The Video Game Critic

Here are two new Atari Lynx reviews for you to sink your teeth into.
As for Gordo, is there room for social commentary in video games?

VideoGameCritic wrote:As for Gordo, is there room for social commentary in video games?

I suppose there is room, tho it probably doesn't make the game better.

You know what there should be room for? A reset option after a Game Over.

VideoGameCritic wrote:As for Gordo, is there room for social commentary in video games?

I don't know if there's really enough there to be considered social commentary rather than just an interesting setting (similar to The Rats of Nimh" or "Pinky and the Brain."

Saying the treatment of lab animals is brutal is just stating a fact most people are aware of. To be social commentary would require more specific information I think. Like if someone said "Animals should never be used to test cosmetics" or "I am okay with testing on animals only if it is for research to treat something truly horrid like, say, Batten Disease."

The Lynx had so many weird, awkward little games. Basketbrawl. Kung Food. Robo Squash. It's similar to the 7800 (Ninja Golf, Super Skateboardin') in that way. Gordo 106 isn't quite odd enough to join those ranks, but it's really trying, especially with Gordo's silly little hat and ridiculous run cycle.

In the APB review, the second sentence is missing "of". Also, the phrase is "fits and starts" - it's not that there are fits that are then stopped; fits are inherently short, and "starts" refers to sudden movements.

VideoGameCritic wrote:As for Gordo, is there room for social commentary in video games?

If the game is also good then yes. Or you get something like Awesome Possum.

Stalvern wrote:In the APB review, the second sentence is missing "of". Also, the phrase is "fits and starts" - it's not that there are fits that are then stopped; fits are inherently short, and "starts" refers to sudden movements.

Thanks for the typo alert Stalvern - I think I addressed them.

APB was never ported very well to any console or computer. The original arcade game, which was designed and programmed by Dave Theurer of Tempest and Missile Command fame (as well as a team of others that helped him), had a perfectly balanced control scheme with its steering wheel and gas pedal. I've played a few ports (Amstrad, Spectrum, Lynx) and they just never translated the controls properly. A shame, since the arcade game was a blast to play.