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Alan Wake achieves much of what it set out to do.  In terms of atmosphere – keeping me on edge throughout the entire game – I don’t know if it’s ever been done better.

Technically – the play mechanics, game balance, what they did with light and shadows – it was brilliant. The writing was stellar, too – some of the best I’ve experienced.

But the plot, for all it seemed to promise from the start, did not deliver in the end.  I’m not even entirely sure what happened at the end.  I suppose I should’ve been wary from the beginning when Wake quoted Stephen King about how a good horror story never reveals the nature of the threat.

Had the “dark presence” just been some force with no explanation, or even a very vague one, that would’ve been fine.  But Alan Wake told us a lot about the nature of the threat, unfolding several separate but related story threads that it never tied together at the end.

It was plain anti-climactic.  If the developers never intended to reveal the threat, then they shouldn’t have led us into thinking that they would.

All that said, would I recommend Alan Wake?  Absolutely, but only for the sake of gameplay and atmosphere.  If you’re expecting a satisfying story or resolution, you may be sorely disappointed.

From Street Fighter to the Resident Evil series to anything directed by Uwe Boll, films adapted from video game franchises have a notorious history of being terrible.  The reason is both simple and complex at the same time – obvious to any real gamer, and perhaps beyond the understanding of everyone else.

Actor Joey Ansah, who played the character Desh in The Bourne Ultimatum, known one of the best fight scenes in any film, has created a short film called Street Fighter Legacy. Regarding the project, he said:

It was clear to me, that given the way the movie industry worked, we would never see a super faithful, darker toned and more adult themed (or just plain good!) incarnation of Street Fighter unless a die-hard director or filmmaking team with game canon knowledge stepped up to the plate to helm such a project. [Emphasis added]

And this is really what it comes down to, not just for making a solid Street Fighter movie, but to adapt any video game property into a film.  I would even take it a step further.  Any serious writer or director can do their research – read up on the story and characters, and hopefully play the game.  But there is a certain spirit contained within video games that only devoted players can tap into, that undefinable something that changes casual players into fans – or dare I say it: “hardcore”.

Rather than spending numerous paragraphs trying to pinpoint a definition of this elusive video game element – which fans already understand and non-players will not, regardless of how well I explain it – I will give you a perfect example. (more…)

This was a statement made by famed movie critic Roger Ebert.

And it affirms something to which I’ve long attested:

…the film critic’s pathetic lot – to forever claw and scratch for recognition by other film critics, since no one else – namely those other film students who went on to actually make films – gives a damn.

What is art?

This question is one that has been debated perhaps since the beginning of human history – indeed I would venture a guess that even the cave painters Ebert mentions in his post argued the validity of those works, unaware as to how they would inform historians of the social context in which they were created.  It is only at the modern heights of arrogance that could one claim to be able to answer this age-old question with any certainty.  And it is hardly possible to be any more arrogant than making a universal truth claim, let alone one expected to hold for eternity. The whole thing is laughable.

I have argued in the past that video games are the ultimate form of expression, and what is art if not expression?  Indeed video games are a convergence of art from just about every medium – audio, visual, literary – and their social impact is ever-increasing.  Ebert makes his statement by observing video footage of a few games offered up as art, already prepared to deny the possibility.  Aside from the sheer fallacy of denying art as a form of expression, there is also the matter of his evaluation not being made from the proper standpoint.  As I argued in the above-linked essay, what sets video games apart from film, television, music, books, and other mediums is their interactivity.

That one thing [that sets video games apart from other media] is interactivity. You can rip a page out of a book in frustration as a story takes an unfavorable turn, or you can yell your lungs out at movie screen as the stupid teenage girl wanders down the dark hallway alone towards the lurking killer, but chances are that you’re not going to change anything. In a video game, however, a person is given a measure of control over the characters and environment presented.

To evaluate any video game without playing it is as dubious as evaluating a piece of music by only reading the lyrics or reading the sheet music, or evaluating the merits of a film based on – insert laughter here – a critic’s review. (more…)

The following video discusses how game design and game playing can contribute to making a better world.  It sounds like a lofty idea, but it is well-argued, as I hope you will see.

Jane McGonigal is not simply comparing games to real life, but is talking about tapping into those abstract qualities that gamers bring to bear against game challenges – applying that determination, hard work, and idealism to real world endeavors.

It can, has been, and will continue to be argued that games are simply games, that they are designed to be won, and that the real world has no such safeguards against failure.  But the game McGonigal most talks about – World of Warcraft – ultimately has no point.  It has no happy ending. It is game that never ends, which works well for the developers, who continue to make millions upon millions of dollars every year.

You can overcome the most epic of epic challenges, but soon thereafter the game resets to the way it was before that challenge was met, to enable others to do the same.  There are people who continue to play Warcraft even though they have achieved the maximum level, have defeated the ultimate boss, and have done almost everything there is to do in the game.

But they will go through it all again, with the same determination and idealism, to help another player have that experience.  In the real world that could translate into people helping those less fortunate – i.e. at a “lower level” – after they have solved their own challenges.  It is not about pity or guilt, but about mutual understanding of a problem, and collaboration to solve it.  It is this kind of idealistic, high-minded, cooperative determination that McGonigal is suggesting we need to employ to take on world challenges.

A Spoiler-Free Review of Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 is every bit the middle game of a trilogy.  It lacks the impact of the first game – the introduction to a galactic-scale conflict, the first look at a thoroughly conceived sci-fi universe, that first unnerving dialogue with Sovereign.  And it necessarily reserves all of the big surprises for the finale.

For those who did not play the first Mass Effect, this game amounts to little more than a pretty-top notch shooter built on the pretext of a galactic recruitment drive, with a meaty chunk of story seemingly added on as an afterthought.  That is to say that there seemed to be no connection between the quests to acquire Commander Shepard’s teammates and the greater adventure.  In terms of story, there were few surprises – the only “big” revelation completely underwhelming, and the one intriguing bit of lore development – the bit about the Geth – left mostly unexplored.

Back in October of 2007, when BioWare fans first heard that the company had been acquired by Electronic Arts, there was a collective sigh of dismay – or perhaps even a roar of indignation.  The fear was that creativity and originality would be traded for whatever best fit EA’s business model.

Mass Effect 2 provides case in point. (more…)

Update (4/30/2010): When I posted this article on the Bioware Social Forum, a poster pointed out to me that the allegory of the elves could just as easily be taken to refer to Jews or other peoples who have been enslaved.  Given that I am of African descent, it is natural that I would interpret the elven story the way I did.

However, considering that poster’s comment, much of what I’ve written below may be plainly misinterpreted, at least with respect to the developer’s intentions.  While I could assume that Bioware intended the game to be open to multiple interpretations, I must also consider the words of Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider, who in response to the lack of darker people in the game world had the following to say:

While there are “dark skinned” people in Rivain, I have no interest in making Ferelden more diverse for the sake of political correctness.

I considered deleting this entire post, but perhaps it is worth leaving here to demonstrate what would be praise-worthy in terms of inclusion in video games, were any developer so inclined to walk that path.

Back in February, in the article Black, White, and Jade: Race in Video Games, and earlier in Ethnic Depictions in Video Games, I talked about a need for video games to become more inclusive with their characters, to depict the same diversity we see in the real world in these imaginary ones. Plainly, this translates to having more non-white characters in video games, particularly as the main characters.  And furthermore to have those characters exist outside of stereotypes.  With the exception of games built from pre-existing properties featuring characters of color – for example, Shadowman – there are very few games with non-white human protagonists.

In Black, White, and Jade, I mention that it is not merely about skin color or other physical features, but also about culture, and about experience. Regarding so-called “black” characters, I said:

What would be required for a character to be considered “black”? Appearance could be one qualifier … dubious due to … the extreme diversity to be found within such a vague and subjective category.

The “black experience” could be another qualifier, as in a situation where a character is forced to face certain indignities [as a result of her ethnicity].

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This post could also be entitled: “Uncharted 2 and Why I Can’t Enjoy Anything Anymore.”

Let me preface this rant by saying that Uncharted 2 is a remarkable game, on both technical and aesthetic levels.  It is in fact the PS3′s “killer app” and is well-deserving of all of the accolades it has received thus far.  I have been playing it for the past two weeks and I am still discovering little details that demonstrate both the level of skill and love for the craft that can go into a triple-A title.  But perhaps it is for all those accolades and that demonstration of skill that I must call the game out on a several fronts.

Ever since I’ve taken on a more, shall we say “militant” bent, I’ve become aware of things that I had taken for granted before.  I’ve had discussions with various people – particularly African-Americans – about video games where they expressed to me their problem with the prevalence of white protagonists.  They felt a disconnect from the characters they were playing for this reason, felt they couldn’t “relate” to them.  For most of my life, whenever I’ve had this conversation, I’ve thought it was silly.

For one thing, I didn’t feel that way at all.  For another, there were plenty of ways/reasons to identify with a character outside of race/ethnicity.  For another, in my view, most of these games were taking place on other worlds – worlds where our racial categories do not exist.  Even where themes of discrimination were visited, as in the game Chrono Cross, it was likely a problem between humans and some actual other race – like Elves or Metahumans or whatever else.  So what did it matter that the hero in this world happened to be a blue-eyed blonde-haired ubermensch?  I’m looking at you, Cloud Strife.

But, as you can imagine, something has changed for me.  I still maintain my “other worlds” argument, but the fact is that these games are made BY people from THIS world, and so I have developed a bone of contention not with the white protagonists, but with a development community that completely ignores diversity, or where non-white characters are featured as stereotypes or mockeries.

I’m looking at you, just about every game out of Japan. (more…)

By the Balance, the blessing of the Six, Mo’jaal, or whatever is out there – this is one hell of an amazing game.  I played it for the first time years ago when it was first released, finished it, and then somehow forgot how much I enjoyed it.  That actually turned out to be a blessing, because playing it through a second time was mostly an all new experience, and if possible, it was even better this time around.

Let me start by telling you the faults of the game, just to get them out of them way, and make room for what’s great about it.  The combat sucks.  There’s just no way around it.  Fortunately, there is very little of it.  Future games might want to take a hint or two from Indigo Prophecy (aka Fahrenheit), and just have quick time based fighting or something.  This is an adventure game, afterall, and it should stay purely adventure, as there is no room for anything else.

What’s great – the story.  It is completely mind-blowing.  I don’t mean that as a cliche, but literally mind-blowing, because it will really make you think – about life, about purpose, about reality.  The game touches on themes from Indigenous Australian mythology, and does so brilliantly, adding a new dimension to the twin-world lore of the Longest Journey franchise – dreams being the common thread that connects the two worlds, and also their origin.  Without getting too much into the philosophy of Dreamfall, let me just say that if for no other reason, then you must play this game for the story.  Decidedly mature, but never gratuitous, and blurring the boundary between fantasy and science fiction, Dreamfall’s narrative would be screen worthy, but for the fact that it is too large to be contained in a single film, and would probably be butchered on television.  So the interactive medium was the correct choice to tell this story. (more…)

I am taking a break from posting to Godheval.net due to a precipitous decline in the things I usually write about.  I’ve been trying to give my mind a break by detaching myself completely from “worldly” concerns and just enjoying myself.  Playing video games, reading fantasy novels, etc…

Video Games

I’ve put a lot of time into Infamous for Playstation 3 – which while it’s a solid open-world game with a comic-book feel, leaves much to be desired in terms of storyline.  After tackling the “heroic” path, I’ve been playing through the “infamous” path to see how the story changes.  So far there isn’t much of a difference, except for a few minor dialogue differences with Cole’s girlfriend and best friend.  I couldn’t care less about those two, anyway.  Sucker Punch could stand to take some lessons in branching storylines from Bioware.

Took a few looks at what was happening over at E3 and can finally say that the horizon looks bright for this generation of games.  God of War III tops the most anticipated list, followed by Heavy Rain, Assassin’s Creed 2, Mass Effect 2, and Uncharted 2.

And speaking of Uncharted 2, I’ve been dabbling in the Multiplayer Beta, which while fun only reinforces the fact that I am a total scrub in competitive play.  I do well enough in single-player games – I think – but put me online with a bunch of 13 year olds and they’ll kick my ass everytime.  The cooperative mode is interesting, but it’d be even better if the regular story mode had that co-op option as well.
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In an earlier post, I discussed the need for designers to incorporate a wider range of ethnicities in video games.  As to why they haven’t done so up to this point, and why the few non-white characters tend towards stereotypes, I offered up one possible explanation.

Part of the reason for this is that a large number of games come out of Japan, which being nearly homogeneous in terms of ethnicity, and insulated – both physically and culturally – may lack a strong frame of reference for depicting a diverse cast of characters.  Where the games are made in the Europe or the United States, where ethnic variety is more common, stereotypes may instead emerge as a consequence of one-dimensional writing.  Perhaps a developer cannot be bothered to do the research into all of the nuance and idiosyncrasies that rise from a character’s ethnic experiences.

While those developers who have at least made the attempt to be more inclusive should be acknowledged, it is more important to point out where more work needs to be done.  I am almost six years late in discussing the case of Jade from Beyond Good & Evil, but an interesting post by Jason over at Microscopiq brought the issue to my attention.  The post discusses the “first 11 black video game stars”, specifically those characters of visible African descent who were not only featured in games, but were the main character.  Jade was amongst those mentioned.  For those of you who have not played the game, here is an in-game screen of the character.

Jade of Beyond Good and Evil

At a glance, some – if not most – people would question whether or not Jade qualifies as “black” in any sense.  Arguments could be made for virtually any ethnicity as her appearance is quite ambiguous.  The only solid support for Jade being a “black” heroine is in looking at the original concept art, which featured some earlier renditions of Jade with either locks or braids in her hair, and features more commonly associated with certain peoples of Africa.  From the concept stage to the final version, much was changed, and we have a character who could pass for virtually anything.

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