Gaming moments of the year #1…
As it gets towards the end of the year, and all the typical ‘game of the year’ awards are dished out, I was thinking of some of my favorite moments in gaming over the last 12 months, and they weren’t all necessarily from my favorite games. They also weren’t the stock, sequenced events that every player will be experiencing as they play they game, but events that seemed personal to my own game, fueled by my own emotional connection the characters in the game.
I also feel that we’ve seen a slight transition with how video games are handling narrative over the past 12 months, allowing for players to have their own, unique experiences, ones which they could relay to their friends, who would then respond with “Oh cool, that didn’t happen in my game”. Two games in particular this year that allowed players to to experience this are Mass Effect 2 (ME2) and Heavy Rain. ME2 was more traditional in it’s approach to narrative, but gave players choices over how they could use their crew, with the final outcome dependent on how well they matched character’s strengths to the game’s final standoff. Sure, when it comes down to it, it’s just a simple mechanic, but it forced the player to get to know their crew, or even if they didn’t, try and make sure that their favorite characters survived, at the expense of others. When talking to other people who played the game, it was always interesting to hear their outcomes, but it mostly boiled down to a case of ‘who lived?/who died?’.
Taking things to another level was Heavy Rain… For years we’ve had developers talking about how the events of a game, or characteristics of the player’s avatar can change based on the player’s decisions, which is something that Peter Molyneux likes to explore in his games (Black and White, Fable). However these changes never really affect the overall game world or narrative. In the Fable series, performing ‘evil’ acts means that you start looking pale, grow horns, and the general public seem to swear at you, whilst performing ‘good’ deeds have you looking like a prince/princess, sporting a halo, with the general public falling at your feet. No matter which way you decide to act, it never affects the overall game play and narrative.
No game can ever offer a completely unique experience for each and every player, but I believe that Heavy Rain has come the closest to achieving this so far in a narrative driven game. Each and every person that I’ve spoken to has had a different ending outcome, let alone the various things that happen along the way. Not only does the ‘ending’ change (‘endings’ have been something that player’s have been interested in for years..alt-endings etc..), not only do they people involved change, but also what actually happens.
Whilst I enjoyed playing Heavy Rain, I enjoyed talking about it with people a lot more. The first time I spoke about it with a friend he asked “so what happened at the end with you?”, I responded with a brief overview, to which he replied “What the hell? none of that happened with me” and we proceed to recount our tales from the opening scene to the end credits…and people say games aren’t social.
So what are yours?
