Not a line I hear very often from the overloaded of gamers, Scotty, famous for his ever growing pile of untouched video games.
It has been suggested he look for a partner on Craigslist with the suggestion that she help him with said pile.
But it was the line I was provided when his copy of "The Last of Us" was placed in my hands.
I hadn't paid much attention to the reviews aside from "this is game of the year" and etc etc etc. But I hate that kind of hype. As soon as I see that sort of thing, I shrug my shoulders and walk away. There's no real base for that kind of reaction, but it's just the way I act.
But when Scott handed me this game, not explaining anything about the game and simply repeating that line, I just had to obey.
I got home, sat down and decided I was going to live tweet this as much as I possibly can. This is what I experienced in the first twenty minutes of the game. Parents should brace themselves.
I thought it was really nice from the moment the main menu music loaded, but Holy Fucking Shit. The game gets better from then on, showing massive struggles and innocence of both characters and give the player a very real connection with them. As a game, it's very familiar to a well refined Splinter Cell, but as a story... well, I put it down as the best TV show that's actually a Video Game that I have had the pleasure of experiencing.
There was one other game that had me well involved as a good TV show was Remember Me, though it was more of a Film than a TV Show, where it had the Quality but not the Volume in comparison.
It was another big budget game that was fun and had two different feels, from playing a modern Streets of Rage, to watching a French Science Fiction film, and it was a genuine sort of feeling because very little of it looked familiar. Those that did were simply the smooth and mechanical features of an artists future, which come across in other Sci-fi games.
Given a couple of months later, though, and I was given another game from Scotty. He said it was a good TV Show, which Piqued my interest until that second voice in my head said "What does he mean it's a good TV Show? It's a Video Game."
"Yeah, it is. But as a game..." and with a shaking of his open hand, he told me exactly what he meant. And he was right.
The game as a game is pretty piss poor. The most impressive function of it is how you change your Ellen Pa- Sorry, Jodie Holmes. The rest of it? Well it's Action Prompts. Yes, Action Prompts. Where a slow motion section appears and you press buttons or move sticks, or you find a dot that you can mess around with to make life a little easier. Or to scare a bunch of rude bastard children.
That was the redeeming part of the game, the TV show itself. That particular chapter, the main character interacts with kids of her own age and is invited to a party. She's a young teen and is somewhat happy to join the experience.
Personally, it was super awkward making this fictional character make out with a guy on the dance floor. I'm not a young girl, but here I was making a young girl fling herself at a guy who was interested in her. Why? I don't know. I just imagined myself being eager to please these people, and taking every opportunity available.
I imagined myself. She was honest about herself when asked questions. And took up opportunities that cropped up.
Then the awkward settled in, whereby I realised I was roleplaying a teenage girl, something very unfamiliar to me. I was a teenage girl kissing a guy I'd just met.
Then the anger settled in as Jodie was abused, ridiculed, humiliated, and forcibly thrown into a closet. These bastards had to pay. I don't like Bullies. And frankly, a gaggle of them in an enclosed room and the ability to just go mad at them with my Entity? It's the perfect opportunity.
I didn't go too far. I knocked out a couple of kids before returning to a crying girl who felt she went too far, even if they are bastards, then seeing Willem Dafoe come and pick her up.
Just a note: I said me in place of Jodie there before amending it.
While this game is a good example of fantastic concept and writing, not to mention some good use of art and depiction, it's still supposed to be a game. And frankly, it lacks as a game. They've left a blatant note tacked on the end of the show stating "We're going to milk this for at least a sequel, maybe a trilogy" so it'll be interesting to see if they'll do more with their good writers and concepts to make an actual game system that will challenge players more than figuring out the most elaborate way to steal government papers.
