[mrk]

Thanks for the replies.

Originally Posted by oscar

why not?

According to adventuregamers:
Adventure games are all about stories, exploring worlds and solving puzzles.
Adventure games focus on puzzle solving within a narrative framework.

The problem I have with Portal being covered on Adventuregamers is that Portal is more like action-adventures and 1st person shooters than it is like 1st person adventures like Myst or Lighthouse. I will explain this shortly.

I am well aware of the whole definition part. But of course stories, exploring worlds and solving puzzles do not necessarily mean it falls in the adventure game category Adventuregamers originally used to cover. Many other game genres have one or more of these elements. The action elements should then be considered the deciding factor. In general, if this last element is highly debatable I do not think it should be considered for Adventuregamers.

Even some Tetris-like puzzle games have puzzle solving within a narrative framework. What about the classic game Loderunner, which has a story, exploring of the worlds and puzzle solving. Action elements are included in the form of shooting platforms and making use of other handy devices to solve the puzzles and reach your end goal. All these elements are also present in Portal. The only main difference is the 1st person view and the platform-like view. I do not think there are many people who would consider Loderunner an adventure game, but why is Portal considered to be one on Adventuregamers?

Originally Posted by Jackal

How do you know? How do they know?

I was just resonating the five star rating description and pointing out how ridiculous the five stars for Portal are in the context of Adventuregamers. Of course "true adventure fans" are hard to describe. But many gamers I know (including myself) do not like these forceful genre blending games, mainly designed to attract new and different gaming audiences. But we do like adventures, shooters, fighters, RPGs etc. in the classic sense. Whether or not Portal is considered a genre blending game is debatable. More reason to not consider it for Adventuregamers.

Originally Posted by Jackal

Yes, there are people who simply refuse to play any keyboard controlled games or games with any action at all, but our ratings don't account for people whose personal preferences matter more than the quality of a game.

Yes, there are many people who don't like the quick action segments, but in most adventure games covered on this website it is only a small part of the games. Adventure games are certainly not mainly about quick maneuvering and quick shooting to reach the end of the game. Portal's gameplay however is primarily built around these two quick actions, also with many timed challenges. These quick actions are the same as in shooters, even if they are only performed to solve puzzles.

If quality was the main reason to review games, any type of game could be reviewed on Adventuregamers, however quality of games is not what the main discussion should be about.


Of course I am "just" a longtime Adventuregamers reader noticing these kind of drastic changes on the website. I am not running the website nor one of the reviewers so I don't know all about these new review choice standards, possibly introduced to keep the website online. I used to love Adventuregamers for the reviews and features but in the last couple of years I visit it less frequently. The previously described blurring of the editorial policies and more mimicking of the other big website (in terms of review choices) are the main reasons.

I do not think review choices should be made based on the fact some adventure gamers might have interest in those other type of genres (or blended genres) or to tap new audiences via the more "popular mainstream" games which have some adventure elements but are far away from most other games reviewed on the website.