Video Game Analysis
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Battlefield 1 is terribly bleak tonally, its themes characterized by a certain unflinching maturity; difficult subjects are not skirted but are instead embraced – narratively, the title is a masterwork. In terms of construction, it is comprised of five distinct “war stories,” each one being totally unique, featuring different protagonists and secondary characters, showing a
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When regarding the Dark Knight mythos, Batman: The Telltale Series expertly manages to fuse together the old and the new, taking existing characters and portraying them in a new, sometimes startling, light – the characters repeatedly upset expectations, while the strengths of these preexisting characters are supplemented by a whole suite of new characters, whose
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Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons expertly manages to court player engagement and investment from its very opening, beginning with a well-animated cutscene, seeing the death of a still unidentified woman, the precise nature of her death being drowning. The cutscene, also, shows the futile attempts of a young boy to prevent that drowning; tossed
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Splinter Cell: Conviction’s narrative shows no innovation, characterized by a dearth of ambition, embracing to the last the tropes of generic, uninspired spy fiction. Some intrigue is admittedly present, but it is fleeting – a few moments of narrative greatness, emotional heft, cannot salvage what is otherwise disastrous, unengaging. The intrigue which is present stems
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Aesthetically, I Am Alive suffers from a near perpetual ugliness, the environments devoid of any real creativity – texture quality is poor, while an intrusive, unappealing fog lingers always, cutting down on visibility. This precise element of the presentation – the all-consuming, obstructing fog – only hampers potential joys of exploration, while exploration’s appeal is
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The Darkness 2 boasts a highly ambitious narrative, setting out to communicate a very grounded, human tale, eagerly clutching at the psychological. At the core of this narrative is the protagonist, Jackie Estacado, a youthful hitman for the mob, and his deceased – murdered – lover, Jenny, a friend from the orphaned Jackie’s boyhood. Frequent
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Fear 2 suffers from near perpetual genericness, never advancing anything original or innovative – everything here is derivative, the game mostly lifeless and uninspired. The environments, as illustration, are all characterized by blandness, with very poor texture quality and an overall poverty of creativity or imagination, as boring greys and browns dominate the color palette,
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Creatively, Deadlight meets with repeated successes, displaying much visual inventiveness, innovative and arresting in its presentation. Much of this innovation stems from the game’s highly stylized cutscenes, boldly adopting a comic book aesthetic, with clever usage of color, an emphasis on the interplay between light and dark. In a stroke of creative mastery, and fostering
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Borderlands’ narrative shows a complete dearth of ambition, stalling throughout, greater and deeper player engagement rarely achieved – the narrative exists as a mere framework for the gameplay, which is prioritized to the last. Opening the narrative is a brief, highly stylized cutscene, introducing the game’s trademark cel-shaded aesthetic, which imparts commanding uniqueness. This cutscene
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Inside is characterized by a striking sense of minimalism, the narrative totally devoid of formal exposition or even voice acting, the narrative instead advanced through clever environmental storytelling. Alongside this minimalism, ambiguity abounds, the game fostering and even encouraging vastly different interpretations; one player will walk away from the experience with decidedly different emotions than
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Steam World Dig 2 possesses an abundance of charm, manifest in its various explorable environments, in the robotic NPC’s who inhabit them, each individually named, each possessive of a unique visual design, each accordingly possessing a distinct identity, almost all of them steeped in humor of some sort, humor marking a commonality. Furthering this commanding
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When regarding its presentation, Limbo soars, its creativity marking its greatest source of originality, imparting a distinct identity which persists all throughout the narrative. The palette is totally deprived of any vibrancy, blacks, whites, and greys overtaking all, resulting not in blandness but a certain stylish, cinematic effect – here is darkness and bleakness, the
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As an expansion, Outlast: Whistleblower presents nothing which is novel or innovative, its gameplay an exact replication of that found in the base game. Still, its existence is justified, as it serves a strong world-building purpose, enriching the narrative of Outlast, with all its subtle complexities. Its main ambition is to explain how precisely the
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Outlast boasts many compelling atmospheres, a certain moodiness overtaking all, resulting in a constant sense of dread; the clever, beautiful interplay of light and dark is especially central to this atmospheric nature. Transpiring solely in one location – Mount Massive Asylum – larger environmental diversity is lacking somewhat, even as ample differentiation is present when
Games With Grey 