GAME 100 EXPLORING GAME WORLDS – VIDEOGAME IN-CLASS APPRAISAL TEMPLATE

Student Name___________________Russell Miller__

Today’s Date___________________2-1-10____

Game Title Examined_________________Dawn Patrol_______

Year of Publication________________1994_________

Game Publisher__________________Rowan Software____

Game Developer ________________________Rowan Software for Amiga and MS-DOS platforms___

Game Genre (e.g. shoot-em-up, racing, sports, puzzle, MMORPG, ‘sandbox’, music sequence following game (e.g. DDR, guitar hero)

shoot-em-up

Type of game ‘world’ or environment (e.g. flat environment, puzzle/maze space, 3D world?)

3D world

Perspective taken by player (e.g first person, third person perspective, top down, isometric) in relation to main player controlled character.

first person

Gameplay – what does the player have to do?

shoot down the other planes, avoid getting hit, and fly the plane itself

Is the gameplay intuitive? (i.e. is it easy to understand what to do without instructions?) describe.

not at all, as far as keeping the plane in flight, I kept crashing. Knowing that you need to fire at the other planes and dodge their bullets was very intuitive

.

Is the gameplay patterned (game does the same thing over & over) or is it random (happens differently every time?)

random

What does the type of graphic approach used as well as the audio tell you about the limits of the technology at the time the game was published?

By 1994 graphics had improved considerably. The Amiga had a very good graphics card, and gave the game a beautiful look, the sound was more realistic. using the sound of biplanes instead of the old electronic sounds of early games

Describe your views about the game from the point of view of

1. ease of play

not at all easy, pretty to look at, but the plane was hard to fly

2. enjoyability

not at all, because of struggling with keeping the plane aloft

c) level of engagement/immersion

high level of immersion and frustration

Had you played this game prior to this time? If so, when?

Yes, on my Amiga in the eighties

Describe other games it reminds you of. How does it do this?

other flight combat games to numerous to mention, I can't recall the names. I hated all of them because of the difficulty just in flying the plane which made combat impossible. I realize they wanted to make the flying realistic, but I would have liked a game that kept you aloft without you having to deal with the actual flying, just the shooting.