Talk:Haunted House (video game)/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: PresN (talk · contribs) 22:40, 7 February 2023 (UTC)

Hi, reviewing this! Listing my concerns below as I hit them.

• "Some video game critics such as Christopher Buecheler of GameSpy would state that Haunted House was one of the earliest examples..." - Tense issues and "some" softens it a lot, maybe "Video game critics such as Christopher Buecheler of GameSpy have called Haunted House one of the earliest examples..."

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• The comparison of gameplay styles to other games by critics doesn't belong in the gameplay section. This section should describe what the gameplay is, not talk about the context among other games.

I think it's importance to take into the gameplay in a historical context, i.e: there were a few other games like this at the time and there were variations on what people would call them "storyline games, adventure games" etc. It doesn't appear to be against MOS:VG and I don't think it's a POV statement either as it's just how people would have described the game. This is particularly important as there is the entire section below discussing whether the game should be described as a "survival horror" game or not. How would you suggest we handle this? Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "A scepter can be found inside the mansion, which will make the player invisible to some of the creatures depending on the difficulty setting." - can you be more specific? Like, does it make you invisible to few types at higher settings, or just a limited number of creatures? If it's just the ghost, you explain that in the next paragraph so this bit should be cut.

Tried to re-arrange this. Hope that helps. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "For example, setting 1 has a room where walls around the room are lit by candle light while all others are completely dark" - it's not clear to me if this makes things easy or hard. What does lighting even do?

Tried to clarify this earlier now. Also I made a mistake, they are matches, not candles (per the manual) Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• Typically, even though the article is at "Atari, Inc." because of multiple companies by that name, it should be named in prose as just Atari.

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• Did James Andreasen work at MSI at the same time as Atari, or did he previously work there?

This isn't clear. There is very little information about Andreasen, he appeared to only work on this and perhaps one more game for Atari. He died in the early 2000s and there is no real biographical information outside him making the game and his death. MSI is the only company that existed in a timeline that would be possible, but it's not clear when he worked with them or when he started/stopped at Atari. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• The lead calls out that the console was the Atari Video Computer System at time of publication, but the development section doesn't continue that

Done, I believe. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "For sound and graphics, functions essential to a videogame system" - the aside is superfluous

Hehe, correct. Fixed. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• The sentences about the sound/graphics are confusing, and it's not clear what the TIA has to do with this game in particular

I've wikilinked to the TIA (didn't know it had it's own article!) and tried to expand on this a bit without getting to technical for the average reader. How is it now? Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• It's not clear to me from reading this if you scroll over an entire 24-room map of which part is visible at any time, or if it's multiple screens like in Adventure. Or a mix- what does "large portions" mean?

The prose doesn't go into detail, but generally you can across rooms. This inspired me to make a animation from it, which I've added to the article. I made into a gif, but tell me what you think. It can also be uploaded as a video without sound if you think that is better. Tell me what you think! Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "Programmers at Atari would often have the system make percussion sounds" - Are you trying to say that what Andreasen did for footsteps was a common technique at the time?

Not specifically for those sounds, it's just an example. I tried to re-phrase this. How is it? Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "Cashbox reported the game as one of the top selling video games by July 1982." - should be in reception, not release

I've moved it to the beginning of the reception section. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "It was also released on portable devices Atari Greatest Hits for the Nintendo DS and iOS." - missing a word or two

Right you are, i've re-phrased it. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• Not sure that you need to call out "contemporary" reviews, since those are the only ones you have- the later stuff is "best of" lists. Regardless, there should be a topic sentence/phrase to start off the section, not just "from contemporary reviews".

Fair, i've updated this. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "Another review from the publishing in their Electronic Games 1983 Software Encyclopedia issue gave the game..." - "Another review from Electronic Games, from the 1983 Software Encyclopedia issue, gave the game..."

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• These paragraphs as a whole have too many direct quotes instead of paraphrases; they're more than 50% quote by volume

Tried to cut this down a bit. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "Onosoko of The Capital Times wrote that the game's graphics were blocky and unimpressive, but the game itself can be challenging."" - is the opening quote mark missing?

Re-phrased per the above. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "althoughthe game"

Fixed. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "into the websites "Hall of Fame"" - apostrophe

Fixed. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "Some game video game critics, such as Buecheler of GameSpy and Skyler Miller of AllGame have cited" - comma after AllGame

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• Most of the first paragraph of legacy seems to be going into a lot of details in defining what survival horror isn't, which seems a little lengthy when they're not talking about Haunted House in particular. It feels like you could summarize everything from "In her writings on the genre" to "mise-en-scène requires capabilities" in a sentence or two that "Many other critics and scholars, however, have said that games before Alone in the Dark (1992) or Resident Evil (1996), like Haunted House, do not meet the definition of survival horror as they are missing necessary elements beyond the horror theming such as the technical capacities to create a mise-en-scène of fear."

I don't think we should just say "However" per WP:However, but i'l try cut this up a bit. I think it requires some of those guys statements because as this is an older early game, anyone studying the history of them again should know the context for when the game was made how it was described. This is also why I went into detail above with how the game was interpreted in the gameplay section. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• Atari announced a new version of Haunted House - no need to call it announced it it was released 13 years ago; same for the next game, you can just say they released or published them
• "expressed" is an odd word choice

Re-phrased. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "Atari announced another version of Haunted House, that was developed by Italian studio Dreampainters titled Haunted House: Cryptic Graves for a release on PC on November 24, 2014." - Atari published another version of Haunted House, House: Cryptic Graves, by Italian studio Dreampainters for Windows on November 24, 2014.

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

Okay, I think that's it. Mostly just awkward or inflated wording. I'll put this GAN on hold, and let you get to it. --PresN 22:40, 7 February 2023 (UTC)

Okay, I think I went through everything you requested and had some questions. Ping me whenever you are free, and thanks for tackling the article's review. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

Almost there, a few follow-up responses or grammar fixes:

• "which will make the player presence become unknown to some of the creatures depending on the difficulty setting, while the ghost will be unaffected by the item on higher difficulty levels" - grammar issue aside ("player's presence"), this is still unclear to me- "some creatures" can't detect you, depending on the difficulty level, but how is that different than the ghost being able/not able to detect you? Is the ghost just an example of a creature that can't detect you on lower levels but can on higher, or is it the only one like that, or is there something special about the ghost?

I just tried to re-write this part again. Hopefully it's clear now. Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:49, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• Since the lead refers to the Atari VCS, the development section should say so in prose as well: "The game was developed for the company's Atari 2600 video game system, then named the Atari Video Computer System."

Ahh good point. Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:49, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "forcing programmers to draw each frame of the programs display" -> "forcing programmers to draw the entirety of each frame of the game's display"

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:49, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• The gif is really helpful, thank you!

Great! It was fun to make! Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:49, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "and it's difficulty." -> "and its difficulty."

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:49, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "calling it's audio and visuals excellent" -> "calling its audio and visuals excellent"

You think I could get this correct by now. Done! Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:49, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "found that although the game was found the game to be difficult and not easy to understand at first, but recommended it to audiences willing to give time to learn the game's mechanics. -> "found the game difficult and not easy to understand at first, but recommended it to audiences willing to give time to learn the game's mechanics."

Updated. Andrzejbanas (talk) 21:14, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

• "Matthew Wiese responded similarly in 2009, that labelling all" -> "Matthew Wiese in 2009 similarly said that labeling all", he wasn't responding directly to the previous source

True. Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:49, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

--PresN 19:00, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

Okay! I think that is everything PresN! Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:49, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

Alright, closing this review as passed! --PresN 22:40, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

Awesome! Thank you! Andrzejbanas (talk) 22:55, 8 February 2023 (UTC)