Gamer Culture, Humor, Xbox 360
I Liked it Better When it Was Called The Legend of Zelda
Fable II has been applauded for its openness, character customization abilities, complex emotion system and freedom. It truly is a good game, but unfortunately for Peter Molyneux and Lionhead Studios, I’ve seen it all before. Fable II contained a lot of original elements… back when it was called The Legend of Zelda. Prepare yourself, hero. Batten down the hatches, Mr. Molyneux. Your game is about to get Rocced (because Rocco-roll and Roccoed sounded clunky, of course) in a comparison to the Nintendo Entertainment System’s The Legend of Zelda.
Video game characters these days have grown a lot in the past few decades, not just graphically wise but personality as well. It’s pretty easy to see these type of characters walking around down the block from our house. So one thought led to another, and we started wondering what kind of girlfriends they would have.
To keep a game fun, the designers have to come up with imaginative representations of practical tools. There can be a dozen methods of replenishing your character’s falling health, but what form should that method take? Should it come in the form of an object or an action? Some of the solutions that designers have come up with have been downright bizarre, but in a video game context, we strangely accept them without question! Let’s hope you’re hungry…
Manipulating the fabric of time and space is tricky business, but hoo-dang, is it ever fun! Time travel has been a favorite element of science fiction, and as such, it’s proven to be just as entertaining when applied to video games. Done right, you can not only add depth to a game’s plot, but also the gameplay mechanics. Let’s flip on the flux capacitor and take a look at some highlights from video games past.
Since Fat Princess’s recent announcement, much has been said regarding the stereotypical princess in games. Feminists generally aren’t receptive to the whole “damsel in distress needing to be saved” persona (especially when it’s paired with uncontrollable binge eating, like it is in Fat Princess). Being a female myself, I see their point here, but unlike them, I don’t believe the answer lies in abolishing characters like this altogether. With the proper makeover, I believe any princess has badass potential.
It happens all of the time. A company gets a huge hit for a video game and they can’t wait to make the same kind of money again as soon as possible. So they release a “new” game that hardly changes anything and isn’t really worth the plastic it’s covered in. Let’s just review a few of these and how their name is now tarnished thanks to all-too-ambitious developers sucking the well of a great game dry by coming out with too many sequels (make that suk-quels).