10 Artistic Things Video Games Can Do That Movies Can't

7. Massive Casts Of Characters

There is a limit to how many characters you put in a movie. This is something implicitly understood by screenwriters, who know that the more characters you add, the less time you get to spend with each one (unless they are all background characters). So many films will rarely stretch their casts beyond that of a handful of principal characters, and maybe an additional handful of supporting players, just to be fair to their audience. But due to the sheer amount of extra content, video games have no such obligation. The most notorious company in this aspect is BioWare, who develop games that have a principal cast about as large as that of a television show, and with thoroughly fleshed out backstories to match. If put in movie time, the backstory and character development in Dragon Age would probably equal (if not exceed) the length of The Lord of the Rings saga - and that's without throwing in the twisty plot elements.