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When considered alongside its immediate predecessor, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is defined by relatively constrained ambitions; epicness is rejected. Far from a failing, the narrative ultimately benefits from its hyperfocusedness, the core plot spanning a scant six or seven years, while Assassin’s Creed II’s narrative unraveled over some winding two or so decades; succinctness is totally
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Coffee Talk: Episode 2 possesses an astonishing degree of charm and heart; the game’s defining attribute is its overflowing sincerity. At the heart of this charm, this sincerity, rests the core narrative, a rather profound construction indeed, frequently dwelling upon profound matters and featuring traditionally profound characters – all throughout are successes. Complementing these inherent
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Adam’s Venture: Origins is a decidedly unoriginal and decidedly ambitionless title; dullness and forgettability abound, dominate. The narrative proper embodies these two negative principles in equal measure, though damnably dullness and the unmemorable exist alongside a plodding pacing, a ploddingness which never disappears; traction is never gained, even as the narrative reaches its conclusion after
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Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is a self-styled horror title which is rarely horrifying; rather than being defined by tension and dread, the experience is defined by a damning boringness – dull forgettability abounds; player engagement is fleeting. Much boredom springs from the environments explored, mundane and boring all, the environments collectively characterized by their
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Multiplayer games are thriving in the present moment, and their widespread popularity and success is easily understood. Foundationally, multiplayer titles offer experiences absent and forever absent in the conventional single player title – a rift exists, multiplayer games oftentimes capable of profounder player engagement, for in a multiplayer title the player is engaging with a
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Assassin’s Creed II’s central narrative is ambitious in nature, chronicling multiple decades of the player character Ezio Auditore’s existence, a profound character and a singularly likable one – Ezio anchors the narrative, and even as it periodically loses its way, he is always present to instigate redirection, a return to profoundness and emotional and cerebral
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Lake’s central narrative is unquestionably its finest achievement – profoundness abounds; intense emotions are frequently and fiercely stimulated, positive and negative both. Much of this swelling success is attributable to the consistent heart and sincerity often on display, a defining characteristic, though another source of narrative success stems from the narrative’s overall originality, the developers’
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Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor’s core narrative is severely fragmented – multiple disparate narrative threads are explored in turn, though ultimately those explorations are fruitless; the game absolutely overreaches. Narrative missteps are foundationally frustrating and upsetting. But narrative missteps which arise from immense ambitions are far more frustrating and upsetting. And so it is here,
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Assassin’s Creed is defined by its rigidness, firmly adhering always to structure – the narrative especially is formulaic, is mostly unambitious and unengaging in nature, characterized by failure. One major failing – a further display of ambition’s absence – is observable within the secondary characters; or rather their lack. Save for the player character Altair,
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Deadly Premonition’s open world environment of Greenvale, Washington is defined by a pervasive dreariness – the sun’s presence is scarce, as eerie grey skies dominate. Eerie grey skies such as this are upsetting individually, but when that dreariness is paired with other sources of dreariness, spectacular – troubling – are the results. And so it
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Kona’s world-building is a major triumph, a major source of creativity – the decision to situate the narrative in frigid, isolated northern Quebec was bold indeed, and ultimately all the potentialities inherent to that location are seized upon and exploited to maximum effect. Here, snows and snowy wastes predominate, as do fierce winds, sharply reduced
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Jade Empire’s central narrative is a profound specimen, alternating between innovativeness and derivativeness. Many failings – the greatest displays of genericness – are intimately wrapped up within the player character. In the narrative’s very opening, the player is provided the opportunity to select a character class and a character model – the developers apparently nurtured
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Video game difficulty is an understandably divisive matter, heightened difficulty repelling some players, engaging others; it is difficult to regard the subject with ambivalence. Those who do embrace heightened difficulty settings often do so in search of exhilaration, catharsis. Exhilaration and catharsis both are discoverable in tamer, more tranquil experiences to be sure, but they
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Deadly Premonition’s central narrative is a masterful achievement, dwelling upon impossibly bleak subject matter – in this precise instance, serial murder; the butcheries exercised on the various victims are displayed and discussed boldly; the game is unflinchingly mature. Many games are bleak – darkness is common. But with Deadly Premonition, darkness is uniquely tempered by
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As experience, Pokémon Y – and by extension Pokémon X – fiercely and desperately clings to the long-established series formula, relying upon longstanding tropes and design philosophies; in many ways, originality is minimized. This total adherence to convention only results in an overall safe construction, as if the developers were afraid of novelty – very
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Games With Grey 