After reading some of the video game reviews by Brendan Caldwell of Rock Paper Shotgun, I am really not sure that he would be the first person I would go to for video game knowledge. His jokes fell flat multiple times for me, although a few rang true, and since his style of writing is primarily to be funny, I don’t see this as a very good sign of my enjoying more of his work. I felt like he focused entirely on the mechanics and gameplay of the games that he was reviewing (Dicey Dungeons, Ancestors: the Humankind Odyssey, and Blair Witch) and little to nothing about their stories. That being said, I do very much credit him for how in-depth he went into the mechanics, especially the things that went wrong. Honestly, that was when Caldwell was actually funny for me, when he was griping about the games and focusing on the bad rather than the good. In that way, his humor became more snarky rather than his ill-attempts at witty. His explanation of what went wrong brought out a narrative voice that I enjoyed here, because it was articulate while still sounding sassy. In his article “A Three-Stage Method for Analyzing Video-Game Stories,” Aaron Suduiko described the levels of analysis for video-games. A quote near the end of his piece captured exactly why these three methods are crucial: “The more we understand not just the views that other gamers are offering, but also the methodology by which they’ve developed those views, the better equipped we’ll be to speak positively and productively with one another, rather than butting heads and refusing to contribute to a deeper, collective understanding of games, in which we all can share.” I could see some of this in Caldwell’s writing. He broke things down pretty clearly for the audience, explaining exactly what mechanics made him dislike the games. He had very clear examples and even screenshots of his displeasure in action. Would I read Brendan Caldwell for a full game review? Probably not. Would I read his articles to know exactly what went wrong in a game? Most likely.
Caldwell's mentioned articles:
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