Last time, you decided that Better programmable members than optional grinding. I can respect that. Yes, sometimes it’s fun to stop thinking and mull over for a bit, but there’s a lot to be said about getting your team organized and building running correctly, then just watching them in action. This week, I ask you to choose between something that speaks to my inner teenage soul and one that speaks to my inner child. What’s better: the big engine rising from the bonnet, or knocking everyone out?
Big engine protruding from the bonnet
As you can guess from the fact that I used the term “big engine rising from the bonnet”, I don’t know much about cars. I believe I mean air volume for a supercharger? Possibly, if it’s really stout, with the body of the supercharger protruding from a hole in the bonnet (the Hood, if you must) anymore? What I mean is: impressive shiny machinery that rises from the front of the muscle cars and cool-tuned mouse bars, holes and cylinders and possibly fan belts. It’s pretty good, isn’t it?
If given the choice, I would usually choose a car with this chrome building protruding from the bonnet. This isn’t really a functional part because the car isn’t real, but I like the traits typical of cars that have these things: raw untamed power that takes me along and has can make me go crazy. I love riding on that risk edge. I like the loud, dirty noises I loathe from a real car. And I think this machine reflects a quality that I love about the game: the body just isn’t big enough to accommodate its ambitions, so it has to clumsily and roughly butt through the bonnet and let it go. reveal moving metal. The automotive embodiment of Eurojank.
It also thinks they are cool to look at. Look at that shiny metal. Look at that spinning fan belt. Look at the greedy intakes that swallow the air. Look, you might think it’s gimmicky, think it’s overdone, but honestly, I think all the car customizations aside from buying a car are painted in one color. If you’re going to buy colorful floor mats, custom wheel covers, or even just plain bumper stickers, you can also pass a supercharger through the bonnet, essentially is the same.
Knocking folks over the edge
My inner child will never fail to laugh when I take down someone in a video game. It’s the funniest, most likely form of murder in You’ve Been Framed. A quick quip from Harry Hill and cut away before we see the body fall to the ground.
Dark Messiah Of Might & Magic has swords, daggers, and fireballs, but I’d rather kick someone out of a precarious path. Knocking giant bugs into the water and into the pit is a basic move of into violationand a tactical problem when some enemies are too large or too hovering to be taken down. I feel the influence of Into The Breach greatly in Marvel’s Midnight Sun as well as how it encourages you to push the bad guys down the pit and over the edges (though I find putting the odds into the equation much less enjoyable). And it might be a proper Dark Souls strategy to kick people over the edge (or make them bounce off your shield and fall) but it’s certainly a funny strategy.
I admire how childish it is, how often it feels subversive. Games have big spells or complicated mechanical killing machines, and here I am just pushing someone down a pit. Goodbye, enjoy your trip.
But which is better?
The teenager in me wanted a shiny, grungy chrome finish. The child wants the slap. The child wins. But which side are you leaning towards (carefully I hope, from behind the safety railing)?
Choose your winner, vote in the poll below and make your case in the comments to convince others. We’ll convene again next week to see which wins—and continue the great competition.
