Being unemployed is somewhat like being trapped under a big, stinky weight. The more resumes and cover letters I carefully stitch together and polish to a sheen — only to receive no reply — the more difficult it becomes to keep at it. Of course, I need a job, so I’m keeping at it. But to break up the monotony and alleviate the pressure, I’ve been working on playing through a number of games I’ve either never bothered to finish or simply overlooked in the last few years.
I know a number of you are probably going through a similarly tedious experience right now, so I thought I’d take some time to post impressions of these games. Many of them are well-regarded, but my experiences have varied wildly.
World of Warcraft – I can quit anytime I want, gorrammit. I’ve flung myself wildly off the wagon, and it’s never felt better. Thanks to the new, smoother leveling progression and a few good friends to run with, I’ve been having a great time with the game.
Most WoW players argue the game’s only fun once you’re at level 70, the peak level. That kind of argument is the fabricated solace of the “hardcore” gamer: the sort of person who lives and breathes competition but can’t uproot himself from his swively office chair. Sure, WoW’s got some great end-game content and it caters to a variety of playing styles (including my casual approach) but I’ve never seen a reason to play a game unless I’m consistently enjoying the experience. For the first time in four years, I can honestly say that WoW has been enjoyable every step of the way. I’m currently level 45 and going strong.
Picross DS – Yeah, it’s a puzzle game for the Nintendo DS. It’s also practically the only game I’ve played on my handheld in about a year, and for good reason; I’ve never been this addicted to a casual game in my life. With more than 330 puzzles to solve (the later ones typically taking upwards of 30-45 minutes) I’ve spent many an evening in bed hacking away at the last picture-based puzzle before finally going to sleep. For $20, this has easily been the best value for my money in any videogame, ever. I’m finally down to the last five puzzles, and once they’re done I’m certain my brain will begin to atrophy.
You can check out my review of the game here.
Ico – Well, I need something to play on my PS3 until LittleBigPlanet finally arrives. The much-lauded game from the team that later created Shadow of the Colossus – one of my favorite games – has been sitting in my CD wallet for about five years now, and I’ve never had the patience to finish it up. For such a simple game, it’s got an eerie way of playing with your mind. It’s something I’ve never really been able to wrap my head around until recently.
Ico fools the player by looking and ostensibly playing like a Zelda-style game: you run around in a three-dimensional dungeon where you’re tasked with rescuing a princess while fending off swarms of bad guys. However, the controls are laid out in such a way as to intentionally disconnect the player from the experience. While two of the face buttons control jumping and attacking, the majority of your time is spent manipulating components that aren’t directly tied to your protagonist: examining the environment, zooming in on details, and – most importantly — holding the princess’s hand.
The deaf-mute princess is consistently in peril, but as the player you’re never sure why. She’s a total mystery, and the communication barrier is thick and off-putting to a casual player. The only humanizing action in the game is grabbing her hand and guiding her from place to place, the controller shaking occasionally and abruptly as your strides fall in and out of step. More than anything, Ico is for videogames what John Cage was to modern music composition. It’s everything a game shouldn’t be, and by virtue of that it is a beautiful experience.
It’s a slow burn effect, but I’m realizing as time goes by that Ico is challenging me to shift my priorities as a gamer. It’s not about performing difficult combos to wipe out throngs of enemies as rapidly as possible, or sitting through cutscenes with half-assed one-liners and cheesy choreographed action. It’s about humanizing the experience by making the entire game focused on that bond between the characters, and emphasizing that bond by placing them in an austere, stark environment. Like any important work of literature, it’s often uncomfortable to confront, but the message is infinitely meaningful.
Ico is a cold and distant experience, but the longer I stick with it the harder it is to put it down.
Braid – This just hit Xbox Live today, and despite its relatively steep price point ($15) I know it’s a must-own title. Spend just a minute with it and it becomes clear the game has something special to say. Brilliantly understated writing, breathtatking visual and aural design and some seriously clever gameplay mechanics make Braid one of the most excitingly original — and endearing — games I’ve played this year.
