Sam & Max came out on GameTap this week, and the internet generally seems to like it. There is, however, a very vocal group of self-proclaimed “fans of the genre” who complains that the puzzles are too easy and that the game feels more like an interactive cartoon than an adventure game – because in a REAL adventure game, all puzzles should take at least three days to figure out. The sad thing is, I have no idea why this is a bad thing.
Don’t get me wrong; I love a good puzzle, otherwise why would I study computer science, or spend so much time playing Sudoku on my Nintendo DS? It’s just that, unlike a lot of adventure gamers, I don’t find the idea of “getting stuck” to be very much fun. In fact, I find that the more I get engrossed in a game’s story, the more frustrated I get when I’m stuck, usually leading me to use a walkthrough and hate myself in the morning. Maybe I’m just not all that great at “thinking outside the box”, so to speak, but sometimes I wonder whether “thinking outside the box” is actually a code word for “becoming a Psychonaut and reading the game designer’s mind”.
Anyway, on a somewhat related note, I’ve recently become addicted to this little game called Armadillo Run. It’s got lots and lots of puzzles that are way more fun to solve than the ones traditional to adventure games (they, like, use physics and stuff!) and better yet, there’s none of that annoying story crud that always gets in the way. Yay!
So, do you also find that the DS’s look too plastic? I’m considering buying one, but that cheap plastic look sort of makes me doubt its usefulness in meetings, where I would like to use the excuse that I’m not playing a game, silly boss, I’m taking notes on my new pda, please carry on. And they wouldn’t buy it if my new pda looked as if it was made in the mini mario toy factory. Anyway, just wondering.
Completely off topic: haven’t played S&M yet cause I’m one of those europeans who doesn’t live in America. And also cause I’m still not sure whether I’m gonna wait for an ordinary all-in-one release or not.
(Btw, is ‘europeans’ with a capital?)
(And bonus question, for the American who likes a Challenge: what’s the capital of Europe?)
Well, the DS Lite kind of looks like a Mac, or at least, the white one does, anyway. You may want to think about one of those.
(Since I’m not an American, I’m assuming your questions aren’t directed at me, but I’ll answer them anyway. Yes, and “E”.)
Hmmm. That game is fun. Though the whole armadillo/portal thing is a bit contrived for a physics game! Why not have it be a science class and if you don’t do it right, they’ll electrocute your nipples or something?!
Yeah, there seems to be a really fine balance between difficult puzzles and too easy puzzles. I like puzzles to be just hard enough that it takes me some time, but never so hard that I get stuck for more than a day. If I really am enjoying the game, I will NOT look up the hint. But most of the time the games aren’t good enough to warrant a lot of time wracking your brain to understand how the DESIGNER wants you to solve the problem. Those puzzles are the worst.
I guess everyone feels cheaped out by an ‘easy’ game, but if the story is good and the puzzles are fair, plentiful and fun, I don’t think you can complain much.
How easy or how hard a puzzle is to figure out doesn’t matter much to me. But it’s indeed that designer thingy which can ruin the fun: nothing more frustrating than knowing how the puzzle should logically be solved, but not being able to figure out how the game has been designed to enable that logical solution.
Yeah I’m considering a Lite, seems like they’re generally better, hardware-wise.
The DS looks too plastic, indeed. It should be more furry!
I can’t really comment on the puzzles since I still have to finish the game. But I agree with Leopold here, it’s a fine line. I wouldn’t worry about it, because these are very minor complaints. (And they’re quite reasonable too. Imagine if people still complained about it being 3D or something!)
Why is it that Canadians always point out that they’re not American? Aren’t you as much American as I’m European? The founders of USA had too little imagination to actually think up a name for their new country, but that shouldn’t prevent the use of the word America to mean other things than USA.
Or do we have to qualify what we mean by saying North American if we don’t mean USA-people specifically? North-and-South American if we also want to include people in Lima? Maybe I’ll just stick with “foreigners”.
On to the topic of puzzles. First, I have nothing against easy puzzles. Both Bone 1 and Torin’s Passage are on my list of favourite games. I don’t think anyone likes to be stuck – it’s the feeling of getting unstuck that’s great. It was great to solve something in Discworld and get access to something new after a long time of frustration. For me, I’m happy as long as the game is fun. (Maybe “fun” is the wrong word. It doesn’t have to be comedy.) And a puzzle doesn’t have to be hard to be clever. (Although it probably is related.)
Let’s say Europe was actually called Francia. When you went around calling yourself French, everyone would assume you were from the country France. Now say France went around bombing other countries, torturing people, and had generally developed a bad reputation (deserved or undeserved) or, let’s say, everyone automatically assumed you ate baggets, drank wine and used a bidet daily – after all, you’re French, right? That’s why. The fact is Canada isn’t part of the US, nobody calls people from South America Americans. They don’t ask if Mexicans are Americans (though they are part of North America too). They just assume if you’re white, speak english and don’t come from Europe, you’re USian. But hey, we’re a whole other country. We don’t particularly want to disappear, or be misjudged or forgotten about.
I want to call Mexicans and Brazilians Americans just as much. We should ask Bush to please rename his country to get rid of the confusion. Or is there another name for America to use? I guess I could use “North America and South America”, but that’s a bit unwieldy. The only fair solution seems to call everyone west of the Atlantic Ocean Canadians.
Furry eh? I like it! It has Nintendo written all over it
heh heh. Well, I too think the USA should get its own damn name! USian is tossed around, but doesn’t really roll off the tongue. Canadians have tried for years to think of something else, but got nothing yet. Suggestions are welcome!
ZOMG! There’s a political debate on my blog! How did this happen?
(By the way, that “furry” comment put me in stitches.)
Why not refer to them as United States? We all know the States are located in America, and not in Canada