Inspired by the latest episode of Community, a parody of the cover to the first appearance of Iron Man
‘It’s Just a Game’ - Story Telling, Audience, Art,Trauma and … Mass Effect 3.
When I was around five or six years old my mother brought home a big box of books. Even back then I loved to read, taking a journey with these larger than life characters and worlds, running away with my imagination was my favourite past time, even if it often got in the way of that social thing I’ve heard a lot about. I wasn’t quite old enough to read any Tolkien or Golding yet, I wasn’t a whizz kid. These books were mainly light Roald Dahls, adaptions of Hans Christian Andersen stories and even stories based on my favourite cartoons, like Transformers and The Real Ghostbusters.
A collection of books from that box always sticks out to me. The Super Mario Brothers Nintendo Adventures, in particular one called Doors of Doom with a character called Dr. Sporis Von Fungenstein, an evil Goomba Scientist. There was nothing exactly spectacular about these stories and you could get through them very quickly, even for a six year old. But what I remember most about them was how interactive they were. They included puzzles and choices, the reader had a say in where Mario went at the end of chapters, you could finish the story without reading half of the book and the go back to the start and have a completely different experience. Depending on your decisions Mario could even die. Six year old Ian loved this. I still own some of the collection, although I’ve drawn over most of the puzzles and scribbled hints to myself. The interactive element produced a whole new level of investment for me, even at a young age it changed my perception on how stories could be told.
Fast forward almost 20 years.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Recordings by NASA, they are the sounds made by the planets. This is the planet Saturn.
if you’re experiencing any of the following, you may have played Mass Effect 3
This list is by no means comprehensive, but it is incredibly spoilerific and you shouldn’t read it until you beat the game.
