First off, let's make one thing completely clear:
Star Wars if fantasy. It has nothing to do with science.
Friday, 8 October 2010
Monday, 9 August 2010
Teh Bias: Mystery and Adventure
This article was originally printed on my community blog at Destructoid. I have reposted it here.
Shorah b'shem. If this month is about bias, I think it's my duty to speak up. I'm definitely biased about one thing, as anyone who's seen my game collection can tell you. If there's one thing that's clear, it's that I love Adventure games. And I don't mean The Legend of Zelda and Metroid, as Nintendo labels as games of the "adventure" genre. I refer to what would more suitably be called "Adventurelikes". Games similar in style to the classic 1976 game, Colossal Cave Adventure.
I'm talking about Zork, King's Quest, Monkey Island, Loom, Day of the Tentacle, Myst, Gabriel Knight, Broken Sword, Syberia, The John DeFoe Quadrology (aka Chzo Mythos), and countless others. I'm talking about one of the most niche and PC-centric genres in the industry.
Don't worry, the name-dropping stops here.
Shorah b'shem. If this month is about bias, I think it's my duty to speak up. I'm definitely biased about one thing, as anyone who's seen my game collection can tell you. If there's one thing that's clear, it's that I love Adventure games. And I don't mean The Legend of Zelda and Metroid, as Nintendo labels as games of the "adventure" genre. I refer to what would more suitably be called "Adventurelikes". Games similar in style to the classic 1976 game, Colossal Cave Adventure.
I'm talking about Zork, King's Quest, Monkey Island, Loom, Day of the Tentacle, Myst, Gabriel Knight, Broken Sword, Syberia, The John DeFoe Quadrology (aka Chzo Mythos), and countless others. I'm talking about one of the most niche and PC-centric genres in the industry.
Don't worry, the name-dropping stops here.
Saturday, 10 July 2010
Why BioShock 2 has a terrible intro.
Just... it's awful. Let me relate it to you in the form of a chat rant I had.
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Review of The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay and Assault on Dark Athena
Alright, time for another review. I have just finished The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, which as some of you might know also includes Escape from Butcher Bay. I am reviewing both of these games, since I had not played Butcher Bay before. So without further adieu, let's start.
Monday, 15 March 2010
No I won't see The End: Far Cry 2 (Review)
This is a game which gave me mixed feelings. What I think about the gameplay, the story, the atmosphere, the level design, and etc somewhat conflicting. All I can do is try to explain what happened when I played it, and how come I won't see The End.
Sunday, 14 March 2010
22 of my opinions (about games): #10-22
Let's keep going!
10. I really prefer PC to consoles, but that's personal.
Yeah, the PC isn't objectively better than the other systems. I just prefer it for a multitude of reasons. Lack of vendor-lock-in, mostly.
11. I don't just need eyecandy.
I like stories, narrative, and atmosphere more than explosions.
12. I mean, I like explosions, but I don't like them as much.
It's not really a "they are bad" thing but an "I don't like them as much" thing. They tend to look better on the PC, though.
13. Sonic's 'friends' didn't really cause the death of the series.
Really, the death of the series was bad design. If the games were designed perfectly, nobody would care about friends. No really, you wouldn't. The games are marked by bad design, not by bad characters. Don't go hating on Big the Cat just because they decided to badly design a section of the game around him.
I mean come on he's a half-wit hermit fisherman with a pet frog who travels around looking and sounding adorable. It's not nice to make fun of something like that. That's like making fun of a puppy for living in an abusive household.
14. I suck at retro games.
Like really, I don't think I've beaten any game made before 92'.
15. Bowser... is kinda pathetic.
Like, he keeps getting taken down by a plumber. A PLUMBER. This is a guy who unplugs toilets and installs bathtubs for a living. Good in a zombie apocalypse? Probably, knows his way around a wrench. Good at battling a tyrant turtle? No. So that means that Bowser must just be really inept.
The only thing more pathetic than Bowser getting defeated repeatedly by an average Joe is that fact that he successfully kidnaps the princess. The Mushroom Kingdom is the most docile kingdom I've ever seen. I'm not sure if they even know what a guard is.
Oh well. It's just a silly game, after all.
16. The Wii has a lot more good third-party games than people give it credit for.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Metroid Prime 3 (it was outsourced!), Broken Sword DX. There, that's three. Most people seem to joke that there isn't even one. So... yeah. There's three. Be careful about that. Choose a number like five or something. It's unlikely to ever hit that.
17. I don't like Smash Bros.
There's just not enough finesse, really. I like really stylistic fighters where you have to think and strategize and it's more like ballet than a brawl.
18. Samus is a person.
And the important part is how it doesn't matter that she's a woman. She's a strong female character on her own, she doesn't need any extra trimmings. I'd say she's a pretty good example of a good female character. Well, if she was actually character. Because really, at this point she's a suit of armor. (Or a snug jumpsuit but that's beside the point.)
19. Gears of War is a power fantasy, and kinda silly if you look at it out of context.
But really, so is Hellsing, so I'll shut up about that.
20. I don't care enough about The Legend of Zelda to care if they have voice acting.
Sorry but I'm just not really interested in the series.
21. Luigi is more interesting than Mario.
Mario is always the star, but Luigi has more characterization. We've seen that he's a relative coward, getting nervous easily. He's also taller and leaner, so not as good at fighting. That being said, he still helps out his brother when he can. Hell, his brother gets kidnapped by ghosts and what does he do? He enters a very creepy mansion all on his own, scared out of his wits, in search of his brother. Damn. That's heart. That's loving a brother. That's just a swell guy.
22. Bullet-time is still cool...
...under some circumstances. One: when used to show someone who is moving too fast to see. As in, everyone else slows down but they stay the same speed so you can see how much faster they're going. The One did this. It works well for popcorn-movies. Two: To show inconceivable details, like a bullet bending in Wanted. Three: It's an awesome ability in shmups.
10. I really prefer PC to consoles, but that's personal.
Yeah, the PC isn't objectively better than the other systems. I just prefer it for a multitude of reasons. Lack of vendor-lock-in, mostly.
11. I don't just need eyecandy.
I like stories, narrative, and atmosphere more than explosions.
12. I mean, I like explosions, but I don't like them as much.
It's not really a "they are bad" thing but an "I don't like them as much" thing. They tend to look better on the PC, though.
13. Sonic's 'friends' didn't really cause the death of the series.
Really, the death of the series was bad design. If the games were designed perfectly, nobody would care about friends. No really, you wouldn't. The games are marked by bad design, not by bad characters. Don't go hating on Big the Cat just because they decided to badly design a section of the game around him.
I mean come on he's a half-wit hermit fisherman with a pet frog who travels around looking and sounding adorable. It's not nice to make fun of something like that. That's like making fun of a puppy for living in an abusive household.
14. I suck at retro games.
Like really, I don't think I've beaten any game made before 92'.
15. Bowser... is kinda pathetic.
Like, he keeps getting taken down by a plumber. A PLUMBER. This is a guy who unplugs toilets and installs bathtubs for a living. Good in a zombie apocalypse? Probably, knows his way around a wrench. Good at battling a tyrant turtle? No. So that means that Bowser must just be really inept.
The only thing more pathetic than Bowser getting defeated repeatedly by an average Joe is that fact that he successfully kidnaps the princess. The Mushroom Kingdom is the most docile kingdom I've ever seen. I'm not sure if they even know what a guard is.
Oh well. It's just a silly game, after all.
16. The Wii has a lot more good third-party games than people give it credit for.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Metroid Prime 3 (it was outsourced!), Broken Sword DX. There, that's three. Most people seem to joke that there isn't even one. So... yeah. There's three. Be careful about that. Choose a number like five or something. It's unlikely to ever hit that.
17. I don't like Smash Bros.
There's just not enough finesse, really. I like really stylistic fighters where you have to think and strategize and it's more like ballet than a brawl.
18. Samus is a person.
And the important part is how it doesn't matter that she's a woman. She's a strong female character on her own, she doesn't need any extra trimmings. I'd say she's a pretty good example of a good female character. Well, if she was actually character. Because really, at this point she's a suit of armor. (Or a snug jumpsuit but that's beside the point.)
19. Gears of War is a power fantasy, and kinda silly if you look at it out of context.
But really, so is Hellsing, so I'll shut up about that.
20. I don't care enough about The Legend of Zelda to care if they have voice acting.
Sorry but I'm just not really interested in the series.
21. Luigi is more interesting than Mario.
Mario is always the star, but Luigi has more characterization. We've seen that he's a relative coward, getting nervous easily. He's also taller and leaner, so not as good at fighting. That being said, he still helps out his brother when he can. Hell, his brother gets kidnapped by ghosts and what does he do? He enters a very creepy mansion all on his own, scared out of his wits, in search of his brother. Damn. That's heart. That's loving a brother. That's just a swell guy.
22. Bullet-time is still cool...
...under some circumstances. One: when used to show someone who is moving too fast to see. As in, everyone else slows down but they stay the same speed so you can see how much faster they're going. The One did this. It works well for popcorn-movies. Two: To show inconceivable details, like a bullet bending in Wanted. Three: It's an awesome ability in shmups.
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