBER 8 | DEATHMATCH! GAMES AND COMPETITION

Varying Difficulties of the 2D Platformer

Cover Story: Developers discuss the art of creating a challenging video game.

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he correct difficulty in video games is something that will eternally be debated. There will always be gamers who love a good challenge, and look down at the likes of Kirby's Epic Yarn for being too easy. On the other hand, some players will dismiss games such as Spelunky for being too unforgiving and difficult. And while the discussion reaches every genre and aspect of gaming, there is one genre that has been around for decades that always features that debate: the 2D platformer.

In recent memory, indie games ranging from Super Meat Boy to I Wanna Be The Guy have littered the platformer landscape with immense challenges that would make casual fans of Super Mario Bros. cry themselves to sleep. At the same time, Nintendo has released several titles, such as the recent New Super Mario Bros. and Kirby games, that have been very light on difficulty comparably, sometimes even offering the ability for the game to beat levels for you if you get stuck. Even outside of Nintendo and indie developer's gaze, there are still many more platformers coming to a wide variety of platforms. Renegade Kid's Jools Watsham, the mastermind behind the well-received 3DS/PC platformer Mutant Mudds, sees those other platformers as homogenous, though.

Cover Story: Deathmatch! Games and Competition

Posted: 08 Oct 2012 10:31 AM PDT

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1UP COVER STORY

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF OCTOBER 8 | DEATHMATCH! GAMES AND COMPETITION

Deathmatch! Games and Competition

This week, 1UP explores the vast world of digital contest.

Our medium is unique in its ability to instill the spirit of competition in us on a daily basis. From the inception of video games, going head-to-head against a buddy was par for the course; just take a look at nearly any arcade classic from the '70s and '80s, and you'll find a title that comes equipped with the opportunity for bragging rights. This spirit of competition only grew in the '90s with the rise of fighting games and FPS'. But aside from these obvious examples of contest, games have the amazing ability to allow players to create their own forms of competition, even when they're by themselves. Just google "video game speed runs" and marvel at the handful of people who have transformed the art of the playing into a science and truly perfected a particular experience. Then there are massive games like Skyrim which, despite its focus on delivering an impressive single-player experience, is geared towards allowing the player to create their own goals. Anyone who's touched an Elder Scrolls game has inevitably had that moment where they spot a snowy mountain on the distant horizon and make the decision to discover just what's up there.

Multiplayer and competition have continued to exist as a vital part of video games over the past few generations. With mandates from some of the larger publishers insisting that all AAA titles come equipped with some form of competitive online play, you'd be hard pressed to find a game that doesn't allow you to connect with your friends in some way or another. The advent of trophies and achievements have only fueled the spirit of competition by constantly reminding you of how well your friends are doing in a particular game, and goading you into participating in a digital arms race to see who can be the first to master their ever-growing collection.

Pokemon Black & White 2 Review: Single-Player Catches Up to the Competitive Game

Posted: 08 Oct 2012 10:30 AM PDT

1UP COVER STORY

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF OCTOBER 8 | DEATHMATCH! GAMES AND COMPETITION

Pokemon Black & White 2 Review: Single-Player Catches Up to the Competitive Game

Cover Story: After all these years, a Pokemon whose campaign acknowledges its die-hard fans.

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okémon fans essentially fall into two camps: The complete newcomer just now getting into the series because they inherited their big brother's copy of the game or became hooked on the seemingly evergreen cartoon; and the completely obsessed hardcore fanatic who quite possibly knows more about the inner workings of the battle mechanics than Game Freak's own developers. Similarly, the core Pokémon titles themselves come in two varieties. You have the "new generation" releases that introduce a never-before-seen region and 100-odd new creatures to capture, and you have the variant and remake versions that revisit the previous release with just enough modest refinements and additions to be worth playing (and just enough to make you angry you wasted your time and money on the first iteration).

And then there's me. I represent an infinitesimally small third constituency of the Pokémon player base: Neither a newcomer nor a Poké-grognard, I play each new release as it arrives because, well, that's my job. I review RPGs and portable games, primarily, and Pokémon sits at the delta of those formats like a surly, money-hungry dragon. As such, I've played enough Pokémon to tell you that this metaphorical dragon is weak to ice- and dragon-type attacks, but I wouldn't have the first clue about its optimal nature or best egg-bred moves. Metaphorically speaking. I like and know the Pokémon games well enough to get by, but I don't speak it with the fluency of a true native.
Posted by Shri Krishna

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