Video Games
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Amnesia: The Dark Descent’s greatest ambition – and greatest achievement – is related to the construction and maintenance of atmosphere. Unfolding in a sprawling manor deep in the woods of Prussia, the game is of a decidedly moody sort, arresting and impactful from the first. Clever manipulation of light and shadow contribute to this atmospheric
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Aragami 2 excellently succeeds in its evocation of place, Asian stylings embraced to the last, creating one cohesive whole, environments linked thematically and aesthetically, the game abounding in creativity. Certain missions which occur at night are particularly arresting, with tranquil, azure skies dotted with stars, all aspects of the environments tinged with an inviting shade
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Borderlands 2 is abounding in environmental diversity, presentation marking one of its greatest strengths. One moment, chilly tundra are explored, characterized by sheets of ice, some spanning frigid waters, others literally clinging to walls, forming an almost crystal like substance, while everything is tinged in an inviting shade of blue. An expansive draw distance helps
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Crysis 3’s narrative is a confused, muddled mess, with two central pillars of focus, one which revolves around the tyrannous, menacing Cell faction, their primary motivation being the acquisition of power; acting indefatigably in their search, often do they commit acts of brutal violence, unflinching and remorseless, almost corrupted by the tangibility of that power.
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Aragami, as a pure stealth title, can be an occasionally brutal experience, the player character – the titular Aragami – defenseless upon detection, recognition often equating to a swift and violent death. Certain offensive abilities are purchasable, but they do little to lessen the punishing nature of the gameplay – punishing, though never frustrating. Despite
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Aesthetically, Super Metroid remains timeless, the sprite work highly detailed, environments characterized by vibrancy and a strange sort of exoticism, communicating the bizarre nature of the gameworld proper, the distant, alien planet of Zebes, where the protagonist Samus travels in response to some urgent distress call. As with the planet, Samus herself sports a compelling
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Narratively, Mafia III is engaging from the first. The game initially opens with a hint of optimism, an optimism which is promptly and totally displaced by overwhelming bleakness, greatly characterizing the narrative, the characters, and the world-building. This temporary optimism principally arises when considering the protagonist, Lincoln Clay, a soldier returning from a violent tour
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Narratively, Borderlands shows a poverty of ambition, its story construction unremarkable and uninspired, with a total absence of character development, or the establishment of a singular, menacing antagonist. True, a solid motivation is established from the first, which consistently guides the player throughout, never wavering, one central anchor – here the game shows a sense
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Medal of Honor: Airborne suffers greatly from an unfocused, unambitious narrative, abounding in the generic; exposition of any import is here absent, with few traditional cutscenes or compelling dialogue, both being confined largely to the short briefings which precede every primary campaign mission. Here, even the stylistic is spurned, the presentations comprised solely of static
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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,
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Call of Juarez: Gunslinger’s greatest achievement is its evocation of place, expertly capturing the atmosphere and stylings of the American West, and even more exotic locations, like Mexican deserts and sandscapes. In a stroke of mastery, these diverse environments coalesce, resulting in one cohesive whole, contributing also to the game’s abundance of charm. Beyond these
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On a foundational level, Grand Theft Auto IV’s sprawling open world environment is not exactly unique, taking New York City as greatest inspiration, an environment adopted by countless others in the open-world genre – here, though, the city is not an exact replication, but an interpretation, something creative and imaginative, lending to the game a
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Grand Theft Auto IV is epic in scope; the journey the protagonist Niko Bellic embarks on is a long, winding one, a literal odyssey. Arriving in Liberty City, a supposed beacon brimming with opportunity, Niko is met with an affectionate reception by his loving if cowardly cousin, boyhood companion. Roman, though installed in Liberty City
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Prince of Persia is abounding in charm, manifest both in the principal characters and the world proper. Regarding the former, there exists the enigmatic, unnamed Prince, who precariously teeters on the edge, vacillating between the irritating and the endearing. Given the compelling voice acting, in the end his endearing attributes prevail; an emotive, telling face,
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Narratively, Crysis 2 is abounding in potential, though that potential is compromised by an excess of narrative ambition. Rather than embracing precision and conveying one focused, succinct narrative the game overreaches in attempting to tell a multitude of stories, touching on the hostile alien Cephs, developing also a debilitating sickness, the Spore, also elaborating upon
Games With Grey 