The Game Critique

I feel like all I’m about to do is state the obvious.

A thought came to me as I finished up Heavenly Sword as my mind turned to stories in video games. Video games need stories crafted specifically for the medium. Every medium that tells stories has their own way of crafting a story. Length is one way to look at it, but detail, pacing, depth all contribute for a successful story in any medium. The measures of each is very different for each medium and transitions of a work from one medium to another takes effort in learning what to cut, shift or otherwise edit. Video games are different, as they usually require additions instead.

We have always known this; the difference for video games is that there is a need for the interactive elements, the gameplay elements, which changes the nature of how the story flows. The technical requirements of a game require a different type of story. Many of which grind to a halt when the interactive elements of the game show up and when transitioning between the two it’s like you can hear an audible clunk. The game portions are either wedged in or the game goes so outlandishly out of its way to force extra gameplay sections to make sense.

Heavenly Sword didn’t seem to have either of these problems, or at least not for the reasons I mentioned. I wish the game had smoother transitions between the varying sections and less load times, but back to the point at hand. The story was well crafted and the underlying structure was solid. With some edits it probably could be made into a movie, but most of it was specifically made for the video game medium. Not only did the story allow for the combat, it required it. The writer left spots open or crafted sections specifically so player interaction could happen. The gameplay sections are melded into the overall story because the story allows for their existence. The story in Heavenly Sword is simple enough that it’s easier to see the working parts from a conceptual standpoint, but once the process is understood it can be applied to more complex story ideas.

I wrote a three part series on CreativeFluff.com about the division of story and gameplay and what was being done to try and merge the two part together. I did not, however, consider the following. The first step to the process is to get a writer who understands what video games are and understands the medium’s specific needs when it comes to interactivity. It isn’t about cut scenes or in game dialogue or audio journals or visual clues for the story to be conveyed better in a video game. What is needed is a story specifically suited to the video game medium. Video games require a different set of rules when it comes to pacing, tension, information, etc etc. Those terms don’t mean the same thing in video games than they mean for movies or TV, the two most often imitated formats.

I don’t know the specifics of how to create working stories for the medium. That will take further thought.

Disclaimer: QWERTY’s opinions are not mine nor the site’s. The psudonym QWERTY is used to protect the innocent.

You’re promising a whole new world. OnLive is the console killer. It will change the industry and make having to upgrade obsolete. I call bulls**t.

What the hell do you think you are telling me? I have to buy a new console?

It’s not a console? Heh, don’t kid yourself. It is a new console. You want to play a game you have to buy this machine from them. You have to use their machine. It’s a console. So it’s not your traditional disc based system. Doesn’t matter. It’s a company machine that will only play its own formatted games.

So I can’t play my games if I don’t have internet? Oh and it has to be a broadband connection or it’s a no go.

This is your console killer, something that only works half the time? This is a technology device meant to show off supposed advances in chips and wires and ideas and stuff.

There is a reason this was debuted at GDC and not E3 or CES. Oh look at me, I have cloud processing. Oh look at me, I can play Crysis on a crappy PC. Oh look at me, my technology is impressive, but honestly do I really have to care? We shouldn’t because it’s the same as a 360 or Playstation. Just another machine to play games in an already crowded market.

Bulls**t.

About the Author: This month’s topic turns the literary focus from the medium, to the author. If you submitted a post to either the January or February topics, feel free to write about the process you underwent in converting literary themes into gameplay. Did you struggle with anything in particular? Are you satisfied that your game design(s) communicated what you intended? Have subsequent comments or idea made you wish you could go back and start he process over? And how much does your design say about you and your own interpretation of the themes of the source material?

Alternately feel free to turn your focus to another game designer, or to game designers in general. In literature we frequently “hear” the author’s voice in their work. Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Tom Robbins-these are excellent examples of authors whose voices are quite recognizable. Through reading their works, we feel we come to feel we know them, to understand their philosophies. There are a handful of games where the “author” can clearly be heard through the work. How closely tied is this to the thematic content of the games and how exactly did they communicate these themes to their audience? And should they have, or should video game designer try to remain out of their work, allowing the player to establish their own themes through gameplay?

Having very little to say on my own thought process for once I decided to go with the second option. Having decided that I would have done it on Hideo Kojima, but before I could get my act together on this Brian Rubinow at the Select Button beat me to it and frankly did a better job than I probably could have. Instead I will focus on another important Japanese auteur, Fumito Ueda. If you don’t recognize the name, shame on you, but at least you should recognize his work: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.

Ueda’s work is marked its beautiful and yet sad environments. The ground you walk on is itself a character in the game. The desolation and slightly bleached colors add character to the environments like few other games. Once the stage is set, Ueda then crafts a story of subtlety that has to be almost entirely played extrapolated. There are few elements to the games themselves and the complexity comes out of theme and emotion rather than plot trickery or large casts of characters. In fact, both games could be described and defended as epic despite their few elements and less than expansive reach.

There are similar elements to both games. The player plays as a boy youth. There is an immortal, mystical being at the heart of the tale, a quest to rescue a young maiden that the action centers around, environmental puzzles, and an empty world that either seems to be dying or crumbling. The player also has a companion throughout the game, but is not always there to lend aid, Yorda in Ico and Argo in Shadow of the Colossus. 

His games are not only marked by what elements make up his games, but by what is absent. Language is not a big thing in his games. There are few lines of dialogue that mostly serve to set the premise. A bigger note is that every spoken word is from a fictional language unlike either English or Japanese. Our understanding coming through subtitles. Like in any translation there is always the feeling that something got lost between the two languages and this feeling is universal given the language’s made up nature. Instead the game conveys most of its themes and meaning through the characters. Ico holding Yorda’s hand to progress through the castle, or letting her wander around as she enjoys her new found freedom. Argo will putter around looking to the ground for something to eat, but will always come back to you. The relationships are built through these moments. The characters are derived from these moments.

It is a very detail oriented work, with a combination of muted colors, sounds and light adding breath to the world. Ueda creates a word and then brings life to the dying landscape like few others can.

Several themes run through his work. Nature vs. civilization can be seen everywhere as once proud structures fall into decay. Struggle is another grand theme that Ueda puts in all his work. Where other games of obstacles, none can hold a candle to what Ueda puts his characters through, as the characters visibly struggle and exert effort like their lives depended on it. He puts a lot of emphasis on human struggle as the opposition is immortal with powers beyond what we can conceive as we fight against them. In the end, hope is what drives Ueda and his games. He creates emotion, but in the end there is that quality that can allow for a better tomorrow. After all is said and done there is a single remaining feeling of hope that lingers through the player’s body.

Fumito Ueda is a man who speaks few words and yet says a lot. His work aims right to the human condition and with its alien world is still speaks to us like we were right at home. Ueda strives not to create games, but experiences and one is just the means for the other.

[bort]

Disclaimer: QWERTY’s opinions are not mine nor the site’s. The psudonym QWERTY is used to protect the innocent.

(Please don’t sue us. – The Swain)

Is Resident Evil 5 racist? Short answer: No. Long answer:

A white guy goes to Africa and shoots up a bunch of Africans who were up to that point minding their own business. Is this a video game or real life about 400 years ago? Saying you aren’t allowed to kill black people means you’ve just removed an entire continent off the map. Like it or not, Africa is mostly made up of black people. If you set a game in Africa, reality check, it must have black people.

Isn’t it more intrinsically racist to say that black people aren’t allowed to be shot?

After all it’s okay to kill Arabs, Bolivians, British, Chechens, Chinese, Colombians, Cubans, Filipinos, French, Germans, Hispanics, Indians, Indonesians, Inuit, Italians, Japanese, Koreans, Kurds, Latinos, Malaysians, Mexicans, Palestinians, Panamanians, Persians, Romanians, Russians, Slavs, Venezuelans, Vietnamese and Native Americans.

We cannot segregate an entire race of people from their rights. We cannot doom them to inequality.

(Cue the cheezy inspirational music here. – The Swain)

I have a dream today.

A dream that every person shall live in a world where they will not be shot in the head based on color of their skin, but by the content of their machine gun.

I have a dream that one day all people will be equal and be curb-stomped regardless of their race, color or creed.

And when it happens, when we let it ring from every shooter and every genre, from every handheld and every console, we will be able join hands and sing, “n00bs at last, n00bs at last, thank God almighty we have shot the n00bs at last.”

Having played the 4 key Sonic games from the Genesis era recently thanks to the Ultimate Genesis Collection I have come to a realization. These platformers are very different than every other platformer ever made before and after it. There are other platformers on the collection as well and using them as a bench mark I notice a sharp difference not only in the game, but also in my mindset in playing.

The original Sonic games to me are Sonic 1, 2, 3 and Sonic and Knuckles. These four stuck with the basic premise that made the series great. They all have the same basic mechanics. Speed and a sense of momentum is key to these games. Much of the level design is based around moving fast and the rings are there as a safety net in case you run it to something. Several of the jumps require a good deal of speed for the distance. You get the instinct to constantly press forward on the d-pad. This is fine for the Sonic games, but it leads to instant death in other platformers.

There are even moment in the Sonic games that go against its own mentality of speed and momentum. Sections where you have to stand still and wait for some elevator to move or a platform system to come and pick you up. If you go get too impatient you find yourself running into spikes or getting crushed to death.

I love L.B. Jeffries’ writing. To me he is one of the most eloquent and hardest working in our field. And to my knowledge does it all for free. He has also described himself as the angry young man of game criticism. Last year he turned his critical eye towards the idea of the video game critic. He explored critics from other mediums and then looked back at what we as game critics could learn from them.

Personally I’ve tried to take some of these ideas as base point to work from, but even then I don’t think anyone has gotten a methodology that works to encompass the player’s input. Somehow there is just more to video games that we haven’t tapped into yet. His latest piece does repeat a few things, but it provides some sense or guide to where we should be moving ourselves.

I’ve complied his writings on the subject below. The comments also  have some interesting discussion as well.

Banana Pepper Martinis

Lester Bangs Rant

Pauline Kael – 1

Pauline Kael – 2

Pauline Kael – 3

Pauline Kael – 4

Samuel Johnson and Video Games

PopMatters

Does Video Game Criticism Need a Lester Bangs?

The New YouTube Game Criticism: An Interview with “moviebob”

Does Video Game Criticism Need a Pauline Kael?

Shawn Elliot’s video game review symposium second part came out a few weeks ago and I’ve only recently managed to get through all 13,000+ words. The subject this time is on the matter of point of view in reviews. Do you want a fresh eye to a genre or a fan of it? What will give your audience the best perspective of a game? I’m not going to argue either way here. Instead I’m going to critique something that is related to both part one and two of the symposium.

Noby Noby Boy for those of you who don’t know is the recent downloadable game on the PSN by Keita Takahashi, the maker of Katamari Damacy. It costs five bucks and the prevalent opinion is that regardless of problems you may have with it, if you find it the least bit interesting, drop the five bucks on it and go for a ride. So it falls squarely under the Killer 7 argument. This was also the opinion of the following two reviews I’m going to deconstruct that it is worth the five dollars.

A problem often cited with metacritic and other score-aggregating site is that many sites do not use the 100-point scoring system and therefore their scores must be translated, which often doesn’t match the meaning behind the score. 3 out of 5 stars, for instance, come out to a 60%. The other problem is that one site’s 7 may not and often doesn’t equal another sites 7. It may mean good for one site and average to another. Knowing all this an interesting opportunity has arisen. IGN has recently reviewed Noby Noby Boy and gave it a 6.0. A few days earlier IGN UK released a review of the same exact code of the game awarding it a 9.0. On IGN 6.0 = Passable and 9.0 = Outstanding.

Let me reiterate the opportunity. Two reviews, using the same game, within 4 days of each other, using the same scoring method and same scoring scale gave two vastly different scores. The scores are not always alike, in fact, they very, very rarely are, but the difference is usually like a 7.6 to an 8.1. The scores are close if not even closer. The meanings are usually between really good to borderline great or whatever the specific scores might be for a game. But from ‘Passable’ to ‘Outstanding’ is a very different matter.

Looking over the reviews major differences appear. Many reviews describe the same game, but the evaluation of that description is different from site to site and magazine to magazine, e.g. Edge’s recent 7 out of 10 given to Killzone 2, caused an uproar from the fanboys, but their text described the same exact pluses and minuses that Eurogamer described who awarded it a 100 out of 100. With Noby Noby Boy, the two reviews were talking about the same game, but not quite describing the same game.

The US and UK reviews set their tone early and they are very different. The US review gets right into the mechanics of the game. Quickly listing what you can do with the buttons. The thing is it doesn’t leave that mode for the entire first page. Then half way down the page it makes the following observation:

“Now, after reading through my control description you might say to yourself, “Self, that sounds like a lot of functions assigned to the L2 and R2 buttons.” Well firstly, you should watch that sort of conversation in public as people will think you’re cookoo for Cocoa Puffs, but you’d also be right — especially with regards to L2.”

stone download

the the resident review

This isn’t a bad observation in and of itself, but it’s representative of the entire review. The first page consists of seven paragraphs of mechanical analysis. It does go into what you can do with Girl and the ability to get to other worlds, but still treats them from a mechanical point of view. Telling people about how the game plays is not a problem, its just it sacrifices so much space to do so and seemingly misses the larger point of the experience. It only gets to the venerable point of the game in the last paragraph before the Closing Comments. They do add a section called Another Take at the end to give a counter argument from a different staff writer, but it may be too little too late. Most people only look at the score of a game and using their search function to find it all I could see is a red 6.0 next to the game.

Then we have the UK review. By contrast the UK review spends only 3 paragraphs on game mechanics. The rest of the text is focused on the concept of the game and the experience of playing it. It’s mechanical rundown happens in the middle of the review. It begins instead with the thematic idea behind the game. “のびのび(nobinobi) in Japanese means, roughly, ‘hang loose’ – stretch out, procrastinate, be easy – and that’s all the game’s about. It’s a giant whimsical timesink.” A few paragraphs later it gets back to the concept of the game and begins explaining the player’s experience, by delving into a little silliness such as: “You’ll even make exciting new discoveries every once in a while, such as the world-changing realization that, by combining certain items, you can create flamingerinas or ghostguins.”

The UK reviewer calls Noby Noby boy an “emergent experience” with “subversive game design.” To me the UK reviewer understands the title better and adjusted his review to mach the idiosyncrasies of the game. The US review meanwhile stuck to the traditional method of reviewing, even though it doesn’t match the game. To the US reviewer the game is “a tech demo with a couple cool concepts to me, and nothing more.”

What is also interesting, given the latest symposium topic, is that both reviewers are virgins to this type of title. There is literally no game like it and is a unique experience. The UK’s closing comments explain it best.

“Noby Noby Boy is going to provoke arguments for months between people who claim to Get It and people who don’t, which is ridiculous because – in truth – there is nothing to get. Once you’ve accepted that, Noby Noby Boy becomes one of the most soothing, effortlessly playable things you’ve ever likely had the pleasure to experience. It’s a surreal and simple sandbox with no hidden subtleties or complex underlying system of progress and reward, no contrived meaning. Its appeal purely lies with its gentle, happy-go-lucky lunacy, and that’s what makes it so bafflingly absorbing.”

These two reviews drive to the heart of what reviews are supposed to be. Are they supposed to be a buyers guide explaining what you are getting in the most definitive of terms or are they a guide to explain the experience a given product will deliver?

Disclaimer: QWERTY’s opinions are not mine nor the site’s. The psudonym QWERTY is used to protect the innocent.

I’ve been getting my ass handed to me. That is my thesis.

 
Altered Beast – Only has 5 levels. I never saw anything past the beginning of level 2.

Alien Storm – There is no nice way to talk about Alien Storm.
Bonanza Brothers – Who thought a timer in this game was a good idea?
Comic Zone – I died on page 3.

E-SWAT – I get through the whole level to die 6 times at the boss without getting a shot off.

Ecco the Dolphin – The original art game where you have no idea what you’re doing.
Fatal Labyrinth – A trophy calls getting to level 5 out of 30 an achievement, after my second attempt I see why. Level 4 didn’t have an exit.
Ristar – Jumping on the bad guy doesn’t work, but grabbing and smashing your face into him does?
Shinobi III – This was hard? Oh there’s a level 2.

Sonic 3D Blast – The first indication that a 3D Sonic game doesn’t work.
Sonic the Hedgehog – (This one is embarrassing.) Stage 2 Act 1 -> Game Over.
Sonic Spinball – That first level is just bullshit. This game is bullshit.

Streets of Rage 2 – Game I knew all the secrets to, on normal I can’t get to the end.
Super Thunder Blade – (How great a title is that?) It took me three days to get passed the first level.

After I lose each one of these games I see that blinking Game Over sign. Then it goes black as all my delusions of competence disappear and then SEGA in blue and white appears.  Laughing in my face. Then daring me to try again.

I am glad these are only 8 levels long. I am glad it can soon be over. It will not waste my time. It will not suck my life, and yet it does. Over and over I dip my hand into the gaming well of fate and come back burned. I am scorned so I try again to reclaim my honor, my pride.

They call to me. “Look at me I’m short, I wont take long. I’m not sophisticated, I only have three buttons.” Then I wander in all doe-eyed and innocent only to cry later at my abused ass. I have seen the other side. I have seen the lies behind the smirking hedgehog.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Last weekend after a movie I sat my Dad down and started up Flower for him to try out. Now my Dad hasn’t tried a video game since the mid-90s and those were the PC adventure games. We’d play them together. But given Flower’s casual nature, simple controls and pleasing aesthetic, I figured he would get into it and I wanted a non-gamer’s take on it.

I quickly explained the controls, all two of them, started him on the opening level and then watched him play. It took a little while, but he was enjoying flying all over the place.

He seemed very interesting in gaining height. He didn’t go for the flowers right away and instead explored the environment. Like a child taking his first steps he turned this way and that learning how to move in the world. It’s a very apt analogy for what he was doing. He needed to learn to tilt and to factor in speed. Actually he learned how to control his speed better than I did.

He took it very slow and managed and stopped a lot as he just let the petals float in the air. After he got a lot more they began swirling around each other and he was enjoying himself immensely. Then he asked what the meteors were. I had to double check and figure out what he was talking about. It was the white lines of the wind. Then he hit his first patch of yellow flowers and the whole experience changed. The yellow grass bloomed into a flush green. He nicked named it the boom boom, I can only think after the subtle sound effect that came with it.

Soon it became a hunt and peck experience with him flying high to get an aerial view and then dive bomb the flowers he found. Even at the stop and start pace he was playing at he was getting excited. It was so visceral to him and it connected saying, “I could really get into this.” I mention that each flower plays a note when passed through and that I was never good enough to see if there was a tune.  The next few batches he tries to do just that and eventually hits an entire row. Yes, there is a tune.

Finishing up the first level I had my dad go through the next two in order. I learned that he found the game frustrating, but that good type of frustrating where you end up with a smile on your face and laughing at yourself. He didn’t much care for the the experience or any meaning that could be derived from each flower’s dream, it really was a game to find where another flower was and anything that didn’t work to that end was pushed to the side. My dad was frustrated by the fact the game took away control for a few seconds to display the effect you were having on the world. Though when the second field burst into color he did comment on its beauty.

The third level was very much about speed. For a game that is supposed to focus on peaceful nature, there is such an adrenaline rush from some of the speeds you can pick up. First around the windmills and later through he canyon. The strength of this speed element even made him go “woah” at one point as he careened around trying to hit as many of the “blue ones” as he could. The variety in the colors were enough to keep him interested.

After the third level it was late and we stopped there. But from a fresh and untainted perspective it seems that flower succeeded what it was aiming to do. It created a nice simple game that caused several different emotional reactions. It seemed to me that it offered more than was necessary from his perspective. All it needed was the flying and the colors. In fact at the beginning of the second level is where it stumbled for him because it was almost all grey until you bring life back to it. It wasn’t until that color came back that it seemed to grab him once again. There is enough style and basic substance to be appealing for both the gamer and the non-gamer as an experience.

That was a look at the aesthetic effect, now you can follow the link to the game’s design effect on the experience.

http://www.creativefluff.com/game-design/flower-a-dads-expirience-design/

(This is the first…thing I got from him. It is reproduced here exactly as written. I have nothing further to say. – The Swain)

Disclaimer: QWERTY’s opinions are not mine nor the site’s. The psudonym QWERTY is used to protect the innocent.

Flower is pretty. There, that’s my obligatory nice thing to say about it.

People tried to explain it to me. I told them to stop. No killing, fine, instead I’m a flower petal; BUT WAIT, no not really. In reality I’m the wind. Wind that apparently has gone off its Ritalin medication and has a bad case of Parkinson’s disease. Right and left apparently don’t apply in this world. The premise of all of this is that you are playing the dream of a flower.

-blink blink-Excuse me Descartes, do plant’s think?

At least it kept giving me pretty things.

Next Noby Noby Boy. So I’m a Life Savors inspired caterpillar, doing stuff for my millions of miles long girlfriend in space that… I… Ah…. Wel…

-Time Passes-

Ok, I have the trophies. I can walk away now. I beat Noby NoBi boY. I’m told I should think of it as a sandbox game. Where’re the guns? Cars? Hookers? Well? Sandbox my ass…which apparently can make centaurs. All of this based upon a syphilitic acid trip.

Was this a good game? I honestly have no idea. Though since I woke up with half eaten lipstick on my mouth next to a garbage can without pants I figured it was at least a good Saturday night. My phone tells me its Thursday. I wish it would stop trying to imitate Dirty Harry, if I need to know the time I’ll open it to colors swirling and then snaps in two, curls back and eats your own ass, puzzle solved. Let the L block land now. (??? -The Swain)

Finally there’s Linger in Shadows. I thought, “How awesome is that title. Holy shit that sounds awesome. And it’s only three bucks.”

This is apparently German. It’s as good excuse as any why I’m trying to spin a concrete flying dog to distract a floating metal squid while time has been frozen. This is after you fly into a cat’s eye to make barrels act like a kaleidoscope, while making a city fall around you.
…

…
…
Double-checking blood samples for traces of n0bee no2 BoiY.

-Crickets chirp-

‘And you walk on down the hall, and And he came to a door…and he looked inside Father, Yes son, I want to kill you, Mother…I want to…(And that’s enough of that now – The Swain).