Too many games these days attempt to provide us with a haughty and convoluted socio-political justification for massive destruction, as if tearing Paris apart in the name of one man is seemingly irresponsible. Yet, we all have our personal reasons behind our social (collective) actions, and Pandemic understands this perfectly.
So Jim Landes, the man in charge of the Game Design program at MCC e-mailed me a couple days back, and told me that two individuals had done a commendable job on their reviews of Mount & Blade, one of the assignments the Introduction to Game Design class has to tackle. Jim asked if I’d be willing to publish said reviews on my site to recognize their hard work, and I, of course, agreed.
Allow me to begin this review with an abstract image, if you’ll allow me. Say that we took your grandfather (who’s a nice guy, mind you…but isn’t “hip” to the “cool” fashion of today) and dressed him up in some hipster graphic T-shirt (likely referencing an obscure 80′s sci-fi film, or a band that 2.91% of the US population is aware of) with a flannel overshirt, some jeans (I have no idea what brand is popular anymore), a pair of Converse sneakers (non-matching color scheme, of course) and classical over-sized Aviator sunglasses. So…is grandpa cool now? Or does this “extreme senior makeover” only accentuate how dated your dad’s dad is?
De-facto Rule of Gaming #485–”just average” games made by unproven developers don’t get sequels. Unless you’re an otherwise reputable studio having the occasional “off day,” or protected by one of the “Titans of Publishing” who’s keeping you around to please hardcore fans/parents demanding “family friendly” titles or whatnot, you’re getting the axe. It’s a point we’ve talked into the ground, but overall, it’s the undeniable truth: video games are an industry that encourages very little risk taking.
I have a weakness, ladies and gentlemen, and its name is Will Arnett. Ever since I first saw him Segway-ing around asking his brother Michael for some of “that company money” or singing along with his horrifyingly racist puppet compadre Franklin on Arrested Development I knew I’d developed a man-crush on this gravely-voiced Houdini wannabe. [...]
Lu-cid-i-ty: “A presumed capacity to perceive the truth directly and instantaneously.” Ironically, a quick glance at Lucasart’s Lucidity does everything but present the player/observer with a true sense of the game. Lucidity, with its disarmingly adorable visuals, minimalist heads-up-display, and soothing music, appears to be in “lock step” with the “no lives, no scores, no rankings, no pressure” school of gaming that titles like Flower belong to.[...]
small sidenote: For the sake of providing you, the reader (in case for some odd reason you forgot your job at this site) a semi-steady stream of new content, I’ve broken down my review of the next-gen title, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, into two parts. Obviously they must be considered as [...]
Fashion, movies, books, all forms of media, are susceptible to the perpetual cycle that is “hip-unhip.” Case in point, Donnie Darko, due to poor marketing and a delayed release date (the movie involves a plane crashing, and was set to debut around 9/11) is rarely noticed when it premieres, does poorly, falls off the radar. [...]
While it’s been over twenty years since we were introduced to the new found exclamation of “Do’h” and informed that we should take care not to own a bovine creature, man, it’s sadly been almost that long since we’ve seen a good Simpsons video game. Understandably, the only great titles were those that firmly latched [...]
Summary in a sentence: EA’s D.I.C.E studios makes a remarkably competent foray into “single player campaign-land” with its new title, sporting a remarkable appetite for open-ended destruction…with a brand spankin’ new graphical engine to boot. During the summer of 2008, Electronic Arts bestowed upon a parched populous of gamers two seemingly similar titles. Indeed, it [...]