paper will show that your knowledge of the game is shallow.
Using a walkthrough can also circumvent some of the problems the game may
have, since people who write walkthroughs often instruct players how to avoid
bugs and broken design. You should also have first-hand experience of the
problems that come across while playing the game. Use walkthroughs as a way to
learn more about the game, but do not let the walkthrough dictate your
experience. If you use walkthroughs or cheats, be explicit about it, and note how
that may have changed your experience and knowledge of the game.
- Read what other people have written about the game
In order to know more about your game, read about it: reviews, academic articles,
press releases, newspaper articles, developer diaries, postmortems, etc. It will
help you get an idea of what other people think about the game, its production
history, and know more about the context of the game. The game box and
manuals can also be sources of relevant information; if your copy of the game
does not have its original box, some websites have repositories of them.
2. Types of Analysis
Once you've played the game, you should decide what you want to focus on. What
makes this game worth analyzing? What are you going to discuss?
The analysis is an essay, so the main argument of your analysis should be
expressed as a thesis statement. For example: "The morality system in this game
is usually hailed as unique and complex; however, I will prove that, in closer
examination, it is merely a binary system, and does not allow for complex moral
choices." Another example: "Although Ernest Adams argues that the design of
Metal Gear Solid 2 is faulty because it breaks the "fourth wall", my argument is
that it does not break the immersion in the game because it actually extends the
space of the game into the player's space."
You probably cannot write something very long, so choose early on what aspects
of the game you want to highlight. Rather than covering a lot of aspects, select
one or two important ones, and analyze them in depth, using other sections of the
analysis as support for your main point. Are you going to talk about the whole
game, or just a few sections? Are you going to base it on your own experience or
other people's? Are you going to discuss other people's takes on the game? Are
you going to discuss how the game exemplifies a particular cultural stance or
trend?
A brief summary of what the discussion is about should constitute the thesis
statement of your analysis, and it should appear in the introduction to your game.
Be clear and concise about what you will be analyzing and how.
Throughout the paper, you must apply the readings covered in class. The theory
will provide you with conceptual tools to analyze the game, by applying them, or
by proving that the game you are dealing with is an exception to them, or by
finding an area that the theory does not account for that is exemplified in your
game. Try to start with the theory and how it is relevant to the game, rather than
writing an argument and then pasting in the relevant vocabulary or references.
Different types of textual analysis will elaborate more on certain sections. Some