Ringside Report Review of the Video Game Inside – Gaming News
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By Radical Rhymes
One of my secret pleasures is video gaming. I truly love video games, even though I was a late arrival to the hobby. My first real experience came through the generosity of a friend. I was a young lecturer just starting out in academia and had come across an external examiner who was every bit as narcissistic and sociopathic as Donald Trump.
He hated everything about the way we operated. He didn’t like the material, he didn’t like the teaching methods, he really, really despised our assessment approach, and he caused complete chaos for a short but terrible time. I wasn’t very confident at that stage and truly felt that my career was over before it had really begun.
Thankfully, our Dean was an absolute gem. I rang her to say that I thought, in my case, he was probably correct. Well, in keeping with her powerful and maternal persona she told me that he was clearly a bully and that we should never give in to bullies. Furthermore, she assured me that he would shortly go too far and hang himself. As usual she proved to be right, he finally demanded that the whole institution amend its policies in line with his expectations and that was the rope the university needed.
Nonetheless, it was a tough time for me and one of the things that got me through was a video game that a friend loaned me. Actually, he left his games console with me which I am eternally grateful for. The game was called Medal of Honor. It was a first-person shooter set in the second world war and it allowed me to vent my frustrations in a safe and controlled way. I recognise the debates about violent video games, that they may cause or exacerbate violent tendencies, and I would never claim to generalise from a single case anecdote, but I will say that that game helped me to cope until the situation rectified itself. Better to shoot virtual entities on a screen than enter into a physical confrontation with a provocative individual.
Since then I have played games as a leisure activity with varying levels of commitment and engagement. They can be incredibly immersive and life enhancing. They can – just like literature – arouse empathy, promote different perspectives, and promote new skills and understandings that we can take to the real world.
If I had to pick a favourite game, it would be Ico. It was the most beautiful experience I have ever had playing a game. The protagonist is a little boy born with horns who is taken as a sacrifice to a mysterious island. He escapes the urn he’s placed in and has to find ways to overcome environmental and supernatural obstacles. Along the way he rescues a shadowy princess that he must protect and guide, while she has the means to open certain doorways for him. It’s magnificent in every way, and visually, a work of art.
Even though I have never found a game to match it, and the developers have produced others that I’ve massively enjoyed, I’ve always kept an eye out for something similar.
And at last I’ve found that something. It’s called Inside. Just as with Ico there is no real back story. It begins with a small boy wandering through a deep, dark forest alone – although it is quickly apparent that he is lost or afraid, and that he does not want to be seen or discovered. Your journey relies on reasoning and reflex, as you guide him to evade capture by men clad in black and their vicious attack dogs.
All the while you are aware that people are being rounded up and herded into anonymous trucks, and there is a heavy sense of oppression and fear that is actively tangible.
Eventually, you arrive at a warehouse, which proves to be a processing plant creating mindless drones, and you must find ways to surpass testing environments while remaining undetected. I can’t tell you too much at this stage, not only because I wouldn’t want to spoil it, but because I am deeply immersed in it. I have no clue as to what is happening or why, much less how it will end…
What I do know is that I am going to enjoy every minute. And, as an aside, I would recommend video gaming as a hobby. It gets a bad press at times but played correctly it can be a wonderful escape from the difficulties and drudgery of everyday life. Like anything we do it should have boundaries around it. Addiction can be a problem, but then, isn’t that true of so many things?
Bottom line from me? Why not try it? You have nothing to lose. And you might just encounter a game like Ico, or Inside, and that, I guarantee, will be worth every second of your time.
Radical Rhymes is a professional artist working with a range of media – predominantly animal/human portraits and landscapes – including, most recently, hand painted furniture. You can see his work on Instagram Radicalrhymes1969 or on Twitter @RhymesRadical.
For commissions, please contact him on Twitter via Direct Message or by email at: radicalrhymes@outlook.com His work is also available to buy on Etsy
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