1. Gone Home is a game where you walk around until it is time to stop walking around. It is also very, very good.
2. What actually happens in Gone Home is you arrive home after extensive international travels. Your family has moved while you are out of the country and you find there is nobody home and the house is mostly still in unpacked disarray. You walk around the house and explore it but that is not what Gone Home is really about.
3. The first thing you find is a saying not to investigate the house and shortly thereafter it becomes clear that there are some horror-story type events in this home's history. That is also not what Gone Home is about.
4. Gone Home is actually about exploring people's lives.
5. The lives in particular are not that of the playable character, Katie, but of her family. Katie's younger sister, Sam, is the focus. Sam is just coming to terms w/ the fact that she is a lesbian. She live at home. It's the nineties. This is pretty rough situation all around.
6. A lot of people complained when this first came about that the horror story framework was subverted into a coming-out story and doing so was misleading on the part of the developers. I think being mislead is great in this case. While I can get behind a game where you slowly creep around a house and wait for things to pop out and scare you, I think we get a little more meaningful substance here.
7. According to the developers, the nineties were chosen just so it made sense that Katie was not in constant smart-phone communication w/ her parents and thus her arrival home could still be something of a surprise. They use this nineties backdrop to great effect though, weaving the story line to include contemporary musical movements, attitudes and government policies like don't ask/don't tell.
8. The way the main narrative of Sam's coming out is told is Bioshock-style, through audio-logs. (Well--they are diary entries that are read out lout to you, whatever.) This isn't exactly a groundbreaking storytelling method and wasn't in 2013 either but it works here because it is so well supported by the setting.
9. Voice actor, Sarah Grayson, does a great job selling Sam as a character but equally important is the fact that Sam's room has some pretty notable similarities to my own bedroom back in the nineties or that she's hung band posters and show fliers throughout various nooks and hideaways in the sprawling house in which the game is set. Generally, lived-in details are abound and do a great job not only creating the right atmosphere but telling an entirely separate story on their own.
10. Or, actually, it weaves multiple complementary stories together. You dig into Katie and Sam's parents' romantic lives along w/ their careers and their habits. You get the history of the house and the horror-story stuff that went on in its past.
11. None of it is just filler or backstory thrown in for the sake of it either. It is all baked in, a real part of the in-game universe. Details are about and each and every one seems a necessary piece to the puzzle when you discover it.
12. You don't have to dig through everything to find all this stuff but when
you do it doesn't feel like interesting tidbits thrown in for color but
small epiphanies about why the family functions the way it does. The few challenging bits in the game are all pretty much side-content and your reward for doing them is a a bit more information and a greater understanding of the underlying situation.
13. You could argue that, absent any real gameplay challenge, Gone Home isn't a whole game. And, you know,if you are gonna do that, go right on ahead. I hate this shit half the time too. This said, Gone Home is such a compelling example of world building that I have to recommend it for anyone who has even a vague interest in this sort of thing. If meandering around a creepy old house and getting to know digital people w/o ever actually meeting them sounds like a good time to you, you've just found a great way to spend a Friday Evening.
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
13 Points on Just Cause 3 - Avalanche Studios - 2015
1. You know how in a lot of big action games, when it gets to the point things are really gonna pop off, you just get pushed into a quick time event and have to sit there like a dumbass and periodically press a button while you watch the fireworks? Just Cause 3 doesn't make you do that. In Just Cause 3, you not only set off the fireworks yourself, you get to pick which fireworks go off and what you use to light them.
2. Just to be clear what this means: you will regularly grapple onto a helicopter that is shooting you, chuck the pilot out the window, take control of the helicopter and send it careening into an enemy fuel tank while simultaneously parachuting out and latching onto another helicopter to repeat the process. This is just a normal thing you will do. It is basic gameplay in Just Cause 3.
3. Structurally, this is pretty much climb-a-tower-to-reveal-map-icons type open world game. You don't actually climb towers but defeating enemy bases gives you similar icon action.
4. The open world is huge and I am normally indifferent to world size but it is just so much fun to get around, it helps to have a long way to go between objectives sometimes. You have a grappling hook arm band thing that whips you along fast as a dandy and then a quickly deployable parachute and wingsuit when you go airborne. Physics are just realistic enough to have some drama to them but still allow you to fling yourself about in ways that would certainly destroy a human being in short order.
5. Gunplay is pretty tame. It is all run and gun w/ some aim assist. There's ironsights eventually but only as an unlockable. The magic in combat is in the little grappling hook arm band thing which you can use for a high variety of violent purposes. You can use it to throw an explosive barrel into a gas tank. You can latch it onto a man's chest and throw yourself at him. You can tie a jet airplane to the ground. You get the idea.
6. Though Just Cause 3 is pretty much a textbook male power fantasy, I have to give it credit for having a broad group of female characters that don't exist just to get rescued. The leader of an idealistic rebellion, its highest ranked scientist and the head of a scrappy group of mercenaries are all women. This is pretty much any person that's in charge of anything aside from the villains. Not bad.
7. This said, plotwise we are strongly in "Who even cares?" territory. You are on some kind Italian archipelago run by an obviously evil dictator and your goal is to overthrow him through the unorthodox use of his own helicopters.
8. You have regenerating health and this combined w/ the fact that you can use your little grappling hook thing to zing out of any situation at a moment's notice makes you practically invincible if you chose to be. You chose to stick around more often than not but you probably will cheese your way through some tricky situations from time to time by firing a few shots and zooming away to safety over and over.
9. Similarly, the punishment for death is rather minor. Everything you've destroyed up until your death stays destroyed so you can just keep taking things out few at a time between deaths rather than come up w/ a better approach or strategy.
10. You gain all of your major abilities w/in a few hours of gameplay, which is a good thing. It always drives me nuts when the most fun elements of combat aren't available for the full game. There are a lot of bonus items and skills you can earn through about a million various challenges that you unlock as the game progresses. Some of these are powerful enough as to make some difficult tasks trivially easy but, honestly, I didn't really find the challenges enjoyable enough to play most of them so I guess that kinda solves that problem.
11. An open world this big and this open-ended as far as gameplay is bound to have some rough points. I accept a bit of weirdness as the price of admission in a game w/ such potential for edge cases but, esp. toward the end, I found it a bit galling that what I'd done had very little effect on the world itself. It'd be cool if, for example, as you started taking out enemy oil rigs, you'd see enemy tanks out of gas on the side of the road or something. The way it is, the missions are exactly the same whether you've left the enemy's network of bases relatively in tact or destroyed almost all of them. It makes the world feel a bit shallow in spite of its massive size.
12. The story missions are also just kinda crappy. Let's just say there's lots of escort missions and the grand scale battles that end each chapter only partly make up for this.
13. If you want a game where you can attach an exploding barrel to a moving vehicle and watch the combined mess crash spectacularly into a satellite dish, Just Cause 3 is your game. If you want a game where you can wing walk on a fighter jet and bazooka other fighter jets, Just Cause 3 is your game. Lots of games do this kind of thing but this series is pretty unique in letting you do it whenever you want. It makes some compromises in other areas but in terms of gameplay spectacle, it is second to none. I can't say it's a perfect game but I will say I am very excited for Just Cause 4.
2. Just to be clear what this means: you will regularly grapple onto a helicopter that is shooting you, chuck the pilot out the window, take control of the helicopter and send it careening into an enemy fuel tank while simultaneously parachuting out and latching onto another helicopter to repeat the process. This is just a normal thing you will do. It is basic gameplay in Just Cause 3.
3. Structurally, this is pretty much climb-a-tower-to-reveal-map-icons type open world game. You don't actually climb towers but defeating enemy bases gives you similar icon action.
4. The open world is huge and I am normally indifferent to world size but it is just so much fun to get around, it helps to have a long way to go between objectives sometimes. You have a grappling hook arm band thing that whips you along fast as a dandy and then a quickly deployable parachute and wingsuit when you go airborne. Physics are just realistic enough to have some drama to them but still allow you to fling yourself about in ways that would certainly destroy a human being in short order.
5. Gunplay is pretty tame. It is all run and gun w/ some aim assist. There's ironsights eventually but only as an unlockable. The magic in combat is in the little grappling hook arm band thing which you can use for a high variety of violent purposes. You can use it to throw an explosive barrel into a gas tank. You can latch it onto a man's chest and throw yourself at him. You can tie a jet airplane to the ground. You get the idea.
6. Though Just Cause 3 is pretty much a textbook male power fantasy, I have to give it credit for having a broad group of female characters that don't exist just to get rescued. The leader of an idealistic rebellion, its highest ranked scientist and the head of a scrappy group of mercenaries are all women. This is pretty much any person that's in charge of anything aside from the villains. Not bad.
7. This said, plotwise we are strongly in "Who even cares?" territory. You are on some kind Italian archipelago run by an obviously evil dictator and your goal is to overthrow him through the unorthodox use of his own helicopters.
8. You have regenerating health and this combined w/ the fact that you can use your little grappling hook thing to zing out of any situation at a moment's notice makes you practically invincible if you chose to be. You chose to stick around more often than not but you probably will cheese your way through some tricky situations from time to time by firing a few shots and zooming away to safety over and over.
9. Similarly, the punishment for death is rather minor. Everything you've destroyed up until your death stays destroyed so you can just keep taking things out few at a time between deaths rather than come up w/ a better approach or strategy.
10. You gain all of your major abilities w/in a few hours of gameplay, which is a good thing. It always drives me nuts when the most fun elements of combat aren't available for the full game. There are a lot of bonus items and skills you can earn through about a million various challenges that you unlock as the game progresses. Some of these are powerful enough as to make some difficult tasks trivially easy but, honestly, I didn't really find the challenges enjoyable enough to play most of them so I guess that kinda solves that problem.
11. An open world this big and this open-ended as far as gameplay is bound to have some rough points. I accept a bit of weirdness as the price of admission in a game w/ such potential for edge cases but, esp. toward the end, I found it a bit galling that what I'd done had very little effect on the world itself. It'd be cool if, for example, as you started taking out enemy oil rigs, you'd see enemy tanks out of gas on the side of the road or something. The way it is, the missions are exactly the same whether you've left the enemy's network of bases relatively in tact or destroyed almost all of them. It makes the world feel a bit shallow in spite of its massive size.
12. The story missions are also just kinda crappy. Let's just say there's lots of escort missions and the grand scale battles that end each chapter only partly make up for this.
13. If you want a game where you can attach an exploding barrel to a moving vehicle and watch the combined mess crash spectacularly into a satellite dish, Just Cause 3 is your game. If you want a game where you can wing walk on a fighter jet and bazooka other fighter jets, Just Cause 3 is your game. Lots of games do this kind of thing but this series is pretty unique in letting you do it whenever you want. It makes some compromises in other areas but in terms of gameplay spectacle, it is second to none. I can't say it's a perfect game but I will say I am very excited for Just Cause 4.
Friday, October 12, 2018
13 Points on Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes - Steel Crate Games - 2015 [PC]
1. This is what I think you really want to know about this: yes, people
who don't play video games will enjoy playing this game at your dinner
party. Or at whatever kind of party you have. I don't know what you're
into.
2. Remember to print up the bomb manuals before your guests arrive.
3. This is a party game but it's not the sort of party game where you can chit chat while playing. This makes it really handy to have if you don't actually like your friends.
4. The games are about five minutes long predominantly. In between games, you argue who's fault it is.
5. NOT MINE!
6. This is fun even when you lose but it's more fun when you win.
7. If you are playing with first timers, get people initially to specialize in one or two types of puzzle a piece. There is a lot to learn, the manuals are pretty thick and it gets a bit intimidating.
8. Probably one person will be the weak link in your system. Have that person mix the drinks.
9. They make a big deal about people w/ the manuals not being able to see the bomb and vice versa. I don't honestly think it matters one bit for casual play but it would be kind of hilarious to have someone hide in a blanket fort as the game suggests in its opening sequence.
10. "Somebody set up us the bomb." It will be said.
11. The mini-game called "Who's on first?" is the most breathtakingly infuriating thing in gaming since the dog that laughs at you in Duck Hunt.
12. Infuriating is fun in this case.
13. After playing this just because you have guests over, you will want to have guests over just to play this.
2. Remember to print up the bomb manuals before your guests arrive.
3. This is a party game but it's not the sort of party game where you can chit chat while playing. This makes it really handy to have if you don't actually like your friends.
4. The games are about five minutes long predominantly. In between games, you argue who's fault it is.
5. NOT MINE!
6. This is fun even when you lose but it's more fun when you win.
7. If you are playing with first timers, get people initially to specialize in one or two types of puzzle a piece. There is a lot to learn, the manuals are pretty thick and it gets a bit intimidating.
8. Probably one person will be the weak link in your system. Have that person mix the drinks.
9. They make a big deal about people w/ the manuals not being able to see the bomb and vice versa. I don't honestly think it matters one bit for casual play but it would be kind of hilarious to have someone hide in a blanket fort as the game suggests in its opening sequence.
10. "Somebody set up us the bomb." It will be said.
11. The mini-game called "Who's on first?" is the most breathtakingly infuriating thing in gaming since the dog that laughs at you in Duck Hunt.
12. Infuriating is fun in this case.
13. After playing this just because you have guests over, you will want to have guests over just to play this.
Friday, October 5, 2018
13 Points on Abzu - Giant Squid - 2016 [PC]
1. Alright, nerds, I didn't like this stupid underwater walking sim. If
you want to save time, skip the rest of this list and just flame me in
the comments. I am going to say exactly everything you expect me to say
and I'm right.
2. Gameplay is you swim around until it is time to stop swimming around.
3. For a superior experience to this, I recommend you stream David Attenborough's The Blue Planet and just fiddle w/ a controller of your choosing. This offers the same level of player engagement and you can use a Sega Saturn controller w/o the need for an adapter.
4. This is the sort of game people describe as relaxing and atmospheric. By this, they mean it's a glorified tech demo w/ almost no discernible plot or challenge.
5. I am thoroughly glad that developers are experimenting more and more w/ making games that are pointedly supposed to be seen as art. I am upset that so many of these developers forget to make a good game in the process.
6. The visuals and sound design and music are very nice. This seems to be the only thing anybody ever notices about it, which makes sense because that's all there is to it.
7. I seemed to have played this less than most reviewers. Honestly, I'm not sure if that's because I didn't finish or because I couldn't be bothered to explore anything so as not to artificially extend the time I spent being bored to tears. I got to a point in the game where gameplay seemed to stop but I am truly not sure if that was meant to be the end of the game.
8. I was happy to turn it off at that point though.
9. The advertising copy for this game is unintentionally hilarious. "The word ABZU is from the oldest mythologies." Riiiiiiiight...
10. PC Master Racers take note: they suggest you use a controller for this game for no real reason other than they couldn't be bothered to refine the keyboard controls. I mean, seriously, are you telling me there no good games w/ six degrees of freedom played w/ mouse and keyboard? Put some work in, people.
11. Despite all my complaining about everything else, I don't have an issue w/ price vs. play time on this. You know that it's an animated fishbowl getting into this and that you can take basically as much or as little time as you to explore so it's not like the developers pulled the wool over your eyes or anything.
12. Really, since they didn't seem the need to build gameplay into this game, I don't see why I should have to do a full thirteen points in this review.
13. OK, fine. This is point 13.
2. Gameplay is you swim around until it is time to stop swimming around.
3. For a superior experience to this, I recommend you stream David Attenborough's The Blue Planet and just fiddle w/ a controller of your choosing. This offers the same level of player engagement and you can use a Sega Saturn controller w/o the need for an adapter.
4. This is the sort of game people describe as relaxing and atmospheric. By this, they mean it's a glorified tech demo w/ almost no discernible plot or challenge.
5. I am thoroughly glad that developers are experimenting more and more w/ making games that are pointedly supposed to be seen as art. I am upset that so many of these developers forget to make a good game in the process.
6. The visuals and sound design and music are very nice. This seems to be the only thing anybody ever notices about it, which makes sense because that's all there is to it.
7. I seemed to have played this less than most reviewers. Honestly, I'm not sure if that's because I didn't finish or because I couldn't be bothered to explore anything so as not to artificially extend the time I spent being bored to tears. I got to a point in the game where gameplay seemed to stop but I am truly not sure if that was meant to be the end of the game.
8. I was happy to turn it off at that point though.
9. The advertising copy for this game is unintentionally hilarious. "The word ABZU is from the oldest mythologies." Riiiiiiiight...
10. PC Master Racers take note: they suggest you use a controller for this game for no real reason other than they couldn't be bothered to refine the keyboard controls. I mean, seriously, are you telling me there no good games w/ six degrees of freedom played w/ mouse and keyboard? Put some work in, people.
11. Despite all my complaining about everything else, I don't have an issue w/ price vs. play time on this. You know that it's an animated fishbowl getting into this and that you can take basically as much or as little time as you to explore so it's not like the developers pulled the wool over your eyes or anything.
12. Really, since they didn't seem the need to build gameplay into this game, I don't see why I should have to do a full thirteen points in this review.
13. OK, fine. This is point 13.
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