Monday, September 11, 2017

Star Wars Starfighter - 10/20 hours

The very next time I played the final level, the exact same thing happened to me - flew through the Trade Federation starship, defeated the overpowered mercenary, blew up the shield generator, and then died in the process of flying out. It was really frustrating. But I stuck with it, failed a few times, and then got through the whole level again . . . and it happened again.

At this point, rather than give up, I watched the walkthrough again. It turns out I wasn't quite paying attention the first time I watched it. I thought I remembered everything I needed to know. But watching it again revealed to me exactly what I was doing wrong - the place I kept flying into was not a window, it was an alcove. I kept dying because I kept flying into walls.

I wouldn't say that I dislike this game, exactly, but I definitely have trouble playing it for more than a half hour at a time. It's too stimulating. Too many things are going on at once. The need to focus both focus my attention on my immediate peril and split my attention to keep an eye out for upcoming peril is aggravating to me. I've been known to enjoy an action game from time to time, but the ones I tend to like don't excessively punish me for having tunnel vision.

Now that I've finished the main story and unlocked and beat all the bonus missions, I'm not sure how I'm going to approach the last 10 hours. This would be a really sensible place to stop and move on, but let's not think about that.

I think what I've got to try and do is beat this game on Medium, and then Hard. That should easily carry me through my deadline. The trick is to do it without my eyes melting out of my head. What I'm going to have to do is play it steadily, but in bursts. A half hour of the game, then a half hour for me to cool down and relax. Then another half hour of the game. If I keep it up and be consistent, it shouldn't be much slower than just sitting down with a couple of marathon sessions.

We'll see how well that plan survives contact with reality.

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