Kyle isn't playing a game for lunch. Or is he? Follow his experiences in Linger in Shadows.
PS3 shout is a weekly column from Loading Reality. This week's topic: Why PSN is the arthouse of the games industry.
shhhsssh.. don't tell this to william usher aka the ignoramous of cinemablend games..
"Interactive Art" is what the creators of Linger in Shadows label this experience as and never before has a term been applied better than in this case. Linger in Shadows has minimal gameplay, no story, or length for that matter. It is a six minute long movie with certain pauses for puzzles. The puzzles are not that long and always end in an explosion followed by the next section of the movie. The first one of these really surprised me because I didn't know what I did, the screen just exploded and moved on. The "game" is very unique and anyone interested in art (which if you play videogames you should be) should really check this out. Especially for the price there is no excuse to not give this a shot.
Shouldn't there be some kind of cut off point to where you are not allowed to approve crappy reviews from unknown game sites?
The official line is that it's an interactive art experience, with the official Sony webpage for the game offering the not-exactly-illuminating advice to "watch, enjoy, experiment and let the experience wash over you". Not the sort of thing likely to entice most gamers, at least not without a more concrete idea of what they're getting for their money.
To understand Linger in Shadows, then, you first need to understand the demoscene. This subculture of computer enthusiasts has its roots way back in the heyday of the home computer, and has nothing to do with demos as they are commonly used in gaming.
I'm glad these guys didn't bash it for being a joke of a game. Linger in Shadows is not a game, it's a "Demoscene". It got a lot of heat from a-holes calling it a joke of a game. It's developers said they were giving more people the opportunity explore demoscenes through PSN and openly admitted LiS is not a game but people still ragged on it. I bought it, I played it and I enjoyed it. I think it should be maybe $2 instead of three though.
BTW here's a lame quote from the article:
"I might bring it out to show friends who want to see what the PS3 can do"
Um... there are real games that look way better than LiS. Bring out KillZone 2, MGS4 or Uncharted to show your friends what the PS3 can do. I don't want to start a "Teh Grafixz" charade in here but I'm just saying. I got the Uncharted Platinum Trophy and I've played to the point where I'm sick of playing it but I boot it up and just walk around to look at it's beauty. Liner in Shadows is a very artistic game with it's own style and it looks good but just not as other PS3 games. Remember when people thought the screenshot of the LiS metal octopus thing was actually a monster in Team ICO's next game?