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Old 08-06-2009, 02:50 PM   #162
Intrepid Homoludens
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Saving the world in Mirror's Edge involves a combination of skills and, yes, brains. The world in this game is one giant puzzle to navigate. As such,
this game may not translate well into one that you can play by solving adventure game type puzzles. Click the image or here to see how this game handles both story and challenges in ways essentially similar to adventure games.


Quote:
Originally Posted by mgeorge View Post
And I still like the occasional FPS although my preference is an FPS/RPG, Deus Ex, System Shock 2, but sadly there's very few of them made, so I turned to AG's for something with a little more meat on its bones a couple of years ago. After all, you can only save the world by your lonesome so many times before it starts to become stale.
What do you mean by "a little more meat on its bones"? Do you mean to say that a given adventure game is more substantial than a good game that features similar elements (challenges, narrative, exploration, character, etc.) but is of another type? If so then how does the story of a game like Deus Ex (which happens to be one of my all time favourites) handle narrative progress in a way that an adventure game can do better? Is it just the sheer quality of the writing? Is it the pacing? If so, then how does that explain many adventure gamers' complaints about the subpar quality of writing in adventure games in the past several years? Also, would it be true that only good writers and designers do work on adventure games?

Saving the world, from what I've witnessed playing different kinds of games, most often involves being the sole saviour. The differences are in how you save the world. In a typical adventure game it's usually and conventionally through solving puzzles (beat the slider puzzle and save all of mankind....LMAO!); in a FPS you shoot or blow up whatever is trying to destroy the world; in a tactical action game like Hitman or Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell it's through a combination of brains, brawn, real time strategy, patience, and timing; in an RPG it's how strategically you've developed your hero to handle various obstacles; in a specific game like Mirror's Edge, where the environment itself is a kind of puzzle, it's through combining athletic skills, evasion, timing, and martial arts.

In any case, no matter how you choose to save the world, very, very good games offer the challenge in different ways. It's up you, the player, to choose which game best suits your own preference on how to save the world. The "meat" can take on different forms depending on the player.
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Last edited by Intrepid Homoludens; 08-06-2009 at 02:57 PM.
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