User blog comment:Dr Mutran/Mass Effect 3 in VGA 2012/@comment-2250460-20121116022939/@comment-4237253-20121116074833

Legionwrex, you have to actaully enjoy the story. If you read a plot summary for every great story, most of them would sound blasé.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet: Two people love each other. They get married. They die.

Of Mice and Men: Two broke vagabonds, one of them mentally retarded, performs manual labour for a pittance. The retarded one really like rabbits.

I could go on. The point is, a plot summary doesn't tell you whether or not it's a good story. The characters, how extremely well-written they are (some of the best in any contemporary story, I'll say that much), and how engaging the plot is can't be conveyed in a few short paragraphs. That's why it's a video game in 5 parts, and not a short story in 5 paragraphs. It's an amazing game, with an incredibly well written narrative, interesting and endearing characters, and incredibly impossible situations.

If I told someone that Mass Effect 3 let them decide whether a fictitious race of turtle dinosaurs lived or died, they would probably say that's stupid. However, if they took the time to immerse themselves in the narrative and its universe, they would start to care. By talking to Wrex, Grunt, Mordin, and so on, you start to care about the conflict, and thus, you're invested in its outcome. A plot summary cannot convey to you a character, or the moments you share with them.

This is what makes The Walking Dead my all-time favourite game. Dealing with a dying child. Choosing which of your friends has to die. Deciding whether or not you take Clementine (one of, if not the single greatest child character to exist in the medium, though that isn't saying much), with you on a dangerous mission. Being stuck in a small room with a dying man, knowing that if he dies, you'll be trapped with a walker and will likely die, and, at the same time, wondering if he can be saved. Leaving a woman to die a horribly painful death to give you time to get supplies for your friends. Choosing whether to murder someone, whether you should leave them to die or give them another chance. These moments don't carry weight in me just saying them: you have to experience them. You can't make the bold statement that some game you've never even played is just over hyped just because you weren't impressed by Wikipedia's summary. That's like reading the cliff notes for To Kill a Mockingbird" or Great Expectations and then saying they're boring and overrated. The game has continually made great sales, and it has been widely lauded by critics. It is in no way "over-hyped". It more than deserves it's nomination, and by all accounts, it's certainly game of the year material. The fact that the focus of the entire game is it's plot (it's an adventure game'' for Gods' sake!) should say something about its writing. It has some of the best choices, characters, and probably the single most engaging plot I've ever experienced in a story. Wikipedia can't give you that.

Sometimes, hype is deserved. Sometimes, when something is popular, it's because it's actually... y'know, good. It happens.