Civilization V - Formal Elements

Civilization V is a very new real time strategy game. It was released September 21, 2010 by Firaxis Games for the PC. It is the fifth game in the main line of the Civilization series. It has been adapted for a quicker pace.

Civilization V has a great deal of player involvement. The player is given the ability to control their entire nation, with everything from cultural values like honor and piety, to absolute control over scientific bias, to diplomatic stance and everything in between. The large amount of player involvement allows for much more immersive and in depth games.

The objective, as with any game, is to win. There are several paths to victory. One player might choose military conquest, one might choose diplomacy,
and another might seek to create a space ship and flee to the stars. These different means of victory allow just about any type of player to play their own way. This, in turn, leads to even more player involvement, and thus more in depth games.

Resources are a critical point in Civilization V, as with any real-time strategy game. The player uses gold as currency, which is used to buy everything. The other resources include strategic resources, such as iron and horses, and luxury resources like pearls, gems, wheat, and furs. There are special land tiles as well, like forests, hills, oceans, deserts, and marshes. These tiles influence movement, and some are better for certain construction projects. A hill may have mineral wealth, while a plain could have fertile ground.

The player is constantly competing with the other civilizations in the game. While the English may be competing for the Utopia victory, the French could be competing for a military victory. England must then take up arms against France and lose momentum in the Utopia victory. This constant competition is what makes up the conflict in the game.

Source:
Play, By. "Simpson's Paradox » Civ V at E3." Simpson's Paradox. Web. 30 Sept. 2010. <http://simpsonsparadox.com/2010/06/civ-v-at-e3.html>.

Team Fortress 2-Player Engagement

Genre: First-Person Shooter
Developer: Valve


 Team Fortress 2 is a very popular multiplayer shooter game. The premise of Team Fortress 2 is rather simple. Players compete over a variety of goals such as capture the flag or control point using a variety of characters that suit the players individual play style It has a class-based system, where players pick to play as one of 9 different classes depending on their play. style. While one player might pick a faster class like the scout because they work well as a fast mover, another player could play as the heavy weapons guy because they prefer firepower over speed. There is a class for almost every play style, which helps the player enjoy their part in the game.
The challenge in the game is entirely based upon the opposition, and the rock-paper-scissors mechanic provided by the different classes. A sniper plays based on accuracy and targets that stand still. This would make getting a shot on the scout, a small, hard to hit, and fast class. Another example is that of range. The pyro, a short range class, would have a great deal of trouble trying to win in a battle against a soldier, whose weapon has longer range. This sort of gameplay helps create a certain rivalry between players with different classes.
The game contains no story outside of the expanded universe. This adds to the simple charm of the game. There is no plot given, save for the fact that you are good, the other people are bad, and you must kill them. This simple approach to the games plot, combined with the accommodating approach to gameplay and an unspoken rivalry between certain play styles helps the player to immerse themselves in combat and the games goal.
Team Fortress 2 is engaging because of its simplicity. It has only 2 teams, 9 classes, and no story. This kind of basic premise helps the player understand the game and forgoes the tutorial or learning curve. The engagement comes from how easy it is to play, and how rewarding the play is.

Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde

Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde
Video Game
Real-Time Strategy
Jaleco Entertainment

Goblin Commander is a story of five clans of goblins dealing with a major civil war after the death of their leader. With all of these clans fighting each other, no one truly sees the evil standing among them.

The game has quite a short history. Released in 2003, it went by rather unnoticed. The game contains a rather simple premise, seen within all RTS games: build units to eliminate the enemy. This common mechanic is not added upon, as many would suggest, but rather subtracted from, to make the game simpler and all around easier to use. Resources are reduced to two needs, gold and souls. The gameplay is shifted from a focus on resource management to a focus on direct combat and player interaction. This new type of gameplay adds more to the cinematic experience in the game, and makes it less focused on micromanagement.

In terms of innovation, Goblin Commander is rife with it. First off, it is one of the first RTS games for a console that wasn't a direct port, and its resource system made it rather easy to grasp. The game appealed to playtesters with this simplistic approach and simpler controls. It is really a toned down version of a realtime strategy, which could more easily convince gamers used to non-RTS games to become fans. The fact that it was released to a completely untapped market would have made it a big success if it hadn't been overlooked by said market.

Goblin Commander is a game that changes the perspective of the player, rather than using a tried-and-true formula. By releasing on consoles, using a simplified play system and basic controls, it turns itself into a game that is both easy to grasp, and an intermediate between action games and Real-Time Strategy.






Source: "Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde Online Image." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 16 Sept. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin_Commander:_Unleash_the_Horde>.