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30 Questions – Michael Irving

You’ve probably seen those 30 Day Song or Movie Challenges going around on Facebook. Well, we found a Video Game equivalent, and thought it would be fun to have each of our editors list their answers in a 30 Questions format, as an introduction to the kind of gamers we are. 

Q1 – Your first video game.


Lemmings

Even with only 16×16 pixels, those little blue and green dudes have more personality than a lot of FPS characters today. 

Q2 – Your favorite character.


Waluigi

He may only exist to give Wario a doubles partner in sports games, but I love his tie-damsels-to-train-tracks brand of villainy.

 

 

 

Q3 – A game that is underrated.


Aliens vs. Predator (2010)

I loved the 2001 game, and although this one was given a “meh” in reviews, I loved the inclusion of execution moves and the focus on melee combat. Although it had a much weaker story.

Q4 – Your guilty pleasure game


Angry Birds

Seriously, if I have more than four consecutive spare seconds, my phone will come out and pigs will die. 

 

Q5 – Game Character you feel you are most like (or wish u were)

Mick (my Pokemon trainer)

Leaving home at age 10 to catch wild animals and subdue them into doing your bidding? I wish. 

Q6 – Most Annoying Character


Sonic the Hedgehog

Invented as a marketing tool to combat Mario, given an arrogant, douchey attitude, has the creepiest online fanbase, starred in way more terrible games than good ones, and is still somehow really popular. I don’t get it.

 

 

 

Q7 – The game you’ve spent the most time playing

Fallout 3

I spent so much time wandering around the Capital Wasteland, because I kept getting distracted from the main quests. In a good way. All up, between the main game and all five expansions, I clocked in almost 200 hours. 

 

Q8 – Best soundtrack.


Super Smash Bros Brawl

Features over 300 tracks from Nintendo’s history, some in their original state, some remixed with orchestral or modern instruments. I actually have a lot of them on my iPod. 

Q9 – Scariest game.


Dead Space

I’m not proud of it, but this game actually made me scream out loud. Just ask my old housemate. 

Q10 – Best game play.

Wow, extremely hard to pick just one. 

Q11 – Gaming system of choice.

Again, hard to pick. I play on just about everything. My PC, Xbox 360, Wii and iPhone all get about the same amount of attention. 

Q12 – A game everyone should play.


Plants vs. Zombies

Simple addictive gameplay and quirky art style. It can be “hardcore” if you want to play it that way, but it works just fine for a quick session on the bus. 

Q13 – A game you’ve played more than five times.

The Itchy & Scratchy Game

A pretty obscure Super Nintendo game I remember playing repeatedly back in the day. You basically play as Itchy and have to slaughter Scratchy with various cartoony weapons, across various cartoony settings. 

Q14 – Current (or most recent) gaming wallpaper.

Torn

This was the game we made as our final project in my Games Design course at Qantm. 

Q15 – The game you’re playing right now.


Penumbra

A fairly obscure survival horror game, with no combat. You see something, you hide. Or die. Often both. 

Q16 – Game with the best cutscenes.

Legacy of Kain series

This is a case where the story is given more attention than the gameplay, and you keep playing just to reach the next cutscene. The opening sequence for Soul Reaver, and the last few cutscenes in Defiance rank among my favourites ever. 

Q17 – Favorite antagonist.


Dimitri (Grand Theft Auto IV)

Man, I hate that guy! He screws Niko over big time, and you really want to see him die by the end. A well-designed final mission allows the player to decide if they exact revenge on him or follow the traditional narrative structure and not let the hero succumb to temptation. 

Q18 – Favorite protagonist.


Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango)

Manny works as a reaper in an Aztec-inspired underworld, but discovers he’s stuck there on account of a soul-smuggling operation. As a character, he’s resourceful, funny and determined. And his outward design is cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q19 – A game setting you wish you lived in.


Oddworld

The world itself is fascinating, but I can’t decide where I’d want to live in it. I’d either have to be a mudokon slave, a slig crony, an imperialistic glukkon, or one of many species that are on the verge of extinction. Tough choice. 

 

Q20 – Favorite game to play with friends

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Fairly standard single-player gameplay, but get a few mates and a few beers, and suddenly it becomes half cooperative platformer, and half competitive trollfest. Our first choice among pre-pub drinking games.

Q21 – Game with the best story.


Aliens vs. Predator 2

Tells the extensive story of a facility overrun with aliens, from the point of view of each species. The Alien, Predator and Marine campaigns intersect and overlap, and I’ve played through each multiple times. Then I went through and wrote down dates and times for each chapter, and played through chronologically.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q22 – A game sequel which disappointed you.


Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon

The first two games in the series were amazing! Fun gameplay with a decent story and a great sense of humour. After Pandemic Studios in Queensland closed down, THQ worked with the franchise to churn out an unpolished turd of a Wii game, and a half-finished buggy mess on the PS3/Xbox 360. Strangely though, the humour was kept relatively intact across all titles.

 Q23 – Game you think had the best graphics or art style.

 

Braid/Limbo

I declare a tie between these two quirky indy platformers.

Braid looks like a Disney cartoon, with vibrant colours, smooth animations, and very detailed characters and environments.

Limbo goes to the other extreme, presenting a greyscale, silhouette world that almost looks like shadow puppets.

Both succeed beyond expectation in creating unique worlds that stand out from the pack.

Q24 – Funniest game moment

Portal 2

In its entirety. Adding other hilarious characters like Wheatley and Cave Johnson give us a breather from GlaDOS’ thinly veiled hostility.

Q25 – A game you plan on playing.


Nintendo’s (very late) first party 3DS games. Super Mario 3DS and Luigi’s Mansion 2 are particularly high on my list.

Q26 – Best voice acting.

Oddworld

Every character or species in the Oddworld series has a very distinct voice and speech style.

Q27 – Most epic scene ever.


The final boss fight in Dead Space. When it grabs you by the foot and swings you round, and you have to shoot it in the eyes before it lowers you into its mouth… Wow.

Q28 – Favorite game developer.

Nintendo

Their major franchises may suffer from advanced sequelitis, but they’re almost always highly polished and extremely fun, and coupled with their tendency to reinvent the game industry every so often, we have a clear winner.

Q29 – A game you thought you wouldn’t like, but ended up loving.


Left 4 Dead

I assumed it was a standard zombie shooter. I assumed wrong. Valve have done a fantastic job of ensuring that teamwork is not just an option, it’s a necessity. The game is well balanced in Versus mode, as both the Survivors and the Infected have the potential to absolutely dominate the other team – depending on who can work as a more effective team.

Q30 – Your favorite game of all time.


Super Smash Bros Brawl (AKA Encyclopedia Nintendica)

There is no other game that my brothers, friends and I have played so consistently for so long. There is yet to be a space of more than a few weeks between sessions of this since its release mid 2008.

I’m normally not really into fighting games, but I love the looser controls of Smash Bros, the interactive environments, the unpredictability of each match due to outside forces, and the inclusion of characters, weapons, environments, and items from every major Nintendo franchise.

Michael Irving
Michael Irvinghttp://behance.net/michaelirving
Gaming since the days of Lemmings and Wolfenstein, and writing since Scamper the mouse in Grade Three.