10°

Extra Punctuation: Interactive Storytelling

Ages ago I started work on, not so much a game, more an "interactive storytelling experience" (here I go wanking away) called Fork, which was based around the "gameplay" of a Japanese-style visual novel. The idea was, you had to make 6 choices, and each choice branched the story. The player was given as little detail as possible at the start, and each choice of action they made added detail that altered the context of the events. For example, you started off in a hospital reception area, and the first choice was whether to sit down and wait or walk down the hall to explore further. Choosing to sit implied that the player character understood the hospital to be functional, and would lead to the stories involving visiting sick friends, seeing a doctor or identifying a corpse. Choosing to explore implied that the player character was more confused about their situation, which led to stories in which the hospital was abandoned or closed, and you were there for various illicit reasons.

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escapistmagazine.com
90°

Two Decades Later, the Original Splinter Cell is Still a Masterpiece

They don't make games like this anymore.

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gamingbolt.com
vgvill5d ago

Too dated in my book. The AI is way too unpredictable to be acceptable today. It's definitely a game of its time.

Jingsing5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

Agreed with those sentiments. The quality of the CPU controlled characters make or break a stealth game and they are pretty poor in all the Splinter Cell games by today's standard. This is what led me to playing Spies vs Mercs all the time in later games just to get a better stealth experience from a real person. Arguably Sony are making better stealth games albeit not Tom Clancy stuff.

TheProfessional5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

You should stick with fortnite or one of the countless bloodborne style games then. What a joke.

rlow15d ago

I had a good time with the game. It is a product of its time. But when it came out it was a must have game for a lot of people. I wish Ubisoft would make another game in the series or at least a reboot.

vgvill5d ago

They are making a remake, I think. I loved the original game when it was released, but I tried to play it again in recent years and just couldn't get on with it. The same with the older Hitman games.

PrecursorOrb5d ago

Yeah chaos theory still holds up though I gotta say. If you’re a fan of the series I highly suggest you go back to that one. Ubi has said they are remaking sc for “modern audiences”. I don’t have a lot of faith for the future of that company

Chocoburger4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

Due to the lack of modern stealth games, and me constantly playing the MGS series, I've been looking for alternative stealth games to play, and went back and re-played the SC series recently. I wouldn't call SC1 or SC:PT masterpieces, there are AI issues, they're very much trial-and-error games, and that can lead to a lot of frustration. I also found the stories in this series to be boring, uninteresting, and just sloppily told. Cinematics are also of poor quality for both in-game scenes and CG cut-scenes, the soundtrack didn't leave any impression on me either.

Chaos Theory is better, but there was still a lot of room for improvement, and Double Agent (old gen ver.) was a sloppy mess that ended up a regression from CT. But still, at least they tried back then, these days Ubi-junk doesn't even try to make good games!

70°

A Matter Of Trust: What The Game Industry Should Do To Win Gamers Back

Skewed and Reviewed have written an Opinion Piece covering issues in the gaming industry, how current issues were issues years ago, and what can be done to help restore consumer trust.

anast10d ago

Nothing. It's up to the gamers to stop consuming content from companies that they don't agree with.

Garethvk10d ago

How do you know if you agree with it or not unless you play it? Which without conventions forces gamers to rely on trailers. Perhaps Demos should be made more frequently. But companies need to do better as well.

anast10d ago

Wait until release. Watch Gameplay. Exercise patience.

Garethvk10d ago

But is that not what they have now? Tons of gameplay or are you talking about watching actual gamers play it versus the trailers and streams? The big issue is that some companies pay streamers and influencers and they create content but for me; that is hardly a fair, unbiased, and factual look at a game.

1nsomniac10d ago

Get rid of the suits in the industry and job done!!

Garethvk10d ago

They usually are attached to the money sadly. It would be nice to have gamers in charge but you have so much money invested that business people are needed. Hence the issue; you need people who know business but are also gamers who know have an eye to the community. It sounds simple in theory that if you give gamers quality games that they want to play; money will be made. But that is not always so.

60°

From The Last of Us to Baldur's Gate 3: The success of the Game Music Festival

Marie Dealessandri speaks to Borislav Slavov and Gustavo Santaolalla about “the new golden age of games music”.

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gamesindustry.biz