In some ways this is a follow up to my last Evening Topic where we discussed fanboyism. Everything from films to plays gets reviewed in some form or another and video games are, of course, no exception. But video game reviews have a tendency to stir up a lot of controversy, especially among fans of certain games.
Not only are reviews a source of fanboy rage, there’s also a strange eschewment of the review system in general. Certain sites and publications seem almost too soft on games, rarely giving out anything less than a 6/10 while other sites and publications are deemed too hard, rarely giving out their highest grade. So I ask:
- Do you consider certain sites/magazines’ reviews to be more professional than others’?
- Have you ever read a review you absolutely disagreed with, even if you respected the source of the review?
- How much playtime should go into a review?
- Does a game need to be finished in order to be reviewed properly?
The Ace Attorney series proved to western shores in 2005 that a game in which you play as a lawyer could be not only fun, but downright awesome at times. Sure it had a tendency to be silly and extremely over the top, but snappy writing and simple and intuitive gameplay made the original game a joy to play. Sequels followed almost yearly, culminating in this year’s instalment: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.
The original BioShock was considered a masterpiece by gamers and critics alike in 2007, and whenever something’s successful a sequel usually gets announced. Now the time has come to return to Rapture, but is this a welcome one?
BioShock 2 puts you in the diving suit of one of the prototype Big Daddies, the first one to be successfully bonded to a Little Sister. On New Year’s Eve, 1958, your Little Sister was forcefully taken away from you, putting you in a chemically induced coma. Now, ten years later, you have awakened to find a city in utter ruin, with a constant need to relocate your lost companion.
The other day I watched a video review of Dante’s Inferno on GameTrailers. Things didn’t go too well. It’s final score came to 6.8 out of 10, and the commentary section exploded with what I like to call Fanboy Rage. While the reviewer in question appeared to have several valid points in his review (repetitive grinding, poorly implemented button mashing and QTEs and a sloppy treatment of The Divine Coomedy), fans of the game would not have it.
Now, we’ve all probably acted like a fanboy, or girl, from time to time. Even I have, though I eventually smartened up and realised all consoles had their strengths and weaknesses. We at TGV have just had our second flame war, this time concerning Heavy Rain, and whenever something is being critiqued it seems the fans will come out of the woodworks to defend their product or console of choice.
- Can fanboyism be a good thing?
- What makes certain gamers fall to fanboyism when others don’t?
- Are fanboys (girls) simply ignorant?
Once upon a time, adventure games were the proverbial kings of PC gaming, entertaining gamers everywhere with a heavy focus on well-written stories and strong, realistic characters. Adventure games had their best run during the late 80’s and early 90’s, before suddenly dying out. So what happened to the adventure games, and where are they now?
In this three part series, we’ll be taking a look at the history of the adventure game and possibly try to predict a future for them as well.
In this second instalment we take a look at the decline and near eradication of adventure games
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