Unit 6
Defining Media Audiences
Quantitative audience research
- Quantitative research is the numeric side. e.g. how much something sold for and how many were sold. a good way to collect quantitative research is questionnaires.
Qualitative audience research
- Qualitative research is the descriptive side. e.g. if you were asked about the audio on a game you would write up as much you could, describing it in the most detail you can, a good way to collect qualitative research is focus groups and questionnaires.
Audience classification
- Audience classification is what type of person will buy your product, e.g. if you're creating a new football game, you will be wanting to aim it at people who like football.
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Finally a revive of the
stealth genre. With only little imperfections here and there it's an
unforgettable ride. No nursing, lots of freedom, outstanding level (or should I
say - world) and sound design, solid graphics*.
Controls:
Smooth, precise, no automation allowing a great
deal of freedom of movement. People complaining about it are usually accustomed
to Assassin's Creed type of aids or plainly didn't grasp the introductory
tutorial of Styx. After few hours I'm looking like a Quasimodo returning from a
ballet lessons!
Good camera movement BTW. I've never seen a
serious clipping or obstruction problems with it.
Story/world:
Mature fantasy world with interesting, original
twists. Again, mature and non-trivial!
AI:
A little bit short-sighted and quickly dropping
the hunt for you if you manage to run away after being detected but aside from
it. A solid work.
Game mechanics:
Like a well-selected orchestra!
Initially I thought that some elements I've seen
in the trailer are misplaced and that I won't use them. So wrong. Everything
has its place and purpose and everything has its limitations, avoiding boredom
and making a specific item too commonly used during gameplay. A stealthy run
through a guard-crawling level on the highest difficulty level will leave you
thinking you're a god :) It's all hard work, patience, planning and execution
all put together.
Good representation of Styx's limitations. A
jump 15 meters down and you're a goner. It's not anime...
Audio:
One of the biggest selling points of the game.
Apart from repetitive dialogues of the guards that is. The soundtrack should be
sold separately! Well done and, as with the story and world design, a great
deal of originality.
* Very well optimised! Radeon 6850 allows for
perfectly smooth maxed-out gameplay at 1080p
From what this this guy has said in his review, I’d say he
likes the game. The part where he talks about people complaining because
they’re accustomed to AC, he’s not far off because that exactly what I expected
from the game. He mentions that the camera movement is good, I agree with this
because on some games at a certain angle the camera can jolt into a wall and
therefore getting you killed, I never experienced this problem in the game.
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I tried to get into the game 4-5 times, but it’s
plain too boring. And yes, i enjoy patient games as well, but this is just not
entertaining. You can’t properly attack if discovered and can’t run away
either. The parkour is unintuitive and poorly executed. You will very often
drop from ledges, miss a jump or simply not know whether you can make it or
not, because there is 0 indication as to whether something is too far away or
not.
The levels claustrophobic and difficult to
navigate, let alone memorize. First missions consist of multiple levels, utterly
useless and fake paths that lead nowhere, nor are needed on any occasion and i
have yet to find how to lunge onto someone from a higher position. Right now
you could stand behind someone, but if he is like 5cm higher or lower, you
can’t execute him.
Looking through stuff you can acquire with skill
points, there is nothing worth playing for. No cool, extra abilities, no
game-changing mechanics. If you release a game that attempts to combine
goblins, ass-creed and dishonoured, but have only a stinking goblin who can
puke out another stinking goblin, you get Styx. And it’s bad
From
the sound of this review, this guy didn’t like the game. First of all the guy
must not have got past the first 5 minutes of the game. He describes the levels
as ‘claustrophobic’ and ‘difficult to navigate,’ I do not know why he said this
because I found it the complete opposite, the rooms were always large and
spaced out, and the game always told you where you had to go.
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This is a great stealth game based as a prequel
to "Of Orcs & Men". You play as "Styx" (the stealthy
one from OOAM). Stealth mechanics are generally good. Game engine is based on
tried & tested UE3. Graphics aren't bleeding edge but they're well
optimized and certainly more than good enough (it seems to be the trendy 'in
thing' at the moment to chirrup "omg teh GFX suck!" no matter how
good they are...). Sound & voice acting are good. There are often multiple
pathways / options to complete your route. This is also one of the few games in
recent times to have a decent optional quick save system instead of just the
dumbed down hyper-consolized "checkpoint only" system, so another +1
for that. If you're the type of person who loves "Thief" like
gameplay, this is definitely worth a go
From what this guy is saying, it sounds like he enjoyed the
game. What I like most about this guy is that he isn’t too one sided, if a
certain aspect of the game has something good about it and also something bad,
he won’t just point out the flaw. E.g. ‘Graphics aren’t bleeding edge but
they’re well optimized.’
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I am not normally a stealth
game type person. I normally get bored and crave something more, the latest
"Thief" game is a good example in which this has happened to me. For
some reason, with Styx: Master of Shadows, I can't stop playing.
Pros: You get to be a Goblin assassin. The best
kind of assassin.
Expansive and creative level design offers a
multitude of paths for your creative enjoyment.
The controls work well and I have had no problem
with "ledge detection" like other people have stated.
Movement animations are nimble and feel right.
Kill animations make you feel powerful and gritty.
Beautiful graphics especially the lighting and
main character, Styx.
Good story and a cool way of telling it as far
as I'm concerned.
Cons: Subpar voice acting. I really feel like
this is the only thing keeping it from a 10/10 to me. If I had to rate the
voice acting it would be a 6/10, not horrible but it could have been better.
All in all, this is a great game for about 25$.
I've enjoyed it more than most games I've bought this year for over twice that
price.
This guy has pointed out both pros and cons of the game, other
than just being one-sided. This guy has pointed out a flaw that no of the
others have the yet, the mouth animation (animation does not match up to voice)
that is the only problem with the game that I can think other than cloning.
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Bought it today and don't
regret a thing. It beats the snot out of the new Thief game (probably not that
hard actually) and is currently my favourite stealth game (sorry Mark of the
Ninja xD). Like others said it does have a few quirks here and there, but the
price is super fair and the rather big levels can be solved in a variety of
ways. Plus - the clone you can send to distract guards is a very nice feature.
Overall I'll too rate this 8/10 lie Vanaran did
- if you're a fan of stealth games and you don't mind a few quirks here and
there, there is a lot to be liked about this game!
This guy didn’t have a lot to say about the actual game,
just how much he likes it, but he has mentioned the price and I agree that £24.99
is a good price for the game. He mentions that you can use a clone to distract
guards, although this is a good feature of the game, I believe it’s a bit over
powered, because you can complete the game with just the clone.
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My conclusion is that the game is a game that you either
like it or don’t like it.
All of the reviews at least mention one thing that is wrong
with the game. They all mention that the mouth animation could be improved, I
agree.
The results I got back from my questionnaire are completely
different to these reviews, because the results I got no one had actually
played the game.
