![]() Instead of inventing a fictitious conflict or alien invasion, why not adapt a combat memoir? War has global implications, but the average trooper experiences a small microcosm of the large campaign. I want to play a shooter that tells the soldier's story. But the finished product reverts back to tired gaming tropes, as your POV character mows down thousands of nameless, faceless bad guys.Īn old combat adage describes war as "hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror." If so, then the FPS – via long, protracted firefights – is a poor facsimile of the core experience. Medal of Honor was purportedly based on Operation Anaconda, a key battle of the Afghanistan conflict. Some developers may consider Black Hawk Down, Hurt Locker, and Generation Kill an inspiration for the modern FPS, but I see only a superficial resemblance. With few exceptions ( Shadow of the Colossus comes to mind), video games don't have anything approaching that level of granular emotion. Take this scene from the movie, in which a friendly casualty prompts a tender moment of reflection among brothers in arms. Imagine if an FPS had the gravitas of Black Hawk Down. and the depths he'd stoop to in order to safeguard his progeny. Many of us appreciate a father's unconditional love for his son. We can all relate to the anguish of losing a loved one or the desperation that drives a person to overindulge in adult beverages. The cumulative effect of all these mundane deeds is a feeling of comfort, the mark of a lived-in universe. Your avatar performs various routine tasks like feeding a baby, drinking a scotch, and scrambling some eggs. This is not a game about saving the princess or the world."Ĭage's magnum opus understands the value of ordinary, seemingly insignificant actions in building an authentic world. The first thing that came to my mind as a father of two little boys was that the main theme should simply be a father's love for his son. Even if two players make similar decisions, the individualistic nature of the game ensures that everyone digests it differently.ĭescribing Heavy Rain in the Dutch magazine Chief, Quantic Dream's David Cage noted the following: "I wanted a much more personal story. ![]() Heavy Rain's center is a father's love for his son the game's elastic narrative stretches to accommodate your choices, and no two playthroughs are identical. ![]() Noire and Catherine, spent generous time on character development, with highly personal stories that resonate with the individual. I'm tired of saving the world, and the industry is belatedly coming to the same realization. Instead, we do battle with rogue Russian nationalists, storm Normandy for the 47th time, or fight off an alien invasion. Gaming could explore the human condition by interfacing with the player like books, movies, and TV never could. Why should gaming's prime inspiration be Michael Bay instead of David Lynch, David Mamet, Paul Thomas Anderson, or even Mel Brooks? An interactive medium like this has the potential to tell complex stories in ways that are sublime, irreverent, and evocative. This intransigence on the part of developers to create idiosyncratic stories that resonate with the individual is holding the medium back. Most games would rather task you with saving the world than with rocking a baby to sleep or patching up a failed relationship. Heavy Rainasks us "How far would you go to save someone you love?" Few games bother with this sort of question because the answer is intensely personal.
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