One of the reasons I started looking at problematic enemies specifically in BioWare games is because I know these games so well. I've played them over and over countless times. I'm not even kidding. I've actually lost count. The thing that has struck me in all of this is that there's a strong streak of... Continue Reading →
Things Men Think About Games
During my 30+ years as a gamer, I always knew I stood out as "odd" and perhaps "other". Actually, that's not entirely true. I didn't realise how odd and other I was until I visited a games store somewhere in my early teens. I was super excited. Finally! I could have my pick of games!... Continue Reading →
Problematic Enemies – The Broodmother
[...] The symbol of the monster, the abject, exists to embody and assuage our fears of the natural and unruly body. In order to maintain the current social order, which privileges the intellectual and social over the emotional and biological, fat bodies must become monstrous. They are failures. They are the abnormal that delineates the... Continue Reading →
The Consequences of Design
Much of life is about overcoming barriers. Every organism, from lowly one-celled animals to human beings, exists by interacting with its environment. This interaction includes moving from one place to another, creating a space for the self, lifting a load, or learning how to use a tool. Our ability to interact with the environment is,... Continue Reading →
One of Those Moments – the Thresher Maw vs the Reaper
The most cinematic moment in all of Mass Effect 3 is the boss fight aftermath on Tuchanka. Kalros attacks a Reaper. Kalros is - according to the Krogan - the mother of all thresher maws. She's big. It's one of the most hopeful and majestic moments in the beginning of the game, because despite everything... Continue Reading →
One of those Moments – Headshotting with Shepard
Surprising absolutely no one, one of my favourite pieces of gameplay in Mass Effect 3 are the spectacular ways that I can remove the heads of the Reaper and Cerberus forces thrown my way. Head explosions. It's ghoulish I know, but it's also super satisfactory. I think one of the reasons I like these very... Continue Reading →