by any name

tinycartridge:

“You never hear people say, ‘The HD visuals looked great but didn’t add to the gameplay, and so are nothing more then a gimmick.’3D, like HD graphics or surround sound, improves the presentation of the game and helps with immersion. There’s nothing wrong with that. Why do some act like it needs to do more in order to be considered worthwhile?”

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Astute observation from NeoGAF forumer Padlock on the complaints from journalists and gamers that 3D effects don’t add much to the gameplay in the 3DS’ launch titles.

Curiously, for all the criticisms about Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars having “last handheld generation graphics” and being a “rushed 3DS port”, of the launch titles I’ve played, this unassuming strategy title has the best implementation of subtle 3D effects I’ve seen.

Aside from the immersive “living board game” effect, the game does simple stuff like layering menu elements or those static images of talking heads during RPG-style conversations (e.g. person talking is in the foreground).

Basically, what I am trying to say here is that you should be playing Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars.

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[Via Padlock]

I say stuff like, “The HD visuals look great, but don’t actually add anything to the game, so it’s kind of a gimmick,” all the time. All the time.