Last class we touched upon Comics and they’re rich uprising
against the norm. After careful debate as to why such a stark backlash would
happen it reminded me of a very similar backlash that happened in the video
game industry. For a long time video games were concerned with getting hands on
joysticks and bodies in the arcade. Everything was based on entertainment and challenge.
Yes, games still keep these aspects as golden statues in their temples but many
games have started to shift away from readability and into something a lot bigger.
Video games as art.
This concept has been highly snubbed by many a generation
but due to a few daring games and developers willing to push the limits it’s
becoming more accepted. You will always have your point and click shooter, VS
combat games, RTS and just about every other concoction of immediate
gratification. Don’t get me wrong, I grew up on Counterstrike and love Team
fortress 2, but they are not the games that leave me awake at night trying to
really dig into why the game made me feel the way I did. One of the first games
that I would spend hours replaying was a small game called Flow.
Flow didn’t have a story line; no princess’ to save or
destiny’s to be revealed. Everything was up to you based off of very few
guidelines that held the game together. You can race through the game going
right to the lower level or you can take your time and go for building yourself
up by killing other creatures. Either way you eventually make your way down where
the equivalence of a boss is spinning in the black abyss all by himself. While
battling him you start to notice how neck and neck the fight is. If you ever disengage
him he doesn’t chase you. If you go up to a upper level he doesn’t penalize
you. If you do eventually kill him you’re taken all the way back up to the top
and start anew. This quick action is very jarring and I typically am left to
wonder what I just did. Was it all for nothing? No bonus’ or power ups. No
extra and bigger bosses? Who was that I just killed? Was it me? Did he/she go
through the same life I just journeyed down? Did I even need to kill him/her?
It’s right about now that I get very in depth with the whole
thing and need to put the game down. For me this eerie sense of emotion is
rarely given to me by other games. I’m not contemplating my opponent’s entire
life span after launching a whole magazine into him/her. I’m looking for the
sweet reward behind the kill – the little animated points above how much damage
I’ve dealt or If I had successfully made a pentakill because I killed 4 more of
his teammates moments earlier.
A very similar game that was widely acclaimed was Shadow of
the Colossus. I personally adore this game. It does lead you into the more
traditional sense of “save the princess” but gut loads it with mystery and
guilt. I never felt guilty about saving princess Zelda before but this time I seriously
questioned my entire journey and had to deal with my own actions. This is a
rare feeling coming from a game. It felt like I had a true hand in decisions
and how they affected my character and his outcome even though the game would
tell you where you would go next.
I could go on for hours talking about these games and we
haven’t even gotten to multiplayer games such as ICO and Journey. I’m sure there are others out there who do far
better jobs at dissecting these issues than I but if you haven’t experienced
this for yourself I implore you to go out and play these games for yourself. There are plenty out there they I have not even mentioned.
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| These are a few of my favorite things.... |
See what you feel and see if they really line up only as entertainment and not great master pieces that they should be recognized as.
