Contents

Introduction. Nobody Asked for a Toaster Critic: Doing Videogame Criticism
1. The Squalid Grace of Flappy Bird
2. A Portrait of the Artist as a Game Studio: Flow, Flower, Journey
3. A Way of Looking: Mirror's Edge
4. The Blue Shell is Everything that’s Wrong with America: Mario Kart
5. Little Black Sambo, I’m Going to Eat You Up!: Scribblenauts
6. Can a Gobbler Have it All?: Ms. Pac-Man
7. Racketeer Sports: Farmville, Candy Crush Saga, and Free to Play
8. The Haute Couture of Videogames: Hundreds
9. Can the Other Come Out and Play?: Between and Way
10. Free Speech is not a Marketing Plan: Bully and Medal of Honor
11. Shaking the Holocaust Train: Manhunt, Train, and Gestural Control
12. The Long Shot: Heavy Rain
13. Puzzling the Sublime: Orbital & Drop7
14. Work is the Best Place to Goof Off: Flight Simulator, Euro Truck Simulator, and the New Simulation
15. A Trio of Artisanal Reviews: Proteus
16. What is a Sports Videogame?: FIFA, Madden, and More
17. The Agony of Mastery: Swing Copters
18. The Abyss Between the Human and the Alpine: Mountain
19. Word Games Last Forever: Words with Friends
20. Perpetual Adolescence: Gone Home
Conclusion. Anything But Games: Not Doing Game Criticism
Notes