Let’s talk about story and characters in gaming. What’s that? The title says I’ll be talking about my expectations for acclaimed visual novel-style game 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors (999 for short)? The thing is, you can’t really have a great game that’s centred on the plot without (stop me if you see where this is going) a good plot. Continue reading
A quick glance at a few reviews of Xenoblade Chronicles will tell you at least one resounding thing: this is a great game. Very helpful, I know. While the title is an homage to the sometimes-revered Xeno series of games, I’m setting that aside for now on the basis that it may or may not have anything to do with the series besides sporting a similar title (also, minor detail, I’ve not played the Xeno series, so it would be difficult to draw conclusions anyways). In addition, nearly everything I’ve seen about the game references the fact that it is a JRPG (never mind that I managed to make the exceptional cognitive leap in determining that it is a role-playing game from Japan without the internet’s help), which has almost become a genre unto itself. This is as good a time as any to talk about what this means to me and what it might mean to you, since I can’t help but feel I was partially raised on the likes of Final Fantasy (at around the age of 6 or 7 I had three copies of the original NES game because it could store only one save file per cartridge… and, embarrassingly enough, I lost one copy under my bed). Continue reading
As I sit down to write about my expectations for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I instead find myself gaping at the shopping-list-length genre of the game: Action, stealth, fps, role-playing game (okay, so my shopping lists are kind of short). If genres are supposed to provide some up-front information about the game, what should I be expecting from Deus Ex? Repeated emphasis in reviews on open-ended gameplay and choices (and a similar focus in past games of the series, a long time ago though they may be) leads me to the interpretation that Deus Ex doesn’t necessarily strive to be all these things at once, but instead has the capacity to be whichever the player chooses as they play. Continue reading
First of all, welcome to ‘What I Like About’ – I hope you, er, like it! (*phew* smooth start)
As a lifelong gamer-turned-wannabe-designer, I have a confession to make. I love games. No, really, it’s true, can’t get enough of them. Since games (whether digital, table-top, card, or marble-based) are still around and are getting better all the time, it is safe to say I’m not alone in that. Not only do I love playing them, I love creating them, discussing them, even dissecting them on occasion. Verbally, of course – the other kind gets a bit messy (eww, game guts). Continue reading
Turn Based Living 