Talk:Limbo (video game)/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: J Milburn (talk) 15:00, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

Just completed the game, and I'd love to review the article. Just staking my claim; I will do the actual review this evening. :) J Milburn (talk) 15:00, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria

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Well, I absolutely adored the game, so doing this little review can be my way of saying thanks.

1. Is it reasonably well written?

   A. Prose quality:

   See list below.

   B. MoS compliance:

2. Is it factually accurate and verifiable?

   A. References to sources:

   B. Citation of reliable sources where necessary:

   C. No original research:

3. Is it broad in its coverage?

   A. Major aspects:

   B. Focused:

4. Is it neutral?

   Fair representation without bias:

5. Is it stable?

   No edit wars, etc:

6. Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?

   A. Images are copyright tagged, and non-free images have fair use rationales:

   The images are both legit, but I am pondering. Have you tried contacting Playdead to request the release of images? If not, I'd quite like to give it a bash- my experiences have shown me (though I've never tried with videogames) that these smaller companies may be willing to release promotional material under a free license.

   B. Images are provided where possible and appropriate, with suitable captions:

7. Overall:

   Pass or Fail:

• Seeing as this was developed in Europe, would British English not be best?
  • If so, dates should be [Day] [Month] [Year]
  • "utilizing" > "utilising"
  • "grayscale" > "greyscale"
  • "three to six hours of gameplay for $15," - regardless of the Britain/America thing, other currencies would be good.
• "independent Danish Playdead Studios, its premiere title," doesn't read that well. Could it be rephrased?
• "physics", "player character" and other terms may not be that accessible to non-gamers- links, perhaps?
• "who awakes in" awakens?
• "Other interpretations"- a little repetative
• "traps are not apparent until the player has actually triggered the trap" Repetition
• "causing the boy to be killed" passive voice?
• "these deaths" Again, a little repetative
• "includes Achievements" Why the caps?
• "deaths of the boy" That's an odd phrase
• "From Limbo' inception" Typo?
• "From Limbo' inception, the game was set by Patti to have a specific mood and art style as set by an early trailer made in 2006 for the game, to use only two additional controls, jumping and grabbing, outside of the normal movement controls, and to present no tutorial text to the player." That sentence could do with splitting
• "chose to ignore outside advice" Who was this advice from?
• "their vision according to Patti" their vision according to Patti, or their vision, according to Patti?
• "freelancers at various stages of development." repetition
• "deaths entertaining to" Is "entertaining" really the right word?
• "within the final game" repetition (and shortly after that- "the game the game the game")
• "response of Limbo's short" to its short length, surely?
• "to quantity the length of a game" Can quantity be used as a verb?
• "that seems only applied to video games" seems to be?
• "film noir" is sometime italicised, sometimes not
• "or by showing human figures across a chasm that, once crossed, have disappeared." A little clumsy
• "Through these elements, Limbo is said to combine to two disparate genres, horror fiction and platform games, that has otherwise not been tried before." Rephrase?
• "been consider an art game" considered?
• "the player comes into contact with" > "with whom the player comes into contact"

It'd be great to get this to GA and hopefully FA beyond. I have some more thoughts on what would need to be done to prepare this for FA once you have finished with this, and would love to help out. J Milburn (talk) 18:25, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

Most of the prose elements noted above fixed. I've converted the article to UK dating/spelling per that suggestion. Of all the prose things I do note that "entertaining" is the word used with the deaths, I've quoted and cited the speaker to make it clear we (WP) is not introducing this aspect to it. As for images, at least for VG, it is generally difficult to get publishers (who usually control release of such material after the fact) to release such into free content (this would be true of the game's "cover"). Mind you, as one is a pre-release image, there's a chance since this may not be in MS's control. I can try to contact them about freeing up the images, but I would not expect this to happen any time soon (nor do I necessarily see it as an impediment to GA or even FA - the image is still appropriate and necessary to include in the article, getting it free would be a bonus). --MASEM (t) 19:02, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

No, I completely agree that the fact the images are being used under the NFCC shouldn't stop this being promoted. I wasn't aware that the copyright would probably belong to the distributor- surely the game itself (and so, for instance, screenshots) would still belong to Playdead? In any case, I am happy to promote this to GA status now. Things I would look into for taking this to FA are-

• The lead could do with an expansion.
• The rather long reception section could perhaps be split up a little, if possible. Perhaps, for instance, more on the reaction to/interpretations of the plot could be moved to the plot section.
• Copyediting generally would be a good thing.
• Ordering the inline citations so they are in numerical order would be helpful.
• The reliability of some sources could be called into question later- I'm happy with them for now.
• The very short paragraph about achievements could do with expansion/merging somewhere.
• Questions about the rating may come up- do we have any sources that discuss why it was given such a high rating?
• Writing an article about Playdead would be a nice touch.
• Are some of the categories not redundant?
• There seems something slightly odd about the last paragraph beginning with "prior to its release"

If you do take this to FAC, please do let me know and I'll come and offer another review. In the mean time, I'm gonna drop Playdead an email and see if they're willing/able to release anything. J Milburn (talk) 19:27, 23 August 2010 (UTC)