The two games I will be analyzing are Unreal Tournament 3 and Modern Warfare 3. I liked Unreal Tournament 3 and did not like Modern Warfare 3.
The Tetrad
Unreal Tournament 3:
The story is that in the future there are a race attacking a small planet. Then a group of people come to help save them and help take down the people invading. This game is full of all sorts of technology. There are so many forms of interesting guns and vehicles that you get to use throughout the game. There is even a vehicle that is a ball and then you can have little spider legs on it and toggle between. The art of this game is similar to Gears of War in that it is very detailed, meaning it is very rough. With the hundreds of vehicles and guns there are so many different mechanics like rolling, flying, jumping, etc.
Modern Warfare 3:
The story of MW3 is like any other Call of Duty game. You are in the military and you kill some bad people and that is pretty much it. This game has way to much technology like all of these addition to your character to make him more powerful than others. It has that idea that the richer get richer or in this situation the more powerful get even more powerful. The art is mostly war scenes and run down cities in various countries so it varies a lot. The mechanics of the game are some what basic is that you run, walk, jump, etc. like other FPS.
Balance
Unreal Tournament 3:
The balance in UT3 is very interesting because of its complexity. With there being so many different assets in the game it seems like it would be hard to handle, but they figured it out. Since you are fully consumed in these assets it is more enjoyable when you get to use them and learn about them.
Modern Warfare 3:
The balance in this game is totally wrong. There are to many assets that are pretty much the same, but maybe more powerful. With there being so many prizes when you are doing well and they all basically just shoot you down from the sky. Or the fact that there are over-powered guns that take away from any skill factor.
Emergent Properties
Unreal Tournament 3:
The emergent properties of UT3 are to an extreme. With all of the assets it defiantly makes the game complex. There are so many different options you can pick, but they only make it available at certain times so it restrains this and helps to conserve the complexity. If the game were to throw everything in at once then you would be overwhelmed with things.
Modern Warfare 3:
This games emergent properties are pretty much the same as all of the other Call of Duties. This is due to the fact that you are pretty much in the same situation with very similar assets all of the time on repeat. With the simple choice of what to use this takes away in complexity.
Interest Curves
Unreal Tournament 3:
The interest curve of this is the same idea as the emergent properties. Because you are learning new assets throughout the game. With new vehicles and enemies it keeps intriguing you throughout the whole game. This game has enough assets to keep you going from point A to point Z with learning new things each time.
Modern Warfare 3:
With the same basic idea as all of the preceding Call of Duties it is no surprise that is does not interest much. If you have already played a campaign on any other then there is no reason to even bother because of the simplicity of it. The multi player keeps people interested for some reason, but that puzzles me.
The reasons that I like UT3 is because of how unique it is. Someone must have thought to themselves why don't I make an over the top game with so many assets and see how it goes. Somehow they incorporated it well. Now MW3 on the other hand had started from a basic game (the original Call of Duty) and then just kept adding more and more assets. But that is like when you see a hot pink Impala with ginormous wheels and every other outrageous thing on it. Someone is going to take the over the top Lamborghini over that Impala everyday.
In my team game I am going to be working on my main project and that is the map. I am putting a lot of detail into making the map look perfect and all of the standing assets look perfect. I am currently working on making the textures look good. I am also working on stuff like the lava flow and trees. If I am able to make this stuff happen I hope to start designing some of the AI meshes so they can be incorporated into the map. The rest of my team is doing such an excellent job it is making my work much easier.
