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| 4 AUG 2011 at 7:10am |
OrmworIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 24
Joined: 4 AUG 2011
Status : Offline | Dear Robert
As far as you kindly agreed to revew American McGee's Alice and Alice MR could I humbly suggest you to review Hitman: Codename 47 and Mirror's Edge? I consider these action adventure games worthy of your attention.
Why should I ask? Just because I love your reviews and greatly appreciate your opinion.
Below are some notes just in case you don't know what I'm talking about.
Best regards.
***
Main thing about Hitman: Codename 47 is tension. You walk with almost no disguise and no one knows who you are and what your purposes are. Just like every civilized man you ask the reseptionist for a room in the hotel, talk to the barman, visit the bathroom. Somewhere squeezed shout resounds and you disappear to become a guard, one of many. Nobody has an idea what’s going on until suddenly — shots, outcry, heavy steps. Guards rush to the scene but there’s no one there. No one alive. And you are far, far away.
There's much more adventure than action. Like a spider you spin your web of silent killings, clearing up situation, finding ins and outs, learning dark corners and safe places to take a deep breath. And then strike one precise blow. Save option could ruin the whole athmosphere. Some games MUST be hard like hell.
***
Mirror's Edge is a story of two young sisters Faith and Kate who live in a megacity of not very distant and not very impossible future. It is clean and shining, its colors are pure and bright. But there's no doubt that this is a city of dead souls. This new Metropolis can be American or Chinese – it has no distinguishing features. Its main color is white – in this case it's not color of purity but sterility, lifelessness, and insipidity. This is a city of manufacturers and consumers, not human beeings.
Faith and Kate are two sides of one soul (or anima). Kate is a policewoman. She thinks the only way to do something for people and herself is to serve society and state – until she is set up by her own bosses and sentenced to death. She is just a piece of property since she's a part of the consumerist society. Moreover Kate is subordinate to regime as an officer.
Faith is one of the Runners – people who don't submit neither to government nor to mysterious rebel forces. Yes, they serve as a postmen for invisible insurgents but they aren't part of them. They just run and avoid unnecessary eyes. They live on roofs and jump great distances – almost like birds (just another symbols of ultimate freedom). They got special ability to see things that help them to move in right direction in red – color of passion.
Arcade genre is the best (if not the only) way to express all these images in the most natural and direct way: player must run and jump himself, hear Faith heavy breathing and feel how difficult it is to climb on beam you nearly missed – sounds, visuals and physics are splendid. Sometimes it's really scary to make a desperate jump and moments of falling long way down to death are really painful.
Faith owns nothing but herself. She lives while she moves. Sometimes she needs to fight and even shoot – if she manage to take a gun from an enemy. But than she gracefully throws it away because she can't run and jump carrying it – and therefore live.
In my opinion Mirror's Edge represents the best use of arcade genre resources to make a player *feel* the idea of the game since Psychonauts. And it is one of the few arcade games that *give* an idea to feel. Somewhere during the game player realizes just he/she doesn't just run and jump, this is the best and only way of living.
General Note: I'm Russian and my English is not good. If you think that I'm rude, it's just wrong selected translation of what I politely mean.
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| 4 AUG 2011 at 8:31pm |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2539
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | hmm.....oh well
Admin
3D Worlds and Game Developers
Linkedin
http://3dworldandgamedevelopers.blogspot.com
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| 4 AUG 2011 at 10:28pm |
TinklePitIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 74
Joined: 31 JUL 2004
Status : Offline | Ormwor, I have some good news and some bad news for you.
First, the bad news. Bob Washburne hasn't logged into the forum since 2008, so there is little chance of him seeing your humble epistle.
Now, the good news. My minions are everywhere and have notified me of your request. Yes, it is I. Now let us take a look at your other two wishes...
Hitman: Codename 47. Yes, it has some adventure elements to it, but it is definitely a quest based action game. That aside, it breaks one of my fundamental requirements for enjoying a game - I hate being forced to act like a poopyhead (see my review for Black Mirror III). I can't believe that I would enjoy playing the roll of a cold blooded murderer.
Mirror's Edge. I think it is really cool that someone wrote a game based on Parkour, but it is not for me. I am an Old Fart and the last time I tried a game of this sort was Lemmings on the Commodore Amiga. I was not able to complete it back then and I seriously doubt I would get far with this. I did actually try Tomb Raider, but was not able to even get through the into/trainer and enter the tomb.
So while I thank you for the kind words, I must humbly decline.
Google search
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| 5 AUG 2011 at 8:18am |
OrmworIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 24
Joined: 4 AUG 2011
Status : Offline | Wow! I got a reply! Thank you very much! Despite the fact that we have slightly different tastes, I can't stop loving your reviews.
I would humbly offer my own review to JA (and I submitted one, but received no reply), but, first of all, I am Russian and my English is not very good, and secondly, I like the aforementioned games too much, for reasons unknown, so I can't produce an objective review.
Mainly I'd like to see on JA, along with games such as Thief or Psychonauts, other worthy representatives of the action adventure genre. Especially it's sad to see the praise lavished on games such as Diablo or Half-Life, while, say, Max Payne or Mirror's Edge have no reviews. Just because of review of AM Alice I have the hope that other representatives of the genre may have a chance at getting to JA.
General Note: I'm Russian and my English is not good. If you think that I'm rude, it's just wrong selected translation of what I politely mean.
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| 6 AUG 2011 at 2:53am |
TinklePitIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 74
Joined: 31 JUL 2004
Status : Offline | Ormwor,
I am sorry to hear that you did not receive a reply when you tried submitting a review. The site recently changed chief editors and it is possible that your email was lost in the transition. (They actually lost two of my reviews over the years, but a polite email got them back on track.)
Your English is very good and you could use your background to your advantage in your writing ("Hello from Russia. I am writing from Siberia where it is so cold that I had to pour vodka over my keyboard and set it aflame to thaw it out."
I constantly battle with objectivity. My tastes are not "normal" and very few people like what I like. So when writing a review I must ask myself 1) How well was it crafted? 2) What would a "normal" player think? And then after my attempt at objective judgment I am honest and let people know if I actually enjoyed it.
The objective of a good review is to tell enough about the game so that the reader can decide whether or not they would like it, but not so much that it would ruin the game.
JA tends to be oriented to the players in the Americas. But there are many good games published in Europe and Asia which never get over here. My suggestion would be to find a popular game which was never released to North America (For example, "The Inn of the Dead Mountaineer" and then send an email to Shane (our new editor) asking if he would like a review. You will, of course, improve your chances if your first choice is a "pure" adventure game.
I cannot speak for Shane, but I suspect that he might be interested in an author who presented a more European viewpoint.
If you wish to have your English reviewed, send me an email (it is under my picture in my reviews).
Good luck.
Google search
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| 6 AUG 2011 at 9:05pm |
OrmworIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 24
Joined: 4 AUG 2011
Status : Offline | I'm very sorry but that e-mail address doesn't work.
"The Inn..." was published in the USA in 2009 as far as I know. I'm not sure if it's worthy of review. Personally, I think it's rather a blemish.
General Note: I'm Russian and my English is not good. If you think that I'm rude, it's just wrong selected translation of what I politely mean.
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| 8 AUG 2011 at 2:20pm |
TinklePitIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 74
Joined: 31 JUL 2004
Status : Offline | Yes, I have noticed that my old reviews now contain a mixture of bad emails. Shane is aware of the problem and a solution will be worked on sometime after the server rebuild.
In the mean time, go to the JA website and look at the right-hand column at the "New Walkthroughs." Second down on the list is my Hint-Through for Baron Wittard. Open it up and you will find my correct email address.
I am trying not to post it here as it would be quickly "harvested" and my inbox would be flooded with spam.
I am surprised to hear about "The Inn..." Last I heard there were issues with the English translation. But there is still no review for it. Anyway, that was just the first example I could think of (that, and I love the writings of the brothers Strugatskii). Find a game which you want to review and go for it.
Google search
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