Video Game Design
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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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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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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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Prototype’s central narrative is a dull and unimaginative construction, merely serving as framework for the gameplay, which is prioritized to the last. Not all narratives need be brimming with imagination and creativity – many games can excel even with flawed narratives. But the narrative tarnishment present here is especially painful owing to the swelling narrative
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Coffee Talk’s central narrative is a mature and engaging construction, being highly character-driven. And the cast of characters is large, the characters themselves diverse, each featuring distinct aesthetics and distinct feelings – fear, bitterness, frustration and the like. Unravelling these characters’ depths ultimately becomes the driving narrative motivation; the player is largely tasked with establishing
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Replayability’s presence is absolutely a positive, though its absence is not necessarily a negative; shorter titles, those which do not feature great player choice, branching pathways, and multiple endings, have their proper place within the industry, offering ample enjoyment. But longer titles, those with robust replayability, offer their own enjoyment, distinct from briefer titles which
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Narrative sees dramatic and total emphasis within Call of Cthulhu, prioritized at the expense of gameplay. Forutnately, the narrative is a compelling one, adopting a sharp investigative tone, logical when considering the player character, his profession – Edward Pierce is a private detective circulating in 1924 Boston society. This circulation does not instantly translate to
Games With Grey 