V is for Verisimilitudinous virtual tides. The tiny selection of maritime sims that acknowledge the Moon’s effect on sea levels grew by one late last month. Not only do eSail owners who opt in to the V3 beta get improved visuals and a new ‘Trade Islands’ map with dynamic tide heights (tidal flows have yet to be implemented), when close to land they may now encounter anabatic and katabatic breezes in addition to wind shadows.
W is for While I don’t see eye to eye with my old boss…
…on the subject of women’s rights, when it comes to games criticism I suspect we’re not all that far apart. Predictably, I’d argue the kind of mealy-mouthed “well, you’d like it” review Graham Smith bemoans in the last Sunday Papers is much more common on sites that have dispensed with genre specialists and old hands. The less experience and confidence a reviewer has in a particular field, often the more likely they are to produce a safe, arse-covering ‘people-who-like-this-sort-of-thing-should-like-this-sort-of-thing’ review when asked to venture into unfamiliar territory.
X is for XXL exoskeletons inserted into Armored Brigade 2
Although the mechs in Mystodan’s Battletech mod can rotate their torsos, insurmountable (?) engine limitations mean, for the moment at least, they must glide from place to place rather than stride.
Y is for Y am I still playing Sharpshooter?
Partly because, clearing the game’s randomly generated settlements became much more challenging when foes began toting shotguns and carbines.
Partly because the game does a nice line in post-mortem ragdolls.
Partly because I’m a sucker for a spot of bow-and-arrow action.
And partly because, I’m hoping Stolpskott’s ongoing AI improvements will eventually result in enemies that hunt as well as hunker down.
Z is for Zaccaria Pinball and the other 25 ‘originals’ still in place
Thank you to everyone who has proposed or seconded a THC Alphabet game thus far. As yet no nominated replacement has gained the requisite two supporting votes, but Armored Brigade 2, Old World (75% off on Steam right now), Return of the Obra Dinn, and Xenonauts 2, are all just a single vote away from induction.
It’s not quite cohesive yet, but my (ill- / well-)-formed thoughts on Media / Sports Journalism include the following:
A) Fans ruin everything
I expect reviewers to be sufficiently self-aware to have a clue how objective they’re being.
If a sport doesn’t uphold fair-play and enforce the rules of the game, then it can only expect contempt from this disinterested viewer.
B) You’re a Journalist not a cheerleader
Peddling hype and trying to big-up every single match / event / installment are the noises of a gormless oaf – a wet Tuesday night in Stoke is likely to only ever be just that.
Only following the content-creator’s / sports body’s PR lines is even worse.
C) My sought-after marking criteria:
– 1) What level of brain functionality is needed to enjoy it?
eg. The Mandalorian is for pre-pubescants; MMOs are for seeking numbness from reality
-2) How niche is it within its genre?
eg. Half-Life 2 is an over-rated but foundational FPS and ought to be played by most with an interest in that field. European Blastinator 3: Jongleur des Tariffs has little to mark it out amongst first-person shooters / 3d platformers.
MMOs often have excellent storylines and a strong sense of place. They’re social places to spend spare time.
I enjoy exploring and levelling up in them, and abandon them when they become a grind. End game fights can be a challenge but the overheads of preparing and coordinating a large group make it work not fun.
Seeking numbness from reality? Give me something mundane that I can play on mental autopilot. ETS2 / ATS or a good fishing sim.
The same game will be experienced very differently by each player. That makes reviewing a challenge, and is probably why reviewers seek to pigeonhole games into genres, sub-genres and online communities. Which isn’t helpful except in the abstract and skips the hard work of really helping readers understand a game and whether they should look to play it.
As far as the THC Alphabet goes, for the letter ‘S’ I nominate Shattered Union
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3960/Shattered_Union/
The United States of America splinters into 6 warring nations and a “peacekeeping” European Expeditionary Force is dispatched to Pennsylvania.
On the topic of W, a friend of mine has been working on a project for some time called We Love Every Game. The idea is that some games have rough edges. Like, really rough edges.
Maybe they still use low-resolution hex counters with no mouseovers or tooltips. Maybe they assume you’re familiar with all the historical unit types that you don’t need any guidance on tactics. Maybe they haven’t found a way to make a 15 year old game performant even on a top-end CPU.
But I love Serbia 14, Combat Mission: Fortress Italy, and Pride of Nations despite all these flaws and their middling review scores.
So it would be nice if someone realized that they can sell me games with those flaws provided they have the detail of WDS titles, the fidelity of CM, or the scale of PoN. Other people can stomach the most banal VO lines and derivative gameplay if the graphics are glorious.
So while I absolutely want direct criticism of games, I also want reviews that highlight the good things games do, because sometimes that matters so much more.
“So while I absolutely want direct criticism of games, I also want reviews that highlight the good things games do, because sometimes that matters so much more.”
I think that gets addressed when, as pointed out in the article, a genre-specific-reviewer approach is used. That’s why places like the Tally Ho Corner are so useful; where a general game reviewer may critique CM:FI for what the mainstream would consider poor graphics and clunky controls, a reviewer that knows the genre can highlight all of the good (without ignoring the bad).