Analysis: Choose Your Own Adventure, Arthur
Gamasutra: In my last column, I expressed my disappointment with Starcraft 2's wasteful, inelegant mixture of RTS, upgrade menu, Normandy Mark 2 spaceship time-wasting, and turgid narrative. It's not easy to find exciting, convincing strategy game narratives, to let Starcraft 2 off the hook just a bit. My favorite RTS, Dawn of War 2 has a better story than Starcraft 2 mostly because Dawn of War 2 doesn't rub your face in its story, unlike Blizzard's new masterpiece.
As is the case with most games, when story and play are well-interwoven, the gameplay that emerges is all the more exciting. When Left 4 Dead 2's characters exclaim over new finds, it makes the game and its action feel much more reactive. The same can't be said for the Prince and Elika's conversations in PoP 2008.
