More praise
by Alex Lewis · in ThinkTanks · 05/15/2003 (10:49 am) · 3 replies
I hate video games. I admit, I'm an intellectual snob, and I just hate them.
It wasn't always that way. When I was a kid, I loved NES. But I haven't seen a video game worth playing (in my opinion) since Super Mario Brothers.
Until Think Tanks. I downloaded it to procrastinate during exams (Rutgers University), and I think it's fantastic. It's got all the cheerful originality of a game like Super Mario Brothers. Like the classic games of my childhood, it's based on one simple premise, without the pretense of a heavy-weather plot - in other words, it truly is a "game," in the same sense that poker and chess are games. Totally accessible, endlessly entertaining, it's not a "world" or a quasi-movie. You play it, you put it down, it's over. Unless, of course, you don't put it down.
For the last week and a half, when I haven't been studying ancient Greek and writing about Romantic epistemology, I've been playing Think Tanks. So, for what it's worth, you've made that much headway into the video-game-hating portion of the population. Congratulations.
It wasn't always that way. When I was a kid, I loved NES. But I haven't seen a video game worth playing (in my opinion) since Super Mario Brothers.
Until Think Tanks. I downloaded it to procrastinate during exams (Rutgers University), and I think it's fantastic. It's got all the cheerful originality of a game like Super Mario Brothers. Like the classic games of my childhood, it's based on one simple premise, without the pretense of a heavy-weather plot - in other words, it truly is a "game," in the same sense that poker and chess are games. Totally accessible, endlessly entertaining, it's not a "world" or a quasi-movie. You play it, you put it down, it's over. Unless, of course, you don't put it down.
For the last week and a half, when I haven't been studying ancient Greek and writing about Romantic epistemology, I've been playing Think Tanks. So, for what it's worth, you've made that much headway into the video-game-hating portion of the population. Congratulations.
#2
05/15/2003 (6:56 pm)
Alex, that's good stuff. When you play, do you play on-line, solo play, quick play, or all three?
#3
I mostly play on-line or quick play games. I'm not a particularly good player, but since I can respawn as many times as I like, and since no-one has an overwhelming advantage over anyone else, I can have an excellent time without having to obsessively hone my skills. Like I say, the game is accessible; the learning curve is as short as they come, but you can become enormously skilled if you want to.
I do enjoy the solo game, although I have yet to make it past level three.
05/16/2003 (5:30 am)
Glad you liked it.I mostly play on-line or quick play games. I'm not a particularly good player, but since I can respawn as many times as I like, and since no-one has an overwhelming advantage over anyone else, I can have an excellent time without having to obsessively hone my skills. Like I say, the game is accessible; the learning curve is as short as they come, but you can become enormously skilled if you want to.
I do enjoy the solo game, although I have yet to make it past level three.
Torque Owner Dan MacDonald