20cc on: Myself

Since my co-authors have posted short personal biographies, I thought I should follow suit. This way, anyone reading will have a better idea of where my interests lie. I've often found it nice to know what kind of preferences a reviewer has. That way, if I'm reading the review and I think, “This guy is a tasteless lemming.” I can read into it and realize, “Aha! His favorite game of all time was Star Fox Adventures. That explains everything.”

Hopefully most of you will find my taste unobjectionable. If not, I will at least strive to be funny. If not, at least occasionally clever. At the very least some of you can find amusement in a little self deprecating humor. If that's still too much to ask, then feel free to leave angry comments. Any publicity is good publicity, as they say.

I digress.

For the purposes of the blog, my name is 20cc. My greatest passions are writing and video games. A game reviewing blog seemed the logical conclusion. My tastes tend to be rather varied, and as a result I don't have much of a specialty in any particular area. I'm interested mostly in games that mix elements of shooters and role playing games, though recently I've been trying hard to find a good new action/platforming game.

As an amateur author, I like to think that I can judge storytelling and character development aspects fairly well. Also, as a consumer, I am willing to occasionally sacrifice the finer artistic aspects of a game for what is probably the most important aspect: fun.

Admittedly I tend to fall victim to pre-release excitement. This can lead to my convincing myself that I like a game, for instance, The Witcher, only to discover a month or two later that I don't. As a result, I will make a point of not reviewing a game immediately after first playing it. Also, I would like to think that, as a result, when I give a game a negative review, it would carry a little more weight. I am aware that by trashing Call of Duty 5 in my first review, and subsequently Perfect Dark Zero, Frontlines and Jericho, all in one review, I may have nullified that power a little. However I maintain that all of those games were truly terrible.

My favorite game developer would most likely be Monolith. F.E.A.R., Condemned, and AVP2 will all keep special places in my heart, and I can honestly say that I have never played a Monolith game that I didn't like. (Actually those may have been the only three I've played, discounting prequels and sequels.) However, I remain open to any developer's works, without any preconceptions. Though I tend to be skeptical of EA.

I'll also review movies, or whatever else catches my eye. I hope you find my writing informative and, more importantly, amusing. That is what I'm here for. That and to indulge my probably unfounded belief that people care what I think.