Between a rock and a hard place
by sweep
sometimes I worry about the state of commercial videogames. We are currently positioned upon an ongoing escalation of graphical prowess, huge budget productions which become increasingly flamboyant with each iteration. Halo, Starcraft, Call Of Duty, Uncharted, Grand Theft Auto, Gears Of War - great games, no doubt, but all victims of their own success. You end up like the Modern Warfare games w...
sometimes I worry about the state of commercial videogames.
We are currently positioned upon an ongoing escalation of graphical prowess, huge budget productions which become increasingly flamboyant with each iteration. Halo, Starcraft, Call Of Duty, Uncharted, Grand Theft Auto, Gears Of War - great games, no doubt, but all victims of their own success. You end up like the Modern Warfare games where the sequel simply needs to be bigger, more explosive, more expansive - it's not enough to have one nuke, you need several - to the extent that any failure to capitalise upon the action sequences is considered a missed opportunity. Sometimes things move so blindingly fast that the experience loses all meaning and just becomes one ongoing abstract military blur.
To have this mindset so satisfyingly undermined by such a superb game as Limbo is a real credit to the entire industry. Videogames don't get more classic than the traditional 2D platformer, and to discover a game that can still make such an engagingly fresh platforming experience is really uplifting. Limbo may be sombre in tone, but my progression as a player is one of continual bedazzlement. This game succeeds in surpassing all my expectations continually without growing stale, contrived or tedious. The integration of the sobering art style as not only a thematic device but integrated into the puzzles of the game cannot be overhyped for it's ingenuity. The people who made this game are fucking smart.
In fact I want to give massive love to every apparently trivial videogame objective. You don't need to save the presidents daughter or save the world to create a good game. I understand the need to create that "Woah, awesome!" moment, but seriously. Calm down. It's 2010, nobody is impressed by your ability to create cool looking explosions.
At a time of future uncertainty it's comforting to know that at the very least our foundations remain solid.
Sometimes you just need to keep things simple.Fuck, I haven't done an edition of Keeping It Simple for a while. I used to do one every friday. Fuck, I used to look forward to doing one every friday. That is a habit I need to resurrect. Stay tuned!
IN OTHER NEWS
- I bought Aion in a steam sale and finally got round to trying it out. It's a pretty game, though it feels a little loose. More often than not I find myself closely comparing it to World Of Warcraft and often wishing it could be more similar. I then realised that if that's what I wanted I should just bite the bullet and start playing WoW again. I was hoping to hold out until Cataclysm but I might have to jump the gun...
- My friend gave me a gift pass for starcraft 2 but my internet ain't so great at the moment so I'm probably going to have to wait a while before I can actually download it. I really want to try it out, however my main beef with the game is the lack of international multiplayer. Considering a load of my game-playing friends reside in the US that's kind of a deal-breaker for me. I know they said they might patch it in so I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Thanks For Reading
Love Sweep