Is College the sequel to High School? Book and movie sequels are often (but not always) less than the original, tending towards 'more of the same, only more so'. In positive contrast, video game sequels are unique in that they are usually better and richer than their originals. Put another way, books and movies often fall into being derivative, while video games are evolutionary. In video game terms, College is a way better sequel to High School.

Looking at that early game, High School, like many early games it had a lot of problems in pacing, level design, and uneven difficulty levels. Also, the social mechanics are poorly implemented, and the AI opponents ('teachers') are inconsistent. Some are ridiculously easy, others use a rubber-band algorithm that makes it seem like they're out to get you. There's no real storyline other than "you are there". And, there used to be some DLC called 'vocational classes' that most editions eliminated, so there's content problems as well.

In contract, College is a greatly improved sequel. First, they shifted to an entirely new engine— better visuals, a larger campus setting, more variety in NPCs, and a lot more shopping options. Whereas High School was a survival horror game, College is an adventure RPG. You start by choosing a character class, and the College system has really good leveling up mechanics. As a plus, you can retain any skills from your previous high school game, but are free to choose new skins, names, and character backstories, since the game starts fresh. In general, most of your quests are based on your character class progression tree, but you are free to try other character class quests, and there are plenty of side quests as well. I recall being a 'science class' student but enjoyed the 'piano', 'eastern religion', and 'geography of the Boston region' side missions, even though they didn't directly add to my tech tree.

Story is also an important part— the storyline for 'College' actually allows for changing your character appearance and people you interact with. You can even change character class, at a slight penalty- you'll have to spend more time leveling up to reach the level cap. The story ends, usually with a lead-in to the next sequel ('Real Life'), but College also stands on its own as a complete game. In fact, almost all of the skills picked up in College transfer to 'Real Life', without necessarily tying you to one particular path.

Also, College is much more open world and thus you gain autonomy. The levels have a better structured play duration— semester-long courses rather than 1 year slogs. The quest model is more robust, you choose 4-5 quests per semester that you participate in twice a week, instead of being force-fed 5-7 linear line courses that tag up each day. You also get more downtime between play sessions when switching between quests. Overall, it's a much more balanced game. Although there are a few glitches (some teacher AI are still wonky), College is a game that rewards good play while being less punishing for mistakes, and has a lot of more available content and options than its precursor. It's also more fun to play.

While the multiplayer options in College are technically not required, it would be a shame to play it without trying multiplayer at least a bit. As a minimum, it's easy to tag up with others to do class 'Raids' for the "Finals" and "Group Project" challenges, which can really help you with both your score and with leveling up as a whole. Given the wide selection of possible NPCs and a de-emphasis of 'cliques' in favor of 'alliances', it's pretty easy to try different multiplayer experiences without suffering from penalties or issue. The mechanics of "Clubs" helps newbies get started with multiplayer, and those interested can explore the deeper 'Relationship' mechanics if those side quests appeal.

In an informal poll of college students (for real), when asked 'which is easier, high school or college', almost universally the answer was 'College is easier. The material is harder, but the structure is easier.'. So don't let High School turn you off from exploring this very awesome sequel. "College" is a whole new game, in a very good way.

Until next month,
Sandy
sandy@rpg.net, freelance
(from the Level Up Your Life[tm] series)