written on Tuesday, April 14, 2009
This post was forty minutes late. I've been writing emails and posting to Facebook and MySpace to let people know that the play I'm in is just about to start its run.
I actually haven't gamed all day, unless playing my toy guitar (Jam Sessions for the DS) counts. I've got about 30 minutes worth of songs built up now and I enjoy practicing them almost every day. It's not gaming, but it's entertaining (to me) and probably good for me on some level.
In real gaming I started playing through Half-Life 2: Episode 2 again. I can nitpick the game. There are definitely flaws. But for the most part, it holds together. The one thing that doesn't hold up is Alyx. She feels like a total kiss ass. Maybe I didn't feel that way before because I was going along with the premise that she was becoming Gordon's love interest. Or maybe it's because I think of Gordon as a mute jackass now that her praise seems so forced. Anybody with any sense would take the hint that he doesn't care about the praise and shut up.
Intellectually, I know it's a design flaw. Valve wasn't able to find a way around making the protagonist mute. Intellectually I know that, but she still comes off as oblivious and even a little needy, which is completely counter to the strong female character I think she was supposed to be.
Episode 2 still has great pacing and variety. But all the work on the characters that was so impressive to me the first time through now detracts almost as much as it used to add.
I don't think of this game as a five anymore.
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