Thursday 21 April 2011

Excerpt from Facebook


    • Ben Abraham You have been taken over by a freaky AI.
      about an hour ago ·
    • Ben Abraham But I like it. I really, really like it. Took me two whole reads to get what you were doing, and then it clicked and I was like "Aha, this... is real clever."
      about an hour ago ·
    • Andrew Doull Well I can't comment on your blog, and your latest post was the reason I posted this review... it's in the vein of my reviews of World of Goo and Bioshock which both achieved a measure of notoreity.
      about an hour ago · · 1 person
    • Andrew Doull And you did basically say the same thing regards Portal vs Far Cry 2 = S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for me... (I had actually written this this morning, but we're obviously reacting along the same lines)
      about an hour ago ·
    • Ben Abraham I'm beginning to think that we need better ways of responding to games beyond rate it or hate it.
      about an hour ago ·
    • Ben Abraham Like I *know* it's a damn good game, but... I guess it's not for me? But it is for me... kinda? It's for my *demographic* and it should appeal to me, but at the same time... I
      about an hour ago ·
    • Ben Abraham ‎...I'm more than just a demographic. Certain things work for me, and certain things don't.
      about an hour ago ·
    • Andrew Doull Like Left4Dead2, I found myself soullessly rushing through the levels because Valve's visual/level design is so good there is such an obvious path to move forward on... sometimes the player should be free to feel like they are discovering something for themselves, something dangerous even.
      about an hour ago ·
    • Andrew Doull Dare we reference NGJ?
      59 minutes ago ·
    • Ben Abraham WE DARE.
      37 minutes ago ·
    • Ben Abraham But yes, I know exactly what you mean. I found myself slipping into "the portal method" where I go... hmm, I can't tell where to go. Okay, lets look for whatever the light is shining on. There's my exit. Then I worked back from there.
      36 minutes ago ·
    • Andrew Doull
      Hunch: The difference between critic scores and user reviews at http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/all/pc?view=condensed&sort=desc is the exact thing we're talking about but can't quite put our finger on. Also: Does it matter that I haven't replayed World of Goo again after finishing it in the same way you won't play Portal 2? Opinion: Portal matters more than Portal 2 because in Portal, you are the person who makes the leap of faith to escape, Portal 2 doesn't give you that. Clint Hocking: Ludo narrative dissonance?
      20 minutes ago ·
    • Andrew Doull ‎(Ignoring but also taking into account the Portal 2 user score rating scandals/ARG fuck up/day one DLC).
      17 minutes ago ·
    • Andrew Doull BTW: This is the sort of conversation I imagine occurs on twitter all the time but probably doesn't due to stupid character limi
      15 minutes ago ·
    • Andrew Doull ‎:)
      14 minutes ago ·
    • Ben Abraham Re: twitter, exactly.
      9 minutes ago ·
    • Ben Abraham Also: I like the phrase "ignoring but taking into account" all that stuff. I feel like the milieux around release simultaneously needs to be and cannot be ignored. Weird paradox.
      7 minutes ago ·
    • Andrew Doull Sounds like a weird paradox which is more like life & death (or at least career) for some:http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2011/04/storm.html
      6 minutes ago ·
    • Andrew Doull Anyway, should have been up late playing Portal 2 and instead up late engaged in civilised debate/theoretical wankery (delete one). Tempted to post this verbatim to blog, but may sound like too much of the later and not enough of the former.
      3 minutes ago ·

1 comment:

Justin Alexander said...

I had kinda the same reaction to Portal 2. The first game felt like there was a point where you were thwartin the designers. And since the designers were personified in the game by GlaDOS the result was incredibly immersive.

In Portal 2, even when you escaped "into the wild" you can still see the hand of the design team in every perfect little puzzle and one-way door.

More of my thoughts over here: http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/5622/reviews/portal-2