koffdrop.com

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice..

How does that phrase go again?

If you’re using the internet the chances that you can read are fairly high. If you can read, you’ve probably read a book or two in your lifetime. You may even be aware of classic books, books that made their mark in literature.

Yet how many of these classics were pop-up books?

I could research the answer but I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the answer is a big fat zero.

But why? Why hasn’t the medium seen fit to exploit the richness of advances that pop-up engineering can added to the act of reading? Why do authors not see the potential of conveying their works in this advanced format?

Sadly, we may never know. Perhaps pop-up is yet to have its day. Maybe a popular author like Dan Brown, J.K. Rowling or Stephen King can awaken the masses to the enormous benefits that pop-up can bring to literature.

Or maybe you’re reading this and thinking that you already know the answers to those questions. Pop-up books are a nice distraction and pleasantly engineered, they’re clearly very good at engaging the younger mindset, but they’re not really up there with the effective simplicity of well chosen words printed plainly on a page.

So, I ask you, why should anybody give two shits about 3D gaming?

Admittedly, I’ve not had any first hand experience with 3D gaming myself. My only exposure to current 3D technology has been in the cinema. The results have been ok. I guess. Like pop-up books, it’s a cute enhancement that mostly adds a degree of visual depth. It doesn’t make a bad film good. It didn’t make Avatar any less formulaic. It wasn’t the reason I found How To Train Your Dragon one of the most entertaining films I’d seen all year.

I’m acutely aware of the differences between books, films and videogames. I know what qualities define a videogame and I simply can’t see 3D affecting any of them in any significant way.

But, you know, we’ve been here before haven’t we?

Remember a few years ago when our worlds were going to be revolutionised? How motion control was going to radically alter how we play games, the games that could be created, where games could go. Remember all that wonder and excitement?

I don’t. Because I didn’t get excited. I didn’t see how it was anything more than a gimmick. A few years ago many people made efforts to correct my thinking and assure me my view was limited. That I simply was just a hater with no vision. Years on, I’m still waiting for the moment when, as promised, I would say “wow”.

What the easily led saw as pessimism, I regarded as realism. My restraint has been rewarded because, in my opinion, years on we’ve still yet to see anything of motion control that make a genuine difference to what gameplay is.

And this was all going to come about from the ultimate gameplay masters. The geniuses at Nintendo. Who would dare to doubt their promises and integrity?

I guess that’d be me.

So, yeah, 3D. Whether it’s in your hand or on a new TV screen: Will it turn bad gameplay into good gameplay? Will it introduce a, pardon the pun, new dimension in gameplay?

Again, I could research the answer but based on how I felt about motion controls and the years that have followed since their introduction, I’m just going to go ahead and say no.

Now, really, are you all such suckers that you’re going to fall for the same promise all over again?

..shame on you.

9 out of 10 isn’t bad

Over the Easter bank holiday a good friend paid me a visit. We ate, we drank, we were merry. Unlike me, he was gainfully employed throughout 2009 and he had bought many games that came out in that period. He left me with ten games and an arrangement to meet again at the start of June.

Since that visit I’ve ploughed through a number of games and as observers of my “Recently Completed” column on the right may have noticed, I’ve beaten almost all of them. Here’s a quick summary, in sequence, of my findings:

Uncharted 2 (PS3)

A lot has been said of this title that I don’t need to repeat here. I enjoyed the first game and expected greatness from the sequel. What I got was a supremely well put together piece of entertainment that was consistently very very good. It was surprisingly light on truly memorable moments and set-pieces though. Perhaps it’s an sign that I prefer peaks and troughs in my gaming experiences as opposed to a steady stream of quality. [4/5]

X-Men Origins – Wolverine (360)

It’s perhaps a little harsh to call a game based on a spinoff-film based on a franchise based on a comic series derivative but that’s the word that seems to spring to mind with this one. The production quality is very good but there was more content than the gameplay could support.  Too many levels, too much unnecessary long-windedness, not enough variety overall. Wolverine fans will get the most from it. [2/5]

Darksiders (360)

Zelda gameplay meets chunky comic-book stylings. I had really enjoyed the demo to this game and the full title lives up to the demo’s promise. Minor quibbles with the responsiveness of the controls doesn’t dampen the striking visual style, engaging theme or rock-solid gameplay. A reasonable amount of challenge combined with grand spectacle kept my playing right through to the open-ended climax. They even threw in some Portal-style gameplay too! [5/5]

The Darkness (360)

Going back before 2009 here but a game I’d been recommended nonetheless. Reasonably solid FPS mechanics laced with some special powers of the dark set this apart from regular fayre. The game succeeds in making you feel most comfortable in the shadows but some powers are poorly explained leaving the player to fumble around arbitrary gameplay spikes. Good back then, not so hot now [3/5]

Killzone 2 (PS3)

Pretty and featuring a more varied palette than many naysayers would lead others to believe. Like its prequel, it starts out quite clumsy and throws you into battle without giving you a proper preparation. Once over that hurdle a solid-feeling FPS awaits. All the elements are there along with some interesting efforts at character development. Rico sense of judgement being an unexpected turn in particular. [4/5]

Spiderman – Web of Shadows (360)

Better and more fun that it has any right to be. It’s goofy and its characters, particularly the peons, are a little off but its heart is in the right place. Some of the signature characters look superb. The development of side-missions is very poor – merely upping the numbers in a challenge and nothing else. Crucially, web-slinging your way around the city is a delight in itself – effective transport and true to the character. Absolutely worth checking out. [4/5]

Condemned (360)

Another pre-2009 title and it shows. Not just in its graphics but across all its presentation. FPS mêlée is novel but too limiting to support a full game – even a relatively short one as this. The narrative carrot being dangled in front of the player never becomes a true reward and the slog through relentlessly grim environments awaiting attack or a grisly discovery was something I failed to find entertaining in any way. [1/5]

Batman – Arkham Asylum (360)

A big 2009 title and by far the finest Batman game in decades. Great visuals and voice-work (though a patchy script). The gameplay is solid and makes great use of the Batman legacy for gadgets and characters. Combat feels superb with the player feeling empowered and confident when surrounded by a dozen thugs. Great execution of item-hunting, giving hints without being too explicit. Bags of fun. [5/5]

inFamous (PS3)

Finally, a game with a good excuse about why water should kill the protagonist! Far more climbing than I expected. Solid but not exactly thrilling third-person combat makes up the bulk of this game. Variation offered in the side missions where skills other than shooting are put to the test. Great comic-book style cinematics pace the game well though don’t quite fit the in-game visuals. Good, but room for improvement. [3/5]

Condemned 2 – Bloodshot (360)

Given my feelings on the prequel I didn’t even start playing this game.

All of the above have certainly done wonders for my gamerpoints and trophies. A shame then, that I don’t care for either. Final Fantasy XIII has had a viewing but it’s too early to give a verdict – it is what I expected it would be so far. Mario Galaxy 2 drops in a few days and, by then, I’ll probably have another 10 titles to go with it courtesy of the same generous friend.

Looks like I won’t be going outside for a while!

Pixelated Sandboxing

Going through some old bookmarks I paid a visit to some semi-forgotten websites. One of those websites covers 8-bit home computers and the games found on them. As I was piecing together an image for an earlier article I found myself pondering the origin of the popularity of sandbox or open-ended games.

Certainly there had been many open games presented on BBS in the 80s but their textual nature and often expensive cost of entry always tended to place them on the fringes of gaming.

Like many, Manic Miner was one of my earliest home game experiences but I suppose its successor is the one I’m more interested in at the moment. Jet Set Willy saw you wandering around a multi-screen mansion collecting items placed in each room. Rather than being a single-screen platform game where progression to the next screen was only permitted once the current screen had been cleared Jet Set Willy let the player wander about and explore.

Although primitive by today’s standards the freedom to deviate from the game’s core goals and just tour the game content was quite a big deal at the time.

I recall playing the game – often in turns with my sister – and making a snap decision on whether to see if I could make it to a new area of the mansion or diligently collect everything in one screen before moving on to the next. On reflection, this is possibly the earliest instance of choice-to-explore gameplay I can remember in a mainstream game.

Jet Set Willy and Skool Daze

A little later on another title appeared which extended the player’s freedom of choice in a popular mainstream game. Skool Daze saw your character, Eric, attempting to crack the school safe and swipe his end-of-term report before its incriminating contents could be seen by his parents. Unlike Jet Set Willy the game boasted a number of identifiable characters: a headmaster, an assortment of teachers, a school bully and a school boffin. For Eric to achieve his goal he had to fire his catapult at school shields without being caught by teachers. He also had to trip up teachers in order for them to reveal a letter of a code. The school blackboards could be used to try out codes and write messages. These exploits all took course during a regular school day so lessons would take place which Eric could attend or skip.

Once again, the choice to focus on the game’s core objectives or mess about was available to the player but, this time, in a far richer environment and one that a lot of ZX Spectrum players could probably relate to very well.

It’s rather surprising that about twenty years passed until another game portrayed school and school life so vividly (subject to technological constraints) in Rockstar’s Bully.

Rockstar, of course, are inarguably the champions of the popular open-world game with the juggernaut franchise that is Grand Theft Auto. Even so, the seeds of the mighty GTA oak can be seen laid in some older titles.

Skips were (are still?) prawn-cocktail flavour crisps that look like little flowers. For a period of time their makers saw fit to promote their product with a cartoon character called Clumsy Colin – an imbecilic, Hell’s Angel type character perched on a Harley Davidson style motorcycle. Somehow a deal was done that saw budget-priced game publishers Mastertronic produce a computer game featuring Colin. Action Biker was the result.

The wrap-around world of Action Biker

The Commodore 64 version of Action Biker was surprisingly good and saw Colin placed in (what seemed at the time) a large world that  wrapped around itself. In this world were the obligatory tokens that had to be collected in order to gain entry to the race at the climax of the game. The game-world, had enough driving challenges and points of interest to easily distract the player from the relatively mundane tast of driving over flashing tokens. Particular points of interest were a roller-coaster, a building site, a race strip and a seemingly unreachable isle in a lake. Sometimes it was just a thrill to pelt down the main road at top speed watching the world whizz by!

The second GTA-like title that springs to mind is Turbo Esprit. Considered by many to be far ahead of it’s time, Turbo Esprit placed the player in the aforementioned car and in the role of a drug-busting hero. A car carrying drugs would be heading to a rendez-vous and the player was required to use the city map and their driving and navigational skills to intercept the criminals and save the day.

Turbo Esprit - in-game (left) and city map (right)

The game was presented in 3D, featured a basic traffic system that saw the need to obey traffic lights at junctions and to observe the indicator lights of other vehicles. Whilst there’s not characterisation or plot to speak of any game that allows a player to drive around a city as they wish cannot help but find itself compared against GTA. Some cite Turbo Esprit as an influence on GTA but I think that’s just over-active retrospective assumptions. Having said that, both games were conceived in the UK so.. who knows?

Without wishing to take anything away from the standards and achievements of games today, I think it’s interesting to see these glimpses from past and how they may have played a role in forming the digital playgrounds we enjoy today.

A treat for the eyes

Although I’ve often been the type to argue gameplay is more important than graphics I’ve never denied that graphics are important.

We’re visual creatures, we make snap judgements based on appearance. We judge books by their covers. For years, the only way a game publisher had of conveying their game to their customers was through imagery. Screenshots on the back of the box and in adverts. Today we still rely on screenshots but are also provided with carefully edited trailers showing animation and audio too.

As far as games are concerned I think audio development has pretty much reached its peak. Enhancements over and above 5.1 positional audio may be too slight for the typical gamer to notice and involve more work and far too little return to be considered worthwhile. This isn’t to say that audio in games can’t be innovative, creative or surprising – just that its not hampered by any sort of technical limitations.

With the current generation, I believe we’re approaching a similar saturation point with visuals.

For decades the fidelity of game visuals was dictated by the technical performance of the host machine. Colour was once a novelty – even though it may have been used sparingly due to technical constraints. As resolutions and palettes improved so did the ability to convey characters and activities on-screen.

An example of how visual fidelity has improved over the years

Initially the task was to simply get imagery up on the screen that was functional enough to portray what was going on. Sacrifices often had to be made due to technical constraints or considerations where graphics favoured clarity over detail.

Batman and friend as rendered by videogame systems in 2009

With today’s systems there is sufficient power to portray the functional with enough left over (and expected by the consumers) to adopt a specific style. This is where the medium has a chance to elevate itself and mature.

Whilst there will always be a need to portray characters and entities in a conventional way that communicates clearly with those viewing them, there’s scope to add distinctiveness and style to things these days. The best games will have some sort of justification to their style rather than adopting, say, cel-shading, for the hell of it.

Zelda is one such instance that serves as a good example.

Ocarina of Time (N64), Wind Waker (GC), Twilight Princess (GC/Wii)

Whilst Ocarina of Time reflects an era where technological limitations were still a dominant factor with video game graphics it’s clear that it’s successor (Wind Waker) chose a radically different art style to depict similar characters such as Link. The next Zelda game dropped the striking visual theme and returned to a more conventional method but exploited the greater technical power available at the time.

I’m not the type to go doe-eyed at the mention of Zelda like some. However, I thought that Nintendo’s decision to make such a remarkable break from tradition (particularly in a franchise built entirely on tradition) was quite brave and, dare I say it, innovative.

I recall reading a quote from Nintendo that stated that the visual style was a result of the desire to convey expression and emotion more effectively in the game. Given that traditionally the Zelda franchise features a silent protagonist it makes a lot of sense to utilise expression as a way to enhance the sense of communication between Link and other characters. It’s even apparent on the screenshot selection I chose above. Link is playing an instrument in each game but the centre image really shows expression on Link’s face compared to his two neighbours.

Left, right, jump - then and now

Braid is another example of a game that goes way beyond the functional requirements of it’s graphics and utilises style to enhance communication and narrative. Where once we could see blocky pixels of a single colour we now get a style that suggests hand-drawn imagery rather than something designed for a grid. What’s not apparent from the static image of Braid is the way the imagery serves the time-manipulation aspect of gameplay. Sunbeams gently pulsating outwards from the sun, fluffy clouds rolling across the screen and wisping in and out of themselves – all this movement is in keeping with the visual theme chosen by the game developer but the movement of the images shows the player which way time is flowing (if at all). Style serving a function.

Alas, in my opinion Braid is so far up it’s own ass with being smugly clever and post-modern it’s a game that’s far easier to appreciate than to enjoy. I found it interesting that the character in the game was grounded in the mundane – running and jumping through fantastical levels in a suit and tie. Like other parts of the game, I’m sure this is meant to support a greater profound theme hidden somewhere within. What I realised when selecting the Manic Miner image above is that Miner Willy’s profession is also clearly depicted in the game. His miner’s helmet with a lamp on the front is apparent in spite of the character sprite only being a few pixels tall and composed of a single colour. Perhaps, in the same way that Mario in Donkey Kong had a moustache as it was easier than drawing a mouth a miner’s hat was an alternative to a hairstyle.

So what’s next?

With technology increasingly becoming something that enables creativity rather than limits it I think it’s really down to the inventiveness and creativity of the people directing videogame art. The art has to be functional – that’s always got to be there, but layered on top of that.. ..who knows? Being immersed in impossible worlds still works wonders for books and movies. Being able to reach out, touch and explore those worlds is something only games can offer.

Here’s a selection of videogames that, in my opinion, showcase style above and beyond the functional to enrich the gamesplaying experience. This isn’t just me choosing games that look pretty but games that deliberately chose a theme and visual direction.

The Chaos Engine

Donkey Kong Country

Vib Ribbon

Parappa the Rapper

Rez

Metal Slug

Shadow of the Colossus

Okami

Killer 7

Paper Mario

Space Giraffe

Bioshock

Mirror's Edge

Geometry Wars 2

Borderlands

Mad World

Don’t worry if a game you feel worthy isn’t shown above. The images are to illustrate a point, not be an exhaustive or definitive guide.