Zero Punctuation: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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Again, yet another of Yahtzee's "survival horror" reviews make me question his definition of the genre.
Like most folks, I don't believe he really thinks about the true meaning of the labels he applies to various games. Instead, if it has violence or gore- particularly of a supernatural nature- and is macabre, unnerving, suspenseful, disturbing, or outright horrifying, he lumps it in the category of "survival horror".
Yet, to me, a more accurate list would be:
SURVIVAL-horror: a game where the emphasis is on killing the really grotesque stuff in order to survive the unnerving situation you find yourself in. Examples would be Dead Space and Doom3. You could also call this 'action-horror'.
survival-HORROR: a game where the environment and the story are the most important, but you still have to do a little fighting and puzzle-solving to survive. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Silent Hill Series, and Penumbra/Amnesia all fall into this category.
Not saying that Yahtzee is wrong to have his opinion; however, that is exactly why I usually don't give his opinion any weight when I'm deciding to buy a game- his work is less of a 'review' and more an editorial on the game.
But just my two cents. [sub]Actual cash value, 1/1000 of a cent[/sub]
Like most folks, I don't believe he really thinks about the true meaning of the labels he applies to various games. Instead, if it has violence or gore- particularly of a supernatural nature- and is macabre, unnerving, suspenseful, disturbing, or outright horrifying, he lumps it in the category of "survival horror".
Yet, to me, a more accurate list would be:
SURVIVAL-horror: a game where the emphasis is on killing the really grotesque stuff in order to survive the unnerving situation you find yourself in. Examples would be Dead Space and Doom3. You could also call this 'action-horror'.
survival-HORROR: a game where the environment and the story are the most important, but you still have to do a little fighting and puzzle-solving to survive. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Silent Hill Series, and Penumbra/Amnesia all fall into this category.
Not saying that Yahtzee is wrong to have his opinion; however, that is exactly why I usually don't give his opinion any weight when I'm deciding to buy a game- his work is less of a 'review' and more an editorial on the game.
But just my two cents. [sub]Actual cash value, 1/1000 of a cent[/sub]
This is definitely my favorite ZP ever. When he screamed about jam coming out of the walls, I had to pause the video because I was laughing too hard to understand anything else he said.
See? Good games can be funny too.
See? Good games can be funny too.
Because honestly? ED:SR to me was never about the fighting, not like Doom3 or Dead Space- it was about the story, and fighting was just one way to accomplish your goals. Contrast that to Dead Space, where literally one of the selling-points of the game is the dismemberment mechanic...llagrok said:
Gee, nice spoiler. Thanks! I am literally 3 missions short of finishing the game. Yes, I had a good idea he was the traitor, but thanks a fucking lot for ruining the surprise for me, even if it wouldn't have been a big one.DBlack said:
Food for thought: Frictional Games is concerned about their financial future based on the sales of this game (check it out: http://frictionalgames.blogspot.com/2010/09/one-week-after-release-of-amnesia.html). It'll be interesting to see if Yahtzee is able to galvanize his fanbase into saving the game.
Yep... properly laughed at the "i'll just turn around and... WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COME FROM?!" moment. Plus the analysis sounds valid, if not terribly insightful/original - proper horror plays heavily on letting the viewer/reader/player's imagination kick into overdrive with just hints of the true mindscrew that may lie beneath. X Files did it with aplomb (possibly as an excuse for a small budget, but I think not), as does the SCP (all those blanked out sections, hiding such potential psychotic-break inducers as ███████ or even ███ ███ ███ ████████, or where it's implied even they don't know what a particular nasty thing does, how it works or could be stopped), and probably twilight zone long before (not familiar enough i'm afraid). Steven King DOESNT get it, which is why I can't dig his work, as well loved as he otherwise is. You show too much of the monstrocity and it's carnage, well... that's not horror anymore. It's gore-porn.
Wow, didn't expect him to do this one. So I loved Penumbra, it wasn't quite Silent Hill but it was still amazing for a horror (Penumbra: Black Plague is still one of my all time favorite games ever, and while it doesn't have a lot of replay value, I replay it a lot anyway ^_^) so when Frictional said they were going to release Amnesia, I was basically one of those people who checked my watch every ten minutes to figure out how much time was left until release (back when I started, quite a few months). You all know what I'm talking about, you've all done it with at least one game. Well fuck me, when the game finally did come out I had started my fall semester of university and was therefor broke, and to this day I cannot afford this fucking game, which is sad because the pricetag is only $20 USD. The fact that Yahtzee did this review is very interesting, because now we have a perfect candidate so we can see just how much his reviews affect sales. Nobody knew anything about this game before now, or about Frictional. Now, one of the most well known critics on the internet has praised it for how scary it is. I predict that Yahtzee will end up being accountable for probably 80 to 90 percent of the sales of Amnesia, but we'll see I guess.
I can't wait to actually play this damn thing ...
I can't wait to actually play this damn thing ...
Because it's an indie game? Last I checked, most major retailers don't stock those.DBlack said:
Also, if you haven't noticed, Yahtzee hates the majority of his fanbase.
And what exactly is the point of reviewing a game that everyone owns? If you already own the game, you should know whether or not it's any good, you don't need a review to tell you.
Oh yes, how dare he not agree exactly with your perception of the game? Curse you Yahtzee! I thought we were Blizzard-hating bros! Those money grubbing whores!
so. glad. you didn't do reach. i like the game and any game in front of your headlights is bound to be called terrible for years to come by every non-fanboy (and a few other people)
alright that may have been a bit of an exaggeration
anyways nice review as always, quite entertaining with the jokes and such.
alright that may have been a bit of an exaggeration
anyways nice review as always, quite entertaining with the jokes and such.
You made me want to play that now, I love real horror games... which reminds me
Is Sanity's requiem any good?
Is Sanity's requiem any good?
