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Dota 2 received universal acclaim , according to video game review aggregator Metacritic . PC Gamer previewed the game in September 2012 , stating the game was " an unbelievably deep and complex game that offers the purest sequel to the original Defense of the Anicents . Rewarding like few others , but tough " , giving it a rating of 85 / 100 . Adam Biessener , the editor who authored the announcement article for Dota 2 for Game Informer in 2010 , praised Valve for maintaining the same mechanics and game balance that made Defense of the Ancients successful nearly a decade prior and Quintin Smith of Eurogamer described Dota 2 as the " supreme form of the MOBA which everyone else working in the genre is trying to capture like lightning in a bottle " . The most frequently praised aspects of the game were its depth , delivery , and overall balance . Chris Thursten of PC Gamer described the gameplay as being " deep and rewarding " . Martin Gaston of GameSpot complimented Valve for the delivery and artistic design of Dota 2 , citing the execution of the user interface design , voice acting and characterization as exceeding those of the game 's competitors . Phill Cameron of IGN praised Dota 2 for its freely @-@ available game balance that was not affected by cosmetic items .
While the majority of reviewers gave Dota 2 highly positive reviews , a common criticism was that the game maintains a steep learning curve that requires exceptional commitment to overcome . While providing a moderately positive review that praised Valve 's product stability , Fredrik Åslund from the Swedish division of Gamereactor described his first match of Dota 2 as one of the most humiliating and inhospitable experiences of his gaming career , citing the learning curve and players ' attitudes as unwelcoming . Benjamin Danneberg of GameStar alluded to the learning curve as a " learning cliff " , calling the newcomer 's experience to be painful , with the tutorial feature new to the Dota franchise only being partially successful . In a review for the Metro newspaper , Dota 2 was criticized for not compensating for the flaws with the learning curve from Defense of the Ancients , as well as the sometimes hostile community , as is often the case for multiplayer online battle arena games .
Peter Bright of Ars Technica directed criticism at the ability for third @-@ party websites to allow gambling and betting on match results and in @-@ game items , similar to controversies that also exist with Valve 's Counter @-@ Strike : Global Offensive . Using Dota 2 as an example , Bright also stated that he thought Valve built gambling elements directly into their games , and had issues with the unregulated practice , which was often used by underage players and regions where gambling is illegal . In response to the controversy , Valve and Dota 2 producer , Erik Johnson , stated that they would be taking action against the third @-@ party sites , saying the practice was " not allowed by our API nor our user agreements " .
In May 2013 , Dota 2 reached almost 330 @,@ 000 concurrent players and held the record for the game with the most concurrent users in Steam history , breaking its own record set in March the same year . Simultaneous with this benchmark , it was determined that the concurrent number of Dota 2 players in May 2013 outweighed the number of players for the rest of Steam 's top ten most @-@ played games combined . In February 2015 , Dota 2 became the first game in Steam 's history to have over one million concurrent players . Also in 2015 , Dota 2 was the third most watched game on Twitch.tv , after League of Legends and Counter @-@ Strike : Global Offensive . Concurrent viewership numbers of professional Dota 2 matches have reached upwards of two million .
= = = Awards and accolades = = =
Following its first public showing in 2011 , Dota 2 won IGN 's People 's Choice Award . In December 2012 , PC Gamer listed Dota 2 as a nominee for the 2012 Game of the Year award , as well as the best electronic sports title of the year . The game won 2013 eSport of the year awards from PC Gamer and onGamers . GameTrailers awarded the game the award for Best PC Game of 2013 . For IGN 's Best of 2013 award series , Dota 2 won the awards for Best PC Strategy & Tactics Game , as well as Best PC Multiplayer Game . The game 's awards for IGN 's Best of 2013 won their People 's Choice Award counterparts , as well . Similarly , Game Informer recognized Dota 2 for the categories of Best PC Exclusive , Best Competitive Multiplayer and Best Strategy of 2013 . In the 2013 edition of Game Revolution 's countdown of the top twenty @-@ five PC video games of all time , Dota 2 was listed in the number four position . Dota 2 was nominated for a number of Game of the Year awards by Destructoid , including the award for the best competitive game . While the staff selected StarCraft II : Heart of the Swarm , Dota 2 received the majority of the votes distributed between the nine nominees . In 2014 , Dota 2 was nominated for best multiplayer game at the 10th British Academy Games Awards , but lost to Grand Theft Auto V. In 2015 , Dota 2 was nominated for eSports Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2015 , and won the award for best MOBA at the 2015 Global Game Awards .
= = = Merchandise = = =
The popularity of Dota 2 led Valve to produce apparel , accessories , posters , and a number of other products featuring the heroes and other elements from the game . In addition , Valve secured licensing contracts with third @-@ party producers ; the first of these deals concerned a Dota 2 SteelSeries QcK + mousepad , which was announced at Gamescom 2011 . In September 2012 , Weta Workshop , the prop studio that creates the " Aegis of Champions " trophy for winners of The International , announced a product line that would include statues , weapons , and armor based on Dota 2 characters and items . In February 2013 , the National Entertainment Collectibles Association announced a new toy line featuring hero @-@ themed action figures at the American International Toy Fair . After the conclusion of The International 2015 finals , Valve awarded the Collector 's Aegis of Champions , which was a 1 / 5th scale brass replica of the Aegis of Champions trophy , to those with compendiums of 1 @,@ 000 levels or more . For The International 2016 , Valve began selling a limited edition Dota 2 themed HTC Vive virtual reality headset . Valve have also created webcomics related to the game , featuring some of the heroes and detailing their background lore .
= Don 't Take It Personally , Babe , It Just Ain 't Your Story =
don 't take it personally , babe , it just ain 't your story is a 2011 indie video game by Christine Love . Intended as a spiritual sequel to Love 's Digital : A Love Story , the game was developed over the course of a month and was released as a free download on April 4 , 2011 . Don 't take it personally is a visual novel , with the majority of the plot taking place outside of the player 's control except for key decisions . It follows a new high school literature teacher in 2027 over the course of a semester , with the ability to see private messages between students at any time without their knowledge . It deals with themes of privacy and relationships in the future . The game was received positively , with critics praising the interplay between the metafictional elements of the story and those of the game itself , with special acknowledgment reserved for the writing .
= = Gameplay = =
Don 't take it personally is a visual novel , or interactive fiction game where the majority of the story is told through still images of the speaking characters in front of anime @-@ style backgrounds with text overlaid . The player 's viewpoint follows one character , the teacher in a school , with the player seeing his thoughts as well as his and the other characters ' statements . The player advances the conversations the teacher is in or witnesses at will , but cannot go backwards and has little control over what any of the characters , including the teacher , are saying except at a few key moments . At these points , the player is presented with two or three choices for what the teacher says ; which option is chosen can change what path the plot takes , in either a minor or major way .
In a departure from most visual novels the player can also see , at any time , the equivalent of texts and Facebook postings between the students on a school social network called AmieConnect ( often shortened to " Amie " ) , as well as conversation threads on a 4chan @-@ like imageboard that serve as foreshadowing for future plot points . These extra conversations take place in parallel to in @-@ person conversations between characters , occasionally at the same time ; the player is notified anytime a new text message or post is made . A single playthrough of the game takes " over an hour " .
= = Scenario = =
= = = Setting = = =
The game is set in a private high school in Ontario , in 2027 . The player follows a new 11th @-@ grade literature teacher at the school , John Rook , who has recently had his second divorce and is undergoing , in his words , a " bizarre midlife crisis " that has led him to quit his career in computers and become a teacher . The students in his class are Arianna Belle @-@ Essai , Kendall Flowers , Taylor Gibson , Charlotte Grewal , Isabella Hart , Nolan Striukas , and Akira Yamazaki . Rook and all of the students have school @-@ issued computers , which the students use to communicate between each other in private and public messages . Rook , and therefore the player , can see all of the messages that the students send , even the private ones ; the school administration has told Rook that it is for monitoring online bullying , and that he is not to let anyone know that he can see students ' private messages .
= = = Plot = = =
Soon after the game opens , the player learns that Kendall and Charlotte have just broken up out of a lesbian relationship , while a few weeks prior Taylor and Nolan had broken up out of a heterosexual relationship . Arianna develops a crush on the teacher , which in the player 's first decision point Rook can reciprocate or not . Akira soon comes out as gay , finding to his dismay that everyone else already knew . He then attempts to enter into a relationship with Nolan , who is unsure how to respond ; Rook can encourage him to try it out or let him decide on his own , but he enters a relationship with Akira regardless .
The next day , Isabella misses a meeting she set up with Rook , and does not return to the class . Through Amie texts and wall posts , the other students insinuate that she committed suicide , while the school is unable to provide Rook with any contact information for her . Class continues without her , and a little while later Arianna , if the player rejected her earlier in the game , makes another attempt to have a relationship with Rook . The player may choose to accept or reject her again . Through Amie , Rook learns that both Charlotte and Kendall wish to resume their relationship , and can influence Charlotte to try again or not , which changes whether or not they get back together . Taylor jealously and unsuccessfully tries to drive a wedge between Nolan and Akira .
As the end of term approaches , Rook begins getting strange emails about Isabella 's death , and begins seeing shinigami figures . Upset by these occurrences , when Akira 's mother asks to speak to him concerning misuses of Amie , he assumes that she has found out that he is spying on the students ' conversations . When he meets her , he finds that Isabella is alive and had simply moved away ; the students made it look like she was dead via Amie as a prank that got out of control . Furthermore , they already knew that he could see their messages ; Akira 's mother explains that the students have no idea of online privacy , having always had technology like Amie , and assumed that anything they put online might be read by anyone . The game ends with Rook having a casual lunch with the students , a date with Arianna , or neither , depending on the choices made during the game by the player .
= = Development = =
Don 't take it personally was developed over the course of a month , and was released as a free download on April 4 , 2011 . It was written and developed by Christine Love , with artwork made for the game by Auro @-@ Cyanide , artwork licensed from Tokudaya and Kimagure After , and with music licensed from Rengoku Teien and propanmode . It was created using the Ren 'Py engine . It was Love 's longest game to date , and her first attempt at a game with a branching storyline . It was intended as " a spiritual sequel of sorts " to Digital : A Love Story , a 2010 game by Love . The game was made for NaNoRenO ( National Ren 'ai Game Writing Month ) , a month @-@ long contest in the vein of National Novel Writing Month ( NaNoWriMo ) where developers attempt to create a visual novel in one month . Love 's favorite character to write was Kendall .
= = Reception = =
Don 't take it personally was chosen as a " freeware game pick " by IndieGames 's Michael Rose , who said that it was worth playing through multiple times in order to see the different paths the story takes depending on the player 's choices . Pete Davidson of GamePro noted the game as an example of the " creativity " missing in many large @-@ budget titles , and praised the story , calling Love " a writer first and a game developer second . " Alec Meer of Rock , Paper , Shotgun described the game as " a game about love , sex and the internet " that was " capable of being profoundly moving " and was about " what it is to feel like someone ’ s kicked me straight in the heart . " He praised Love 's ability to use dialogue to effect an emotional response , though he noted that the game seemed to lose some of its impact in the final chapters and felt that the use of the " 12chan " threads as a Greek chorus was " perhaps a meta @-@ layer too far " .
Aaron Poppleton of PopMatters called the game " a meditation on privacy in the modern age " and " one of the more thoughtful games to come out in a long time . " He criticized the art direction of the game , saying that the limitation of creating the game in a month led to poor artwork and an unpolished presentation that lets down the possibilities of the story . He did note that the story and writing of the game made the downsides of the game " almost entirely a moot point " , and that it is a very strong game . Pete Davidson of PC World , in an article about the treatment of sexuality in video games , called out the game as an example of a game that used sexual themes maturely to explore love and relationships . Emily Short of Gamasutra , in a discussion about the game , said that it was definitely worth playing and full of " charming characters , colorful dialogue , and important questions " , but criticized the uneven exploration of issues regarding privacy versus personal boundaries . She said that the game 's lack of focus on Rook 's issues with personal and professional boundaries was a weakness in the story , given that the distinction between boundaries and privacy was crucial to the plot . Love collated common criticisms and reviews of the game on her blog , summarizing that while it was less praised than Digital : A Love Story , most players seemed to like the way she wrote the relationships and overall story , though her portrayal of Rook was weak and that many players seemed to miss that he was intended to be " an absolutely awful teacher " and that the potential relationship with Arianna was intended to be creepy and make the player feel bad . She also noted that her use of licensed artwork was detracting from the game 's potential in comparison to the reaction to the custom works .
The Daily Telegraph gave the visual novel the award for " Best Script " in its video game awards of 2011 , stating that " Love 's layered narrative of a high school teacher embroiled in his student ’ s worries goes places most mainstream video games wouldn 't dare . "
= The Dreamscape =
" The Dreamscape " is the ninth episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe . It centers on a Fringe investigation of a Massive Dynamic employee who , after believing himself to be under attack by a swarm of sharp @-@ winged butterflies , jumps out of a window . Meanwhile , Olivia ( Anna Torv ) continues her visions of the deceased John Scott ( Mark Valley ) , and discovers how he related to a deadly psychoactive drug synthesized by Massive Dynamic .
" The Dreamscape " was written by series staff writers Julia Cho and Zack Whedon , and was directed by Fred Toye . To create the opening scene , they " relied entirely on actor performance , " with guest actor Ptolemy Slocum simulating being cut , freezing for the crew to apply prosthetic make @-@ up , and then unfreezing to continue shooting the scene . VFX coordinator Christopher Stollard wished the computer generated butterflies to look as realistic as possible , and modeled them after mounted butterfly specimens his team studied .
The episode first aired in the United States on November 25 , 2008 on the Fox network . It was watched by an estimated 8 @.@ 73 million viewers and earned a 3 @.@ 9 / 10 ratings share among adults aged 18 to 49 . Reviews of the episode were mixed , with one reviewer believing it " certainly moves [ the series ] in the right direction " .
= = Plot = =
Massive Dynamic executive Mark Young ( Ptolemy Slocum ) delivers a presentation at the company ’ s Manhattan office . When he is done and the other attendees have left , he sees an unusual butterfly . Upon picking it up , he experiences a cut on his hand and is then attacked by a swarm . Mark jumps out of a window , to his death . Olivia Dunham ( Anna Torv ) , despite preparing to go out to dinner with her sister , instead agrees to Phillip Broyles ' ( Lance Reddick ) demand that she join the Fringe team 's investigation at the scene . While examining the body , Dr. Walter Bishop ( John Noble ) sees lacerations on Young ’ s skin and notes a lack of corresponding tears on his shirt . At the scene , Olivia has a brief vision of her deceased lover John Scott ( Mark Valley ) watching them , which troubles her .
Later , in the lab at Harvard Walter 's autopsy reveals a synthetic compound in Mark 's blood , though any link to the cuts is not yet known to them . Olivia receives an email from someone who claims to be John Scott , listing an address for her to visit . Upon arriving she finds boxes , one of which contains a group of toads . At the lab , Walter finds that the toads contain a " psychoactive compound " , a hallucinogen that affects the fear center of the brain . They conclude that Mark ’ s brain was so convinced of something happening to his body that actual physical marks appeared . Mark was infected with a large dosage , leading them to attribute his death to murder .
Olivia admits to Walter how she found the address and learns that her brain still contains some of John 's memories . Wishing to discover what else John knew and prevent any further visions from occurring , Olivia insists on returning to Walter ’ s sensory deprivation tank . Inside the tank , Olivia sees a memory of John in a restaurant . Despite Walter 's vehement protest that it is impossible , Olivia is convinced that John Scott saw her . Afterwards , she sees John meeting with Mark and two other unidentified men . After Mark and another man leave , John kills the other man . Olivia believes the group were looking to sell the compound as a street drug , and is able to track down the other man , George Morales ( Yul Vazquez ) . Once apprehended , he denies killing Mark and demands immunity and protection from Massive Dynamic , who he believes was responsible for Mark 's death as well as other recent fringe events . Olivia confronts Nina Sharp ( Blair Brown ) about her suspicions , but George is murdered before he can be of further help to them . Later that night , Olivia gets another email from John Scott simply saying , " I SAW YOU . IN THE RESTAURANT . "
Meanwhile , Peter ( Joshua Jackson ) is contacted by Tess ( Susan Misner ) , a woman from his past who warns him to leave Boston . When he meets her , Peter intuits that she is being abused by her boyfriend Michael ( David Vadim ) . He ambushes Michael and warns him not to touch Tess again . Michael then informs local crime boss Worth ( Tom Riis Farrell ) that Peter is back in town .
= = Production = =
" The Dreamscape " , the season 's ninth episode , was co @-@ written by staff writer Zack Whedon and playwright Julia Cho . It was Whedon 's first contribution to the series , and Cho 's second . In an interview fifteen days before the broadcast of " The Dreamscape " , showrunner and executive producer Jeff Pinkner stated that it and several surrounding episodes would be " stand @-@ alone in quality , but at the same time we [ will ] start to peel back another layer of the onion " to transition the second half of the season into a " new chapter . " Anna Torv later commented that she wished for Olivia to " lighten up " during the first season , " but every time she did , something would happen . " The writers inputted small scenes to shine more light on her character , which included Olivia dressing up for a night out but then " the phone rings . It ’ s Broyles , and she wipes the lipstick off , puts on a coat , and goes out . That ’ s it . You ’ re on call . She breaks my heart . "
Fred Toye served as the episode director , his second after directing " The Ghost Network " six installments earlier . To create the opening scene of character Mark Young being " attacked " by butterflies , Toye shot it in multiple phases . Series co @-@ creator Roberto Orci preferred the opening scene to involve a " more subtle " death , so Young was made to die from falling out a window , which was " a real thing , something that 's not imagined or whimsical " . VFX coordinator Christopher Stollard stated that his crew " relied entirely on actor performance , " with guest actor Ptolemy Slocum communicating often with the crew during filming . He shot his scenes in short bursts . Slocum summarized that he " would experience the [ butterfly ] cut and then we would freeze , apply make @-@ up [ to create the cut on his skin ] , and then unfreeze and move on " filming . On his first day , Slocum stated that he wore more than 75 individual prosthetics over his entire chest and arms .
Stollard wished the butterflies to be as realistic as possible , and modeled them after mounted butterfly specimens his team studied . The butterflies were computer generated animations and added later in post @-@ production . To create the illusion of Young falling through the window , the visual effects crew placed small explosive charges on the tempered glass window ; Slocum 's stuntman Jared Burke then jumped through while they triggered the glass to explode . Two cameras , one high and one profile , were positioned to shoot the fall , and were composited together later into a matte painting of the World Trade Building . The fall was filmed multiple times with a green screen , with the stuntman falling on a cushion . While on @-@ set , Toye explained of the shoot , " with all the pieces put together with the visual effects and with the performance we got with our actor Ptolemy , it 's going to be fabulous . " A crewman believed that the addition of music to Young 's fall made the scene " far more elegant and more of a statement . " In a December 2012 interview , actress Jasika Nicole stated that she developed a fear of butterflies as a result of this episode .
= = Reception = =
= = = Ratings and marketing = = =
" The Dreamscape " first aired on November 25 , 2008 in the United States on the Fox network . With its timeslot dominated by the Dancing With the Stars season finale , Fringe attracted an estimated 8 @.@ 73 million viewers , down from the previous week 's audience of 9 @.@ 36 million . This placed it in third place in its timeslot , behind The Mentalist . The episode also came in third place among viewers aged 18 – 49 , as it earned a 3 @.@ 9 / 10 ratings share ; this means that it was seen by 3 @.@ 9 percent of all 18- to 49 @-@ year @-@ olds , and 10 percent of all 18- to 49 @-@ year @-@ olds watching television at the time of broadcast .
Fringe 's marketing team designed and launched www.massivedynamic.com near the beginning of the first season . Parts of the website can be seen in " The Dreamscape " , including on Olivia 's computer as she researches the company .
= = = Reviews = = =
Noel Murray of The A. V. Club was generally favorable to the episode , giving it a B + . He wrote , " Much like Fringe fan favorite ' The Arrival ' ( not a favorite of mine , sorry to say ) , ' The Dreamscape ' is an episode more involved with insinuation and mythology @-@ building than with telling a complete @-@ in @-@ one story . But perhaps because I 've come to trust Fringe more over its recent run of entertaining episodes , I enjoyed it fairly well , and found myself trying to figure out what kind of thematic connections I could make using the notion of the body reacting to mere thoughts . " Travis Fickett of IGN rated the episode 7 @.@ 8 / 10 , explaining that it " certainly moves in the right direction " . Fickett found the " coolest moment " to be when Olivia witnesses John Scott 's memory , and he also appreciated Peter 's backstory ( " It 's more than Peter usually gets , but what we know isn 't much and isn 't very exciting . " ) . Fickett criticized Olivia however for leaving the man at the hospital unsuitably protected .
SFScope reviewer Sarah Stegall enjoyed Peter 's sideplot and hoped to learn more of his past , but thought the " cute in @-@ jokes " were meant to distract the audience from a " thin " plot " full of holes " . She added that " the shallow , cookie @-@ cutter plotting " was starting to annoy her , and noted that while the series had the potential to become " a breakout show like The X @-@ Files or Lost ... its major weakness is the continual reliance on the worn @-@ out cliché of the Big Bad Corporation , " which had become " stale and dry . "
Jane Boursaw of AOL 's TV Squad wrote , " Another great episode tonight , and some of the little symbols we see leading into commercials were actually in tonight 's episode , " referring specifically to the hallucinatory butterflies and the frogs / toads found in the basement . Andrew Hanson of the Los Angeles Times took notice here of the pattern of Easter eggs teasing the next episode of the series . This feature of the show had earlier been touched on in an interview with showrunner Jeff Pinkner . As an example , the previous episode " The Equation " had contained a shot of a butterfly on a trashcan , foreshadowing the hallucinated butterfly attack in this episode .
In a 2016 retrospective of the series , A.V. Club writer Joshua Alston considered " The Dreamscape " as a strong example of Fringe 's " monster of the week " episodes that predominated the first season , showing " how much effort and imagination went into the self @-@ contained stories " .
= True Blue ( Madonna song ) =
" True Blue " is a song by American singer Madonna . It is the title track from her third studio album True Blue ( 1986 ) , and was released as the album 's third single on September 29 , 1986 by Sire Records . Written and produced by Madonna and Steve Bray , the song deals with the feelings of Madonna for her then @-@ husband Sean Penn . A dance @-@ pop song , it features instrumentation from a rhythm guitar , a synthesizer , keyboards , and drums . The main chorus is backed by an alternate one , incorporating a chord progression generally found in doo @-@ wop music .
Received by the critics as a light @-@ hearted and cute retro song , " True Blue " topped the charts in UK , Ireland and Canada and became another consecutive top ten song in U.S. for Madonna by reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100 . The original music video portrayed her again with a new look , leaner and sporting platinum blond bushy hair . An alternate video was made through the " Make My Video " contest on MTV . The final selected videos had a similar theme of a 1950s @-@ inspired setting and the storyline following the lyrics of the song . " True Blue " has been performed on the Who 's That Girl World Tour ( 1987 ) and the Rebel Heart Tour ( 2015 – 16 ) .
= = Writing and composition = =
Madonna wrote and produced the song with Steve Bray . According to her , " True Blue " takes its title from a favourite expression of her then husband Sean Penn and to his very pure vision of love and was a direct tribute to him as well as the album , which was as a whole inspired by her " unabashed valentine " for Penn . In an interview , Bray said , " She [ Madonna ] was very much in love . It was obvious if she 's in love she 'll write love songs . If she 's not in love she definitely won 't be writing love songs . " In 2015 , Madonna said that " True Blue " is " a song about true love . I didn 't know what I was talking about when I wrote it . "
" True Blue " is a dance @-@ pop song inspired by the Motown 's girl groups from the 1960s which are considered the direct antecedents of Madonna 's musical sound . The song is composed in the key of B major . It is set in compound quadruple meter , commonly used in doo @-@ wop , and has a moderate tempo of 118 beats per minute . " True Blue " features instrumentation from a rhythm guitar , a synthesizer , keyboards , and drums for the bassline , with a basic sequence of I – vi – IV – V ( B – G ♯ m – E – F ♯ ) as its main chord progression .
Madonna 's vocal range spans a bit less than one and a half octaves , from F ♯ 3 to B4 . The chorus is backed by sounds of bells ringing , an alternate verse — " This time I know it 's true " — which is sung by three back @-@ up singers during the interlude , and a bass counter melody which introduces her vocals during the second chorus . The lyrics are constructed in a verse @-@ chorus form , with the theme being Madonna 's feelings for Sean Penn ; it even uses the archaic love word " dear " in the line " Just think back and remember , dear " .
= = Reception = =
= = = Critical response = = =
Davitt Sigerson from Rolling Stone magazine in a review of the album True Blue said that the song " squanders a classic beat and an immensely promising title " , LAUNCHcast 's Bill Holdship said that " True Blue " is " Madonna 's wonderful tribute to the late ' 50s / early ' 60s " girl groups " . In his book Madonna : An Intimate Biography , journalist J. Randy Taraborrelli described the song as " the light @-@ hearted , fun track of the whole True Blue album project having a retro 1950 's feel to it " . In the book Rock ' n ' Roll Gold Rush which contains information about various artists and their singles , author Maury Dean said that the song as a " masterwork of simplicity interwoven with secret complexity " adding that " on one hand , it 's just a basic steetcorner ditty , with four basic chords . In another context , it 's a counterpoint harmonic blanket , twirling with star @-@ spangled timbre and dynamic drive . " Rikky Rooksby , in his book The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna , said that " True Blue " is " a song that is merely cute and not really up to being the title track of an album " .
The Wichita Eagle did not like the song , believing that it was " sassless and neutered " as compared to the other songs on the record . However , Daniel Brogan of The Chicago Tribune believed the song was good , calling it " impressive " like the rest of the album , and Jan DeKnock of the same paper believed it was " charming " . Steve Morse of The Boston Globe , when describing the song , said that it was a " bid to be an ' 80s Helen of Troy " .