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Posted on 06.08.05 by A 47 Danger @ 9:37 am
It struck me as I was watching the Killzone 2 preview last night. Granted, it was all pre-rendered and wasn’t actually game play footage. But the fact remains. I want to play a movie. Not to be confused with playing a game based on a popular movie or a game where you make movies. I want to be put in the middle of a movie experience. A two to three hour piece of interactive cinematic magic with action and heavy plot would be worth the price of entry. No jumping puzzle filler. No beating up monsters so you can buy some upgraded armor. No backtracking through a level to find that last missile pack that you missed so you can beat that boss you tried to kill fifty times already. Not a wholly perfect example for certain, but the fixed camera angles in God of War were a start. After getting over the initial frustration of not being able to swing the camera around, I finally got the point. With camera control, the game creators were able to fine tune the video game experience. God of War wasn’t short by any means, to it’s credit. It also wasn’t short on jumping and balancing puzzles, to it’s discredit. Those points aside, the camera work was great. Pulling back for an epic monster battle, zooming in for a special combo, swinging up to reveal some shocking secret at just the right time. It was a very smart and thrilling move to use the camera as such. Now on to game play pacing. Splinter Cell? Metal Gear Solid? Half-life? Enough crawling through vents please. I get it. If I go in one end, I’ll come out another end. Give me claustrophobia in some other fashion. Have a head crab jump out at me in another location. Just cut to the action already. Movies don’t need to show everything between point A and point B. I don’t need to see someone get into their car and drive ten miles to realize how they got from their apartment to the airport. Controlled with an eye towards pacing and story, game players won’t be confused by cuts. They’ll accept that the game and plot are moving forward. Okay, plot. It’s your turn. Don’t give me fifteen hours of game play based on one hour of plot. Don’t give me fifteen hours of plot consisting of my character working things out with his girlfriend. Work on your script. Work on realistic lines. Work on something manageable. Length for the sake of being long is frustrating. Graphics? We would all like a more realistic look. It would drive us even further into the movie experience. This shouldn’t be a problem with the game designers controlling the camera angle. There would be no need to completely render a giant environment if you’re only going to see one side of it. The graphics and load speed could certainly be upped then. Will someone turn a video game into a true cinematic experience. Maybe? I don’t see why they would though. Taking risks isn’t the formula for making tons of money. Just put Mario in Dance Dance Revolution, and let’s get it out there on the shelves. I still want my movie experience. Someone out there make it for me please. I have my money in hand, hope in my heart and a couch you can crash on if you’re ever in Minneapolis. Let’s be friends, video game companies. Give us something cool. Filed under: A 47 Danger and General and Rant Comments: 3 Comments |
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Posted on 06.07.05 by beuks @ 3:18 pm
When I played GTA:SA last fall, I got hopelessly stuck on the “Just Business” mission (pictured), in which a bunch of Russians on bikes pursue you through the LA River, just like in 30% of all action movies ever. Then a car carrier careens off an overpass, suggesting T2 in particular. Anyway, I played this mission about ten times, never successfully completing it. I got a little better, and then progressively worse, all because I couldn’t aim for crap. So now I can correct one of my major gaming failures of last fall. Now if only there was a “make headcrabs less like spiders” patch for Half-Life 2. In related news, word came round last week that one particular prefecture in Japan had banned the sale of GTA:SA to minors. Stateside, a similar law is pending in Illinois. Rockstar of course isn’t happy about this, since it represents the possibility of losing some sales. But only maybe. In the US, most of the major retailers already will not sell M-rated games to kids under 17, so from a business standpoint, the law is moot. In general, I don’t really get why regulating M-rated sales to minors is a big deal. To me, the situation is exactly analagous to R-rated films. If a 16-year-old can’t go see Menace II Society without a parent, he shouldn’t be able to buy GTA. Now, the one difference here is that while the ESRB, like the MPAA, enacted a ratings system, the stores were a little slower to decide that M-rated games shouldn’t be sold to minors, whereas the movie theaters enforced R ratings immediately. So now the politcal pressure is on. Filed under: Beuks and PC and PS2 Comments: None |
Although I already own it for PS2, I do believe I’ll be getting Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PC. In the first place, it stands to be prettier and to avoid the drawing glitches of the original. In the second place, I am useless at aiming with an analog stick. These are my PC shooter roots showing, folks: I still naturally reach for the mouse and WASD when I sit down at a computer.|
Posted on 06.06.05 by ClackyJ @ 12:51 am
Lego Star Wars is an unabashedly good time. Joining the worlds of Legos and Star Wars in a playable form, the game takes you through Episodes I-III, cutting out all that whiny “hold me like you did by the lake on Naboo” crap and keeping the focus on light sabers and robots. The end result is a somewhat short, often funny button-masher/puzzle game. The first time through story mode, you control the good guys as they make their way through the movies. Obi Wan, R2, Yoda… they’re all there, in Lego form. Most of the stages are standard “get to the end while killing a lot of droids and figuring out the little puzzles along the way” levels, but it never gets tiresome. A few flying levels are tossed in for variation, and the final boss battles are incredibly fun, as they require a lot more timing and problem solving to complete. There are plenty of things that push this game past an average third-person action game. For starters, there’s the ability for a second player to join (or leave) the action at any time. The controls are simple enough for anyone to pick up in a short amount of time, and the emphasis on teamwork makes for a a pleasurable multi-player experience. Also, you can replay any level with any character you’ve unlocked in the game. If you have ever dreamed of having Chewbacca take on Darth Maul, this game is the game that will let you do that. But most importantly, this game is just plain enjoyable. It’s light-hearted, easy to play, and a delightful way to relive Episodes I-III without hearing Jar Jar speak. There are a couple of faults in the game: it’s simply too short, and the camera angles don’t always make for easy play, especially when playing with a friend. But the faults don’t mar the sheer enjoyment that underlies Lego Star Wars. My fingers are crossed that they’ll work on a second version to cover Episodes IV through VI. I want to take down a LEGO AT-AT. Filed under: ClackyJ and General and PS2 and Review Comments: None |
This is my problem with Lego Star Wars: it made me forget that the Phantom Menace was a terrible, terrible movie. |
Posted on 06.02.05 by ClackyJ @ 6:01 pm
Fine. So maybe the case is for watching movies in the privacy of my home… where I have my tv, dvd player, and surround sound? I don’t think so, PSP. I’ll watch that one on a screen 5 times your size. As far as I can tell, there’s only one reason I would use NYKO’s PSP case: when I’m with a few select friends, in an isolated area, with little else to do. In other words: when I’m camping. If NYKO were on the ball, that’s exactly how they would market this new case. They would paint the outside green (so we know it’s for outside use), put a warning on it that says “not for grilling” and treat it as the camper’s #1 portable entertainment center. I guess I need to write a letter… Filed under: ClackyJ and General and PSP Comments: None |
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Posted on 06.02.05 by A 47 Danger @ 4:41 pm
Jaws Unleashed is coming out in August. I already want to throw up. Not simply out of disgust. Jaws Unleashed feels like bad Mexican food rotting in your gut. You know you’re going to feel a lot better if you get it out of there. In Jaws Unleashed, you play the shark. Watch the trailer if you want. Read the description of game play. Gaze at the screenshots. Really, you only need my first sentence. You play the shark. That’s not what Jaws is about. Jaws, in game form, should be a survival game. You shouldn’t play the shark! The shark should be an ominous presence in the game. Sure, the shark is a metaphor for something. I’m not a film student. I don’t laugh out loud in that pretentious way at Dr. Strangelove, so everyone in the revival theater knows that I got the oh so subtle joke. But, yes, Jaws would make for a fantastic survival game. An early cut of Jaws that was screened got laughs from the audience. Studio executives were worried, but Spielberg wasn’t.. He knew what was wrong. There was too much shark. People weren’t scared. Spielberg chopped a lot of scenes containing the shark out, and the movie became scary. Don’t lump Jaws 2 to 47 in with the first film. The first film was an actual movie, and not the worst movie pulp that sequels are made out of. Jaws is a great survival film about fighting the unknown. About conquering against impossible odds. It would be a fantastic break from all the zombie survival games. It would be something completely different! Stuck on a boat. The unknown around every corner. Hell, it’d be revolutionary. Instead, we get a game where a shark destroys things. Can’t you make a generic shark game where you destroy things? Why use Jaws? Why drag another movie into the dirt? Haven’t we, as gamers, been hurt enough by movie based video games? Maybe if I drop my IQ a bit, I’ll be fine. I think I’ll buy a 12 pack of beer and a ball-peen hammer on the way home from work. Stay tuned for my next rant about how my socks itch and how Full House should still be on in prime time. Filed under: A 47 Danger and PC and PS2 and Rant and Xbox Comments: 1 Comment |
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