Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Title: Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Studio: HAL Laboratories
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: 2.5d Side Scroller
Platform: Nintendo 64

Premise
An evil force has broken the great crystal and kirby is tasked with recovering all of the missing shards.

Character
The character that the player controls is Kirby. Kirby is a small round creature who can suck up any number of objects and enemies, stealing the enemies or objects properties. Kirby is not entirely controlled by the player though, there are cutscenes wherein he acts by himself.

Engagement
Using exceptional gameplay and an origional story, this game succeeds in engaging the player to a great degree.

Story
An evil force comes to dream world and in an attempt to steal the power crystal, it breaks it into many pieces that are scattered across dream world. Kirby finds one of the dream world crystal keepers trying to find the crystal shards. Kirby decides to help her, and they set off. They face many different foes, some of which are holding pieces of the crystal. Throughout the story, you meet 3 different helpers, Waddle Dee, The Painter, and King Dedede. They all help kirby to recover all of the crystal shards and banish the evil force from dream world.

Resources
Resources include the different powers that Kirby can obtain, Health, Crystal Shards, Star points, and lives

Challenge
This game has a very good curve of difficulty. It starts out very very easy, and progressively gets more challenging. It achieves this not only by adding larger and more difficult enemies, it adds puzzles and traps to the mix.

Goldeneye 64

Title: Goldeneye 64
Studio: Rareware
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: First Person Shooter
Platform: Nintendo 64

Premise
You are a British secret agent trying to stop a criminal organization from attacking the world with a weaponized satellite.

Character
You play as James Bond, the famous secret agent of MI6 of England. He is a smooth and silent killer, and always gets the job done. The character is mostly shown when there is dialogue between Bond and the other characters in game.

Engagement
The game starts out the player in a combat situation, instantly drawing the player in. The levels are expansive and numerous, and the various environments that the player has to play in keeps the player interested throughout the duration of the game.

Story
The game follows the story of the movie almost exactly, with the exception of a tank here and there. Mostly the story is portrayed through the briefings at the beginnings of each mission, and with dialogue from the characters in game.

Resources
The resources in this game include, time (for some levels), health, armor, and ammunition.

Challenge
The game has a very good curve of difficulty. The beginning levels are easy and help the player get used to the controls, and as the game progresses it gets harder and harder, until the player reaches the end levels, which are extremely hard.

Super Mario 64

Title: Super Mario 64
Studio: Nintendo EAD
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: 3rd Person Platformer
Platform: Nintendo 64

Premise
You are trying to rescue a princess who has been captured (yet again) by an evil king, by recovering power stars from various levels.

Character
You play as Mario, a plumber-turned-hero, who arrives at the castle because of an alluring letter sent by the princess, promising baked goods, only to find that she has been kidnapped by Bowser. Mario is one of the many famous, "silent heroes". A player character who has no speaking part in the game, apart from a few grunts. Other famous ones include Gordon Freeman and link. Even though Mario never talks, he still is in control of what the main goal is in the game.

Engagement
The game is not very engaging from the story point of view, as we get no back story for Mario or princess peach and her whereabouts, but gameplay makes up for this. This game has a very many levels to play though, each one different from the last, and each time you play through a level, you can choose a different objective. This results in a very engaging gameplay.

Story
The story begins when you arrive at the castle via one of Mario's trademark green pipes, and a letter is read by Mario from Princess Peach saying that she has baked Mario a cake, and wishes him to go to the castle to view/eat said cake. Upon entrance of the castle, you learn that Princess Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser and you have to get all the power stars in order to rescue her. From then on, the story is pretty much gone from the game, and your main concern is getting the power stars.

Resources
The resources include, coins, stars, time in some levels, health, and lives.

Challenge
The game starts out at a very manageable level, with an integrated tutorial to help the player along, and then gets steadily difficult, climaxing in a very difficult end boss battle. While the player can choose their mission for each level, in order for them to get the required amount of starts to win the game, they will have to complete most of them, forcing the player to get better at the game.