Oblivion

Title: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Studio: Bethesda Softworks
Publisher: 2K games, Bethesda Softworks
Genre: 1st/3rd person RPG
Platform: Xbox, PC

Premise
You are in a fantasy kingdom, trying to close all the gates of oblivion, ridding the kingdom of evil.

Character
In this game the character is mainly controlled by the player. The player chooses the appearance, the characters race, abilities, and class. The player chooses what weapons and armor is equipped and other related items. However, the player is given a limited number of responses when in a conversation with a NPC, which gives the character some personality.

Engagement
From the very beginning of the game, it is very engaging. The story draws the player in to a fantasy world full of colorful characters and stories, and throws him into the thick of it. The engagement is someone lost because from the very beginning, the player can simply warp to any city they desire.

Story
The story is well thought out and very interesting from the beginning, making the player care about the missions, and not just go through the motions, as with many games lacking a good storyline.

Resources
Resources include arrows, weapon health, magicks, fatigue, health, strength, and notoriety.

Challenge
The game has a good difficulty curve. It starts out with a series of integrated tutorials, and from then on the game gets steadily harder, but the player can choose the missions that they want to play, and therefore can choose the difficulty that suits them the most.

Burnout Paradise

Title: Burnout Paradise
Studio: Criterion Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: Free World Racing
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3

Premise
You drive a myriad of different cars around a city that is filled with ramps and races, and you try to win as many challenges as you can to get more cars.

Character
The only character you control is the car, and you have complete and total control over the car, and the only personality that the cars have is their various stats that govern their performance on the road.

Engagement
Paradise city is huge. It is a tremendous expanse of roads, jumps and hidden areas that will draw anyone in for hours trying to find all of the greatest places to have fun. There is always a new place to find or a new race to win, and with each road being its own time trial and the times being uploaded on the internet, there is always someone to race against. This game is very engaging, to say the least.

Story
The game has virtually no story, the little bit being the host of Crash FM, the radio station playing the music, who tells you of new cars to take down, new races, and hidden areas. The lack of story does not take away from the gameplay as much as one would expect though. The game is still very engaging and entertaining to play.

Resources
The resources the player has are the car health, the car's boost, and time, depending on the challenge that the player is completing. Car health is taken down whenever a player crashes, and damage is increased depending on the severity of the crash, and can be replenished by driving through repair garages. Car boost can be replenished by driving aggressively, doing stunts, or driving as fast as possible. Time is sometimes limited when doing time trial races or stunt runs.

Challenge
The challenge in the game is very well controlled. In the beginning, the player goes through a simple tutorial, and the races and challenges are easy, and the amount of points required for the next level is low. These factors steadily increase in challenge as the game progresses, and if a player feels it is too difficult, they have a whole city to practice in to get better.

Fallout 3

Title: Fallout 3
Studio: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks, Zenimax Media
Genre: FPS/RPG
Platform: PC, Xbox 360

Premise
You are the son of a scientist who has run away from your home, and your mission is to find him.

Character
Your character has very customizable facial features, colors, and hairstyles, as well as skill points and special perks. you can add skill points and choose one new perk every time you level up from experience points, gained by killing enemies or completing missions.

Engagement
To say the least, the game is very engaging. Through its various cutscenes, sprawling, 16 square mile landscape, to the apocalyptic scenery, to the colorful NPCs, the game does an excellent job of engaging the player on an emotional level, making them feel as if they truly are trying to scavenge a living from the nuclear wasteland.

Story
Hundreds of years in the future, a nuclear war threatens to end the human race, but they are saved by Vaults, man-made caverns that were designed to give us a second chance in the even of a war. A long while after the war ended, you are born. You are born inside vault 101, where you grow up, and then, for no apparent reason, your father leaves the vault. It is your undying quest to follow and try to locate him.

Resources
Your resources consist mainly of healthpacks, ammunition, books to gain skill, food, anti rad syringes, anti damage powerups, action point power ups, and experience points.

Challenge
The game succeeds in keeping the game in the flow most of the time by having an innovative tutorial stage that most players wont even realize is happening, and the challenge increases steadily from there, making sure that the player is not breezing through the missions, but is not being killed at ever turn, either.

Ristar

Title: Ristar

Studio: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Side Scroller/Platformer
Platform: Sega Genesis

Objects
The objects in Ristar would be the character that the player controls, Ristar, the various enemies the player fights, and the health and point power ups the player gets throughout a level.

Properties
Each enemy that is not a boss, has just 1 health, that is taken away when Ristar attacks them. Ristar starts out with 4 health, that can be replenished with power ups.

Behaviors
Ristar can walk to the left and right, and jump and grab onto enemies and other things, such as trees and ladders. The enemies follow a repetitive path of going back and forth or up and down or in circles.

Feedback
Every time Ristar is hurt, or you run out of health, the game lets you know by either a sound and Ristar flashing, or a game over screen.