seven minutes | Line Hollis

The Hostile Guide

June 7, 2011 / 0 comments

[Note: This post originally appeared at Robot Geek. I’m gradually backing these up here.] Spoiler alerts: Bioshock, Loved, Mass Effect 2, Memento, Portal, Seven Minutes, The Usual Suspects. The recent release of Portal 2 has rekindled the world’s love affair with GLaDOS, the chirpy AI who delivers instructions and insults throughout the original game. GLaDOS represents a…

Loved (2010)

March 18, 2011 / 0 comments

The hostile guide has become a common trope in art and indie games (not to mention some bigger games like Portal). Designers can’t get enough of having a disembodied voice berate you and lead you astray. In Seven Minutes (review), a furious floating head tries to convince you that you can only win the game…

Seven Minutes (2008)

January 14, 2009 / 0 comments

Previously, in reviewing Execution, I mentioned that gamemakers seem to be concerned recently with the issue of choice in linear game design. That is, while gaming seems to be all about agency and free choice on the part of the player, this freedom is constrained by the fact that gamers will always make a choice…