When reviewing games I have been guilty of using words like cinematic and filmic as adjectives and, perhaps wrongly, compliments. Games like Resistance 3, Uncharted 3 and Asura’s Wrath have all had this weak and uninspired comment thrown their way. By me. Guilty as charged.
“So what’s wrong with that?” I do not hear you say, but I imagine it. Well, it dawned on me just recently that perhaps games trying to be like movies is a bad thing, and that perhaps it will be the downfall of the entire industry. Maybe even the world. It wont.
Here are five reasons that I think games shouldn’t be like films:
5. They Are Always Too Short!
To give a game a cinematic feel takes an awful lot of work. Take Uncharted for example, the cut scenes are meticulously animated, voice acted and lip synced to be absolutely perfect and just as engrossing as a real movie. This is all well and good but the other side of the coin is that the Uncharted games, though very good, only take about 8 – 10 hours to finish (not including multi-player). The highly polished and cinematic Modern Warfare takes more like 4 hours to complete.
The difference between huge games like Skyrim and Uncharted is games like Skyrim are like an adventure park. There are tons of things to climb on, slide down and get wet jumping in. You will gaily laugh and skip as you tire your self out by playing there all day. Uncharted is like a roller-coaster. You can’t chose where you go, but by gosh the ride is spectacular. Minute for minute the roller-coaster is more exciting but in terms of extended happy faces, it’s the adventure park every time.
These super cinematic games spend too much time and money on looking swish, that they forget to make sure to include enough play time to warrant the £40 price tag.
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8 Comments
Ed,
I have to disagree with you on almost every single one of your points here. I’m not going to offer any criticisms in relation to your writing, and I would have perhaps agreed with you had you not included Metal Gear Solid in this list. Metal Gear Solid 1 is still the best movie I have ever played. The story line is BETTER that essentially any film released in recent memory and the characters are well developed and have a great back story. Consider the relationship between Snake and Grey Fox – I’m yet to see a film where there is so much history between two characters which is so pivotal to the overall direction of the story. Remember when Grey Fox dies? It felt very sad….
And perhaps that is my main point. Sure, I understand what your saying but the reasons games should be like films actually out weighs your thesis because of what CAN be achieved. Sure, MGS1 was short, but the replay value was long. The story was long – but so nuanced that it was worth experiencing it again, so it felt short. The fact that in some of the aspects we were spectators adds to this. I remember the final battle with Metal Gear in MGS1 where you have the stinger aimed at Grey Fox and Liquid – I wanted to shoot, but I think the result of the story is better because I didn’t.
But perhaps its what you want from a gaming experience? Final Fantasy 7 is perhaps the best example (I’m familiar with) that is an example of both. The game is long – and it could potentially go on forever, but the story is perhaps better than any film I have seen. Although it doesn’t fit the typical model of a two hour film – it actually has all the ingredients, but they are more realistic because we are so close to the experience. I remember feeling sad when Aries died. A film is yet to do that to me.
Chris
Hi Chris
I too love Metal Gear Solid. In fact I love the whole franchise and I am currently replaying MGS3 on the 3DS and loving it even more than the first time I played it as my main gripe with the series was always the top down camera. I’d even go as far as saying that the MGS franchise is up there with the FF series in my top gaming franchises.
I also love the Uncharted games (though 3 felt a little too much like more of the same) and in fact every game I mentioned aside from Crisis 2 which I found hugely disappointing.
If you go back to my very first sentence I point out that I have complimented games using cinematic as an adjective. I’m not saying cinematic games are bad, I’m saying that games don’t need to be so cinematic in their presentation, story telling and structure.
I totally agree with your break down of MGS1, great game, great story. I suppose it was one of the early games to be cinematic but at the same time, it always felt like a gaming experience first and foremost. Gameplay was well designed and the story wasn’t delivered in such lengthy cut scenes as latter entries.
I think games like Bioshock should be commended for using unique ways to tell the story, in that case it was audio logs so while you are going around playing the game, you are also hearing the story.
My main issue is with games like MGS4 (which is one of my top games of this generation regardless of what I’m about to say) that if you skip the cut scenes become disjointed and insubstantial. I understand your point that the cutscenes are vital, but the gameplay is so damned good that I wanted to spend more time playing and less time watching.
Anyway, I hope that cleared up where I’m coming from. I stand firmly by my opinions but I wouldn’t want a fellow MGS lover to think me slagging off one of their favourite franchises!
Ed
This is so stupid, No.5 is not true for must cases and Uncharted is not a short game, 10 hours is good in this day and age! No.4 is not true because in Uncharted 3 you “do” play the best parts (Cargo Plane)! No.3 and No.2 are stupid and No.1 is not true! This whole thing is stupid!
Really good article, agree with most of what you wrote, especially about games being too short these days. If you are satisfied with shelling out £40-50 on a 10 hour game fair play, younger gamers are used to this quick smash and grab stuff, but I grew up on value for money games like super mario world (cost me £10 and I must have sunk over a thousand hours into that game over the years, along with donkey kong country my most replayable game of all time) and FF7, which you mentioned (though I have stuck hundreds of hours into many final fantasies. The most recent game I bought was Dragons Dogma, minimal, simplistic but effective story, not like a movie at all, I’ll be sinking lots of time into that.
Finally, yes on Red Dead, what a brilliant game that was, another one I have sunk lots of time into. In a similar vein, LA Noire I would suggest worked as a game/movie hybrid as that is what it was designed to be literally. I enjoyed the story, though others didn’t, and as it was best played a case at a time with a break in-between, it felt like the game lasted longer than it did.
I do agree that a lot of games do try and pull of the mix of gaming and movie experiences into one, and fail; but Uncharted is one of only a few that actually achieve this very well, so must say I disagree with some of your points here, as you do actually control Nate for some of the best action moments in the series. I also do agree however, that Red Dead Redemption is up there with the best at achieving this.
I think these points are valid for most of the games that don’t give you control in these sequences and don’t put some sort of game mechanic in it.
Because a game like uncharted does give you some sort of control, sometimes it feels you are just holding a button to let some of the action ‘play out’.
I just finished a game that has almost all of the problems mentioned here.Max Payne 3 is too short, the really wild stunts are done for you and you interact with no one. It is frustrating to fight your way thru a mob and the pay-off you just sit on your hands and watch. I enjoyed the game and the cut scenes were great but unless it is Mario Brothers I don’t want to be forced onto an unmovable track. Good points in your story.
I sense a house reference on the last page of this article lol.