Sunday, August 20, 2006

Bad Day LA Demo

I was very excited about this game, it looked very funny and interesting to play. The concept was more or less interesting.

But the demo changed by positive view on this game. And unless major changes are planned I don't see this going to change anything for the final game.

The execution of the concept is rather poor. There are a couple of damn annoying design errors in the game.

1. Invisible walls

These things suck big time. If you want want people to go into a certain direction block their way in a visible way. Don't cut the gameplay to let the main character tell you that he doesn't want to go there. This essentially puts a temporary halt on the game.

2. Lack of direction

Players need to go in what general direction they have to move or what in general their task is. And only show the task when it's relevant. There is no point telling the poeple to kill 5 terrorist when they first have to walk a mile and a half before even encountering the first terrorist in the game.

You don't want people roaming around for minutes before they finally find the "hidden" passage to continue to the next part.

Bad Day LA (BDLA) doesn't have a radar or pointer in the HUD to tell you where your task is. It does have pointers at the point of interest. But they are no good when a house is in front of it.

3. Nagging character

I know where I'm going, but not completely sure how I get to it. So stop complaining about asking for directions. It's not like I can ask anyone for directions.