Game has narrative: "Ajay is a heroic liberator". Game has ludic elements: "Ajay casually murders hundreds of people who are simply assumed to be bad guys." Game review notes dissonance between narrative and ludic elements. That's called "ludonarrative criticism".
~Swinton
tildeswinton
The best argument for the uselessness of ludonarrative criticism is in free jumping, really. You can break the kayfabe of the game by pogoing around like an idiot while other characters speak earnestly, or you can remove the jumping feature and break kayfabe whenever you encounter an impassable knee-high wall.
Bioshock was Patient Zero when it came to critics fretting over the narrative / gameplay divide, actually
"a smarter or more sensitive game, like Rockstar’s Max Payne 3"
I remember SS2's soundtrack being somewhat out of place, but that's just as well.
The game's good, just don't do the same thing over and over
They had a pretty easy time of it, tbh, because Alien's sound design is still next-level and ripped off in pretty much any sci-fi horror media. They didn't have to go far.
They made a good choice to include the human and android levels - besides adding variety to the gameplay, it breaks up the tension of the alien levels. Avoiding freaked-out cannibals and murderous condom men count as a good breathers from being hunted.
It's not backtracking in the sense that you normally think of it. As I said downthread, there's a bit of Metroid in the level design - doors that require a certain tier of blowtorch power ot get through, a few gas-filled rooms requiring a breathing mask to get through - but all of that content is optional, netting you…
Anyway, I've mostly completed the game (and been spoiled for the ending, hahaa) and here's my take as someone who didn't find out early on that first-person stealth gaming is not for them: It's a good game, not wholly great in terms of gameplay, but very well made technically (really surprisingly so, given Sega's…
*Wow, this came out long! I'm splitting it up.
oh it's great, til the repairman spawns in the wrong place and plummets several stories to his death.
There was a time when I paid to play Fallout: Brotherhood Of Steel. Such games should never be played nor paid for.
I think this is the third time I've read a form of "prosaic" in a Halt and Catch Fire review. I love the word, and look forward to its continued overuse.
Using the voiceless African servant / bodyguard as an indicator of the show's racial bent, I'm going to wager that Josh Hartnett is in fact a werewolf, but as the result of a native curse. It would be in line with the general theme of guilt and retribution that a lot of main character arcs seem to be sporting. Also,…
The way Alana is shot when she enters Hannibal's home is very Silence-y
That felt a lot like the Twin Peaks series finale in a lot of ways, from its bleak cliffhangers to the general dreamy pace of it.
No one ever accused Jack Crawford of being wise.
Next week sees the introduction of Michael Pitt as Mason Verger, which will presumably fill out the rest of the season.