"Real Gamer" endorses TYT game review | 28 comments (28 topical, 0 hidden)
mass effect 2 is easily game of the year contender (none / 0)
I think Wes' reviews are actually helpful as a gamer.  "hardcore" gamers who don't have lives tend to think that they are the "real" gamers, when really they just are the ones who don't have anything else to do but nerd out.  I make video games, and play them, and Wes has more credibility as a gamer than the bitches on the internet who hide behind anonymity.  To those who think storylines don't belong in videogames, you have to realize that video games are pretty much the most immersive form of media you can have, so to not have storylines there would be a waste of the strongest medium.  Video games can be interactive, and when you can actually develop relationships with characters, rather than just reading about them or watching them for two hours on a screen, this is the REAL chance to become part of the story and not just a spectator.  Video games are the pinnacle of storytelling, however great stories like Mass Effect are few and far between, much like great movies like Scarface are just as rare among the masses of crappy films.  Some people romanticize books, or film, but when you look objectively, they come no where close to being able to immerse a person into a story as much as video games.  Some people will argue this point, but it's because they haven't studied the history of video games.

Example, the "story" in super mario brothers is an example of a game where the story is completely removed from the gameplay, and the story is almost non-existent.  A game like Lost:Via Domus is ALL story, with a little gameplay and puzzle solving thrown in.  These games sometimes don't feel like games, but more like movies.  Then a game like Mass effect is pretty much the most interactive game where the player's actions actually affect the storyline, and the outcome of the game.  Many games have one definite ending, and possibly 2, but a game like mass effect has so many variables that every person's game experience is different.  Two people won't have the same experience, and one person could have multiple endings playing through multiple times.  This has been tried in film, but it was an epic failure.  If anyone has ever read "Time Machine" books, you're familiar with books with multiple endings/experiences, so it's not unique to video games at all.

Chris

by chrisandyasemin on 02/06/2010 01:21:53 PM EST

a few things... (none / 0)
I haven't played Mass Effect, but I'd just like to point something out... games are meant, first and FOREMOST, to be fun.  A game can have the best story ever written, but if its not fun nobody is going to bother with it.  Games like mario don't have much of a story, or an extremely simplistic one (aka excuse plot), but if they are fun and entertaining, poeple will love them.

That said, I think the games with the best stories are often my favorite ones, because they often are the full package.  Games like Beyond Good & Evil, Zelda, Half Life, etc.  

A good story is great for a game to have, but its not essential.  

by alienufo on 02/06/2010 04:37:27 PM EST

[ Parent ]
you completely missed my point (none / 0)
I broke down the different types of games for a reason...for some people, a game is nothing more than a game, but for a company like bioware, they are literally creating alternate universes where actions have consequences that make everyone's experience different.  All gamers are not the same, so "fun" is a subjective experience.  Some people only want to play online games with no plot or story at all.  This is not better or worse, than a completely one player campaign, but simply a different preference.  The problem is, when people start talking about "storytelling", video games somehow don't get recognized for their supreme ability to immerse a player into a story.  Even in theater when the fourth wall is broken, it usually does not change the outcome of the play, unless you are talking about LARPing, which is the supreme immersion into a "story".  You simply cannot ignore the fact that this is the most immersive form of distributable media, because if you look at something like the Happenings, they are a venue/event, and not a medium.  Of course every game doesn't have to have a story...that wasn't the argument.  What would be the story behind Pong?

by chrisandyasemin on 02/06/2010 08:33:21 PM EST

[ Parent ]

"Real Gamer" endorses TYT game review | 28 comments (28 topical, 0 hidden)