Erik Twice Reviews: Overwatch!

[noiseredux]

^good read. I've not played this yet myself. Curious if you had played the original Oregon Trail prior?

[Erik_Twice]

^good read. I've not played this yet myself. Curious if you had played the original Oregon Trail prior?

I don't think I have, but according to what I've seen of it, Organ Trail is the same game with some minor thematic differences like having zombie hordes instead of rivers and so on. Director's Cut is a little bit different but still clearly the same game.

Glad you liked the article Noise

[Erik_Twice]

Games have gotten easier over time. Moreover, they have gotten simpler, shorter and less involved. Why did that happen? Many explanations have been made but I think one of the most important factors was price.

The invisible hand of game design

I think this would be a great topic to discuss so I'm going to ask the mods if it would be okey to make a dedicated thread about it in the Games as Culture subforum.

[alienjesus]

Games have gotten easier over time. Moreover, they have gotten simpler, shorter and less involved. Why did that happen? Many explanations have been made but I think one of the most important factors was price.

The invisible hand of game design

I think this would be a great topic to discuss so I'm going to ask the mods if it would be okey to make a dedicated thread about it in the Games as Culture subforum.

Not sure I agree with less involved, if anything games are much more involved. Perhaps this is why they try so hard to streamline the processes and the difficulty - theres a lot more mechanics to master in a game like Grand Theft Auto V then there was in Mega Man 2 where you only had to master running, shooting and jumping to get by. That's also why they could make it harder - force you to master limited mechanics rather than utilize more mechanics. Neither is a bad approach if done right in my opinion.

I think one of the most important factors is price of development personally. Not much point spending millions developing beautiful graphics, new enemy types and new game mechanics for later sections of the game if barely any of your audience is going to see them.

Story driven focus in a lot of games has a lot to do with it too. They want you to experience the story without the game holding you back from being able to reach the conclusion. Whether it's a good or bad thing is up to you. Personally, it depends on the game for me. I don't think there's an issue with the plot taking central stage in a video game over more traditional 'gameplay' elements. I also don't think there's anything wrong with a game ignoring story in favour of full on abstraction in it's mechanics. Each has it's place.

[ZeroAX]

Not sure I agree with less involved, if anything games are much more involved. Perhaps this is why they try so hard to streamline the processes and the difficulty - theres a lot more mechanics to master in a game like Grand Theft Auto V then there was in Mega Man 2 where you only had to master running, shooting and jumping to get by. That's also why they could make it harder - force you to master limited mechanics rather than utilize more mechanics. Neither is a bad approach if done right in my opinion.

It depends. Console gaming has become more involved, but computer gaming has become a looooooooooooot less involved.

As the Leisure Suit Larry guy said "in the 80s/early 90s just getting the game to start was an adventure game riddle all by itself"

[Erik_Twice]

Hey, glad to see you answer so quickly. I created a thread about my article on "Games as culture", let's discuss it there

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=47459

[Erik_Twice]

Xenonauts.1.TitleScreen.jpg (91.44 KiB) Viewed 3796 times

I review Xenonauts, a really good remake of Gollop's classic UFO: Enemy Unknown (XCOM) that is close enough to be called a second edition.

If you wanted to play UFO, this is the best choice:

Xenonauts - AAA

[Erik_Twice]

I don't trust game journalism. I never have. And I think I have good reasons why:

Journalistic Distrust

You guys know this has been a pet topic of mine for a while now so I'm glad to have finished this article. It's a bit outdated and the timing is awful because the whole Gamergate fiasco has been raging for very long but I think it constructs mistrust as reasonable.

Feel free to discuss, I'm all ears.

[ZeroAX]

Not enough misogyny, so I don't see how this article has anything to do with ethics in gaming journalism.

[Erik_Twice]

Not enough misogyny, so I don't see how this article has anything to do with ethics in gaming journalism.

I made the mistake of mentioning "#Gamergate" on Twitter and got a bunch of posts over it.