Ok, so i did my Game Room at one year post focusing mainly on sales estimates and leaderboards. In this post i will name some of the features that do not seem well utilized to me.
The Good:
1) Dynamic Leaderboards (wish they were more precise)
2) Classic Mode - This is what i always wanted from the retro XBLA games - infinite lives/credits, can change "machine settings" and rewind. This is also a nice feature for the Atari 2600 games, as you get access to some of the other "modes" on the cartridge. Unfortunately, Game Room is about the medals and Classic Mode only counts for Time Spender.
3) The Medal System - this was one of my favorite ideas (though the implementation maybe should be tweaked, like allowing 2 medal games). It is nice (though expensive) how the achievements were based off of the medal system (much better than individual achievements). You would get 5 points for a gold, 3 for a silver and 2 for a bronze. Leveling would unlock decor and themes (good idea initially). Unfortunately, there is a level cap at 50 (wish it was infinite levels at every 20 points).
4) Challenges - this is another feature that separates Game Room from XBLA. You could challenge your "friends", i think up to 10 at once, to challenges in particular games. So, in a way, you could do bulk challenges (and several challenges at once). Even lowly XBL Silver members like me could do these challenges.
The Questionable:
1) Arcade interface - this was actually one of the sales point behind Game Room in the beginning. However, this may have caused stability problems with the program. There were not enough rooms or as many themes as i would have liked. The green and red flags were kind of cool for a while (denoting whether or not you had top score on your friends list). Unfortunately, you were also limited to 96 spots for games/decor. i would prefer that they just scratched virtual arcade interface and adopt the rumored Windows Phone 7 version interface.
2) Leaderboard Replays - originally, they would show replays of the top 20 scores. This was a cool concept, but is it really necessary. Watching these replays gives you a pretty good idea of how the game plays out (though not the feel) and some strategy suggestions. However, 20 replays is overkill (maybe 5 at the most, if any). Furthermore, these replays would occasionally become messed up
3) Pay for Play - on paper this may sound like a good idea. In some ways it was a nice concept and fits within the arcade concept. On the other hand, 6 plays was the price of one game.
4) Tokens - this will tie into point 5... You were given 20 tokens at the start and then got one for friends visiting your arcade. However, the only thing you could do with tokens was to play demos of games - you couldn't earn medals, trade them in for prizes or anything else
5) Visiting Arcades and Showcase Arcade - i didn't have that many Game Room friends, but i fail to see the point in this one. You could see what games they had, and play/buy games from them - but that was about it. The Showcase Arcade was essentially an arcade (not well updated) where you could try out/buy games from. Much like friends' arcades, it was kind of pointless (especially as you could play demos from the store section, after you downloaded the packs)
6) The Achievements - This may have been Game Room's downfall. Game Room seemed to get less publicity after initial complaints about the achievements. Game Room has probably the most expensive 1,000 points of any game (as you essentially have to buy 20 games minimum to get 1,000 - you would actually need to pay somewhat more than that, actually). i liked the achievements (and how they weren't tied to specific games), but i was going to get a lot of games anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment