Friday, December 12, 2008

Origami Biro and the Joy of Box

May be slightly old but the sheer awesomeness of this makes me 
want to post this.

My irrational fear and Shadow of the Colossus


A long long time ago in a far off land a game called Shadow of the Colossus came out,it did pretty well and amazed many minds, including mine, but as of late something weird has happened. Last week after finally beating GTA 4 and Lost Odyssey, I was really bored so I decided to run through a couple of my old PS2 games and I decided to go back to Shadow of the Colossus. After popping it in what came to my surprise was, when I approached the first colossus I was scared shitless

For me this is really odd because originally I had completed this game with out a problem never feeling the horrible chill when the colossus turns and stares you down as I do now. First time I popped in the disk I was not filled with the sweet feeling of wonder that I originally had, I was filled with a odd fear stopping me from even moving out of the temple you start in. But what could this mean? Have I suddenly just grown a fear of a things incredibly bigger than me? Or am I just afraid of being alone? Yes, it's odd I know. I told my friends about that and they found it weird that I was getting chills from Shadow of the Colossus but when I start riding on my horse on that expansive land and stare down to the sight of nothing, it frightens me. In a way its more scarier than any horror game I've ever played. Resident Evil? Nah. Silent Hill? Not Really. But running around alone in wide land to soon be stared down by a giant colossus is truly a horror game for me.

Games reviewers are lazy?



          
I recently read an article on edge.com about an interview with Joseph Olin who is the president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. In this article he mentions how he has a pet peeve for reviewers who neglect to finish games before reviewing them. Joseph uses a comparison with reviewing movies, he says things like"You wouldn't just watch the first reel of a movie and review it."  He uses GTA4 as an example stating, "How can you give a comment about a game like Grand Theft Auto IV, that has 40-plus hours or more of gameplay, if you've only spent 2 1/2 to 3 hours playing it? While, I think alot of reviewers out there can be lazy, I really think the points Joseph used didn't support his arguments very well. Comparing seems wrong for the plain fact that games and movies are different, sure they hold some similar qualities but what makes them what they are is different, what makes them games or movies is different.

It's easy to finish a movie. Movies are  normally shorter than a game and naturally it's a very passive experience. While, the average video game is still longer than a 2 hour movie adding in the face that  it is also an active experience, the whole time you are interacting with the game and in result it can lead you to becoming much more tired of a game. Many times before I have lost motivation to finish a game regardless of how good or bad it was. 

Simply when you play a game your always going to end up having to concentrate in playing the game forcing you to deal with the many different things that make up the game, Most notably the core mechanic. A mechanic in the game that is going to be used throughout the entire game, albeit it may be changed up once and a while, but it will still be the same mechanic. If that mechanic is handled poorly or just isn't really fun at all,naturally, it will be like that for the rest of the game. In a movie the plot can have a twist and change the happenings in the story making it more interesting to watch. Although,being so inconsistent isn't normally a good thing, it can happen more in a story focused piece of entertainment. While in a game a developer isn't going to completely scrap the original gameplay halfway through. In some cases the developer may switch to different characters with different game mechanics, but its rarely the case that you don't see the older mechanic later in the game. Eventually a player can get to a point where he/she knows the game will be like this in the future.

Joseph speaks about how even if you complete the story in GTA it doesn't mean you done. He says "...Would a review of GTA IV in which the writer finished the story but did nothing else be more complete? I don’t personally think so." Although, I understand his reasoning it's still a lot to ask. Going back to my first point, you are actively participating in the game. This, in some way, can cause a lot of mental exhaustion for reviewers who naturally have a deadline. In a way I wouldn't call reviewers lazy because of this.I would say that this is normal for any human. For the most part getting 100% in GTA is extremely hard and its natural for one's motivation to deplete. It's like being forced to do laps around a gym, sure some people can do it but eventually someone is just going to lose energy.  By the time you finish GTA you have done around 64% of the game. The idea is that other 36% is more content yes, but that extra content most of the time uses those same game mechanics you have seen during the entire story, you have already reviewed those parts what's the point if you've already gone through that before?

Really, its just the difference between the mediums. We approach each one in a different manner. Trying to review these two mediums in the exact same way isn't always the best idea because they're different,simple as that. Its unreasonable to ask someone to evaluate them in the same way, yes they are both entertainment, but the way they entertain us is different. You can't review a book the same way you review a movie. In a movie there's different aspects in it that effect the quality. Eg) The quality of the acting and cinematography. All these mediums may have similar aspects to them but they have certain things that are different that define them. Asking someone to evaluate them in the same way can't happen because you are still reviewing different things.I can see where Joseph is coming from but I have to disagree. 


Tales of a Crappy Gamer: Half-Life 2

So for the first time in 4 years I actually came around to finishing Half-Life 2 and for th
You...uh heard the man.
e most part I really liked it. I know its odd to give one's opinions on a game that has been critically acclaimed for years now but fuck it I'm going to anyway. My overview of the game is that I really liked the second half of the game much more than the first half. Areas like Ravenholm were still amazing but when I had to go through that long vehicle mission I kind of lost the motivation to go through the whole thing. That brings up the topic of Ravenholm, by far I find this the most interesting part of the game. Throughout the entire section I always had this extremely eerie sensation about the place. By looking at the place you can sense that it was once a more lively town and now it is just the remnants of its past. 

The second half of the game completely blew me away. First off, taking control of the antlions was a great change of pace. Right when I gained control of them the game started to feel more strategic. I found myself using my antlions to distract enemies while I flank them and other things of that nature. Near the end of the game I got introduced with the powered up gravity gun that proved to be a god danm blast, I could really feel the difference from the old gravity gun that you used throughout the start of the game. Also, I found this game had the greatest ending sequence ever but I wont go into that too much but all I can say is that the G-man has never been so creepy. All in all Half-Life 2 is a lot better than I gave it credit for back in 2004 and I'm really glad I went back to it. I probably and going to go finish episode 1 and 2 now and hopefully it'll be just as good or maybe even better. 

Well I leave you readers off with a simple question: What very popular somewhat old games have you guys neglected to beat?

Why are We the Way We are?

Now before you start thinking this is some kind of blog commenting on our lives as human beings, stop, I actually want to talk about something a tad different. I want to talk about why we are gamers, hobbyist, or just geeks.

For a long time I've been pondering this question how did I become a gamer why am I a gamer? What made me so oddly interested in the niche? What exactly made me this way? Why do I love this medium so much?

The one game that really made me love video games had to be Final Fantasy 7. It was the first game of its kind that I've played.A new world was opened up to me, I started to see video games in a different way. I suddenly became obsessed with characters and story in video games. Soon enough I found myself  escaping to these awesome new worlds constantly anticipating each day because each day was another oppourtunity to be completely immersed in this new world. Eventually I began finding more and more games like it to feed my addiction. 

As I grew older my interest in these things began to grow beyond video games into more and more geeky things. I started getting into collecting. From comic books to toys to movies, if something was quirky and interesting I always had to drop all my money on it. My house became decorated with crazy vinyl toys and my shelves were stacked with movies and games. All of it fed my crazy obsession with the geek culture. I'm not sure why but something about being so engrossed in this world and always brought some kind of joy to me.Being around these things made me happy, it helped me forget all of the problems of the world. To me this was my way to indulge in something interesting and different.

To me videos game are a culture. Video games bring people together. They allow us to feel control over something (Something we tend to lack in real life to an extent). To me video games are an escape. I'm a geek because I love the culture, the people, and the world that video games have created today. Video games, the geek culture, brings people together, they bring us to places like Giant bomb, they bring us to places like PAX.  I'm a geek because I have a passion that grew in me a long time ago and places like Giant bomb just further allow me to idulge in my passion. Here I get to write about games and most importantly talk about games with people who have a passion for games like me.

I'm a gamer and thats that. Beyond that I apologize for this mini biography of me but I haven't blogged in a while and this was on my mind for a while but I would like to leave you off with a question before I go. What made you a Gamer?