The Games that Defined my Uni Years

Courier Gaming legend Gerry Hart recalls the best procrastination games across his time at uni

Gerry Hart
20th July 2018
Image: IGDB.com

Well, looks like old man Gerry’s finally leaving his academic comfort zone after six years and try his hand at living like a normal person in the real world. So my last act as gaming editor, what better way to round things off by looking back at some of the games I played that stood out when I should’ve been working instead. After all I’m nothing if not self-indulgent.

The first game that springs to mind is Fallout: New Vegas. Back in 2015 I had to temporarily suspend studies so with plenty of free time on my hands, I decided to explore games like New Vegas that had passed me by at the time. Arguably the highlight of the franchise, New Vegas is a masterpiece writing, managing to somehow both incorporate discussions on Hegelian dialectics and quests involving fixing broken down sex robots into one incredible game. Would that Bethesda would give Obsidian another crack at the franchise.

[pullquote]Fallout: New Vegas manages to incorporate discussions on Hegelian dialectics and quests involving fixing broken down sex robots into one incredible game[/pullquote]

Second on the list is The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. Essentially a tanked up remake of the original Binding of Isaac, Rebirth has in many ways become the benchmark for future roguelikes by building its procedural elements around a solid core design. But the real reason I’m including it here is how great Rebirth works as a revision aid (no, seriously). For me, Rebirth falls into the same category as World of Warcraft and Euro Truck Simulator 2 in that you can almost zone out whilst playing them which is great for listening to podcasts. So during my third year exams I’d load up recap and blast through a few levels. It might sound strange but you’d be surprised how information much you can absorb this way (results not guaranteed).

Image: IGDB.com

And finally we have Undertale. As I’ve alluded to, 2015 was a shit year personally but it was redeemed in part by the quality of the games released and somehow Undertale, a humble game developed by one guy on GameMaker Studio managed to stand out alongside the best of them. Whilst charming and wistful in its story and character design, Undertale arguably presents one of the most nuanced critiques of violence in video games. Rather than a mechanical necessity, violence is a deliberate choice the player makes that they then must face actual, meaningful consequences for, both mechanically and narratively. Granted its fanbase can be a little…eccentric but don’t let that put you off giving it a try.

[pullquote]Besides, you’re at uni now. Its not like yer da can yell at you for hogging the computer[/pullquote]

So remember kids, play your video games. Yeah you could do stuff in the real world but who wants to deal with that hassle? After all, playing video games got me writing for The Courier and meeting some fantastic people. Besides, you’re at uni now. Its not like yer da can yell at you for hogging the computer. So go mutilate cacodemons or catch Pokeymans to your heart’s content (addendum: Don’t actually neglect real world stuff. That would be bad).

 

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