Will Ooi » Game Reviews

Searching for the Humanity in Human Revolution

Will Ooi — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 05:46:21 +0000

*Warning: Spoilers ahead*

Jensen looked for the staircase amongst the near-deafening, conflicting distractions of bass-heavy dance music and the raised voices of tangibly multilingual but otherwise unidentifiable background chatter in the immensely crowded Hive nightclub. Were it not for his augmentations, he thought to himself, the noise of this busy Hengsha social scene may have caused some discomfort; although that had now been replaced by those sudden interruptions from colleagues coming in through the InfoLink embedded in his skull.

But that wasn't the hardest thing to get used to. It was the knowledge that everything he could see would be instantly relayed back onto a voyeuristic screen in some cold, sanitised facility hidden away in shame and secrecy. By comparison, that constant threat of intrusion by - quite literally - a voice in his head, cutting short his own thoughts when he dared even to daydream for a mere moment, was somehow less invasive.

*Incoming transmission*.

~ [Gamasutra Feature]

Red Dead Redemption Wants You To Be Good

Will Ooi — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 04:53:29 +0000

~ * An analysis of the ending of Red Dead Redemption, strong spoiler warning * Finally, Rockstar have come up with a game that wants us to be good. Playing as a reformed outlaw in a graphically gorgeous title combining almost every aspect of the Wild West we've come to recognise through films, TV shows and folklore, the most surprising quality of Red Dead Redemption - even more impressive than the amazing attention to detail - is the enforced morality and, in line with the game's title and its central theme, redeeming qualities of the main character. John Marston, contrary to those previous incarnations of Grand Theft Auto and other Rockstar Games' antiheroes, is not seeking success and wealth through crime; he is aspiring to be good for the betterment of himself and his family. As in previous open-world games the players themselves are free to do as they wish, inevitably leading to a sandbox environment of carnage and chaos as the he/she sees fit. In Red Dead, the option to be 'good' or 'bad' is presented - do you capture criminals alive to collect bounty rewards and shoot the weapons out of people's hands instead of killing them, or decide to go renegade by robbing the innocent and, as an homage to the classic Western cliche of moustached villainy, tie a woman up and place her on railroad tracks? Despite your decisions in these situations and regardless of your own personal play-style, the most striking thing about the main story missions is how Marston always, from the start of the game to the finish, chooses the honourable route.

Moral Conflict, Character Development and Consequences: A Dragon Age Origins Review

Will Ooi — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:15:34 +0000

RPGs tend to always intimidate me before I start one: upon estimating the hours I'm going to need to commit towards understanding the equipment system, not to mention navigating all those menus and grasping the fictional history as well as figuring out the combat tactics, it worries me ever so greatly and yet, strangely, I am never sufficiently put off enough to avoid the genre altogether. The worry stems from a selfishness: a concern borne out of a fear of what will happen to me if I actually like the game. Or rather more specifically, what will happen to me if I actually, sincerely, love the game.

Retro Review: Alex Kidd in Miracle World (and its theme song)

Will Ooi — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:26:56 +0000

I still remember it so vividly: the day my mum took me to the store to pick up the Sega Master System II, my first ever console and a moment that inevitably influenced my gaming life for good, culminating in me. The console's box design and game covers checkered in predominant white with black stripes and adorned with Times New Roman font. We sure have come a long way since then, but in the early 90s when Hypercolour t-shirts constituted taste, it was magic.

Modern Warfare 2: A Post-Completion Discussion

Will Ooi — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:49:09 +0000

(Spoilers of course.) It was all over far too soon. With barely a moment to rest or let your guard down to admire the amazing environments and graphical details of the year’s biggest release, the campaign mode of Modern Warfare 2 – whilst inarguably exhilarating from start to finish – wasn’t quite what I was hoping it [...]

When Peggle Turns Ugly

Will Ooi — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:51:29 +0000

I was innocent, once. To be honest I didn’t think much of Peggle when it first came out on Xbox Live Arcade. Call it judging a game by its cover, if you will, but the prospect of playing a child-centred pinball-type game didn’t appeal at all. But I went ahead and downloaded the trial version [...]

A Fallout 3 Review/Confession

Will Ooi — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Originally posted here ~ [I will probably get in trouble if certain people read this blog. But here it is anyway] A bit of context, just to get it out of the way early on: I tend to take my gaming addictions a bit far sometimes, and I absolutely love open world games. GTA III [...]

Review: Bionic Commando Rearmed (XBLA)

Will Ooi — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:00:00 +0000

So this is what Bionic Commando was like. Having never played the original 1989 NES game, opting instead for a Sega Master System II (hey, II sure beats I) in the 8 bit generation, I always wondered why my Nintendo buddies raved on about it. And the reason? The absolute awesomeness in controlling a character [...]

Review: Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 (XBLA)

Will Ooi — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:00:00 +0000

I’ve tried studying its movements, to no avail. I’ve tried alternating my right thumb shooting patterns to keep it on its toes, but more often than not it’s me who comes off second best. And everytime a whole bunch of them are on screen, I’ve tried carving out a path, holding them back with firepower [...]

Semi-Retro Review: The Warriors (PS2/Xbox/PSP)

Will Ooi — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 14:00:00 +0000

“Warriors…come out to play-ay-ay!” Another underrated Rockstar game, The Warriors was of course based on the 1979 cult film classic by Walter Hill adapted from the novel by Sol Yurick. I must admit that prior to playing the game I had NO knowledge of the existence of such a film, so I decided to borrow [...]