tvwolfsnake
Imagine: an actually-funny comedy video game where all of the best humor is mechanics-driven, and a puzzle game with an actually-unique gimmick and two different puzzle contexts interacting with each other.
Please play this game.
Please play this game.
2006
There's a lot of potential here, but a lot more squandered, to the point that I still have yet to play the rest of the series. It's not bad, it's just not great.
2020
I would like this less, since it's very much a thirdhand parody of dating sims, except that [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS].
1998
This game knows what it is (comic sci-fi B-horror), is very good at being what it is, and doesn't try to be anything more than that. Which is all I ask for in a narrative, really.
It also has the best argument for how to handle a silent protagonist in a first-person game, framing the player character as comically underappreciated—Gordon Freeman has a Ph.D., but here he is, pushing a cart while other scientists condescendingly tell him very basic things—until the player proves that they can handle what the game throws at them.
(Which makes it all the weirder that Half-Life 2 abandoned this idea in favor of GORDON GORDON YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE GORDON YOU ARE JESUS GORDON. Seriously, Portal is a better "Half-Life 2" than Half-Life 2.)
It also has the best argument for how to handle a silent protagonist in a first-person game, framing the player character as comically underappreciated—Gordon Freeman has a Ph.D., but here he is, pushing a cart while other scientists condescendingly tell him very basic things—until the player proves that they can handle what the game throws at them.
(Which makes it all the weirder that Half-Life 2 abandoned this idea in favor of GORDON GORDON YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE GORDON YOU ARE JESUS GORDON. Seriously, Portal is a better "Half-Life 2" than Half-Life 2.)
2001
...A Game In Which Sam Lake Makes A Serious Case For Video Games As A Metaform
2010
I have replayed this game for probably upwards of 200 hours and still have not beaten no-death mode.
2007
My parents didn't allow me to play much more than educational games growing up, and Portal was one of the first games I played when they relaxed that restriction some.
Unsurprisingly, starting with Portal gave me unrealistically high standards for quality in video game narratives.
Unsurprisingly, starting with Portal gave me unrealistically high standards for quality in video game narratives.
What really sticks with me about this (tremendous swiss watch of a) game is the subtle stuff, like how the representation of early computer graphics dovetails with the look of older art styles and printing techniques.
...In Which Sam Lake Makes A Serious Case For Video Games As A Metaform, And Also For Sequels As Metatext
2012
this game kinda sucks and completely misunderstands max as a character and Max Payne as a series
but damn, that airport level
but damn, that airport level
I'm forever torn on this game because I'm a huge sucker for a lot of what it's doing but also the dating sim parody feels completely disingenuous.
2012
You might argue that the game's argument is flawed, even fundamentally, but I don't think it really matters if the point it's making is airtight, because the goal is emotional affect, not intellectual rigidity.
2012
It really weirds me out that a lot of people who feel the need to defend this game on "it's self-critical" grounds (trust me: you don't gotta) will in the same breath say they hated the hospital level, which to me is a perfect formal expression of the idea of molding yourself into a machine for killing to the point where you are unable to function properly in its absence.
I get if you didn't enjoy it, but like...come on.
I get if you didn't enjoy it, but like...come on.
What a way to say "fuck you."
2008
You go to a comedy open mic. A comedian gets up to the mic and deadpans an amazing joke. The comedian then immediately sits down.
Was that a great stand-up set?
This is a metaphor for Gravity Bone.
Was that a great stand-up set?
This is a metaphor for Gravity Bone.