Don't intervene.
Press X to roll out of the way of explosions! Press F to wave at hostages! Press forward to drive a car, and F to pick up the briefcase! And, I guess, if you get the time, left mouse button to shoot some people.
Rich McCormick
Contributor
Twitch-based: Exploring the Salty Bet phenomenon
Earning your salt.
I dreamt about Salty Bet two weeks ago. I've only ever dreamt about one other game in my life. That was Ocarina of Time, and I was 12.
Asylum's eeker.
First-person horror Outlast uses careful audio cues to announce when the angry, mutilated denizens of the asylum you're investigating spot you pootling around in their vicinity - but it took me about two hours to realise that. That's because, 15 minutes into the game, I'd alt-tabbed three times to calm down before deciding the best course of action was to set up a Spotify playlist of the most cheerful music I could think of and run it at half volume as I played. Let me tell you that being grabbed by a seven foot mass of horror-muscle intent on pulling your head from your neck is scientifically less scary when set against the Vengaboys' seminal 'Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!'
Dozy blastard.
Three pads. The collective price of Rare's Blast Corps among my circle of school-friends. Three pads, their triple prongs shattered, their analogue sticks hanging floppy, detached from their housings by countless forceful smashings. Three pads, added to the exorbitant price of an N64 early-era release. Three entire pads, ruined, all for this game. Was it worth the expense and the disapproving parents? Worth it for Blast Corps? Totally.