My Amnesia Review Article!

[Skwerly]

Love, love this game. Thank you!

Amnesia Review Here

[Bridge]

The fact that you are preaching to the choir aside, I have a lot of problems with your review that I don't really want to get into that much. But generally, people that have not played a video game in 30 years are not qualified to write reviews. Take for example your comment about it being downloadable. Seriously, if it wasn't available as a digital download we wouldn't even be talking right now. The times have changed and retail is slowly dying. Sorry, but your style of writing is just unappealing to me in general. Anyway, it's not really my place to critique your critique, but since you took the effort to post it on here I thought I should speak my mind.

[Skwerly]

The fact that you are preaching to the choir aside, I have a lot of problems with your review that I don't really want to get into that much. But generally, people that have not played a video game in 30 years are not qualified to write reviews. Take for example your comment about it being downloadable. Seriously, if it wasn't available as a digital download we wouldn't even be talking right now. The times have changed and retail is slowly dying. Sorry, but your style of writing is just unappealing to me in general. Anyway, it's not really my place to critique your critique, but since you took the effort to post it on here I thought I should speak my mind.

You definitely have valid points! You are correct in that I don’t know a whole lot about video games, but then again, a ton of other people don’t, either, and those are the folks the article is generally intended for.

I was exaggerating a bit when I said my last experience was the Atari, but not by much. I’ve played the first person shooters and all that, and do own a Wii, but I’m far, far from being considered anywhere near a gamer.

I write and read horror, and this game appealed to me big time. I know that downloadable games are old news to someone in the know, but to us old-schoolers, it’s still pretty cool.

Thanks for the read and the feedback!

[Bridge]

Maybe you should think about posting some of your work here sometime. People are… uh… into that here. Hope to see you around the forums.

[rtjhbfvsrry]

I disagree with Bridge in that reviewers need to be knowledgable and qualified. It depends on what the purpose of the review is. I find the perspective of non-gamers very valuable indeed, because the perspective is both rare and does not accept bad designs that us gamers have internalized as part of the medium long ago. I'd take a non-gamer's review over a thousand bought and paid for reviews from "professional" reviewers.

That said, I do agree that the review could use more meat and analysis, especially since you say you write horror. Looking at it from that perspective could be interesting. Right now the review mostly says "get this game, it's awesome", a sentiment that I agree with wholeheartedly, but it's a bit flimsy as a core for an article.

[WALP]

Feels more like a describtion then a review to be honest.

[skyhawk02]

I think we need a wide variety of perspectives in gaming, in fact one of the big things holding gaming back right now is that we don't have enough outsider perspective. We are too satisfied to just stick with what we are comfortable with and not take chances. So I really appreciated hearing about Amnesia from a non gamer perspective. Thank you for sharing!

[Diz]

I also am glad that you shared this with us. I share the opinion regarding the review feeling a little basic and taking a different turn from other reviews, but overall I enjoyed reading it. Amnesia: The Dark Descent is likely not the easiest game to review, either, seeing as you need to try teasing their curiosity and making them want to play the game, and at the same time, you want to give away as little as possible to ensure they have that fresh forgotten experience. I feel you achieved this neatly.

One thing I think could spice this review up a little is including one or two screenshots in-between the paragraphs. Not ones that give too much away, but ones that perhaps seem eerie and subtle, like perhaps a screenshot from the first five minutes of the game, so that those who read the review may have a tiny visual glimpse of what is awaiting them.

Nice job, and keep them coming. Remember to do one on A Machine For Pigs once that comes out!

Edit:

But generally, people that have not played a video game in 30 years are not qualified to write reviews.

I can see where you are coming from (and the author did confess to exaggerating), but at the same time, with a unique game like The Dark Descent, you get a fresh view. You get someone who is not influenced by other modern games. Not saying this is a good nor bad thing, but I think it can be interesting to share.

Personally, at the time I played The Dark Descent, I mostly played SNES games. I was entirely new to the horror genre, to say the least, and it was a kind of theme I preferred to stay away from, until a colleague kept teasing about the game, telling me about the first five minutes of the game and saying I simply needed to try it. It just started interesting me more as I kept thinking about it, so I decided to give it a go. Not having touched many scary things before, The Dark Descent became the scariest thing I did in my life up to that point, but instead of de-immersing me, like I thought it would, it kept me sucked in as if I was the character. Everything was done so well, it was no longer a game, it was a living nightmare. Truly fascinating.

Perhaps I would have had the same thoughts if I was quite used to the modern games and horror genre, perhaps not. However, not being used to modern games as much, I think The Dark Descent easily becomes real, and I think that can inspire to write a great review, even if not a traditional review. ^^

[Bridge]

I am familiar with "modern games" and I still found Amnesia to be a fresh and original experience. Honestly, if something feels derivative when compared to other games, it is derivative. Being ignorant of incompetence or worse yet, plagiarism, does not make the game in question any better. Understanding where something comes from is the only way to really appreciate everything it does right, instead of just everything it does.

[rtjhbfvsrry]

Excepting that this understanding tends to come with an inherent acceptance of what goes wrong. None of us would bat an eyelash when a barrel explodes and there's a health kit in there, as retarded as that really is.