tvwolfsnake
1998
I absolutely adore the like 15 minutes of this game I've ever managed to get through before quitting in frustration at the completely unsignposted puzzles
2012
ACAB so I shouldn't have bothered but I got so into roleplaying an Actually Good undercover cop that I would instinctively reload missions if I caused collateral damage.
Anyways: imagine if GTA actually encouraged you to do wild shit, and more easily facilitated wild shit, without going completely cartoonish like SR3. (Not that SR3's cartoonishness is a bad thing.) Imagine if GTA had a good hand-to-hand combat model. I think it's kind of silly that this game even introduces guns for the player in the later game, but it almost feels like an intentional ploy to make the hand-to-hand seem even stronger than it already is.
Anyways: imagine if GTA actually encouraged you to do wild shit, and more easily facilitated wild shit, without going completely cartoonish like SR3. (Not that SR3's cartoonishness is a bad thing.) Imagine if GTA had a good hand-to-hand combat model. I think it's kind of silly that this game even introduces guns for the player in the later game, but it almost feels like an intentional ploy to make the hand-to-hand seem even stronger than it already is.
Skydiving into a rooftop pool party with Kanye West's Power blasting: That's Videogames!
2013
When I played this game the first ending I got was the confusion ending, which made me doubt whether any of the other endings were "really" over even once they definitely were.
2016
I would be harsher on this game's story if I in any way thought it was taking itself dead serious, but I don't. It's a camp take on the meta Video Game Mind Control story, and I love it.
To say nothing of the fact that it's the most innovative shooter I've played in years.
To say nothing of the fact that it's the most innovative shooter I've played in years.
2016
I like this game but an "influenced by" that has only a received, secondhand understanding of the influence bugs me. This is doubly true with Twin Peaks, a particularly common victim of this in the 10s.
Takes Half-Life's playful ribbing of the player to the point where it gets kinda mean, but in a fun way. Unfortunately I lost all motivation to continue near the end of Crush Depth when I ran into the bug where the deagle permanently jams underwater, which somehow hasn't been fixed in 21 years. Hopefully I can return soon.
2016
The first chapter is the kind of good where even the lesser bits show promise, and inspired me to buy and play the rest of the game.
I still haven't played the rest of the game.
I still haven't played the rest of the game.
So torn on this game, which does a great job of adapting the feel of detective fiction in general and Holmes in specific but is also simultaneously way too hand-holdy, undercutting much of the joy the player might have in figuring it out themself, and has resolutions that feel kind of unfair, like flipping to the back of the Encyclopedia Brown book so Donald J. Sobol can tell you that actually there isn't One Clue That Unravels It All, but instead Master Brown is a licensed psychologist.
And like hey, given the title and certain themes, that might be the point! However, the game hasn't really pushed strongly enough in that direction for me to give it the benefit of that specific doubt.
The episodic nature is a strength, though.
And like hey, given the title and certain themes, that might be the point! However, the game hasn't really pushed strongly enough in that direction for me to give it the benefit of that specific doubt.
The episodic nature is a strength, though.
2006
How do you even rate Wii Sports? It almost wasn't a game after a certain point so much as a platonic ideal of the Family Activity. Software-like.
2008
So much hype surrounding this game back when it came out. This was going to be the next big thing. I slid right off it after an hour of playing and never came back.
2018
I don't understand people who say they play this game to chill out, but maybe they just mean "focus exclusively on one thing for a while," which is what it does for me. Which is nice, I honestly prefer that to chilling out, it's more relaxing in the end.
2018
On my first play session I won as solo impostor 3 times.
As someone famously terrible at hidden role games and bluffing in general, this was an object lesson in how well this game is designed. For every "sure thing" there's at least one way you can cast reasonable doubt, and this continues like three levels deep in the meta.
Pro tip: do not drink coffee before you play Among Us.
As someone famously terrible at hidden role games and bluffing in general, this was an object lesson in how well this game is designed. For every "sure thing" there's at least one way you can cast reasonable doubt, and this continues like three levels deep in the meta.
Pro tip: do not drink coffee before you play Among Us.
Ben having a "kick" verb on its own is terrific formal storytelling, and nearly every design decision is just like that: deeply in service of telling its lean and mean biker noir story.
Also, this game comes pretty damn close to solving the long-running How To End An Adventure Game puzzle.
Also, this game comes pretty damn close to solving the long-running How To End An Adventure Game puzzle.
2009
I have started this game at least three times and I've never gotten past Venice. Something always gets in the way. My PS3 broke entirely. It's cursed.
Anyways, I still think the in-universe justification of gamey elements as being artifacts of a simulation—and notably a non-literal representation of that simulation—is pretty neat and from what I've seen of later games this (and probably AC1, which I haven't played) is the only one to really get it right. The "literally a game made by Abstergo" thing is too, well, literal for my taste.
Anyways, I still think the in-universe justification of gamey elements as being artifacts of a simulation—and notably a non-literal representation of that simulation—is pretty neat and from what I've seen of later games this (and probably AC1, which I haven't played) is the only one to really get it right. The "literally a game made by Abstergo" thing is too, well, literal for my taste.