Do You Want Games For Lunch?
Sometime Joystiq columnist and VGMWatch escapee Kyle Orland pinged me about his dangerous new project, 'Games For Lunch', which seems to do - exactly what it says on the tin: "Games for Lunch is a playlog. Every day I play one game for an hour and blog about my experience. At the end, I review the game based on the only real criteria that matters to me: Do I want to keep playing?"
Sure, he gets reflexively a tad defensive in the initial FAQ, responding to the imagined slight 'This isn't really a fair way to review games' by noting: "You're right, playing a game for just an hour really isn't fair to the game as a whole. Still, I feel that with the vast majority of games, you've seen most of what the game has to offer after an hour." And you know, that's not a horrific statement. [OR IS IT?]
Anyhow, the first content post is for the Halo 3 Beta, and he echoes what I've pretty much found so far: "It occurs to me that the other people playing this game in the middle of the day probably have enough free time to put in a lot more practice than I have. Thus I rationalize yet another crappy performance."
Overall, the game gets a 'maybe' for longer-term play just because: "I can't see myself putting in the hours to actually become good enough to hold my own at multiplayer." Hey, Bungie/Microsoft, can't you create a playpen for us malco-ordinated kiddies?









Comments
Lunchtime isn't the right time for a violence heavy experience like Halo 3. I've found more relaxing persuits like Catan work better. Though H3 bored me after a few days, so I might not match the common taste.
Posted by: Aaron | June 6, 2007 4:04 AM
I think there are better criteria than "Do I want to keep playing?"
Posted by: CaRteR | June 6, 2007 5:23 AM
I like the concept, but he shouldn't call them reviews when they're clearly not.
(also, I've played a few games that turned out to be very good the fact that I didn't particularily enjoy them after an hour, and perhaps more importantly, I've played quite a few mediocre games that I did enjoy during the first hour).
Posted by: fluffy bunny | June 6, 2007 5:31 AM
Oh please please review Twilight Princess.
"I wandered around a town for a bit and herded some goats. I found some lady's cat. Right at the end I got to beat up a training dummy. This whole game must be a postmodern commentary on how boring Hyrule is when not threatened by encroaching evil."
Posted by: Shih Tzu | June 6, 2007 10:21 AM