The Room Game Narrative

  The Room is a puzzle video game that was released in 2012. Developed by Fireproof Games, this first person game the player is presented with a series of unusual boxes that have a number of mechanisms on them. The objective is to unlock the boxes to reveal another box within it until the last box. The Room is creepy and unique because of the plot and the setting within the unusual game.

  Images from http://ipad.appstorm.net/reviews/games/the-room-an-intriguing-mystery/
   The plot is very minimal in The Room. When the game is first started, you are presented with your first box and a note that promises you will find all the answer you seek inside. The letters are left by an unnamed author whom had previously solved the box. “The letter sends you on your way by giving you an ‘eyepiece’ and a warning that this won’t be easy” (Rodriguez). The more boxes you solve, then more letters you receive from the author. In each new letter, you learn more about the material called “null,” that is found in the boxes through the eyepiece, and slowly learn that the unnamed author is slowly drifting into madness. Once you have completed the first four chapters, you are taken to the box in the epilogue through a unknown portal with another note from the author saying, “I pray you never came. I pray you are just another of my dreams” and must unlock the given box. The end if the game is questionable because you’re unsure of what its means. Although you are left in uncertainty, the end of The Room implies a sequel because after you have unlocked the last box, the eyepiece is shattered and through the broken glass you can see an arch. The screen goes blank and you are presented with a “mini movie” of a person revealing the faces of tarot cards that say, “Time. Cosmos. Null. Voyage. Sanctuary.” There is not much of a story within this game and I expected more when I decided to start playing.
    The Room‘s setting is uncomfortably creepy and simple. In the first chapter, the room is dark with an vintage box on the wood floor. The room seems to be in an attic because of the one window you see in the first two chapters.“The first thing you’ll notice is that ambience mentioned earlier: The game’s graphics are excellently drawn; the faux three-dimensional room—and the safe it contains—look great, and are fun to explore. And the soundtrack and sound effects set a mood not quite of fear” (Friedman). The room in the third chapter has had all light sources removed while solving the box. Solving the third box will unlock lights that will appear to be constellations upon the walls of the room when the fourth box is presented. The sounds you hear are slightly unenjoyable because it consists of whispers, tables creaking, and sounds that are unknown to my knowledge. The whole setting makes The Room spine-tingling but lacks suspense, which is expected when you download a mystery game.

Image from http://www.macworld.com/article/2014016/review-the-room-is-an-ios-game-so-good-its-scary.html

 The Room’s plot and setting could be more thought out and connect better in my opinion. If there was more background story on the unnamed author, the “null” element and the setting was more mysterious, the game would be more interesting to players. The game was somewhat fun but could have been more developed. Bibliography Friedman, Lex. "Review: The Room Is an IOS Game so Good, It's Scary." Macworld. Web. 5 Oct. 2015. Rodriguez, Jorge. "IPad.AppStorm." IPadAppStorm RSS. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.

  

Walking Dead Game Review

  Walking Dead: The Game is based on the popular television show and comic book series, The Walking Dead. This game is unlike the games you usually see people playing on their phones or tablets. It is a story-based game with the goal to stay alive. In the game, you are allowed to choose what your characters’ outcome is going to be and it could be different from someone else playing the game. The character narrative in Walking Dead: The Game is shaping your characters personality, friendships with the other characters, and deciding how the story can go.
     Starting the game, you are allowed to make your own choices for your character. The game gives you up to four options in dialogue: telling the truth, lying, compromising, or staying silent. The game gives you three options in actions: to do, not to do, and the occasional, let someone else do. In certain situations, your responses are timed; however, these situations are mainly when you are in an emergency such as walkers attacking and people arguing. For example, when my character was in the back of the cop car at the beginning of the game, I ran out of time to answer the question I was asked and it automatically chose to be silent. Not only does this make you more involved in the game, it also makes the game more interactive for the player because you are the character making your own choices.
     In Walking Dead: The Game, you decide the relationships you want to have with other people. When you tell the truth to them, you gain their trust and respect. When you lie you have the possibility of getting caught and can be viewed differently than before. For example, when I first met Hershel, an owner of a farm outside of Atlanta, I lied to him, he caught me and never trusted me for the rest of the time I stayed at the farm. The friendships you have can also be affected when you have to pick if someone lives or if someone dies. For example, in the first episode I had the choice to pick if Duck, Kenny's son, should live or if Hershel's son, Shawn, lived. When I picked Duck, Herschel told the group that we should leave his farm. As an experiment, I replayed the first episode. When I did this, I picked Shawn to live and found that decision didn't make a difference because he dies regardless; however, making the decision to save Shawn, damaged my relationship with Kenny. If you make this choice and damage your relationship with Kenny, later in the game Kenny does not offer you a spot in the RV when they escape the motel.

     Allowing the player to make the choices given to the character, automatically decides how the game can go. Doing this means you can either kill someone or show them mercy, either take someone along for the ride or leave them behind, and making the decision to befriend or unfriend people. Although you are given different choices, you may come out with part of same result. In episode two for example, Larry collapsed on the floor with no heartbeat. In this situation, I was asked to help Lily try to save her father or kill Larry with the help of Kenny. In the first attempt, I helped Kenny kill Larry causing Lilly to hate both Kenny and my character. In the second attempt, I helped Lily perform CPR on Larry only to find out that Kinney kills him either way. Once again, picking against Kenny damages my relationship with him. Although the outcome of Larry does not change, the relationship with the person you sided with or person you went against, does.

  I personally do not play anything other than puzzle games, so when I was assigned to play Walking Dead: The Game, I did not think that I would like it as much as I do. The ability to choose what happens in this game helps not only myself but others become more intrigued. Having a choice in what happens in the game makes the game more fun and interesting for all ages.

Candy Crush Soda Analysis

Like Candy Crush Saga, Candy Crush Soda Saga is a puzzle game brought to us by King. Just like in the original candy crush, you have to match three or more candies or special candies to free gummy bears, fill your grid to the top with soda and out-score your friends in the leader board. When you start each level in the game, you will notice that you have a certain amount of moves. In this game you will go through many obstacles with blockers, try to eliminate them with special candies and all in a certain amount of moves.

As you get more experienced in Candy Crush Soda Saga, the more obstacles you run into. The more obstacles you have, the harder the game gets. One of the smaller obstacles is the actual board. Each time you fail a board and attempt it again, the candies are not in the same spot they were in before. As you level up, the board also changes shape. Another obstacle is the licorice lock, which is where the candy is trapped and you have to match candies around it to match the one inside the licorice lock. This is how the one-layered cupcake works. As well as the second-layered cupcake up to the five-layered cupcake. “With the layered cupcakes, you have to have that number of combos to get rid of it” (2015). So, if I were to have the four-layered cupcake on my board, I would have to get four combos to free that space.

Like the original candy crush, the chocolate is also in the game but this time there is white chocolate too. The milk chocolate is an obstacle on the board that will grow and consume the candy unless you make a combo next to it . According to Zerman (2015), the white chocolate piece in this game will also continue to grow if not taken care of, but the white chocolate grows twice as fast. Honey acts much like marmalade did in Candy Crush Saga. Inside of the honey is a bear that needs to be rescued. To do so, create a match against the honey. Bubblegum spread their sticky selves all across their level by trapping one of your candies. To free that candy you will need to make a match with whatever lies inside. Much like chocolate, they spread whenever you make a move that does not touch them. But to make things worse, they can also develop an extra chewy layer of gum around your candy. All of these obstacles cause you to spend more moves trying to get rid of them instead of using your moves to save the gummy bears.

 There is one way to get rid of these obstacle candies and to do so you need special candies. Special candies in Candy Crush Soda Saga include all the special candies from the original game like the chocolate bomb, striped candy and wrapped candy. IT also includes new ones. The "Swedish fish,” candy is where you match four candies in a square to make a Swedish fish. According to Peppers (2014), “On frozen levels they eat ice, on soda levels they eat soda bottles, on chocolate levels they eat chocolate, and on honey levels they eat honey. If there are no more bottles or you make them on levels without any soda they will eat something else in your way like a blocker.” He also stated, “You can make coloring candies by matching 6 or more of the same color of candies together. This is done by making a straight line match 5 (like making a color bomb) with an extra piece of that same color in the shape of a plus or cross” (Peppers 2014).

  Although this game is incredibly frustrating when you enter a level with chocolate or bubblegum, that is what makes it addictive. When you fail a level you keep trying until you defeat the chocolate. If there were not obstacles in this game it would not be as fun because the obstacles make the game more intriguing.




References:
Blockers. (2015) Candy Crush Soda Saga Wiki. (2015). Retrieved from    http://candycrushsodasaga.wikia.com/wiki/Blockers
Peppers, Pete. Candy Crush Soda Saga Coloring Candy (2014). Candy Crush Soda Saga Tips.  Retrieved from http://candycrushsodasagatips.com/candy-crush-soda-saga-coloring-candy/
Peppers, Pete. Candy Crush Soda Saga Fish with Tips (2014). Candy Crush Soda Saga Tips.  Retrieved from http://candycrushsodasagatips.com/candy-crush-soda-saga-fish/
Zerman, Samantha. Candy Crush Soda Blockers Guide & Tips. (2015). Candy Crush Saga Cheats.  Retrieved from http://candycrush-cheats.com/candy-crush-soda-blockers-guide-tips/

Solving Crimes One At A Time

My favorite game is Criminal Case. Its an app you can download on your phone or tablet and you join the police of a very corrupt city to solve a series of murder cases in a hidden object format. You can investigate crimes scenes for clues, interrogate suspects, analyze evidence, and arrest the killers. Its a very simple game that everyone can play. When I first downloaded this game, I was really just trying to make my sister stop telling me everyday that the game was fun and that i needed to play. But when I started playing and it was very surprising because I couldn't put my phone down. This game is very addictive. In my opinion, it also a stress reliever. Whenever I'm thinking too much or stress about school or anything, I usually turn to my phone and play this game.