A Struggle to 999 Flowers (Chibi Robo: Park Patrol)

January 10th, 2011

The goal in Chibi Robo:Park Patrol is simple, fill a derelict park with 999 flowers. The means is simple also:

go out into the park and find an empty patch of soil
use sprayer to water seedlings into flowers
play music to white flowers to send out a flurry of new seeds
rinse and repeat until patch of soil is exhausted and then find another patch

Basically, the player repeats this process until they reach the magic number.

The climb to 999 flowers is managed by a set of constraints and punctuated by a series of events which flesh out Chibi Robo:PP beyond the skeleton procedure presented above. Below is a list of the most notable constraints:

Chibi’s limited battery which forces him back to base/a power point for a recharge
Chibi must rest back at base come night time
flowers only grow in fertile soil
there are only a few patches of fertile soil to begin with (more must be built by recruiting and paying friends to do construction jobs)
friends must be first found lying around the town area in need of charging
friends can only build one item before they need to be re-recruited
only 3 friends can be recruited at the one time
only 30 flowers can be planted in a patch of fertile soil
smogling (those black walking balls) attacks which turn your flowers black and subsequently perish overnight
the Chibi PC occasionally blows up and requires a new board

Events are largely story-based and involve either fending off smoggling attacks in the park by the villain Miasmo or going into town to explore and meet with NPCs.

As the player restores the health of the park, they are rewarded with heart points, a currency for each environmentally friendly action, which can, in turn, be used back at base to buy items that lighten the above restrictions. For example, purchasing a larger battery means that Chibi can go out for longer ventures in the park without being forced back to an earth socket so quickly. These restriction-reducing aids come into shop after growing a preset amounts of flowers. Growing flowers is proportional to the happy points made (as most of your happy points come from growing flowers) and since you need the spend happy points to loosen the restrictions, the more flowers you grow, the less restrictions the player has to grapple with. Chibi Robo: PP‘s pace therefore resembles an exhale as progression (flowers) is relative to the relaxing of restrictions.

I specifically use the word “exhale” because the restrictions imposed on the player needlessly impede the enjoyment of the game. Right at the beginning, Chibi only has a 50 volt battery, meaning that most instances of play are 2-3 minutes long. So, in one day the player is forced back to base maybe 3 times, each time filling the gameplay with down time while you hold up to walk along the most effective linear path home and running through the same repetitive dialogue by the base’s overly talkative computer system, being asked to save and what not. It’s downright tedious and perhaps a little demeaning too. You just can’t wait to get that 100 volt battery, but even once you do it’s not long before you bump up against the same drama.

If we remove all limitations, it’s plain to see that the daily life of a Chibi Robo is a monotonous one: the formulaic set of mini games listed at the top of the page. Spray water, play music and repeat. There’s no nuance, variation or depth to this busy work, besides adding music tracks to your tape player. But even this already tedious process of repetition is prolonged by a series of questionable and abstract constraints that seem only in place from hinder the player. Although there are options for friends to build new structures to customise the park, there is no incentive to do so as wasting heart points on these projects gets in the way of development.

Perhaps the irony of it all is that while the park environment develops throughout the game, the internal environment of the player’s soul is depleting amongst the ceaseless busy work.

DP’s Games Crunch 2010 Part #1

January 7th, 2011

And so another year of games crunching. In brief, for every game I’ve played this year I pitch a short, snappy summary that tries to be informative and interesting at the same time. Most of the games here I’ve written about them elsewhere on the blog, so it’s easy to refer back for more substantive reading.

Also, sorry for the week-long delay. I’ve been running short on material to write about and haven’t started this article as I was waiting to get some scans in from Australia. Fortunately, I’m back on track. Expect future posts on Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Wario Land 4, Chibi Robo: Park Patrol, Fallout 1 and 2, Metroid Prime Hunters and Wolfenstien 3D.

Rainbow Islands

I loved playing this game as a kid, but could never get past the third world and just figured that I wasn’t very good. Well, actually there’s more to it than that. The enemies move horizontally too quickly for the player to easily dodge. Jumping to avoid is problematic as you’ll either fall through the rainbow you land on and fall down further or jump to the platform just above you which is likely populated with enemies. The level design works to exacerbate this dilemma by spacing platforms in vertically tight-knit clumps (and then populating many platforms with hard to predict enemy types) and leaving gaping holes throughout the level to fall to your doom. Typically unruly arcade-era coin-eating design.

Plants Vs Zombies

I can’t understand how people find this game to be so additively compelling. The strategies are very simplistic and the majority of the player’s time is spent watching how things slowly play out, which is made all the more agonising by the fact that it’s easy to predict what will happen. Plants Vs Zombies requires such little and such limited interaction to keep me personally engaged.

God of War III

Articles on God of War III

The logical conclusion to a franchise which originally based its core mechanics on another game (Devil May Cry) and then became the fattest chicken in the hollywood-driven mainstream video games coop: superficial restructuring over fundamental innovation. The storyline is schizophrenic too.

The Path

I fall on the apathetic side of responses to The Path. The goal of The Path is, as a troubled emo variant of little red riding hood, to follow the path to grandma’s house. Well, actually, the game deliberately pips the player to go off track into the woods to explore what is a metaphor for each girls emotional concious. Further evaluation of this game depends greatly on personal interpretations. I could say that the walking and interaction mechanics are ghastly, but then others would say that The Path should be interpreted as art and not entertainment on the barometer of fun. In which case, I didn’t really care for the thin emotional expression. Perhaps it’s a failing of truly using the assets of the medium, where really The Path only allows the player to minimally control a slide show of abstract imagery. It’s probably best to make up your own mind. Here are some resources:

The Path: A Postmortem

Eurogamer Review

Heavy Rain

Articles on Heavy Rain

Some critics complain about the non-American voice acting of in-game American characters, the clichéd hollywood tropes and mundane tasks as a way to distract readers from the indisputable fact that Heavy Rain, not without clear, easily-resolved faults, manages to dismantle skill as a necessity in video games. Heavy Rain‘s design is a model for an alternative style of game and this is very important.

deBlob

Articles on deBlob

deBlob embodies the laid-back personality of Australia, where the game was developed, through instances of play with light constraints and lots of player freedom. The segregated level design splits the world into chunks with each area hidden behind gates with modest, colour-the-world objectives required to open the next part. This segregation of the open world keeps the player from steering off track or being overwhelmed, thereby keep the game’s breezy mojo in check.

Klonoa

Articles on Klonoa

If you have kids, then both deBlob and Klonoa are excellent Wii games for them. Solid building blocks for platforming (tossing items, the double jump, perspective switching) are steadily teased out with new and interesting permutations in enemy and level design. Klonoa‘s ending is a surprising tear-jerker.

House of the Dead: Overkill

Articles on House of the Dead: Overkill

Not for the kids, but a great Wii game that, along with the 2 games above, proves that 3^rd parties understand Nintendo design paradigms very well. Simple gameplay systems that consist of a condensed number of mechanics where the elements of the game (level design, interactive points, enemies) broaden, deepen and strengthen the mechanics.

Fallout

Articles on Fallout

We interpret the world through our lived experiences and video games have the potential of enriching our lives by allowing us to experience things that may not be possible in our own lives. Fallout’s morally derelict post-nuclear war setting is a great setting to experiment with morals and grey ambiguity. See my writing for more.

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