Adventure Games
I've yet to play an adventure game that I like. There might be one out there for me - the universe is a strange place, after all - but so far my search has come up empty. They're far too Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. In Resonance, for example, you have to find a key to open a drawer to get a battery to put in a phone to get a voicemail.
What's especially annoying is that making play dependent on these strict progressions denies opportunities for creativity. The one right answer can't be found unless you do things in exactly the one right way. The old lady can't swallow a bird until she's swallowed a spider, which she can't until swallowing a fly. And God help you if you see a different solution from the game. You'd best prepare to confront the demons of frustration. Being so restricted is claustrophobic, confining, and makes me want to throw the computer out the window. I realize that in most games free will is only a finely crafted fantasy. (See: The Stanley Parable) Fine. Give me illusion! It's fabulous! I like it! At least in those games you can see what's wrong with your solution, the results of a wrong guess, and how to get better.
Okay, I'll grant that you do have some leeway. You can search for useful items by mousing over things randomly or following a grid pattern. Woo.
Okay, I'll grant that you do have some leeway. You can search for useful items by mousing over things randomly or following a grid pattern. Woo.
Once you've followed your heart and used the grid pattern (+2 for efficiency, -200 for fun), found the items (but not all of them, 'cause you can't get the bird until you get the fly) you combine them and/or use them separately on an obstacle. Once that's solved, you go back on yet another search! And then another. And another. If Sisyphus was a gamer he'd be stuck in an endless adventure game stage.
Some problems require you have to combine a few of those tediously found items. But, of course, not all items can be combined. You don't know which ones are which until you try every possible combination of every possible item. It's like a SAT math problem: If George has 8 items and 3 of them can be combined, how many different combinations are possible? It would help if compatible items were at all obvious. Often, though, they're really bloody not. In Mechanarium, for example, you boil a radiator to get a hose. Seriously? Boiling a radiator?? Who could possibly come up with that without randomly combing stuff? A mad man with no common sense, that's who.
I'd like to like adventure games. They're classic and loved by many, but I can't get on board with them. Honestly, I don't even understand their appeal. The only one I've liked is Darkside Detective, and that's because it's witty, the story is quirky, and it doesn't take itself seriously. I liked the plot in spite of it being an adventure game. I'm still going to try them; maybe a year or two from now there will be one I like. If I can keep from defenestrating the computer.
Some problems require you have to combine a few of those tediously found items. But, of course, not all items can be combined. You don't know which ones are which until you try every possible combination of every possible item. It's like a SAT math problem: If George has 8 items and 3 of them can be combined, how many different combinations are possible? It would help if compatible items were at all obvious. Often, though, they're really bloody not. In Mechanarium, for example, you boil a radiator to get a hose. Seriously? Boiling a radiator?? Who could possibly come up with that without randomly combing stuff? A mad man with no common sense, that's who.
I'd like to like adventure games. They're classic and loved by many, but I can't get on board with them. Honestly, I don't even understand their appeal. The only one I've liked is Darkside Detective, and that's because it's witty, the story is quirky, and it doesn't take itself seriously. I liked the plot in spite of it being an adventure game. I'm still going to try them; maybe a year or two from now there will be one I like. If I can keep from defenestrating the computer.
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