LO1 - Conflict Desert Storm Game Analysis Sheet

Game title	Conflict Desert Storm	Platform tested:	PS2
Genre What style of game is this? What genre does it belong to? How does it show stylistic conventions of the genre? How does it sit within the genre in comparison to others titles?	This fits under the tactical shooter category of gaming as it involves the player controlling a 4-man team during the Iraq war. The tactics come into play as you realise that your four men are specialised in different skills. Sniper, Rifleman, Heavy Weapons specialist and Combat Engineer. This game is very similar to the Tom Clancy series with the controls and how you have to be careful with what you do and how stealthy you are on some parts of the game.
Narrative What story is being told through the game? How does the story inform the gameplay? How does the story affect your approach to the characters and your interaction with them? How does the story connect with the target audience?	This story has a continuous plot throughout the game as it is set in the 1990s. The plot begins where your fellow team mate Paul Foley has been captured by enemy forces and it is your responsibility playing as John Bradley to make sure that you capture Foley and blow-up a bridge while doing so.  This mission you only get to play as Bradley. Other missions include rescuing a civilian called Emir of Kuwait, and taking part in the battle of Khafji. You also have to guard a scientist who helps you disarm a nuclear ICBM. The plot ends with Emir thanking you for helping to liberate Kuwait and also repelling Iraqi invaders. Throughout the story your characters go up ranks and effects how you play depending on who you would like to become the team Leader.
Production process How was this game produced? What elements of production are developed specifically to enhance the gameplay? How are elements such as game physics and mechanics managed to enhance gameplay?	Pivotal Games developed this game. To start this game off they had to do a little research into specific things about this war including the battle of Khafji which was a real battle which the writers and developers of this game had to research into, hence having to create verisimilitude to avoid offending anybody that was effected by this battle. They then had to come up with an inner game narrative to make the person playing the game feel more invested in the characters. The game physics and mechanics in this are very basic, but realistic enough to be played without any concern. Such as shooting a gasoline tank will make it blow up which is a very generic convention of a game like this.
Characterisation How are characters relevant to the target audience? What appeal do the characters have to the target audience? How does the characterisation match the conventions of the genre? How strong do you feel the characters are?	The way you play the game slowly develops depending on the game you play this game. If you use Bradley the most and kill more people with him, he will become more elite and then become more prestigious. But as the game goes on you realise and come to appreciate all the traits and special skills that each character possesses, these skills are conventional to the game as each skill that they possess is very stereotypical of an army style game due to the fact that the traits include artillery, sniping, explosive expert and heavy weapons specialist. All stereotypical of this kind of game. I feel the character development is almost weak due to the fact that after a few levels you already establish who is who and the only thing that evolves after that is the narrative.

Gameplay What challenge is present in the game? How does the level and type of challenge engage the player? What elements of the gameplay are key to the game’s success? How does the gameplay engage with the narrative? How is gameplay consistently evolving to keep the player’s attention?	The challenges in this game vary between going in to slaughter a large group of enemies or stealthy missions where you have to blow up scud rockets in a stealthy way. I would say the later of the two is the most toughest to achieve as if an enemy catches you and you let them escape   they will sound the alarm and then you will have to deal with a lot of troops after you in this game. The levels do get tougher as the game goes along. The gameplay is vital to the narrative as it sets the precedent for the entire challenge and narrative for the game. The gameplay gives you more control as you go along in the game, you learn how to launch air strikes, drive vehicles and just gradually evolves until you are fully equipped to do more dangerous missions.
Target Audience Who are the target audience? What indicators are there that this game is produced for this target audience? How does the game appeal directly to the target audience? How does the game compare to other games targeting the same audience?	I would say that the target audience for this game are people between the ages of 15 and 30 due to the wide age range that enjoy video games, the prime gender being male due to the fact that war and more violent games are aimed towards men more than other games. I would say that the age rating goes is 15 due to the fact that it is fairly violent and hence being the age rating on the case. I would also say that this game would frustrate a younger audience due to the fact that the controls can become fairly complex due to the fact that every button has a different ability and its easy to ruin a mission and can become frustrating for an older audience never mind a younger player.
Platform What platform is this game available for? Is the game more suited to any one of these platforms? How is the game suited to this platform?	PlayStation 2. This game is suited to the PlayStation 2 because it uses the conventional controls you would expect from a PlayStation 2 game. Its suited to this console as when it was released this console had the best graphics available. Xbox. Putting this game on the Xbox made complete sense because Xbox and PlayStation had two different audiences, as most people either owned one or the other. They were both similar so releasing it onto this console made sense in a financial way, rather than making it an exclusive to just one console. GameCube was suited to this the same way that the PlayStation 2 is and the Xbox. Microsoft Windows made sense based on the fact that this is a more powerful system than the other three, being released on this gave room for there to be more hacks available