Tag Archives: halo

Nov
24
2009

Trend-’naughts

I feel compelled to follow the trend of making “of the Decade” lists. So here are the trends in games over the decade. I had a hard time determining my own criteria for what I considered to be an important trend. I decided on the following: an important trend is a recurring adherence to and [...]

By Trent Polack | Posted in Gaming | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | View Comments
Sep
30
2009

The Loneliest Space Marine

Halo 3: ODST is about a group of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers that drop into allied territory to fend off aggressive, hostile forces and complete some secret mission under the veil of a general liberation of the city of New Mombasa. Due to a series of unfortunate circumstances, all of the soldiers get off course [...]

By Trent Polack | Posted in General | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | View Comments
Jul
13
2009

Epic Scale

Narrative is an essential part of any game; I don’t think anyone ever denies that point. Even the most emergent game design has the goal of presenting some sort of narrative to its players. Story sets the stage for meaning (of gameplay). It frames the player’s context for the actions he engages in within a [...]

By Trent Polack | Posted in Game Design, Gaming | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | View Comments
Jul
05
2009

Revisiting Halo 3

Bungie’s original Halo, released for the Xbox in 2001, was a landmark console game. Aside from giving Microsoft’s freshman entry into the console arena a system seller and a uniquely Xbox cultural character, Halo was the best first-person shooter to be released on a console since the days of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. It had [...]

By Trent Polack | Posted in Game Design, Gaming, level design | Also tagged , , , , , , | View Comments