LO2 Comparison of Platforms

Dark Souls II Review

Play 237 – Matt Edwards

• Genre – Strategy

• Target Audience – Caters for large audiences. People that have played the previous Souls games.
• Narrative - Briefly mentions.

• Characters – Four different classes; The Warrior with a shield and sword, the sorcerer with a smaller shield and thrusting sword with the added bonus of spells, The Temple Guard with a compromise of melee and magic with his shield, axe, halberd and collection of miracles, Dual Swordsman with dual swords with heightened mobility. Contains a combat system that feels very weighted and more laboured than the previous game. Especially when it comes to the Warrior class being described as “Untameable.

• Gameplay – Similar gameplay to Dark Souls I.

• Platforms – PlayStation 3

• Personal Recommendations – Made recommendations for Dark Souls. Armoured Core.

Online Video Review - Games Radar - http://www.gamesradar.com/dark-souls-2-review/

• Genre – doesn’t mention the genre of the game, possibly because this video is optional and you need to search directly for this game therefore you should already know what genre it is.

• Target Audience – If you’re watching the video review, then you’re more likely to be the target audience of the game, therefore they don’t need to explain it. Where as in the magazine it’s more generalised as there are a more diverse selection of games.

• Narrative – You’ve been newly bred as an undead and you’re exploring the kingdom of Drangleic of hopes of breaking the curse and restoring your humanity. Lore and more into the story is found with item descriptions and through NPC’s dialogue.

• Characters – Bosses designs can sometimes be underwhelming because they just look like “normal sized dudes in huge armour”

• Gameplay – Enough changes from Dark Souls I to make it slightly different, captures the essence of the original. Gameplay is very challenging and rewarding. Makes you memories the attack patterns of enemies and the hidden items. Gameplay is a mix between Demon Souls and Dark Souls as in there is a hub, your home town called Majula. More branching paths, more route options than previous games to make sure if you’re struggling with a boss you’ve got something else to do. Paths are very complex and have a lot of environmental varieties. Bosses are sometimes overwhelming and seemed like they are thrown at you. Bosses were sometimes underwhelming as in they don’t have much technical physicality’s. You can change your character mid-game to make your characters traits more suitable or to equip important and helpful items. Allows you to hold a torch in your other hand, allows exploring of darker areas and gives you more of a grip on enemies and bearings in darker areas. Interesting level design and bosses. A new feature has been added to the game making it possible to warp between bonfires/ checkpoints, makes the manoeuvrability much easier.

• Personal Recommendations – Dark Souls I

Over all thoughts

The online video review was able to be much more open about their opinions, discuss the negatives and positives of the game. Whereas the magazine review had to be much more formal and couldn’t comment on their opinion as much and focused on the details of the game. The video review contained a lot of gameplay about the bosses and various area's as they were being mentioned through out the video, where as the magazines images weren't especially of relevance apart from the diagrams showing the different classes. The online video review went into much more detail than the magazine, as the online video review was specifically for that game on that web page, where as the magazine was for a wide variety of games and therefore couldn't go into immense detail in every game. The online video review similarly to the magazine review able to talk about the differences and similarities between the souls games and make judgments about the fighting styles and game mechanics within the games. Both reviews went into detail on the fighting mechanics and into each class and its capabilities, talking about the advantages and disadvantages of both.

The reason why the magazine had to be more formal and less critical is because it has a specific audience which is subscribed to them and has to please them and advise them about the games that they should buy, also the magazine could be sponsored or being funded by the games they review and therefore have to be more careful on what they say. Where as the online review was specifically there to state their opinion and criticisms about the game, e.g. when they described the warrior class as "Untameable" and when they stated some of the bosses looked like “normal sized dudes in huge armour” . The online review didn't even mention the genre of the game, possibly because the video is optional and you'd have to search specifically for that review of the game and therefore should already know the basics about the game including the genre. The magazine review had stated the genre and the game mechanics etc. because it has to inform the reader specifically on what they should be getting if they buy the game.

The online review was able to spoil some story plots and key moments in the game, as their audience is targeted at people that have already played the game or a game in the series. They talked in depth about the challenges, design and individual bosses in the game. The magazine review stated the platform that the game was available on again because they have to inform their audience on all the details about the games, including genre and platforms that the game is available on. Both games made personal recommendations towards the other games in the Souls series being Dark Souls and Demon Souls. As both reviews as aimed at a wide audience, the specified readers are people that have played the previous instalments in the series and are able to make the connections along with the writers. To conclude both reviews both the magazine review and online video review went into detail into the aspects of the game and the game mechanics etc. but only the online video review was able to state their opinion clearly, whether positive or negative.

• http://www.gamesradar.com/dark-souls-2-review/