Simplicity is no bad thing: simplicity was regarded as such a wonderful criterion for the choice of viable scientific theories by the likes of Thomas Kuhn as it is capable of bringing order to seemingly disparate phenomena and unifying them without unnecessary multiplication of entities leading to potential confusion or a state of affair where … [Read more…]
DmC is evidence of all of the worst of Western excess: it is a torrid experience to play through and is bound to leave a sour taste in even the most liberal of people’s mouths. The true shame behind this state of affairs is that the crass, rude and infantile veneer that serves as the … [Read more…]
After seven iterations, it would take something special to keep the produce of a franchise fresh: in the case of films, the cinematographic tropes used by the director of the series would become known to the watcher, perhaps to the point of them tiring of them; in the case of books, the sort of narrative … [Read more…]
There’s a lot to be said for breaking genre staples, for thinking thoroughly outside of the box to deliver a game experience the likes of which has not been seen before. Consideration, however, must also be given to the fact that expectations around genre exist for a reason: the core mechanical tropes exist because they … [Read more…]
Tales of Graces, the 12th instalment in the Tales series from Namco gives itself away in its tagline: much of the story can be deduced from the five-word summary of the game on the rear of its case of “bonds of friendship are eternal.” Given that the game is a JRPG (given the box art, … [Read more…]