10 Trends That Are Killing Video Games

10. Competing With Cinema

As video game technology begins to be able to compete with the slickest Hollywood productions, game developers are of course endeavouring to make games more immersive, and in a sense, more like films. Take Hideo Kojima, a frustrated filmmaker if ever there was one, who has made a fantastic set of games in the Metal Gear Solid series, which have a devotion to cinematic cut-scenes that borders on the ridiculous. Take the last MGS game, which took me 17 hours to complete on my first playthrough, and only 4 and a half on my second! While familiarity with the missions and bosses accounts for an hour or two of that time, the remainder - at least a good 10 hours - is made up by cut-scenes. Granted, I love the MGS story and wasn't too bothered by this, but many of my friends who weren't so taken with the narrative found this to be obtrusive and tiresome; more than one of my mates described it as "essentially paying £40 for an interactive movie". The overarching point is that video games are not movies; that is their beauty, and by trying to hew closer to the cinematic medium, they are going to risk making the notion of freedom and choice less important. Video games shouldn't be about trying to replicate that sweet camera angle from a Michael Bay film - especially if it takes us out of the action - but instead focus on giving the player the freedom to play the game how they want, not how some failed film director turned game director thinks we should.
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.