He said that the silliest sentence you'll ever read is "In the same way that Citizen Kane... [blah blah, comparison] ...Metroid Prime uses all of its technology to recreate the experience of a woman abandoned on an alien world inhabited by the ghosts of its prelapsarian inhabitants". I disagree that it's because it ignores the historical and artistic weight. It's because the premise of being on an alien world inhabited by ghosts of Chozos sounds stupid when taken out of context. Doesn't sound like a storyline worthy of a Newbury Medal. Recreate the experience of a woman lost on some hostile world, oh boy. While it is a great game and I liked the wealth of history that Samus learned about her world along the way, you just can't describe Metroid Prime's setting like that and expect it to hold a candle to the typical Oscar-winner "troubled man looks inside himself and finds the inner strength he had all along, helping him achieve the American Dream". You'd be better off with... heck, what it says on the top of Watership Down: "The timeless classic novel of exile, courage and survival." Just throw in adjectives about Samus's experience, then it'd stand better ground in comparison.
I don't like thinking about what games stand out as revolutionary and worthy of recognition in other fields. Mainly because of the same reason I don't like watching old films - great for their time, but things have moved on, old techniques improved on, it's all stuff we've seen before. Plus, having been a Nintendo fan my whole life, there's inevitably a lot of other games worthy of mention that I never played or heard of, so I wouldn't feel "qualified". That said, I still like the idea of putting Shadow of the Colossus out there as a contender, just for being so drastically different from anything else at the time and being beautiful and straightforward despite running on hardware that can barely keep up with what's demanded.
In retrospect Metroid Prime's not a game I'd play again soon, it just seems too "involved". Epic and "everybody must play this"-worthy, yes. But in the same vein as Chrono Trigger, it's something I'll play once or twice before putting it down forever or waiting a few years for all the memories to fade. Besides, I'm busy playing a forgotten SNES game called Claymates. Hands up for anyone who recognizes the title (no, I'm not talking about the Clay Aiken fanclub). It's... not perfect by a long shot, and at first glance it looks very kiddy, but it's quirky and fun enough that something compels me to keep playing it. Man, I should have dumped Clayfighter like a lead balloon, Claymates was a lot more fun.
You can't judge a game like a movie, fair and simple. It's more about entertainment (and like in any medium, personal experiences. I failed in enough humorous ways early on in "Okami" to believe that point). I think I can see why there's a preference for shorter simpler games. While there's also the pleasure of overcoming tough challenges and powerful storylines, something simple can be just as enjoyable. Try the pack-in episode of Knytt Stories (free PC game) or your favorite addictive Flash game of choice.
I just realized another reason why that comparison sentence is silly. In that sentence (in the part I omitted), Citizen Kane is mentioned with describing the man's character. The same wasn't given to Samus, so it's an unfair comparison. And what's up with "prelapsarian"? Who's going to know that word? Just call them sentient birds.
*looks up word* "Of or relating to the period before the fall of Adam and Eve."
...Like I said, you should have called them frickin' birds.
