Recent content by econael

I agree with his critique in general, magic should be done better in modern games, but he failed to do his research and talked about Skyrim too much. There's a plethora of games where the casting of spells was done in a way that he requested. e.g. *Sacrifice *(Interplay)...

That's how the PC version looks like: http://spelunkyworld.com/images/spelunky-pc-screen.png

@Prototype2: It looks like a complete rehash of the first game, which by itself was only a mediocre sandbox title. I myself enjoyed Just Cause 2 much more than Prototype 1. @Bribase: I wholeheartedly agree. That video looked as ugly as 240p youtube videos.

What's with the low video quality?

What struck me as odd in Jin's storyline, is that she has obviously been physically (likely sexually) abused before she was rescued and even though the two female protagonists caught up on it, they didn't offer her any comfort whatsoever. (Btw, the two male protagonists were so unperceptive and...

You have my pity for having had to review such a game.

I liked this article a lot. You described very well what makes the horror of vampires but you didn't go into their charm: the possibility of immortality and superhuman strengths, if one abandonds all humanity within himself and joins them.

I would love for a singleplayer game to evoke emotions like books, music or movies do. I'd take any emotion really, even if it's terror, anything. I watch people on youtube pissing their pants while playing Amnesia and I want that kind of intense fear too, but instead the game just bores me...

I wish for a game that makes me afraid to play it :[ Sadly, it appears I cannot be scared by games (don't bother recommending titles, I've tried them all). Takes away a lot from the game's atmosphere. I appreciate all the improvements in Dead Space 2, it really is a better game than it's...

That's a good question. I'd say disabling traps is indirect conflict, since they don't pursue you. Indirect conflict is moving crates around to traverse a chasm and I don't see much difference to disarming a trap. Serious Sam/ Painkiller is mostly direct conflict, whereas Half-Life 1+2 have...

PvZ should be even more to the left of the chart! You're seldom actively in conflict with the zombies, mostly you're focusing on placing the plants, battling with lack of space, fog, barren terrain and the *type* of zombies, but rarely single zombies. They're mostly stacked up on each other and...

A lot of people don't get it. "But what about this and that, they're on opposite sides of the wheel, it doesn't work, baah!" That's why I like a standard double axis diagram more than a wheel, it's less confusing ^^ My wish for 2011 is that people read all the comments before they post.

I agree on the renaming of Exploration|Conflict to Direct|Indirect Conflict. (I think everyone can imagine an economical simulation, a platformer or a P&C Adventure as indirect conflict.) @Meaning of what parts of the spectrum you like|dislike. Sorry to be a buzzkill but I think it...

@ Russ Pitts & Steve Butts: Would you show/discuss your other ideas of visualization? I made a quick and ugly mashup of AS/EC as a diagramm to be able to place a handful of titles on the continuous spectrums. [http://b.imagehost.org/view/0256/AS-EC]

What's the difference between a Brawler and a Fighter? Also what do you define as Grand Strategy? Something like Rome:Total War? But that should be in between turn based and real time.