Finished Banner Saga awhile ago, but I captured this image when I was impressed by some of its simple but thought-provoking gameplay. Seems like a simple multiple-choice question, doesn’t it? So… let’s break this down a little bit. This challenge (and similar others) comes up midgame and has consequences on the size of your cohort, […]
Tag Archives: gameplay
Videogame Field of View
I came across an interesting inquiry on Quora recently, and thought I’d share it with you folks. The question: “In 1st person video games, why don’t they introduce peripheral vision? The angle of sight seems to be a lot less than our own angle of vision.” I’ve had this complaint as well, in both first-person […]
A Game Hero Should Be Voiceless: Part Two
The Rude Game Hero The voiceless game hero? He’s an ass. Well, inadvertently. Have you ever noticed how a voiceless game hero fails to respond to mid-mission communications? I recently finished Resistance on the PS3, and the game’s avatar, Nathan Hale, is a classic, cliche game hero with little to say and a lot to […]
A Game Hero Should Be Voiceless: T or F?
Game Case Study: The Voiceless Hero The typical game hero is mute. Have you noticed? Especially in first-person shooters, your typical game hero is a stoic son of a mesh. He has an inhuman pain tolerance, miraculous healing powers, and can tote as much military hardware as a Sherman tank. But he can’t communicate. He’ll […]
Uncharted 2 Steals Hearts
Uncharted 2 and Naughty Dog Revive the Adventure Genre The Uncharted 2: Among Thieves SKU and its action/adventure gameplay are dominating the ratings at Metacritic. Adventure games? Zork? Monkey Island? Indiana Jones? Hello again. We’ve missed you. Uncharted 2 brings back Nathan Drake (Indiana Jones?) for another round of high-stakes artifact hunting, this time to […]
Gears of War 2 gets a new smoke grenade
Gears of War fans, rejoice. The gameplay for those previously useless smoke grenades is getting a facelift. In the first Gears of War, the smoke grenades were as useful as they would be in a Quake 3 deathmatch. There’s really nothing tactical about GoW; it’s a pure twitch game with zero stealth. And I’m not […]
Best videogame monster
Best videogame monster: now accepting your nominations The best videogame monster. Now that’s a competitive category. Like best movie villain, except a heck of a lot more likely to make your palms sweat. Even if you’re a novice videogamer, you’ve probably seen your share of incredible videogame monsters. Some examples that spring to my mind: […]
Gameplay Cliches
Gameplay cliches get a lot of chatter, but when the game is successful and has a core experience that people enjoy, no one says a word. Case in point: Gears of War. Mine carts. Ammo boxes that are strewn around abundantly. Crates that contain ammo boxes. Also strewn around at every juncture. Lava levels. Gears […]