Zero Punctuation Review

Ten years after the original game and Harry's still searching for his daughter.

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jdnation
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Zero Punctuation Review

Post by jdnation »

Yahtzee finally reviews Shattered memories!
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ ... d-Memories
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Anxiety Sponge, MD
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Post by Anxiety Sponge, MD »

I love this review. And he must have liked it if he played it twice through; he usually hates a lot of the games he reviews.


And I think that if this game had you run away from Twilight fangirls as Robert Patterson (Pattinson?), it would have made the game a lot scarier. Much, much scarier.
Restoration01
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Post by Restoration01 »

Damn, this guy speaks fast.
Thanks for sharing the review!
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AuraTwilight
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Post by AuraTwilight »

This is certainly one of his better reviews.
[quote="BlackFire2"]I thought he meant the special powers of her vagina.[/quote]
jdnation
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Post by jdnation »

Yahtzee has some more to say about Shattered memories
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/article ... d-Memories
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AuraTwilight
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Post by AuraTwilight »

A few of Yahtzee's requests, though reasonable in general, are muted in that the story can't really allow Harry Mason to die.
[quote="BlackFire2"]I thought he meant the special powers of her vagina.[/quote]
Arsonist
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Post by Arsonist »

He's spot on as far as I'm concerned. The game was very linear and not too scary. I especially agree with this:
4. Use that psychological element

Before playing SH:SM, I assumed the psych testing thing would figure out what made me nervous and use that against me - trap me in a tiny room if I show claustrophobic tendencies, for example. But all Memories seems to do is reflect your personality directly. For example, if you display an obsession with sex, some of the characters wear sexier outfits. Surely this is something a sex obsessive would quite like, not be scared by.

I know it was part of the hype but I felt this element would have been more effective if it hadn't told me that I was being psychoanalyzed - I went through it paranoid about my actions and trying to predict what the game would take from the choices I made. As a result, Psycho Mantis unexpectedly calling me out for being a big save scumming bastard in Metal Gear Solid felt rather more unnerving.
I agree that the whole psychological element was poorly used. Alcoholics should see the desperate/dying drunks or junkies, not hawt partygirls.

And people obsessed with sex should come across people like Angela, who accuse Harry of "only being after one thing" and other such accusations, and not be reworded by hawt, sexually open, big breasted women.

I like the way insecure and introverted people are slightly abused by others... Well, mainly Cybil and Dahlia, and only for a short while, but still...
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alone in the town
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Post by alone in the town »

I agree that the whole psychological element was poorly used. Alcoholics should see the desperate/dying drunks or junkies, not hawt partygirls.

And people obsessed with sex should come across people like Angela, who accuse Harry of "only being after one thing" and other such accusations, and not be reworded by hawt, sexually open, big breasted women.
All this assumes that the experience is intended to be a punishment for Harry's various life's sins.

Since Cheryl's the real narrator and observer of these subjective events, it would make no sense for this to be a punitive experience.
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AuraTwilight
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Post by AuraTwilight »

Especially since Cheryl would, under no circumstances, "punish" Harry for anything. To complain about this is merely to misunderstand the game.
[quote="BlackFire2"]I thought he meant the special powers of her vagina.[/quote]
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Kenji
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Post by Kenji »

Except that he's not talking about this in the context of the story, but as an effective horror device. Even in his glowing review of SH2, I got the impression that he cared more about the atmosphere than the story.
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Post by AuraTwilight »

Right, we're just commenting that despite how effective it is, it can't be done in the context of Shattered Memories.
[quote="BlackFire2"]I thought he meant the special powers of her vagina.[/quote]
jdnation
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Post by jdnation »

Arsonist wrote:I agree that the whole psychological element was poorly used. Alcoholics should see the desperate/dying drunks or junkies, not hawt partygirls.

And people obsessed with sex should come across people like Angela, who accuse Harry of "only being after one thing" and other such accusations, and not be reworded by hawt, sexually open, big breasted women.

I like the way insecure and introverted people are slightly abused by others... Well, mainly Cybil and Dahlia, and only for a short while, but still...
Except Cheryl wants to keep him there, not turn him away... as others have mentioned.

Anyway it seems he does like the story and the context the gameplay serves that story and he loves the fact that the developers took this chance and looks forward to what they do next, his only complaint is that it doesn't serve the purpose of horror, which is pretty much to make the game scarier for you, so in his review he doesn't call it a horror game, just an experience, but of course he's being hyperbolic with that statement. basically he wants the game to be more scary and that the mechanics and profiling to be used for that purpose.
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