When Are Games Not Games

Who am I to follow the great and talented Julian Horan and his glorious, first ever, review here on Super Dope Gaming?  Just a lowly writer, uselessly hoping to compare to such an amazing mind.  Well, never you mind; I’ll try my best to say something worth being posted so close to someone so famous and wealthy (honestly, he’s rich.)  Anyway, enough lollygagging around, I come here to address the topic of Videogames.  Not just any, however, but games that are so casual, so short, that it makes me wonder if they can still be classified as videogames.  Julian was right when he mentioned how games made by every day people are rarely reviewed, so why is that?  Why doesn’t IGN, UGO, or Kotaku review games that are, quite often, solo projects?

One possibility is that they don’t fall into the same category.  Console and PC games are already split, both of which are separate from handhelds, and then further into casual and hardcore; do we really need another distinction between videogames that are independently created in Flash and free to play and those  which have high costs of production and come with an equally steep price tag?  PC games and PC Flash games?  Are games like Alice is Dead, Don’t Crap Your Pants, or Don’t Shoot the Puppy lower on the gaming scale and therefore not worth the time?

 Congratulations indeed.

Another possibility for the lack of reviews is that these games are free.  People don’t need someone else to review the game before they try it.  Who is ever going to think, “This game is free and I have plenty of time, but I don’t know if I want to take some of that free time and spend it on a game I may not enjoy”?  It’s free.  Play it. Find out.  If anyone reading Julian Horan’s last post didn’t look up that game, I need to know why not.  I NEED to know.  But he isn’t the first person to review a free game on this site. Nor the second.

The idea is that these games are viewed differently for some reason.  I have spent so many hours playing games as time killers, but I haven’t gone to Newgrounds in years.  I balk at the very name.  “Those games are mostly junk time killers” I say to myself.  And then I go play Peggle on my Ipod for several hours.  I understand if some people can’t get past the fact that Flash Games bear a certain stigma, but what about other games that millions of us play every day?  Games like Farmville, Mafia Wars, or any other Facebook game? Hell, almost any free, Ipod-only game can be seen in the same way.  To some, usually the more hardcore amongst us gamers, these titles are not even worthy of being called games.

Personally, I think every game mentioned here, as well as countless others, are worthy in their own right.  If it comes down to solely a distinction of casual vs. hardcore games, then where do we draw the line?  Anything free to play is casual? Anything too easy is casual?  I can tell you that the games Julian Horan raves about below are not easy, but they are free to play.  On the reverse side, Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 have a normal price tag on them and are seen as two of the Wii’s greatest “core games,” but those games are incredibly easy.  They are cute, fluffy, light hearted and fun.  Many of the same adjectives used to describe casual games.

 HARDCORE!!

For every hardcore game, there are a hundred more games that people play just to pass the time, not looking for anything deep or moving, just a mindlessly fun experience.  Games that one can play while at work instead of working.  The common opinion is that these games are worse, in and of themselves, than any game that is not free to play.  Really?  Has anyone ever played Acme Arsenal (No you haven’t. No one has.)?  But I’m still sure it was worth writing a review for.  I’m sure every game is worth at least that much.  Even if you only play for an hour, you probably have enough experience with it to know it’s terrible.

Maybe Super Dope Gaming should stand behind this belief that all games are worthy of being reviewed and begin reviewing every casual, free-to-play game that comes out to determine whether or not it’s worth the time to play.  But that’s not going to happen, those are Flash Games.

Alice is Dead Ep 1, 2, & 3

This game (these three games, rather) are so great you should stop reading this review right now and go play them. http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/511552 Not only because they are so amazing, but also because they are short and sweet; you won’t have to worry about pouring hours into completing these flash games.

As the writer for the insanely popular ‘Obscure Title Tuesday’ articles that appear on this site and have gotten me rich and famous, this is the first review I have ever done of any game that isn’t obscure. Further, it’s rare that any Video Game Review website review flash games created by everyday people and not companies. I break the mold here now to inform you about these three exceptional games. After Alice is Dead Ep 1 four months went by until Alice is Dead Ep 2, and the very limits of my patience and excited anticipation were tested as I had to wait 8 whole months before Alice is Dead Ep 3 was posted on Newgrounds. Both waits were well worth it.

Get outta here, silhouette! It's a giant bloody number two! Heh heh heh heh!

First, the gameplay- it’s a simple point and click. You can click on the left or right hand side of the screen to move to a different location, and you click to pick up useful items that you can logically use later to advance the story and yourself when you get stuck in a particular area.

What...what are you gonna do with that sharp piece of glass, there, character?

I like these games so much for three reasons. First of which is their depth… the story (complemented well with the occasional voice acting) is engaging and interesting, and this depth of story is made more impressive by the fact that the games are each remarkably short. They, however, have high replay value as they are strewn with Easter Eggs and secrets that give you hints and information about your character and what exactly is going on in this world that you become immersed in. In not wanting to give away any spoilers and knowing that simply explaining the plot would not do it justice, I will refrain from discussing it at length. Just take my word for it that it’s awesome. Do it.

Is that a......gun?? Somebody means business.

Second and of impressive noteworthiness is the tone. In the series Alice is Dead, Alice is a reference to the Alice from "Alice is Wonderland" (which is apparent from the first gameplay frame of Ep 1.) The game really sets a dark and isolated feel with its masterful choice of music and the way in which it only gives out small short blips of information on both the story and your character. This slow reveal of plot and character adds to the players sense of loneliness and even, at times, confusion, which parallels with what your character is going through as you both try to piece together the puzzle of what has happened and what is going on. The farther you get in the series, the more rapid the information comes to you.

Oh, how high is this on a 10 point creepy scale? How high does the scale go?

Also here’s something we can appreciate as people who are not dumb -- at no point in the story do they beat you over the head with a large, drawn out, unnecessary explanation, as is the case too often in movies. As a weird example, take ‘Lucky Number Slevin.’ Towards the end of that movie they had dropped enough hints such that a few simple and logical inferences by the viewer could easily lead one to figure out what’s been happening in the movie and with the characters. Yet the end of this movie has, like, a 45 minute explanation montage of everything that has ever happened to every character, even though the movie had given out enough information by then for people to figure it out. It was like the movie was being tailored to the lowest common denominator; as if logical inferences and educated guesses based on evidence were just too much for us hick audiences. I mean Jeesus as soon as you saw that Bruce Willis and Josh Hartnet were working together you didn’t need a 45 minute explanation that explains that the hit-man Bruce Willis was going to kill Josh Hartnet when he was a child but then decided to help him get revenge instead when I already know that Josh Hartnet is getting revenge cause he's killed all these people! Shit. What were we talking about again? Oh right the amazing game -- By the end of this series all the slow reveals of information have told the story and left the player with enough information to infer and understand everything that has happened, especially if the secrets and Easter Eggs were sought out, and there’s no bludgeoning over the head to the lowest common denominator here. You stupid hick.

Fan art. Because the games are so great they inspire you to express yourself creatively.

I can’t say enough good things about this series. If I could use one word to describe it, it would be 'Refreshing'. There are millions of free flash games online, and most of them are mindless timewasters at best. This series shows just what a Video Game can accomplish in terms of evoking emotion and creating an entire world from nothing. I love this game, and you will too, so stop reading these words like a fool and goooo! (play the game)(right now)(if you had time to read this then you have time to play these short amazing games)(do it)(for reals you guys)

4.75/5 Free, Online, Short and Extraordinary! Immersed In A World! Play It Right Freagin’ Now!!