Feature
DARK MEADOW and the Monologue Conundrun
We shouldn’t like monologues – particularly in games. Games are about agency. They are about the player acting out its desires. Monologues are contrary to that spirit of agency permeating games. They enforce passiveness and reflection. Above all, monologues are intrusive. Unlike cutscenes, one cannot skip a monologue happening in-game.
And yet here is Dark Meadow! A game that basically works as a one-man show, with a comedian stand-up hoping to entertain our protagonist with his musings via loudspeaker – and it’s captivating!
DARK MEADOW and the Monologue Conundrun
We shouldn’t like monologues – particularly in games. Games are about agency. They are about the player acting out its desires. Monologues are contrary to that spirit of agency permeating games. They enforce passiveness and reflection. Above all, monologues are intrusive. Unlike cutscenes, one cannot skip a monologue happening in-game.
And yet here is Dark Meadow! A game that basically works as a one-man show, with a comedian stand-up hoping to entertain our protagonist with his musings via loudspeaker – and it’s captivating!
L.A. NOIRE and the Story That Wasn't There
Hank Quinlan: “Come on, read my future for me.”
In some ways, a game based on Film Noir would be the anti-GTA. Ah, the GTA series! The pursuit of the American Dream! To fight that good fight requires a great deal of optimist, no? The optimist believes the future is within his grasp.
Tanya: “You haven’t got any.”
Noir Films, however, are filled with pessimists who already know that the game they are playing is futile. That what they are playing is actually a poker game of death.
“What do you mean?”
The world is merciless. It’s unforgiving. We are already doomed no matter what we do. In the search of the American Dream, the fall from glory is a surprise; in Film Noir, the surprise would be not to fall from glory.
L.A. Noire isn’t the anti-GTA. It certainly isn’t the gaming equivalent to L.A. Confidential… or Double Indemnity …or even Who Framed Roger Rabbit. L.A. Noire may be many things – but it certainly isn’t Noir.
“Your future is all used up.”
L.A. NOIRE and the Story That Wasn't There
Hank Quinlan: “Come on, read my future for me.”
In some ways, a game based on Film Noir would be the anti-GTA. Ah, the GTA series! The pursuit of the American Dream! To fight that good fight requires a great deal of optimist, no? The optimist believes the future is within his grasp.
Tanya: “You haven’t got any.”
Noir Films, however, are filled with pessimists who already know that the game they are playing is futile. That what they are playing is actually a poker game of death.
“What do you mean?”
The world is merciless. It’s unforgiving. We are already doomed no matter what we do. In the search of the American Dream, the fall from glory is a surprise; in Film Noir, the surprise would be not to fall from glory.
L.A. Noire isn’t the anti-GTA. It certainly isn’t the gaming equivalent to L.A. Confidential… or Double Indemnity …or even Who Framed Roger Rabbit. L.A. Noire may be many things – but it certainly isn’t Noir.
“Your future is all used up.”
After pressing start: Final Fantasy VI and VII
(After Pressing Start is a new series running on Nightmare Mode every Friday by resident narrative guru Tom Auxier. It focuses on beginning, on the stories that happen directly after pressing start, and how those stories influence the arcs of
After pressing start: Final Fantasy VI and VII
(After Pressing Start is a new series running on Nightmare Mode every Friday by resident narrative guru Tom Auxier. It focuses on beginning, on the stories that happen directly after pressing start, and how those stories influence the arcs of
Building Worlds: The Silent Sisters of Dragon Age
[Building Worlds is a series where Dan Cox examines one facet in a video game and shows you how, from that one angle, an entire society is reflected.] “Don’t take it personally,” says Farinden. She is speaking for the dwarf
Building Worlds: The Silent Sisters of Dragon Age
[Building Worlds is a series where Dan Cox examines one facet in a video game and shows you how, from that one angle, an entire society is reflected.] “Don’t take it personally,” says Farinden. She is speaking for the dwarf
Straight lines: Final Fantasy XIII and inefficiency
In the end, Final Fantasy XIII will join II, V, and IX as the only Final Fantasy games I’ve never beaten. It’s a title that experienced perhaps the quickest, most profound slingshot between its reviews (largely positive) and its criticism
Straight lines: Final Fantasy XIII and inefficiency
In the end, Final Fantasy XIII will join II, V, and IX as the only Final Fantasy games I’ve never beaten. It’s a title that experienced perhaps the quickest, most profound slingshot between its reviews (largely positive) and its criticism
Jonas' Year 2011 In Retrospect
Ah, and so another Christmas season has passed. We have entered a new year as the sky exploded with fireworks: 2012! Doesn’t it sound wonderfully futuristic? Like we should be getting flying cars and androids? For the moment,
Jonas' Year 2011 In Retrospect
Ah, and so another Christmas season has passed. We have entered a new year as the sky exploded with fireworks: 2012! Doesn’t it sound wonderfully futuristic? Like we should be getting flying cars and androids? For the moment,
Mystery and mechanics in Dark Souls and Skyrim
Over the past few days I’ve been reading this summary of the plots, characters, and places of Demon’s Souls. I’m amazed at one thing in particular: how everything in the world has a cause. How everything has a story behind
Mystery and mechanics in Dark Souls and Skyrim
Over the past few days I’ve been reading this summary of the plots, characters, and places of Demon’s Souls. I’m amazed at one thing in particular: how everything in the world has a cause. How everything has a story behind
After pressing start: Dragon Age: Origins
(After Pressing Start is a new series running on Nightmare Mode every Friday by resident narrative guru Tom Auxier. It focuses on beginning, on the stories that happen directly after pressing start, and how those stories influence the arcs of
After pressing start: Dragon Age: Origins
(After Pressing Start is a new series running on Nightmare Mode every Friday by resident narrative guru Tom Auxier. It focuses on beginning, on the stories that happen directly after pressing start, and how those stories influence the arcs of
It's all in the presentation: Why I let Driver: San Francisco get away with poor driving
Gran Turismo 5 and Need for Speed: Shift were messes in my eyes for a number of reasons, but a big sticking point was how the results of my driving felt disconnected from the game’s feedback. The cars would look
It's all in the presentation: Why I let Driver: San Francisco get away with poor driving
Gran Turismo 5 and Need for Speed: Shift were messes in my eyes for a number of reasons, but a big sticking point was how the results of my driving felt disconnected from the game’s feedback. The cars would look
Mass Outbreaks of Xenophobia and Inbreeding: A stroll through the ghettoes of San Andreas
“Canonical American literature is free of, uninformed, and unshaped by the four-hundred-year-old presence of, first, Africans and then African-Americans in the United States.” I begin with a quote from best-selling author Toni Morrison because I feel that it perfectly encapsulates
Mass Outbreaks of Xenophobia and Inbreeding: A stroll through the ghettoes of San Andreas
“Canonical American literature is free of, uninformed, and unshaped by the four-hundred-year-old presence of, first, Africans and then African-Americans in the United States.” I begin with a quote from best-selling author Toni Morrison because I feel that it perfectly encapsulates