A Viewpoint

Videogames are infinitely more than just interactive-audio-visual trips and they have more than proved themselves as an equally capable medium with much meaning and impact as all the rest of the entertainment mediums out there. But there’s also another side to videogames that gets rarely highlighted and as gamers, we’ve somewhat grown to almost gloss over it completely. Yes we’re talking about the darker aspect of videogames, the part about it’s gratifying and unnecessarily-excessive mechanics of violence and over-indulgence in all kinds of moral deviations. Videogames, from the sole viewpoint of the player, are psychological experiences. Simply because in a videogame, we play with our minds . And even though they are interactive in nature and have a complex inner structure, but what videogames ultimately affect us on, is on a purely mental level, and from there, they also leave a deep footprint that stays with us long after we’re out of it. So yes, videogame...

In the 'Anatomy of Videogames' series of articles, we’ve seen how a videogame works on a skeletal level—from it’s interconnected design elements that form the ‘mechanics’ of a game and the underlying design philosophies that’s responsible for it’s thematic significance. So we’ve come to a point of understanding as to how the entire videogame experience is ‘built’, from the inside-out. And this article is about what makes a videogame truly great in the first place, what is it that lies in the DNA of games such as Half Life 2, Dragon Age Origins, Batman: Arkham City, Mass Effect 2, Bioshock that makes these games stand in the highest echelons of the videogame experience. What is the secret element that’s responsible for them being so endearing, rich and finally, what makes us still replay these games and want to get lost in their worlds. This article will explore the fundamental reason for the success of ANY videogame, why is it that a game sticks with us for ye...

Although there exist plenty of reviews, critical analysis and all other forms of ‘verdicts’ on any videogame, there’s only one ultimate form of judgement that stands above all of them—Time. How much a videogame stands in respect to time is the one ultimate yardstick that holds true, all the time (pun intended). It means that no matter what the critics say, no matter what the numbers are—in our hearts, the greatest games are simply those that we find ourselves keep coming back to, with time. Time also shows ultimately what truly matters in a videogame—it’s always the gameplay and the sheer amount of fun that it allows the player to get out of from the game. Graphics get ‘older’ with time, as well as most other design elements that form the ‘exteriors’ of a game, but it’s the core of a game (which is the gameplay) that’s single handedly responsible for whether it still holds playability or not, over time. That’s why only the truly great games stand the test of Time, while the res...

Avengers Endgame is a movie about payoffs, it’s not just the culmination of the Infinity Saga that started with 2012’s The Avengers, but it also serves as the closing chapter to many of the characters whose journey started with 2008’s Iron Man. So whether you’ve been following the MCU ever since then or from any later point, whether you are a causal fan of the connected cinematic Universe or a die-hard comic lover who is heavily invested in the journey of these characters, you should definitely watch Endgame, simply cause there’s going to be massive payoffs for you that you’ll find both deeply satisfying and rewarding. So yes, Avengers Endgame is worth your watching. But how much is it worth, whether it feels rewarding to watch multiple times (like the first Avengers film was) or is it just another Marvel flick that’s hugely entertaining but fails to be memorable in the long run, is what this review is going to be all about. Avengers Endgame, in many ways, is the grand...

Ever since Dragon Ball Super ended, we were given news and glimpses of the upcoming Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie, first it was only a short teaser showcasing a new visual flair and a mysterious new saiyan. Later on the movie revealed itself as a full blown blast from the past—the return (and canonization) of Broly in the Dragon Ball franchise, with an altered backstory to keep things fresh. The Legendary, maniacal saiyan from the post-Z era is back and he has never looked more powerful. Honestly, it was a welcome treat in the franchise, but also raised a few legitimate questions regarding the direction it’s now headed and how it gels with everything that we’ve seen from Super thus far. But it does seemed that the movie will be the biggest celebration in the franchise so far, with the fusion (no pun intended) of some of the coolest elements from the Toei-directed post-Z era with the cosmic setting of Super, so what’s not to love? Then came the confirmation th...

In the previous two articles of the Anatomy of Videogames series, we’ve learned about the inner mechanisms of videogames in detail and how they work together to create the overall tapestry of audio-visual-interactive-experience that we know as Videogames. And in this article, we’ll go even beyond and take a good look at what directs that whole mechanism from within—I’d like to call them Design Philosophies. They form the ‘heart’ or the ‘main theme’ of a videogame and basically answer the question of what a game ‘means’ from a purely human perspective. To understand the role of design philosophies in a videogame, simply consider the reactions and emotions that a game invokes inside the player—what does the gameplay make them feel? Is it empowering and rewarding or does it feel monotonous and tiring? What does traversing the levels feel like? Does it feel like a thoroughly enjoyable journey or a lackluster trudge through some 3d environments? Does the story feel like you’d ...

In the previous article, we've learned about the main pillars or key mechanisms of videogames in detail. And in this one, we’ll explore all the different layers in them and how they work and interact with one another within a game. So this article would be about how those 4 key mechanisms ‘work’ from the inside.   Videogames are about interactive entertainment—they remove the line between the play and the player, so when you are playing a game, what’s also happening is that the game is also playing itself ‘through you’, and no it’s not as creepy as it sounds like. This is the main reason why different players, according to their preferences and perspectives, can experience the same videogame in different ways. Of course the game itself also provides the scope and the foundations for that kind of multi-faceted experience to take place. So what does that mean that the game is playing itself through You? It means, the necessary tools for the game to be ‘played out’, are n...