Halloween & Gaming

Now let me follow up that previous post with how pop culture gets women right, in my opinion.  I've been trying to celebrate Halloween all month because I absolutely adore it.  Everyday I've done something seasonal from decorating to crafting to watching paranormal or Halloween themed videos.

I also picked up a new game! Emily the Strange: Strangerous.  Emily the Strange is an awesome figure to me. She's a small girl whose main message is "No, Leave me Alone" and spends her time with her cats.  Yes, she exists entirely as a commercial mascot, but in a sea of very shitty views on girlhood I find her refreshing.  I wish she'd existed when I was a girl and maybe I wouldn't have mistakenly thought I was a boy my entire childhood (internalized misogyny, boo).

So, how does her game stack up? I started playing it this morning and got through a few puzzles.  Here are my initial thoughts.

Graphics: Excellent.  The graphics push the DS display quite far.  They are all black and white with a touch of red.  This game is really a piece of art in the best sense.

Playability: Fair.  Puzzle games are not my typical choice in gaming.  The puzzles are decent, but do not have enough instructions.  The print is very tiny!  However, moving Emily around is easy and solving the puzzles is enjoyable.  I would like more of a reward than the success graphic, however.

Here's an example of one of the puzzles.  In this you put oddly shaped puzzle pieces together.  As you can see the black and white graphics lend a bit more of a challenge, but the limited playing surface also makes it a bit harder.

The puzzles include mazes, lock-picking, and visual identification so far. 


CONCLUSION: I like the game and will keep it playing it.