James Assignment Unit 72

James Assignment Unit 72

in this assignment i will be comparing the visual and game play styles of borderlands 2 to rocket league.

Visual Styles

borderlands is a first person shooter where you are a vault hunter who crashes at a place in Pandora where you must then save the people of Pandora and loot the vault. in your way are many enemies which must overcome by levelling up, unlocking abilities and getting better weapons to become the ultimate bad-ass. this game requires you to grind as you need to be certain levels to get through missions as enemies will have levels too high for you and also you need to grind for good weapons so you can take on the enemies.

the visual style of borderlands 2 is cel shaded which supports the games look as it looks cartoon but goes for a real look. the world and terrain textures make the game look detailed but fun. on the right is a screenshot from the game and you can see how detailed the rocks look and the art style helps bring that out. also, borderlands has multiple areas on the map to go and explore. each area has unique structures and terrain build as well as different environments. for example there is caustic caverns which is an acidic underground mine with mountainous areas and abandoned buildings and mine shafts. also there is opportunity, this is a place in the ocean created by handsome jack, the enemy, which is futuristic and filled with robots and tall futuristic buildings.

Opportunity

these different locations have different environments and feelings which in turn make the player feel like they are exploring a vast world and the art style supports these locations and helps differentiate them. as you can see caustic caverns has a dark, gloomy atmosphere and the bright green acid blooms among the darkness. this gives off the isolated vibe and dangerous vibe that this area gives off and with opportunity it is the opposite as it is supposed to be the place of safety and hope.

Caustic Caverns

the visual style of the characters matches the visual style of the whole game as they are cel shaded and it matches the funny mood this game gives off. all the characters are based off of funny but controversial topics and the style shows this off well. for example, a character called Salvador is a Mexican midget who is slightly psychopathic. you can see this from his crazy Mohawk which is seen as quite a psycho thing and of course his skin colour and height.
 
Also, this goes for all the NPC's. they are all well designed characters that match their stereotype and the art style really works with it and brings out the features on each character. for example, tiny Tina. tiny Tina is a 13 year old psychopath who loves murder and all things violent. you can see she is psychopathic from her player-model which is covered in blood and she wears the mask of a psycho. also her wide eyes and expressions give off her psychopathic look.

 the feedback interface on borderlands is quite cartoon like and as it shows things like the amount of damage done per shot and critical hit indicators. also you get indicators when you inflict elemental damage such as fire or corrosive. this helps players know when they're dealing damage or when they are taking damage, it also works well with the art style and the type of game it is.

the visual style of rocket league is very different from borderlands as it is a mix of 2 art styles. it is a mixture of photo-realistic and exaggerated. as you can see on the right, the game has a realistic theme with the cars but the colours are exaggerated as they are really bright and low saturated. this works well with the fast pace game play of the game and makes the game look really nice while your flying around in super rocket boosted cars.

also, there are no characters involved. you play as cars that you can customise and go into competition with people to see who is the better car footballer. the customisation options in rocket league are quite big as there are many categories to choose from and each one contains around 100 different looking items that you can choose from so that you can be your own unique self against other people. for example you can choose a body and then move on to the wheels, decal, turbo and many more options.
there are also no NPC's in this game as it is just a cars vs cars football game, however there is AI cars that you can verse. this allows people who do not have internet connection or people who want to practice the chanceto do so.

rocket league is a 3rd person game which works really well because you have to be able to see your surroundings when playing otherwise you would miss the ball a lot and you would not know where to go when the ball is no longer in view if the camera angle was first person mode. also, third-person person allows for people to play the game in different styles such as being an aerial or grounded player. Aerial players need 3rd person so they know where to go when flying through the air towards the target otherwise they wouldn't know where to go.

the feedback interface in rocket league is similar to that of borderlands but instead displays when you get points. you get points by saving the ball, scoring goals and doing skill moves such as Aerial control. these points then add up so at the end the player on the winning team with the most points is voted MVP.

Gameplay Styles

borderlands has a H.U.D which stands for heads up display. in borderlands this is used to display things like your health, shield and ammo. this is important as it helps you keep track of whether you are going to die or run out of ammo which then helps the player stay out of danger so they can regain health. it also displays the players inventory skill set and class. this helps for easy access to upgrades and weapon changes.

borderlands is a multiplayer and single player game. you can team up with friends and take on the enemies together which means the enemies are more difficult but also better loot. this is good as it rewards the player for having fun with their friends by giving them better items. also, the multiplayer allows for more options such as duelling with friends and trading. this adds more fun to the multiplayer as you can test your equipment against your friends to see who is the best and also help out friends by giving them your unwanted items that could help them out.

the entire of the borderlands story is told to the player from a character named Marcus. he is the weapon vendor in the game and he explains the vault hunters journey from a more omnipresence point of view as he is basically controlling everything the character does. he only speaks to you in the beginning of the game and then against the end when he is concluding the game. also the way the characters act is really entertaining coming from Marcus.

the difficulty of borderlands depends on the level of your character. if you are only a level 20 but you go into a level 30 mission then you are going to struggle and also if you go into a level 10 mission as a level 20 it would be really easy but not worth it as the exp would be little and the weapon drops would be terrible. as well as this, when finishing the game a new mode unlocks where you can play through the story again on a harder difficulty which means better loot but a bit more challenging.

the mechanics are things like inventory and the win condition. the win condition for borderlands is to beat handsome jack and save Pandora. once this is done then the credits roll as you celebrate your victory. there is no failing in borderlands as dying just respawns you and there is no way to fail a mission as you can always retry it if something goes wrong.
the inventory in borderlands is quite basic as it just shows the items you have equipped and picked up. it also displays the level of the items you own and their statistic so the player knows whether they are worth using/keeping.

the interaction model in rocket league is a H.U.D. this displays the amount of boost the player has and in certain modes such as rumble it shows what item you are holding. this is a very basic H.U.D as it doesn't contain much but that is because it doesn't need to show so many things such as a mini map and health bars unlike borderlands.

the goal of rocket league is to score more goals than your opponent within the time limit. in doing so will mean that you win and you can get exp to level up your skill ranking and get loot.

there is no story line to rocket league as it is just a head to head, fast paced football game. unlike borderlands where there is a story to be told to the player.