Friday, July 27, 2012
Metro flops, Skylanders soars, and what to do about hyperviolent games?
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Games: I finished Metro 2033 on 360 last night, and I started a
blog post to sort of wrap up my final thoughts. By the time I had it all down,
I realized I had effectively written a full Second Opinion review without
intending to, so I'll go ahead and post that to Gamecritics. It should be
up before too long.
In the meantime, if I had to nutshell my overall impressions
I'd say that the first 2-3 hours were pretty amazing, but that the game quickly
falls apart afterwards by relying too heavily on tedious gunplay and by
presenting a story that lacks detail in every aspect. It's tough for me to get excited
about slogging through tunnels and shooting mutant rats when the plot is paper-thin and makes little sense.
Despite all the complaints I had with the game and how little I
ended up enjoying it, I would still recommend the first section to those who
have an interest in rich atmosphere and effective pacing. After that, though, kick
it to the curb and don't feel guilty about it for a moment.
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Reviews: Super LTTP on this one, but here’s my writeup on
Skylanders: Spyro’s Avdenture. Spoiler:
I’ve beaten the game twice and I own all the figures, so you can probably guess
what I think about it…
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Events: Seattle Indie Expo THIS SUNDAY. Don't miss.
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Requests: We will be recording a new episode of the
Gamecritics Podcast in less than twenty-four hours, and the subject will be
graphic portrayals of violence and what purpose they serve.
How this came
about was that I got an e-mail from a listener/reader who expressed concerns
over gory stuff like Manhunt and its ilk, and more recently, Sniper Elite V2. In this game, the player is shown several “kill cam” shots
of his bullets traveling great distances to explode the heads of enemy troops,
and there are several scenes where the bullet is shown traveling through vital organs, and so on. It's quite reminiscent of the x-ray supermoves in
the most recent Mortal Kombat, actually.
Essentially, this person is saying that they feel the
extremely graphic presentation of the damage being done to the bodies of enemy
soldiers is over the top and unnecessary, and that it serves no real purpose.
In fact, he goes on to say that the specific level of violence he's talking about
should actually be banned since it may even be harmful, in his view.
So, what you think?
Is there any good reason to have
hyper-violent content in games? Any good reason to get rid of it? Should it be
banned, or should people have the option to consume such types of content if
they wish?
If you've got an opinion and want to share it, e-mail me and
I'll read it on the air.
***************PR/NEWS/INFO***************
NIS America today announced that Character Chowdown is now available for download on
iTunes® for iOS devices!
Character Chowdown is a brand-new game that will aid students in learning new languages. Developed in cooperation with Yummy Yummy Tummy, Character Chowdown will feature cuddly characters and cameos from Nippon Ichi Software Inc.'s popular Disgaea® series.
Character Chowdown is a brand-new game that will aid students in learning new languages. Developed in cooperation with Yummy Yummy Tummy, Character Chowdown will feature cuddly characters and cameos from Nippon Ichi Software Inc.'s popular Disgaea® series.
Players can start learning the Japanese
language with a free katakana pack. More language packs for hiragana and
hundreds of kanji will also be available.
***
The new Darksiders II
trailer – Death Comes For All
***
A brand-new Dishonored
trailer showing multiple solutions to a problem.
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Posts
Sigh... I liked it a lot more than you did, but I had a similar experience with the story. Did you notice that once you finally got to the guy you were supposed to deliver your message to, he already knew the message and already knew where to get the nukes? WHAT
Also, it's supremely irritating that there is NO WAY you can figure out how to get the "good" ending in your first playthrough without consulting a guide.