Video game narratives have so much potential. Through this interactive medium, we are often able to forge our own version of a story with the power of player choice. But despite so many games providing us with options, we are often left creating not the story we want, but the one that fits in line with predetermined binary extremes.

The moment a game rewards you with good or evil points, you start to decide which of the two moralities you want to base all future decisions on. This is because we have been trained to assume that there are far greater benefits from leaning to one side than finding a happy middle ground. Sadly, this assumption is usually correct.

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"A psychological thriller about relationships... and block pushing."

In an industry saturated with shooters and sandbox games, the best word to describe my feelings on Catherine is “refreshing.” Part puzzle game, part choice-based story game, Catherine is almost two separate entities. Yet somehow this odd mixture ends up working wonderfully together as each side enhances the other.

One of the great things about Catherine is that its story isn’t one you would typically find in this medium. I was reminded more of movies like Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue than anything I’d experienced in a video game. Like all good psychological thrillers, Catherine is hard to put down. Combine that with the addictive nature of the puzzle stages and I can tell you I had some pretty long sessions each time I sat down to play.

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The music intensifies as all other sound becomes a damp whisper. A single gunshot is fired and a beloved character slowly falls to the ground while their comrades yell out in shock. What an emotional scene! Or at least, it would be if it weren’t for the fact that the character in question already received about a thousand bullet wounds earlier in a gameplay segment.

This is a problem that plagues many gaming narratives. Story is often governed by a very different set of rules than gameplay, resulting in some very awkward and even comical moments in what should be distressing scenes. Because of the interactive nature of games, it’s difficult to avoid these pitfalls. Yet, some games manage to handle it a cut above the rest.

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In Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, Lynne dies. Oops, did I spoil it for you? In truth, I spoiled nothing. Lynne has to die. If she didn’t, there would be no way to progress the storyline. That’s really how Ghost Trick rolls: death is only the first piece of the puzzle.

This latest adventure title from Capcom’s Shu Takumi is the first to come completely separate from the well known Ace Attorney series, and not only features a new world with unique characters and story, but an entirely different gameplay system as well. Nevertheless, logic and problem solving are still key in this quest to avert fate.

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"The next evolution of the Trauma Center series."

I’ve always really enjoyed the concept behind the Trauma Center series. Performing surgeries, whether it be with a stylus or a Wii remote (depending on which game), felt fresh and satisfying. Still, I never saw any of the games through to the end until Trauma Team came along.

While previous games attempted to keep things interesting with each surgery, I would inevitably lose interest after extended playing. This is where Trauma Team excels. Rather than have you perform surgery after surgery, Trauma Team‘s missions are divided between six different characters; only one of which is a general surgeon. Thanks to the great sense of variety this provides, I never found myself getting bored.

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When I was first told of “The Protomen”, I was skeptical. The band’s first album was described to me as a rock opera based on the classic Mega Man series. Though I am a huge Mega Man fan, I just couldn’t see something like this actually being executed well. To my surprise, I loved it. In fact, I was so fond of it that I feared their next album wouldn’t be able to live up to it.

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I was reading through Masterlookas’ review of Wanted and it started the rusty gears in my brain region spinning.  As the cogs spun around I was reminded of Ernest Hemingway.  The great American writer gave us such classics as A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea.

He was noted for his bare bones journalistic writing style.  Hemingway didn’t feel the need to pad his novels with 2 page long descriptions of furniture like a lot of other writers.   In fact, he once said he could tell a story in 6 words “For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn.”  What in the world does this have to do with anything?

Well hit the more button and find out.

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