Time for something completely different! Red Metal over at Extra Life kindly nominated me and others to answer some questions and pass on the blogging love… something I haven’t done for a while! If you haven’t checked out their blog please do so – their reviews are great examples on how long form game reviews can be done.

1. What is the most unusual work you’ve ever experienced?

Seeing the musical Hair live when I was a teen and not realising what was going to happen when everyone sang Age of Aquarius and then got naked. Being in the front row made matters worse.

2. What is the best work you have experienced that no one else seems to know about?

Xbox game Deathrow – it was like a 3D version of classic Speedball but with a lot more swearing and I never got a chance to play it against anyone else to see if it really was as good as I thought.

3. If you could go back in time and go to the premiere of a classic film, which one would you choose?

It’d have to be Star Wars. 🙂 I first saw it when it was re-released here in 1979 as I was too you to see it the first time in ’77. I think it’d be a buzz just to see how it would have blown people’s minds when there was nothing else to compare it to.

4. If you decided to write fiction, which genre would you choose?

I’ve dabbled so far with horror, a rom-com (!) and now I need to try sci-fi. Hard thing for me is to finish any of these as I tend to get distracted a lot creatively.

5. What is the most disappointingly predictable plot twist you’ve ever experienced?

The “sudden but inevitable betrayal”. It’s in a lot of movies for sure but it really annoys me when it’s used badly or telegraphed so far ahead that I’ve barely sat down with my popcorn before realizing who’s going to screw everyone over. Alien: Covenant was one of those that I really didn’t need to sit through the whole film to know where it was going.

6. What do you consider to be the strangest title for a work?

It was an audio performance by a couple of friends called “The meaning of K**t”… I’ll let people be creative with what that misspelled word may correlate with but it wasn’t entirely what I expected and even after twenty years the name still stuck.

7. Where in a theater do you prefer to sit?

Anywhere from the middle to the back of the theater – I just like to have the screen fill my field of view and not have to resort to doing anything too strenuous like turn my head.

8. Do you have any graphic novel/manga series you’re currently following?

Nothing right now but I wonder if there’s a lot of stuff I missed out on reading either because I was too young or now too old or in the wrong country. Things like 2000AD, The Walking Dead, etc.

9. When it comes to reviewing films, which do you feel are more effective – traditional, written reviews or video essays?

I’m a big fan of reviews in the written form. Having to share your thoughts on a product from one medium via another is a good test of the reviewer being able to make their point. I’m a big fan of those who make that look easy. Video essays which are taking the easy way out can always lean on the source material as filler whereas a written review can’t.

10. What aspects of old-school game design do you wish would make a comeback?

I wish more games would forego the whole tutorial level thing and just throw you into the deep end. Doesn’t mean you can’t provide hints to help them along or guide them a little but the hand holding often goes too far I feel.

11. What aspects of old-school game design are you glad went away?

Limited continues – was necessary for many early arcade and computer/console games to stretch out the play value but if the difficulty is too high people get turned off the game real fast. I like that a lot of games now give everyone a chance to keep on trying until they progress.

To pay it forward I’d like to nominate these bloggers who you should really check out:

• MoeGamer
• Drakulus
• A Game of Writes
• Later Levels
• Killer Robotics

And ask a few little questions too… apologies for the small number of them but I found it easier answering questions than asking them…

1. Desert island discs: film, music (album) and a game!
2. If you couldn’t blog about your current topic choices what else would you talk about? I wonder if I’d talk about cooking…
3. Have you ever done any writing that you felt was outside your comfort zone? What did you do to counter it and how did it go?
4. Has social isolation changed much in your regular routine? Do you feel it’s reflected in your work or do you try to keep them seperate if possible?
5. Do you have a cure for writer’s block? I really need to know…