A couple of months ago I decided that I was going to quantifiably, with absolute certainty decide what my favourite games ever were. I’ve always settled on a top 3 but it started getting harder and harder to justify, purely because it’s been so long since I’ve experienced these games. So in the pursuit of personal affirmation, and because of a lack of funds, I decided to replay all the games I own which includes both: games I’ve played and games I have never touched. After I finished a game I put it on the list, gave it a rough rating on my experience and moved on. But I had a yearning to talk and elaborate on my points because as the list grew, and my excel started getting harder to manage, I began realising: what I prioritised, which one of my favourite games I preferred and how a new game without realising could also be one of my new favourites. So this is a way to discuss these ratings and stop weirding out my roommate when I talk to myself about games, so instead I shall write! But first a brief synopsis on what I consider to be a game and what rubs me the right way.

Graphics to me is a dirty word because no one knows what it means, like I guess fish swimming away from you is graphically impressive but if you’re portraying a photorealistic world, why can I take 100 bullets and still be fine. When praising the game they automatically praise ‘graphics’ because it’s the first thing you see. In the same vein, does that mean an older game has bad graphics even though at the time they were the best they could be? We don’t criticise other mediums in a similar way; was the Mona Lisa not as good because it uses older paint? is Raiders of the Lost Ark not as good because the effects at times look a little silly? No. So aesthetic is how I choose to describe an appearance of a game, is it visually interesting? That way a game like the original crash Bandicoot has no handicap when comparing it to Knack.

Mechanics is a very direct term, nothing subjective just what systems does the game have in play to aid in your enjoyment or in certain cases, hinder it. This aspect will not be elevated if it was innovative however it turns out that games that innovate a certain mechanic usually do it great, the score will affect that. After all if the ability to tackle a main objective in any order has always been fun, adding additional objectives just increases game length, and intentionally making things difficult so you have to grind is horrendous. Anything with a loot box gets a 0.

This is the portion when you realise why I’m not a professional writer (or reviewer) because why would I include something as intangible as this? Well it’s because I am willing to forgive so much of a game if it is simply fun. Fun is why I started playing games. Fun is what I want. Writing is going to help me understand my knowledge and taste. Is travelling at the speed of sound going through loop da loops (scientists please come up with better name I sound like a child) or screaming weeee as I fly a plane under a bridge. These moments stick with me and I look for it in every game.

World / Lore / Story

Let’s get something straight, stories in video games are atrocious. The average quality is so beyond low that when there is a story that is competently told, everyone loses their collective minds and I find this disheartening because games aren’t movies, stories shouldn’t have the same weight. They aren’t books either where length is important, a long book isn’t automatically great and neither is a great game. Games can tell stories in many ways, which are all unique to a point, because us as players can investigate, travel and explore vast worlds. We can be told stories in the environment in journal entries, if someone is dead in a cupboard he might have left a note that expands your view on the world, sometimes the main plot can still be crap though. A lot of RPG’s fill their stories with deep lore where you can discover a vast history between two fictional species that fascinates you, sometimes the main plot can still be crap though. Games at this point have told thousands of stories, but not really because if I have to avenge one more person I will take up knitting again. There are those rare occasions however when a games writer understands the medium and actually has the gameplay influence the experience. These are what I like to call golden moments because, it’s an experience that no other medium can even come close to achieving. They are so few and far between in games that I absolutely fall in love when they do happen. I understand it’s a colossal task to have that much integration within a studio but one studio is guarding the knowledge on a perfect video game story.

This just relates to my personal connection to the game, if you needed further proof that this is not an objective view on video games. Is it it making me frustrated? Do I then get a feeling of elation and joy? Does it take me cry or feel disgusted in myself? A bad feeling doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a negative towards the game because at least it got me to care. I hate spending my time on something and feeling empty, games are meant to do the opposite for me

The ruiners of games, you could be having a great time, the time of your life! Then… is that the credits? Or is a boss impossible to get past meaning you can’t progress? These two factors are so important and I feel like in video game discussion they are not mentioned for one simple fact. People do not finish games so they judge the game on the first few hours, (which is ludicrous) again you’re not going to judge another medium in portions so why should you do it to games. If we want game to be considered seriously we must look at each individual game as an entire piece of art, not a toy to pick up and put down.

In the end this is all good and fun not very serious so please follow me in my journey as I discover the best, and sometimes the worst, video games ever made.

First up to bat next week:

Super Mario Odyssey

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1. […] Sebastianlondono96 from The Platformer […]

2. 

   Thank you 😀😀 it was great fun to write!

3. 

   Great post 🙂

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