Consequence Without Morality

The opening scene in Indigo Prophecy is one of the most memorable moments in gaming for anyone that’s played it. The main character, Lucas, goes into a trance and kills a man in the bathroom of a small restaurant. Play it once and it seems fairly unremarkable, but on a second try, when the player realizes the wealth of options available, it’s impossible not to feel a sense of wonder. But the real accomplishment of this scene is that all these choices are presented to the player without any moral implications.

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The Flawed Horror of Silent Hill: Homecoming

Silent Hill: Homecoming was largely seen as a departure from the survival-horror genre when it was released last October. However, this entry in the long running series remained true to its genre roots in many ways. Guns were sparse and ammo even more so, there were plenty of puzzles and dark environments, and while the new combat system bothered many long-time fans because it didn’t actively discourage fighting, since it emphasized dodging over attacking, players still felt weak and disadvantaged in each confrontation. But Silent Hill: Homecoming was a departure from form. It took more inspiration from the Silent Hill movie than from the previous games and ended up with many of the same flaws. It had all the elements of a psychological survival-horror game, but didn’t know how to use them properly, and as a result, it felt like more of a departure than it actually was.

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I’ve also got a review of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings up on PopMatters as well.

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I recently bought and finished the Epilogue for Prince of Persia, and was surprisingly disappointed by it, but not for the reasons most other gamers were.

Subverting the Power Fantasy in Call of Duty 4

The Call of Duty series has never been known for subtly or for story, but more for its large scale battles and action sequences. The 4th entry stays true this formula, but also uses the modern setting to set a pace that builds up our perception of the game as a “power fantasy” until that fantasy is violently undermined.

Why You Should Care About Dom’s Wife

I never understood why so many people seemed to hate Dom’s wife, or were at the very least indifferent to her. But even if you didn’t care about her as a character, you should still care about her as a plot device, because she represents a unique kind of storytelling for games.

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I recently saw Angels and Demons, and all throughout the movie I kept thinking how similar it felt to an old point-and-click adventure game. The plot revolved around finding clues and solving environmental puzzles in a race against time. It sounds like the perfect setup for a game, but with the shooter genres currently driving the games industry, I’m afraid it’ll be a long time before an adventure game similar to Angels and Demons is made. In the meantime, I’m excited to get my hands on a copy of Broken Sword: Shadows of the Templars for the Wii. It’ll be interesting to see how it, Assassin’s Creed, and The Da Vinci Code all handle the various myths surrounding the Knights Templar. And if the new information about Heavy Rain is any indicator, perhaps the adventure genre isn’t dead after all.