Exploring the social & cultural implications of videogames and other media.

  • Horizon: Forbidden West – Kinesthetics of Combat

    Horizon: Forbidden West – Kinesthetics of Combat

    In Horizon: Forbidden West, Guerilla Games have created the most satisfying combat experience that I’ve had in a game—maybe ever. I will try not to stray into hyperbole in this piece, but clearly, HFW hit almost every note right for me, and I will have more to say about the rest of the game in…

  • Far Cry New Dawn: All in the Family

    Far Cry New Dawn: All in the Family

    Far Cry New Dawn was released in 2019 as a spin off of Far Cry 5. The game was initially priced at about $40 which reflects its limited scope. Speaking broadly, I am strongly in favor of developers making further use of already-developed assets such as the world of Hope County, the dialog and weapon…

  • Far Cry 5: An Illustrative Mess

    Far Cry 5: An Illustrative Mess

    When performing criticism of a videogame, I feel that playing it some time after its release presents certain advantages: firstly, we are removed from the marketing hype that has built up some expectations in the player, which may or may not be delivered by the game itself. Next, the game is in a more ‘complete’…

  • Just Give Me Two Good Reasons

    One of the dominant features of open-world games such as FarCry 5 is that they are big. Really big. The scale of the map is an often discussed feature of such games, but so too are the myriad activities and overall “playtime” that a game can offer. Presumably more is better, but I find myself…

  • FarCry 5: Early Impressions

    Having abandoned FarCry 6, I’ve immediately jumped into the predecessor, FarCry 5. I’ve noticed that this one was much better received critically, and from the initial setup, I am impressed at how well it is put together. I am also, frankly, astonished that a game that frames white American Christians as the villains managed to…

  • Far Cry 6: Nope

    I’ve battled through several hours with the game, hit level 6, gathered a number of new weapons, cosmetics and trinkets, advanced the story quite a bit, taken out various installations and checkpoints, but I am just not feeling this game.  I noticed the slapdash approach to the instigating plot in my previous post, and thus…

  • Far Cry 6: First Look

    I recently started FarCry 6 after having not played an FC game for many years. I am more an Assassin’s Creed aficianado, although Valhala didn’t resonate with me. Both games are developed and published by Ubisoft, and I honestly hadn’t realized how much crossover in mechanics had occurred between the two franchises.  Getting started in…

  • Lies all the way down

     A while ago, I wrote and published a peer-reviewed article about the “curious” and very deliberate efforts by the developers of certain games to proclaim that their games shouldn’t be interpreted in a political way, despite all evidence to the contrary. The abstract goes like this:  Developers of AAA videogames which feature recognizable military forces,…