Often times, it’s the small things that count for the most.

Whatever it takes to keep one sane

In a movement reminiscent of my recent work on GoldenEye 64, where I got completely “derailed” right from the get, and needed to take a temporary hiatus before continuing, so too did my progress on Super Meat Boy 3D take a similar track of stalled reason. Neither hiccup in interrupted continuity represented the end of the world, and life certainly does happen, so there isn’t much left to do but forge forward. I suppose I take a brief moment to make mention of this parallel, as all of this is one fluid motion for me, so picking up where I left off, it is as if rediscovering an old tome from an ancient era tied to a long forgotten world. I know this sounds like an over-dramatization of sorts, seeing as I’ve only been away from the writing game for about three weeks, but in the world of online content, being a way for even a single day immediately qualifies one as long forgotten, so I’m surprised no one sent a search party out looking for me as if some kind of dire missing persons case.

Continuing on with my thoughts involving Super Meat Boy 3D, and I seem to recall starting my playthrough of the title immediately following my time with Mixtape, and discussing some contrasts betwixt the two titles. Not because they have so much in common, but because they don’t, and this added to an address that has far more mileage I may yet get out of the topic of conversation, as I think there are some interesting elements to dive into in terms of how both titles figure into the grander ethos of gaming as a whole. I however, have little time to spare today, and was unable to prepare more thoughts on the matter, so that may be a continuing conversation for another day.

As I’ve made mention many times before on ATE, I generally just don’t do traditional reviews for so many obvious reasons. If no obvious reasons spring to your mind without being more explicit, then I am a feared that perhaps you have been ensnared by a nefarious ideology that pervades the gaming land, though one not unique to it. I find far more worth in greater attempts at deconstructionism, as there remains many a conversation to be had not just about the games, but the conversations about the conversations about games. There is an amazing level of interpersonal complexity that goes into this industry, and I’m of the mind not enough people do deeper levels of digging into truly breaking down the zeitgeist of everyone involved, hence why, even in an apples vs oranges case of weighing in on the cultural significance of Meat Boy vs Mixtape; this notion holds great interest to me, but for reasons that I myself need even more time to ponder upon, though an inkling of a fascination, to be sure.

In this regard, I continue to breakdown Meat Boy, as I die my way through the game, one brutalist level at a time. Much like it’s predecessor, Meat Boy 3D (MB3D) is unforgiving in most ways imaginable; being cut from the same cloth as most hard as nails platformers will tend to borrow such nightmarish machinations for all who encounter the title, though I think that’s where I get hung up a bit on writing about the game. At least, that is what I would be saying if I was doomed in the respect of needing to do a traditional review, as I scratch my head thinking about just who in the world would that review be for, anyway?

I had a similar take when I was first writing about The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, as it struck me as kind of queer about putting forth the obvious question: just how much of this Zelda game could really be any less of a Zelda game, before it wasn’t a Zelda game anymore? Further, who in the gaming community wasn’t already decided on whether or not they’d commit to buying the game or not, bringing into question the validity of reason involving an evaluation of said title. This standard, upon reflection, may apply to so many different titles across the realm, like those who are shanghaied into writing Madden reviews every year. What Madden player really needs to know about the new Madden game, and whether or not they’re going to get it? Vice versa with the non-Madden fans. This kind of review paradox has always plagued me, especially within the realm of knowing the ride or die nature of such enthused hobbyists and their absurdist loyalties.

I chortle now even thinking about it, needlessly prattling on about how MB3D is a difficult platformer, and if you don’t like those, you won’t like this, but if you do like that, than you will like this. Perhaps I’m being needlessly reductionist, per chance I’m still shaking the cobwebs off, and a salient point is being failed by my rusty pretenses within the spectrum of proper prose and engrossing grammar. Maybe another way to put this is that, more times than not, I feel as if a game acquisition is quite the forgone conclusion, rarely leaving any fence sitters by en large to even speak to about the matter, all of this jest and musing merely window dressing in the form of performative speculation for the sake of arbitrary entertainment, hoisted up by a self-fufilling need of validation about one’s absurdist life choices and the reinforcement of acknowledgement through the shallow act of consumerist pride.

All of that may come off as far more condemning in tone to a reader than I mean it as a writer; some realities, when one peaks behind the veil of illusion, realizes the grim standard that placates the trivialities of the everyday. That doesn’t negate any of the engagement values there after, but I feel as if people get so lost either in their own imagination or the hyper of advertising/the herd mentality, group think takes over, and one forgets they are merely just sitting there with a controller in there hand, waiting for a loading screen to finish.

Maybe that’s what some people speak of when they say they want an “immersive experience”...they want to feel so enlivened by the world, they want to forget that loading screens exist.

-Pashford