I make a point of finishing most games that I review. Even though I may enjoy or vehemently dislike a game, I always intend to finish. Often, a video game that could, theoretically, provide a goldmine for review purposes simply falls to the wayside on Theology Gaming for this very reason. Although that particular point isn’t, to my knowledge or the original review policy or the new one, I made an unwritten law unto myself to never review games that I haven’t personally loved/suffered through.
In that sense, Pixeljunk Eden represents the sort of game I want people to avoid, and it perfectly demonstrates that strange demarcation line between “game” and “non-game” deserves more exploration. Like saying “Dear Esther is a game” versus ‘Super Mario Bros. is a game”, we need more specific terms for describing these interactive experiences. They are not the same. A simple hand wave won’t take it away. If PixelJunk Eden IS a game, then we can easily consider it a rather bad one. If it isn’t, then why bother with a star rating, right?