The Giant Bomb Quick Look Thread 2

Like, I can feel the crass commercialisation pouring out of it at every juncture, especially with the ad videos that play when you get a new dude

but goddamn, there's some weird mechanical thing to it that feels oddly compelling, even just watching this vid
 
Jintor said:
I am becoming vaguely interested in Skylanders despite myself

These animations on the Skylanders is kind of cool
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Me too. Activision and commercialization could have led to a shittier game meant to sell toys to kids. I would have loved something like this when I was a kid.
 
Goldmund said:
I get the figurine collecting aspect, ... but the gameplay seems just drab.
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It think it looks really solid for what it is, especially considering how shit most games aimed at kids are. Toys For Bob should make a ton of money off this
and then use that money to make a new Star Control.
 
You actually see the psychological manipulation in the core design of Skylanders, it's a pretty disgusting product. I know lots of games do that, but if they're aimed at adults, I have no problem, but this is really poor form.
 
StuBurns said:
You actually see the psychological manipulation in the core design of Skylanders, it's a pretty disgusting product. I know lots of games do that, but if they're aimed at adults, I have no problem, but this is really poor form.
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Wow, that card game is a lot like the card game from FF IX.
 
Haunted said:
Of course it would seem like that to us. It's a fucking kid's game. But it knows what it sets out to do and executes well on that.
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The sentiment that kids don't deserve any better than being patronized and/or openly manipulated is awful. Children's curiosity, tenacity and their willingness and ability to adapt are faculties that get lost during adulthood. They're at least equally capable of playing the challenging, multi-layered, mechanically exacting games we cherish. I don't remember putting up with anything less when I was a child.
 
Goldmund said:
The sentiment that kids don't deserve any better than being patronized and/or openly manipulated is awful. Children's curiosity, tenacity and their willingness and ability to adapt are faculties that get lost during adulthood. They're at least equally capable of playing the challenging, multi-layered, mechanically exacting games we cherish. I don't remember putting up with anything less when I was a child.
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Hum, what games are you playing, sir?
 
Goldmund said:
I get the figurine collecting aspect, ... but the gameplay seems just drab.
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Yeah, the game has a lot of charm and I can see being way into getting the figures as a kid
But playing it looks like a mildly more exciting variation of Disney Universe, which isnt too enticing. Especially when the sequel looks extremely iterative

Is the 3DS version a bit more platformy again like the first one was? Because i might be into that.
 
Goldmund said:
The sentiment that kids don't deserve any better than being patronized and/or openly manipulated is awful. Children's curiosity, tenacity and their willingness and ability to adapt are faculties that get lost during adulthood. They're at least equally capable of playing the challenging, multi-layered, mechanically exacting games we cherish. I don't remember putting up with anything less when I was a child.
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I don't agree that they're equally capable, but I know what you mean and your point about not having to dumb things down overly is a fair one.

I think a 5 year old can pick up and enjoy Skylanders, I don't think the same kid would enjoy Portal - at least not for the same reasons we do. Doesn't mean one executes on what it sets out to do better than the other, it's just different demographics - very few games manage to appeal to and engage all ages.

Skylanders might be limited in its scope - although I don't think it's overly patronising either - and it has other things going for it (seeing a real-time conversion from a figure in real life into a game would've been enough to make me flip out as a kid). I think the sort of gameplay that looks drab to us doesn't really bother the kids because they're in it for something else.


edit: that's purely talking about the game itself and not going in the questionable/gross/manipulative merchandising aspect that's definitely there as well. :p
 
Haunted said:
I don't agree that they're equally capable, but I know what you mean and your point about not having to dumb things down overly is a fair one.

I think a 5 year old can pick up and enjoy Skylanders, I don't think the same kid would enjoy Portal - at least not for the same reasons we do. Doesn't mean one executes on what it sets out to do better than the other, it's just different demographics - very few games manage to appeal to and engage all ages.

Skylanders might be limited in its scope - although I don't think it's overly patronising either - and it has other things going for it (seeing a real-time conversion from a figure in real life into a game would've been enough to make me flip out as a kid). I think the sort of gameplay that looks drab to us doesn't really bother the kids because they're in it for something else.


edit: that's purely talking about the game itself and not going in the questionable/gross/manipulative merchandising aspect that's definitely there as well. :p
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Kids aspire to enjoy the same stuff that older kids do. It's why we all snuck into R rated movies and listened to explicit music. I think you'd be surprised how well 5-6 y/os can play games. Portal is probably a bad example because it requires lots of abstract thinking using concepts kids don't understand.

Sometimes my friend's 5 y/o brother would play Halo with us, and I was shocked how well he did. Let's not pretend like most games are difficult.
 
sixghost said:
Kids aspire to enjoy the same stuff that older kids do. It's why we all snuck into R rated movies and listened to explicit music. I think you'd be surprised how well 5-6 y/os can play games. Portal is probably a bad example because it requires lots of abstract thinking using concepts kids don't understand.

Sometimes my friend's 5 y/o brother would play Halo with us, and I was shocked how well he did. Let's not pretend like most games are difficult.
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Doesn't that make it a good example for what I was trying to say? :p
 
Not sure why Jeff says games like Double Dragon Neo seems outdated to today's game standards when the gameplay for Skylander seems worse to me.
 
slaughterking said:
I peeked into the Skylanders OT and realized that Jeff's fascination with that franchise is actually relatively inoffensive.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=43488449&postcount=302
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Woah.

ib1usuY48ryOeN.gif
 
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