Video Game Design Analysis
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Soma is abounding in frightful, compelling atmosphere, atmosphere which results in a perpetual sense of anxiety and uneasiness – though rarely sheer dread. The central explorable environment is a series of linked complexes, situated far below the surface of the churning waves of the vast Atlantic, the time being the early twenty-second century. Understanding these
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It is quite staggering to consider the meteoric rise of DLC and expansion packs within the video game industry in recent memory, their influence long mounting and continuing to mount. Much of this ascension is of course tied to the Internet, while similarly important are console dashboard systems, like those popularized by the Xbox 360;
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What Remains of Edith Finch’s central narrative is paradoxically profound and straightforward, straightforwardness stemming from the narrative’s construction, profundity stemming from the nature of the themes discussed: poignant matters such as one’s relation to the past, one’s obligations to family and to the self – these complex themes are abundant, the one great linking constancy
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Save for the early years of my existence, when the Playstation 2 and the Xbox were the dominant home consoles, video games have consistently released at the same price point – sixty dollars, that price being established and accepted with the release of the Xbox 360 back in 2005. Given the poor present state of
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Games with robust customization systems are traditionally highly compelling, those systems primarily used as a tool of self-expression. It would be unfair and inaccurate to state that games devoid of such systems are somehow lesser in quality than games which do boldly feature them – they are simply different, perhaps more focused. Still, the inclusion
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Bulletstorm’s narrative dangerously straddles the line between the endearing and the obnoxious, featuring highly juvenile writing and oftentimes bizarre – yet imaginative – phraseology. Fortunately, the endearing triumphs over the irritating – Bulletstorm has a considerable degree of heart, has its own distinct identity, embracing humor fiercely, and mostly departing from more mature, gritty themes,
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In recent memory, video game length has exploded exponentially, much of that expansion attributable to the rise in popularity of the open-world genre, now dominating the landscape; no longer is it sufficient to tell a complete, coherent, and moving story, but now instead an impression is in place that a larger game is a better
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Far Cry 3’s Rook Island is frequently beautiful, anchored by much technical excellency. Draw distances can be impossibly long, mountains and valleys visible always, save when enveloped in some thick jungle canopy, blotting out the skies, the surrounding geographic structures. This expansiveness, when it is on full display, does bely somewhat of a failing, as
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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
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Grinding as mechanic is most prevalent in the role-playing genre, though in recent years, and as the industry as grown, the mechanics of grinding have spread, tinging titles which had heretofore spurned them. Still, the trope largely originated from, and was made popular by, role-playing games. In certain of these titles – many entries of
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Wolfenstein: The New Order’s narrative shows a complete absence of ambition, the core motivation capable of succinct expression – topple the Nazi regime, fight back against the abundance of power won with success in World War II, a success maintained and built upon, Nazi powers extending far beyond Europe, their machinations and barbarities affecting all.
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Much of Outlast 2’s narrative is delivered in a fairly conventional fashion, narrative developments achieved through documents found scattered about the game’s principal environment, a vast, untamed desertscape in the heart of Arizona, possibly long forgotten by dent of its geographic isolation. Clever flourishes are attached to these documents, the various authors imparting their own
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Verticality in video games serves a number of functions, principally providing greater strategic freedom. As a secondary effect, vertical expansion can help to convey the largeness of the world proper – views from above afford a different sort of perspective, cities and landscapes laid out in their totality, one singular entity. In many games, also,
Games With Grey 