Comments on: Oh, To Be An American

By: hearme

hearme — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 09:27:40 +0000

thanks

By: Man Raised By Puffins

Man Raised By Puffins — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 10:36:46 +0000

No, let’s be honest: it’s a confused mass of overly-strong colours, odd angles, and Generic American Wackiness. On an aesthetic level Bioshock beats the stuffing out of it.

I always felt the art direction for Bioshock was a little off, it’s just a bit too chunky for my tastes. I still quite like it, mind. I think we’ll have to agree to disagree with regards to Psychonauts though.

By: inle

inle — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 09:28:00 +0000

Psychonauts: Mid-Century/Modern (1950′s-1960′s)

Bioshock: Art Deco (1920′s-1930′s)

Both with 21st century flourishes.

By: Chis

Chis — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 17:14:34 +0000

It has possibly one of the great art directions in any game.

No, let’s be honest: it’s a confused mass of overly-strong colours, odd angles, and Generic American Wackiness. On an aesthetic level Bioshock beats the stuffing out of it. (The gameplay is a another matter entirely though… give me System Shock 2 instead, thanks)

By: James Lyon

James Lyon — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:19:00 +0000

Oh, and I see Second Sight is on there for free. As compensation goes, that’s not too bad.

By: James Lyon

James Lyon — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:15:39 +0000

It doesn’t work? Bah! I was in the middle of loading up GameTap right now, but for some reason it’s taking hours to get to the front page. Ah well. Saved me some time.

(Yes, not having played Psychonauts is my secret shame.)

By: Solario

Solario — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 21:58:58 +0000

Chris, you are hereby banned from ever holding an aesthetic opinion ever again. And I say that with love. Because you are clearly not sound of mind.

It has possibly one of the great art directions in any game.

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:20:27 +0000

Still not interested: the visual design is hideous.

Lean over here so I can slap you.

By: Man Raised By Puffins

Man Raised By Puffins — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:06:47 +0000

Wow… I thought overall the game had one of the most interesting visual styles out there. The character and level designs are among the best I’ve ever seen.

Indeed, I was also going to comment that I thought they picked a great and consistent art-style (and that’s before you get to the variations on the theme like ‘black velvetopia’).

In the main I’d agree with Sam that the humour isn’t particularly striking, bar the obvious examples, but whenever it’s lacking the game always has a unique charm about it (see also Grim Fandango) which draws you in.

Likewise I’ve never finished the game (Meat Circus, which is actually that hard Willem :p), but I’m determined to crack it at some point.

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:56:38 +0000

Broken: PC site.

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:53:27 +0000

I have to say that I never got past the first few bits of the game (I forget precisely how far I got, but not to the Famous Milkman Level that everyone seems to go on about) – the platforming bits increasingly annoyed me to the point that I didn’t really want to play any more. That said, I seem to be one of the few people who weren’t struck strongly by the humour in the game – I never got more than a chuckle from anything I encountered by the time I stopped.

By: BrokenSymmetry

BrokenSymmetry — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:53:01 +0000

No mention of the fact that from december 4, Psychonauts will also be downloadable worldwide on Xbox Live, for 1200 points?