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I'm going to concentrate on the world/characterisation as the gameplay is nothing to write about. Click one or two buttons and everything is done for you.
If you're into manga, talking animals and 'cute' gameplay then I am sure you will enjoy this. Personally, as a mature gamer, I felt more than awkward playing this game. I wouldn't watch manga when I was a kid, I have no desire to play it as an adult. This game feels wrong in every way to me: I'm simply not a twelve year-old girl and I feel grossly under-stimulated when playing it.
I am astounded that people declare themselves overwhelmed by the setting/environment/world and that it is so highly rated. I suspect the audience of this game has not experienced much in life to be amazed by such cookie-cutter characterisation and world-view. Some of the stereotypes in the game are so overblown as to be offensive and borderline racist. With half my family Italian I was particularly upset by the gay Italian PA who can't even speak or pronounce Italian and who uses words completely out of context. I emphasise gay as the performance could only offend any deep-thinking gay person. I am sure any Jamaican would be equally offended by the Rhinos. In fact, the whole game is full of lowest-denominator characters that are shaped to fit a perfect (and usually ignorant) stereotype. Anyone finding deep and meaningful characters here needs a reality check and possibly a deeper respect for differing peoples and/or cultures.
However, I am sure it is a glowing example of what it is. It is fast, infantile and shallow like children's entertainment usually is.
finally someone who writes a different view of this game
AVATAR:/_t2 #Q&_^Q&Q#USERNAME:obscurelyric#Q&_^Q&Q#GROUP:4Some of the stereotypes in the game are so overblown as to be offensive and borderline racist. With half my family Italian I was particularly upset by the gay Italian PA who can't even speak or pronounce Italian and who uses words completely out of context. I emphasise gay as the performance could only offend any deep-thinking gay person.

The PA is supposed to be spanish i think, and if you're offended by that: wow, is mario your personal antichrist?
Also what is a "mature" game? a game with that uses 2 colors: brown and gray? A game rated mature for violence/porn but played by every 12 year oldanyways?
If you advance a bit more in the game you'll find out that it's not all that 'cute' as it appears.
I see where you're coming from, the game does seem to cater to a very young audience in my opinion as well... but the PA is latin/spanish, not Italian.
Secundo is ambiguously European. He mixes Spanish, Italian, and probably a little French. Also, gay? What the heck? That's not the impression I got, so your own stereotypes are to blame if it offends you.
Post edited May 23, 2009 by ZamFear
Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but I must say your views on stereo types seem strange. The Jamaican rhinos are part of the good guys in the game. They're excellent mechanics. They're nice. What's racist or even prejudiced about that? Should rednecks be offended that they're portrayed as pigs? The game is about diversity and saving the diversity of the world. The bad guys are about conformity and turning everyone into slaves.
You claim to be of Italian heritage, but fail to hear that Secundo (your "gay, Italian" PA) sounds rather Spanish. The whole game is a caricature of our world. It is full of irony.
You seem to use the argument of "borderline racist" rather loosely. My best friend is Indian, I've been in relationships with a Corean girl and a girl from The Dominican Republic, and I've lived together with people from Eritrea and Somalia. They seem completely at ease with my respect for their cultures even though, according to you, I must be an infantile, borderline racist.
The game is about fighting an oppressive facist regime. I ask you, "Where is the infantile borderline racism?" I believe it is you who needs a reality check. Perhaps it is time to get down from your high horse, no?
Btw, I'm Norwegian with some Spanish blood in my veins. Oh, no! The Secundo character walks all over my heritage with his slimy feet.
Design of characters and their world is like from a fairy tale, that is true. But I don't think it's a bad thing - every adult is still a child inside, don't You think? :)
Furthermore, thanks to its design game reaches a wide audience. And it should, because plot tells us about very important things, like role of Truth in our lives.
I feel bad for you, that your soul is so empty that you can't enjoy things that don't involve bald space marines.
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Vegan: I feel bad for you, that your soul is so empty that you can't enjoy things that don't involve bald space marines.

Don't forget, the bald guy will be wearing body armor, carrying a giant bazooka, shooting everything in his path, squirting blood & guts everywhere, cursing up a storm, all while he smokes a giant cigar. (Oops...did I just describe Die Hard?)
Most of the games I play are RPGs. I've seen A LOT of characters, covering every single "sterotype" you could ever imagine. I've played games with such hollow characters, a meteor could've pulverized every single one of them, and I wouldn't have cared one bit. This game has deep characterization; by the end of the game, I was emotionally attatched to every single person. The storyline was anything but "kiddie;" taking down a corrupt regime is not for the little ones, hence the "Teen" rating in the U.S.A.
I hope you get that bug out of your shorts soon, and start enjoying life more.
Has the OP disappeared? Maybe he's too mature to take criticism?
I'm assuming you didn't play the game for very long . The game has a pretty powerful story about the struggle to protect a society's right to free thought, beliefs and information. There are very few games which have such a strongly focused political tone.
That you cannot look past the "cartoonish" elements says a lot about your own level maturity and frankly your intelligence. Tell me, have you not read Animal Farm or the Little Prince? Have you ever watched The Simpsons?
Don't get me wrong, there are some pretty valid reasons why some don't enjoy this game, but saying that the BGE story and premise is infantile is like saying Fallout 2 is generic.
high rated
"When I was ten, I read fairy stories in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
-C. S. Lewis
Vegan's quote reminded me of this:
XKCD
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Vegan: "When I was ten, I read fairy stories in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
-C. S. Lewis
One of my favorite quotes. I don't see why anyone should be ashamed to play in this whimsical world and I think by the end of the game things get quite mature enough. It's definitely stylized in a cartoonish manner and I think it adds a distinct vibe to the game an reinforces the world you are in.
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Vegan: "When I was ten, I read fairy stories in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
-C. S. Lewis

+1
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Vegan: "When I was ten, I read fairy stories in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
-C. S. Lewis

That is a really good quote. +1.
Also, I loved that XKCD comic. The playpen is really cool. Come to think of it, I think the people at last.fm filled their office with playpen balls for their second anniversary or something.