My son is at the videos again. This is a bit late, but here’s his 2014 games in review.
He’s got others – which I’ll likely post late as well – but that shouldn’t stop you from taking a look and subscribing.
Tag: Indie Games
Somebody Played VVVVVV
Somebody played VVVVVV and made a video about it! Somebody I know! Somebody who lives in my house and eats my food and who used to be a whole lot shorter but is now taller than me!
My son, you see, he made a video. He swears a lot because he’s not going to let the man (meaning me) censor his art!
(I’m not completely convinced that the phrase “shit-fuck-a-dolphin” is covered by artistic freedom.)
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Game Review: Thomas was Alone
Reviewed on Playstation Vita and PS3, Official Website
Rated “E” for Everyone, All Ages
There are some games that, when you finally get around to playing them, you literally ache with a vague, persistent worry because you might have missed this game. That, of course, underlies a sublime, barely constrained joy that you didn’t miss this game.
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Game Review: Brothers
Rated “T” for Teen; Reviewed on Playstation 3
Many successful indie games feature a novel game play mechanic (or several). The world-revealing ink splatter of “The Unfinished Swan” [Our Review] is immediately understandable and visually stunning. The “light equals existence” rule of “Closure” and the shadow-play of “Contrast” [Our Review] need a few moments of experimentation, but quickly become second nature. Indy games excel at exploring gimmicks.
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Game Review: Contrast
Rated “T” for Teen; Reviewed on Playstation 4
You are Dawn. Tall, beautiful and dressed as a Parisian vaudevillian acrobat. You’re the mute companion of the precocious young Didi. You’re also imaginary. Or, perhaps, you’re not. Didi, of course, has a firm opinion in the matter, but as this entire experience may only exist inside her head we may not want to rely on her.
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Game Review: The Unfinished Swan (PS3)
“The Unfinished Swan” at playstation.com
Rated E10+; Reviewed on PS3
“The Unfinished Swan”, developed by Giant Sparrow, is the latest game to come out of Sony’s incubator initiatives. Sony is making a habit of spotting and encouraging promising new development teams. While the PS3 definitely can’t rival the PC in the sheer volume of independent and experimental games, it stands well above the other consoles in this area.
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Game Review: Papo and Yo (PS3)
“Papo and Yo” at playstation.com
Rated E10+; Reviewed on PS3
Games can definitely be art, something I’ve discussed before. Art, as anything, has a value range. It can be beautiful but vacuous, ugly but meaningful and any other combination that you can imagine. Any screen shot of the game will tell you instantly that Papo and Yo is far from a beautiful game, but is it meaningful?
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Game Review: Costume Quest (PS3)
“Costume Quest” at playstation.com
Rated E for Everyone; Reviewed on PS3
Twins Reynold and Wren are new in town on the most important day of the year: Halloween! Their parents, misunderstanding the serious business of free candy suggest that they use this as opportunity to socialize and make new friends. Unfortunately the monstrous Grubbins are well aware of how serious candy is and have infiltrated your neighborhood to steal it all!
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Game Review: Journey (PS3)
Rated E for Everyone; Reviewed on PS3
The debate as to whether video games can be “art” is worth no more time than any of the multitude of similar debates that raged in the past. Popular music, movies, comics, animation – essentially all new mediums – have been accused initially of lacking some quality that raises them to the level of “art”. The debate is worthless because the answer is always the same: yes, they can be art but most often aren’t.
(The fascination for me on this topic is that film critics often incite this ridiculous conversation. People who can see plainly that “The Seven Samurai” [IMDB] is art and “Mega Piranha” [IMDB] is not but are wholly unable to see that parallel in other fields. Baffling.)
