The act of creation is one fraught with difficulty: there are a practical infinity of considerations that must be made. We must consider whether what we create will offend others; whether what we create is worthy of wider consumption, or even of having our own names put upon it; whether our ideas are coherent. Of … [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…]
The real-time strategy genre of video games is one that has ailed in the last few years: given the large number of such games released in the 2000s, it is shocking to see the sharp decline in the number of these games being produced in the mainstream of the industry. The Command and Conquer series … [Read more…]
The third-person-cover-oriented shooter became a much-vaunted genre with the release of the first Gears of War: though the mechanic had been used previously in games such as Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Kill.Switch, the release of Gears of War served to popularise it to an extent that its implementation of the mechanic … [Read more…]
Lauding the writing of a video game is akin to extolling the virtues of the “ground-breaking” nature of independent journalism: much as a small number of people paying attention to a news story from a niche outlet is not indicative of what would be considered earth-shattering in other circles, to celebrate the writing of a … [Read more…]