(no subject)
(what lays below is a criticism of a stupid review "the best videogames of the '00s")
http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-15-best-videogames-of-the-00s
Truly unusual is the act of choosing fifteen best videogames of the new century and new decade. A century and decade are admittedly an artificial category. The best videogames in this artificial category is probably a fictional category. The best of the publicized, the poorest publishable.
All the same, I do think replacements should occur. The opinion of the critic differs from my opinion simply because the critic wishes to express himself in a ambiguous fashion devoid of comparison and aesthetic precedent.
I do not think Ninja Gaiden worthwhile simply because many a better game that concentrates solely on fighting exists. Ninja Gaiden is hardly simulative of what makes fighting games appealing to those who like fighting games. Not present were swift competence and flashy carnivale of killing. The graphics were probably dissatisfying to fans of the simulated combat genre. The later Tekkens and the later Dead or Alive probably pleased the crowds more. I can understand that the published critic has his opinion and decided variance from fans and from myself alike, for each person has their preferred challenge, their preferred aesthetic, and their preferred dream of victory.
The mention of Advance Wars is puzzling except I did notice that a stickam girl with a large audience mentioned she'd played the game. That aside, Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis was made in 2001 (and released in the US in 2002), Final Fantasy Tactics A2, and Medieval 2: Total War should all be contenders. I did notice also someone from a google search on a forum complaining that Advance Wars had been closed from software sharing sites, but it seems the author of that rather eloquent and despairing message deleted their message. Advance Wars, to be fair, is quick to play and quick to be set aside -- much like a shallow television show or an arcade game.
The preference for the simple is useful but perhaps over-extrenuated in the article. It's not mentioned in the title, which might be "The Fifteen Simplest and Least Thoughtful Videogames..." except for the presence of Braid and The Sims. It could be argued that Bioshock is more than an acid-rock biker's science fiction opera, but it would be a rocky road to argue indeed.
Left 4 Dead is a "survival horror" fighting game. For those cheering fans of survival games who gather together to chant at friends pretending to battle enemies, it might be ideal. For fans of this and "Action Adventure", we might look at Call of Cthulhu or Splinter Cell instead. Of course, it is said that all fighting games have problematic multiplayer options that can permit excessive success beyond the intent of the game designers.
Final Fantasy XII is difficult to approach for anyone except a fan of the Final Fantasy series. Regrettably, it's detested by most Final Fantasy fans except those who blandly and blindly love everything with that title imprint. The chocobo are mostly rented, one cannot wander around ones own customizable sky-ship, and there are no ways one might influence the outcome of the history. All in all, it feels like a night in a low quality theme hotel rather than a night in a palace. And the graphics were appealing: one feels that Square-Soft might have afforded a night in a palace. It ends up being equivalent to Temple of Elemental Evil or Vampire: the Masquerade Bloodlines only in that eventually it is no more and no less fun. To begin with, the latter two role-playing games are more fun. But nothing is gained nor changes much in the game-play yielded by any of these. No continuation past victory occurs and few replays actually are enjoyable. The CRPG medium needs to change: there should be strong continuation possible. Some blame the failure of Ultima 9 and the loss of Garriott in Ultima on the deficit suffered by CRPG. One might term it "The Curse of Ultima 9" although in reality, the game had obviously fallen when Ultima 8 released. One wonders if Garriott would ever have invented a CRPG one might continue to play continuingly even after the "end game". One wonders if he would have delved into story-slots and story accessories, so players could accessorize their stories in increasing levels of customization. One doubts this, as it seems he aimed primarily at central hero based FRPG merging with single player oriented sim-life.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is so low a decision as a "great game" one can only suggest it be replaced with a Splinter Cell game or Assassin's Creed. The fact that cars are a major portion of GTA does not elevate it above other games. In fact, one might say Crimson Skies represents a title with more potential than GTA ever will have regardless of game-play width. One must of course realize that GTA was made more recently and shows every sign of understanding its genre and very dimly, almost druggedly comprehending advances in game design. GTA has never seemed to understand ideals toward which game design is advancing. One might claim this is playing ball with the industry: it is advanced with fairness towards other corporations -- not beyond their ability to supercede. One can always improve over a GTA. One might not be able to improve beyond a Crimson Skies MMORPG in the vehicular strategy and sim-life genre, if ever there might be such a genre. We can say GTA is merciful to other companies but not very considerate of game purchasers and game players. The louder game doesn't always win, by the way.
Ico cannot be singled out as the turning point where games were suddenly understood as Art nor as where it became interesting to make such a game. Earlier text-adventure games might be known as the turning points and were popular among thinking people, even thinking people so stupid as to ignore the contributions of text-adventure games (apparently). There are numerous better "game as art" games and more influential "game as art" games than Ico and some of these appear in the century and decade categorically focal to the article. One might at the very least consider The Path or Okami.
World of Warcraft is a damn thing, a critical category that can be best understood through the Bierce story of the selfsame title. There is no MMO I've seen presently that is worth mention as great or even best except as the best of trash. I will note that WoW has really no appeal except everyone seems to have agreed that until a game of quality and common interest occurs, WoW will be the plaza where all congregate. This presents a harsh and grim cul-de-sac for competitors. They must be intelligent or fail. In most cases I see forthcoming for this upcoming generation, they will fail. I can foresee World of Darkness appealing to hundreds of thousands as a Mature game whose appeal is in its eccentric and wise interpretation of a common motif. Should World of Darkness appear in 2010, it should replace World of Warcraft unless CCP does horribly wrong.
The game Fallout 3 is supposed to be a combat heavy CRPG, a convergence between the first person shooter and the computer role-playing game. It fails by being dumb in the role-playing game portion. All considered, its predecessor Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines also failed but only by being a 50 hour based storyline based game that could have been a hundred times longer. The game it came from had more than a hundred books for the entire world setting. Most of the information in the books was about the world and the characters therein. Of these, misrepresentations of historic characters included Crowley and Thomas a Becket. Crowley was not at all dumb and crazed as he was portrayed and Thomas a Becket was not a violent weirdo. Only Thomas a Becket appeared in the computer game. And Fallout 3 had not even he. In the same generalized genre but with different game-play focus, Fable 2 excelled far more. The best CRPG of the decade might even be Baldur's Gate 2. That's sad. I thought computer games would progress.
Bioshock should not even be a contender. Distasteful, insipid, and redundant, its only redeeming aspects are its cut-scenes. The story is markedly inferior to many of the non-graphical text adventures being released independently. One might note that Bioshock could be mentioned in the same breath as better games such as Deus Ex, System Shock 2, and Uplink. One might also note that it's probably a test of consumer gullibility that Bioshock is getting rave reviews at all.
Also, one wonders why this list doesn't include Civilization 3, Persona 3 FES, Rome: Total War, or any of the hundreds of games that are probably far better than the grand majority listed. One can only assume that stupidity sells.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-15-best-videogames-of-the-00s
Truly unusual is the act of choosing fifteen best videogames of the new century and new decade. A century and decade are admittedly an artificial category. The best videogames in this artificial category is probably a fictional category. The best of the publicized, the poorest publishable.
All the same, I do think replacements should occur. The opinion of the critic differs from my opinion simply because the critic wishes to express himself in a ambiguous fashion devoid of comparison and aesthetic precedent.
I do not think Ninja Gaiden worthwhile simply because many a better game that concentrates solely on fighting exists. Ninja Gaiden is hardly simulative of what makes fighting games appealing to those who like fighting games. Not present were swift competence and flashy carnivale of killing. The graphics were probably dissatisfying to fans of the simulated combat genre. The later Tekkens and the later Dead or Alive probably pleased the crowds more. I can understand that the published critic has his opinion and decided variance from fans and from myself alike, for each person has their preferred challenge, their preferred aesthetic, and their preferred dream of victory.
The mention of Advance Wars is puzzling except I did notice that a stickam girl with a large audience mentioned she'd played the game. That aside, Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis was made in 2001 (and released in the US in 2002), Final Fantasy Tactics A2, and Medieval 2: Total War should all be contenders. I did notice also someone from a google search on a forum complaining that Advance Wars had been closed from software sharing sites, but it seems the author of that rather eloquent and despairing message deleted their message. Advance Wars, to be fair, is quick to play and quick to be set aside -- much like a shallow television show or an arcade game.
The preference for the simple is useful but perhaps over-extrenuated in the article. It's not mentioned in the title, which might be "The Fifteen Simplest and Least Thoughtful Videogames..." except for the presence of Braid and The Sims. It could be argued that Bioshock is more than an acid-rock biker's science fiction opera, but it would be a rocky road to argue indeed.
Left 4 Dead is a "survival horror" fighting game. For those cheering fans of survival games who gather together to chant at friends pretending to battle enemies, it might be ideal. For fans of this and "Action Adventure", we might look at Call of Cthulhu or Splinter Cell instead. Of course, it is said that all fighting games have problematic multiplayer options that can permit excessive success beyond the intent of the game designers.
Final Fantasy XII is difficult to approach for anyone except a fan of the Final Fantasy series. Regrettably, it's detested by most Final Fantasy fans except those who blandly and blindly love everything with that title imprint. The chocobo are mostly rented, one cannot wander around ones own customizable sky-ship, and there are no ways one might influence the outcome of the history. All in all, it feels like a night in a low quality theme hotel rather than a night in a palace. And the graphics were appealing: one feels that Square-Soft might have afforded a night in a palace. It ends up being equivalent to Temple of Elemental Evil or Vampire: the Masquerade Bloodlines only in that eventually it is no more and no less fun. To begin with, the latter two role-playing games are more fun. But nothing is gained nor changes much in the game-play yielded by any of these. No continuation past victory occurs and few replays actually are enjoyable. The CRPG medium needs to change: there should be strong continuation possible. Some blame the failure of Ultima 9 and the loss of Garriott in Ultima on the deficit suffered by CRPG. One might term it "The Curse of Ultima 9" although in reality, the game had obviously fallen when Ultima 8 released. One wonders if Garriott would ever have invented a CRPG one might continue to play continuingly even after the "end game". One wonders if he would have delved into story-slots and story accessories, so players could accessorize their stories in increasing levels of customization. One doubts this, as it seems he aimed primarily at central hero based FRPG merging with single player oriented sim-life.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is so low a decision as a "great game" one can only suggest it be replaced with a Splinter Cell game or Assassin's Creed. The fact that cars are a major portion of GTA does not elevate it above other games. In fact, one might say Crimson Skies represents a title with more potential than GTA ever will have regardless of game-play width. One must of course realize that GTA was made more recently and shows every sign of understanding its genre and very dimly, almost druggedly comprehending advances in game design. GTA has never seemed to understand ideals toward which game design is advancing. One might claim this is playing ball with the industry: it is advanced with fairness towards other corporations -- not beyond their ability to supercede. One can always improve over a GTA. One might not be able to improve beyond a Crimson Skies MMORPG in the vehicular strategy and sim-life genre, if ever there might be such a genre. We can say GTA is merciful to other companies but not very considerate of game purchasers and game players. The louder game doesn't always win, by the way.
Ico cannot be singled out as the turning point where games were suddenly understood as Art nor as where it became interesting to make such a game. Earlier text-adventure games might be known as the turning points and were popular among thinking people, even thinking people so stupid as to ignore the contributions of text-adventure games (apparently). There are numerous better "game as art" games and more influential "game as art" games than Ico and some of these appear in the century and decade categorically focal to the article. One might at the very least consider The Path or Okami.
World of Warcraft is a damn thing, a critical category that can be best understood through the Bierce story of the selfsame title. There is no MMO I've seen presently that is worth mention as great or even best except as the best of trash. I will note that WoW has really no appeal except everyone seems to have agreed that until a game of quality and common interest occurs, WoW will be the plaza where all congregate. This presents a harsh and grim cul-de-sac for competitors. They must be intelligent or fail. In most cases I see forthcoming for this upcoming generation, they will fail. I can foresee World of Darkness appealing to hundreds of thousands as a Mature game whose appeal is in its eccentric and wise interpretation of a common motif. Should World of Darkness appear in 2010, it should replace World of Warcraft unless CCP does horribly wrong.
The game Fallout 3 is supposed to be a combat heavy CRPG, a convergence between the first person shooter and the computer role-playing game. It fails by being dumb in the role-playing game portion. All considered, its predecessor Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines also failed but only by being a 50 hour based storyline based game that could have been a hundred times longer. The game it came from had more than a hundred books for the entire world setting. Most of the information in the books was about the world and the characters therein. Of these, misrepresentations of historic characters included Crowley and Thomas a Becket. Crowley was not at all dumb and crazed as he was portrayed and Thomas a Becket was not a violent weirdo. Only Thomas a Becket appeared in the computer game. And Fallout 3 had not even he. In the same generalized genre but with different game-play focus, Fable 2 excelled far more. The best CRPG of the decade might even be Baldur's Gate 2. That's sad. I thought computer games would progress.
Bioshock should not even be a contender. Distasteful, insipid, and redundant, its only redeeming aspects are its cut-scenes. The story is markedly inferior to many of the non-graphical text adventures being released independently. One might note that Bioshock could be mentioned in the same breath as better games such as Deus Ex, System Shock 2, and Uplink. One might also note that it's probably a test of consumer gullibility that Bioshock is getting rave reviews at all.
Also, one wonders why this list doesn't include Civilization 3, Persona 3 FES, Rome: Total War, or any of the hundreds of games that are probably far better than the grand majority listed. One can only assume that stupidity sells.