Video Games

     I play video games. By the gaming community standards, I would say that I am a casual gamer. By society's standards, I'm probably borderline hardcore. I enjoy gaming and have enjoyed gaming since I was very, very, very young.

     A few days ago I decided I wanted to experience the game Alien: Isolation. However, I did not want to spend the money nor do I particularly enjoy "jump scare" games - or at least playing them. I do like to watch others play them though. It makes me less anxious that way. So I Googled Alien: Isolation gameplay and up popped a youtube channel run by a man named theRadBrad. He had played the game in its entirety from October of last year to January of this year. Lucky for me, I was able to watch them in order without interruption (except for sleeping and eating).

    Here is a link to his playlist of the game. I'm sure Rad Brad won't be seeing this blog post, but on the slightest off chance that he does I'm sure he won't care what a blog like mine says. Brad, you're kind of bad at video games. Yes, I am basing this off of the one game that I watched you play. Yes, this is a very unfair thing to do. However, I will provide examples because I have way too much time on my hands and you are a very entertaining person.

     At one point in the game, Brad is directed to take a tram to another part of the map. He is presented with four tram options, two of which are damaged and do not work. He opens his map multiple times, which has labelled the trams and their destinations. The map further indicates exactly which tram he needs to take in a little text blurb at the bottom. If he were to stand in either of two working trams, they would indicate precisely where he were to go if he decided to take said tram, thus using the process of elimination. To top it all off, an NPC in the game explicitly told him where to go before he even got to the tram station. But this is not enough. Brad refuses to believe he is in the right place, and has to edit out the part in his video where - I'm guessing - he looks up where he needs to go. Brad, if I weren't laughing so hard, I would be frustrated for you.

     At another point in the game, Brad is hiding in plain sight underneath a gurney. I understand that these gurneys are put in the game specifically for hiding purposes, however, Brad is avoiding a human guard with a gun. The human comes around the corner, spots Brad under the gurney and states, "What was that?" and "Do I look like someone you should fuck with?" while pointing his gun directly at Brad. Brad responds with, "Does he see me? For real?" The guard then begins to fire at Brad and this seems to convince him that, yes, the man can see him huddled underneath that gurney.

      Aside from these instances Brad fails to realize what some of the devices are used for, dies a lot and misdiagnoses a multiple gunshot wound victim as a chest-burster victim.

      I'm not saying I could do better than Brad, but sometimes I wanted to strangle him. I do want to say thank you to Brad for putting these videos out there so that I had the opportunity to experience the game for myself without having to buy it or put myself through the stress of a jump scare game. So, thank you Brad. Keep doing what you do.