So, apaprently I had access to the Medal of Honor beta. Given some playtime,I can safely say several things.
The first of these things is that the UI is FRIGGIN ATTROCIOUS. I know there is a orange/blue color thing that generally is one of those.. things, that has been shown to draw the human mind in like it a strobe light, but it's goddamn horribles. It's overstated tosay the least, eye raping to say the most. Worst of all it jsut doesn't work.
The menus need serious work, ranging from being vaguely non-functional through to just plain bizzarre.
Oh sure, I've seen WORSE designed interfaces, but this is probably up there as one of the less impressive out of a AAA title. It looks bad, it functions.. oddly, it's an allround dissappointment.
Gameplay has me confused though. It's clear that DICE was brought in on the project to make some sort of fusion BFBC slash COD game, and that's pretty much exactly where the game sits, from what you can play of it in the beta. Push mode from Bad Company, Closer combat from Modern Warfare. Here's my problem-
Why does this game exist? The Teamplay-ness is pretty alright, but it's detracted by that MW2-like fast pace, so it's nowhere near as coherent as BC2 for that aspect. Then there's the fast-pace shooter elements and levelling, which are very much like MW2 (all be it disfigured by ODD kit customising menus), but because of the teamplay elements , it's somewhat slower than it's inspiration, so it's not as coherent as MW2. You're left with a multiplayer game that tries to do two things, but pulls neither of them well enough to impress upon me.
I will say that the graphics, even on low are MUCH nicer than either of the other two games. So I guess that's a plus, even if at this point all the aniamtions are recycled from Bad company 2.
To be honest, I'm more interested in the Singleplayer. They've been saying a lot of big things about the SP in this game, and I REALLY hope they deliver on it... but the MP, as far as I care right now, give it a miss.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Can't sleep, housemates will eat me. (when it rains it pours)
So here I am writing vertically in my room, completely bottomed out. REally, I haven't felt so low since high school, and believe me if you knew me through year 8,9,10 you should know that that was indeed a dark fucking hole in my life.
Yeah I'm back there, back in the hole.
It's the night I confirms my monthlong paranoid fear that my housemates were indeed out to get me because I am, in my own words, a high maintenance fuckup with nothing but trouble for them. The worst thing is, the monster of my mind that I thought I had tamed years ago, all the barbs,stings and verbal punches they haveused on me all point to that monster being at large.
For those who don't know, I'm a dyspraxic, I have both motor and Developmental Dyspraxia (which for a quick blurb, see US NINDS For a better description, see Wikipedia ). It permeates it's way through my life like some invisible python, striking when I've got my back turned. Think you've got fine motor skills down? OH NO! THERE GOES A PLATE WITH FOOD. Think you've remembered something, something that you only needed to remember maybe for half a day? OH NO, WHERE DID THAT MEMORY GO? OOPSIES. Irregular routines? YOU MISSED A STEP.Quick what did you have for breakfast? YOU CAN'T. Time management and logical processing? HA. Social Abilities? NOT TODAY SON. Sometimes it ain't a problem ,you know? You can get through a day, a week a month, fine, nothing goes wrong, then BAM. Right in the face, a week where everything that makes dyspraxia such a nightmare to live with comes haunting from high. You'll forget a bus, drop a plate, spill a cup, forget to lock a door, not manage a social interaction, find an exam you won't be able to write more than 5 minutes of without suffering debilitating hand pain, Trip and fuck up your nice smart business pants, misjudge someone's intentions and then to top it all off find out that all your friends now hate you because of it, and they want you out.
Like they say, when it rains, it pours. Goddamn is it pouring today. Could really do with an umbrella, or some understanding, Either or.
Yeah I'm back there, back in the hole.
It's the night I confirms my monthlong paranoid fear that my housemates were indeed out to get me because I am, in my own words, a high maintenance fuckup with nothing but trouble for them. The worst thing is, the monster of my mind that I thought I had tamed years ago, all the barbs,stings and verbal punches they haveused on me all point to that monster being at large.
For those who don't know, I'm a dyspraxic, I have both motor and Developmental Dyspraxia (which for a quick blurb, see US NINDS For a better description, see Wikipedia ). It permeates it's way through my life like some invisible python, striking when I've got my back turned. Think you've got fine motor skills down? OH NO! THERE GOES A PLATE WITH FOOD. Think you've remembered something, something that you only needed to remember maybe for half a day? OH NO, WHERE DID THAT MEMORY GO? OOPSIES. Irregular routines? YOU MISSED A STEP.Quick what did you have for breakfast? YOU CAN'T. Time management and logical processing? HA. Social Abilities? NOT TODAY SON. Sometimes it ain't a problem ,you know? You can get through a day, a week a month, fine, nothing goes wrong, then BAM. Right in the face, a week where everything that makes dyspraxia such a nightmare to live with comes haunting from high. You'll forget a bus, drop a plate, spill a cup, forget to lock a door, not manage a social interaction, find an exam you won't be able to write more than 5 minutes of without suffering debilitating hand pain, Trip and fuck up your nice smart business pants, misjudge someone's intentions and then to top it all off find out that all your friends now hate you because of it, and they want you out.
Like they say, when it rains, it pours. Goddamn is it pouring today. Could really do with an umbrella, or some understanding, Either or.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Review- WORKING!!
Can I preface this by saying WHERE THE HELL IS THE GODDAMN MANGA OR THE VN?! I know Working is indeed an adaption of a combo manga VN series, however I can find neither hide nor hair of them on the internet, other than spurious claims that they exist. Goddamn I want MORE.
Now onto the review.
Slice of life, Comedy, Workplace (what's that? NOT A SCHOOL AND IT'S A SLICE OF LIFE?! SHAKU HORA)
Moe - 2.5/5 - Can get a bit moe, but not enough to make you hate yourself for liking it.
Violence - 3/5 Lots of animated punching, mainly one character. No gore, not intended to be srs violence... think slapstick on steroids.
Cheesecake - Nil
Pandering - Nil
Cheese - Some. It can get cheesy.
A Family restaurant in Hokkaido one day during the middle of winter finds itself short a service attendant. Send out Popura Taneshima to go find anyone interested. Souta Takanashi, after mistaking her for a someone much younger than he (as it turns out, she is his senior), he agrees to work at Wagnaria, restaurant full of lively characters. These range from the seemingly innocous Popura Taneshima who has a height complex (hey it least it isn't BREASTS again, also, see what they did there?), to the katana-weilding chief Yoshiyo Todoroki. 13 episodes of intrigue, character development and comedy ensues. I'd give away more, but I'm not too sure how much more can be given away without ruining it. Like a parfait.
As probably eluded to by peicing the puzzle so far, you may have already figured, this a character-driven show. There is no big dramatic moment that any one of the characters is driving towards from the beginning ( or at least not traditional storytelling sense of the word, there is a conflict resolution and such and I don't want to give too much more than that away). It is of itself simplistic, but for a Slice of Life series, simple is fine, especially when it's pulled off well.
Anybody who's worked in a restaurant or fast food joint should feel pangs of familiarity about the place watching this, regardless of how bad it was where you were. You were always surrounded by a cast of crazies, each with their own bunch of odd and interesting things about them. Working brings THAT feeling straight to animation, and brings it well. With a bunch of colourful characters, that bittersweet mix of work and happenstance ,and of course the relieved walk away at the end of the day, it knows it's strength lies in the workforce. Popura the midget, Souta the worshipper of all things cute, Mahiru the androphobe (yes it's real, and so is gynophobia), Jun the gossipmonger kitchenhand, Yachiyo the Chief, the list goes on, eachof them created specifically to be an ingredient for HYJINX. The characters all play off each other without becoming grating, and it all feels natural which is indeed a credit with a series with this many ODDITIES.
The show also manages to weave in a few undercurrent narratives into the overall structure. These range from ones that subtly make their way into the main happenings, like the unrequited love of Jun toward Yachiyo. Others are mostly implied, like Kyouko's previous life as what can be safely assumed as a gang thug. I can't say these aren't unwelcome, it certainly gives extra depth to what could be a very flat piece.
In short, story is well played out and written, characters feel natural yet odd and unique. For laughs, there's one "normal" character in the show and she loses it when she is observed to be quite un-normal by virtue of not being as quirky as the rest of the crew. It's quite bizarre.
To go with the crazy characters that Working has, Working brings some decently executed character designs. Most of the time, you see characters in work uniforms, which I suppose are somewhat less interesting school uniforms by needs of utility trumping individuality, but it's rarely an issue, Working gives each character it's own readily attributable uniform tweaks. On top of that, there seems to be none of that uniform character height issue in here (please tell me I'm not the only one who notices this when it's prevailent). All the characters are readily identifiable and have just the right balance of authenticism and creativity to not come off either as "too cartoony/stereotypical-anime-y" or as too bland ina real world sort of way.
Animation in Working isn't like Haruhi Suzumiya (where a large percentage of the animation team of the entire company were spent dedicating their time to animating everything that could possibly move in every frame ever), it falls very much into the traditional anime framework, which is in essence animation on a budget. Don't get me wrong, the animation that's there is really great quality stuff (despite a couple of rough hiccups during the second ep), but it's not as expansive for keyframes or percentages of screen real estate moving as the former. On the bright side it is a lot cleaner than K-on Season 1 was, and there's enough animation there to get the point across with just the right amount of conviction. A cautionary note for people who don't like chibification- there is some in this, you may rage. Don't worry, because it's for solidifying punchlines, not for it's own sake.
VA for Working is rather excellently cast and performed. From Kana Asumi as Poplar to Eri Kitmura as Yachiyo, every casting choice was well thought out here. Oh and Daisuke Ono. Yeah, each character was well cast here, expertly performed too. Never once did I actually suspect that Daisuke Ono was in fact Daisuke Ono.
Background art is well done, enoguh that it never really glaringly looked out of place or badly drawn. To it's credit then, I suppose.
I gotta say, I really do love the soundtrack to this thing. It's brilliant. For a change, all the catches, stringers, and background music, all done with live instruments, and it's an eclectic mix of mostly Light Music, Rockabilly, 4-bar rock and Third-wave Ska. Actually, the opening, Someone Else, is now on permenant loop in my head with it very notable Goldfinger-cross-RBF style to the Horns and 'tar . I really have to give Okabe Keiichi a mound of credit for beng elcectic in his music styles but staying right the hell away from the synthesiser.
(ed note:Except for two tracks. goddamn it, almost flawlesss victory)
Overall,
Working!!, a show about working, and everything that doesn't involve actually working. Well executed hilarity with JUST enough oddball for it to be endeering. Major props for clean music and non-school setting, can be a bit static, but easily overlooked most of the time. Summary- a great watch, isn't going to win awards (thoguh I suspect it wasn't intending to). Good for all company.
RATING-
3 Poprawrs out of 5.
A rating of 3 means that it's overally entetaining. It's bad points outweight it's good.
Now onto the review.
Slice of life, Comedy, Workplace (what's that? NOT A SCHOOL AND IT'S A SLICE OF LIFE?! SHAKU HORA)
Moe - 2.5/5 - Can get a bit moe, but not enough to make you hate yourself for liking it.
Violence - 3/5 Lots of animated punching, mainly one character. No gore, not intended to be srs violence... think slapstick on steroids.
Cheesecake - Nil
Pandering - Nil
Cheese - Some. It can get cheesy.
A Family restaurant in Hokkaido one day during the middle of winter finds itself short a service attendant. Send out Popura Taneshima to go find anyone interested. Souta Takanashi, after mistaking her for a someone much younger than he (as it turns out, she is his senior), he agrees to work at Wagnaria, restaurant full of lively characters. These range from the seemingly innocous Popura Taneshima who has a height complex (hey it least it isn't BREASTS again, also, see what they did there?), to the katana-weilding chief Yoshiyo Todoroki. 13 episodes of intrigue, character development and comedy ensues. I'd give away more, but I'm not too sure how much more can be given away without ruining it. Like a parfait.
As probably eluded to by peicing the puzzle so far, you may have already figured, this a character-driven show. There is no big dramatic moment that any one of the characters is driving towards from the beginning ( or at least not traditional storytelling sense of the word, there is a conflict resolution and such and I don't want to give too much more than that away). It is of itself simplistic, but for a Slice of Life series, simple is fine, especially when it's pulled off well.
Anybody who's worked in a restaurant or fast food joint should feel pangs of familiarity about the place watching this, regardless of how bad it was where you were. You were always surrounded by a cast of crazies, each with their own bunch of odd and interesting things about them. Working brings THAT feeling straight to animation, and brings it well. With a bunch of colourful characters, that bittersweet mix of work and happenstance ,and of course the relieved walk away at the end of the day, it knows it's strength lies in the workforce. Popura the midget, Souta the worshipper of all things cute, Mahiru the androphobe (yes it's real, and so is gynophobia), Jun the gossipmonger kitchenhand, Yachiyo the Chief, the list goes on, eachof them created specifically to be an ingredient for HYJINX. The characters all play off each other without becoming grating, and it all feels natural which is indeed a credit with a series with this many ODDITIES.
The show also manages to weave in a few undercurrent narratives into the overall structure. These range from ones that subtly make their way into the main happenings, like the unrequited love of Jun toward Yachiyo. Others are mostly implied, like Kyouko's previous life as what can be safely assumed as a gang thug. I can't say these aren't unwelcome, it certainly gives extra depth to what could be a very flat piece.
In short, story is well played out and written, characters feel natural yet odd and unique. For laughs, there's one "normal" character in the show and she loses it when she is observed to be quite un-normal by virtue of not being as quirky as the rest of the crew. It's quite bizarre.
To go with the crazy characters that Working has, Working brings some decently executed character designs. Most of the time, you see characters in work uniforms, which I suppose are somewhat less interesting school uniforms by needs of utility trumping individuality, but it's rarely an issue, Working gives each character it's own readily attributable uniform tweaks. On top of that, there seems to be none of that uniform character height issue in here (please tell me I'm not the only one who notices this when it's prevailent). All the characters are readily identifiable and have just the right balance of authenticism and creativity to not come off either as "too cartoony/stereotypical-anime-y" or as too bland ina real world sort of way.
Animation in Working isn't like Haruhi Suzumiya (where a large percentage of the animation team of the entire company were spent dedicating their time to animating everything that could possibly move in every frame ever), it falls very much into the traditional anime framework, which is in essence animation on a budget. Don't get me wrong, the animation that's there is really great quality stuff (despite a couple of rough hiccups during the second ep), but it's not as expansive for keyframes or percentages of screen real estate moving as the former. On the bright side it is a lot cleaner than K-on Season 1 was, and there's enough animation there to get the point across with just the right amount of conviction. A cautionary note for people who don't like chibification- there is some in this, you may rage. Don't worry, because it's for solidifying punchlines, not for it's own sake.
VA for Working is rather excellently cast and performed. From Kana Asumi as Poplar to Eri Kitmura as Yachiyo, every casting choice was well thought out here. Oh and Daisuke Ono. Yeah, each character was well cast here, expertly performed too. Never once did I actually suspect that Daisuke Ono was in fact Daisuke Ono.
Background art is well done, enoguh that it never really glaringly looked out of place or badly drawn. To it's credit then, I suppose.
I gotta say, I really do love the soundtrack to this thing. It's brilliant. For a change, all the catches, stringers, and background music, all done with live instruments, and it's an eclectic mix of mostly Light Music, Rockabilly, 4-bar rock and Third-wave Ska. Actually, the opening, Someone Else, is now on permenant loop in my head with it very notable Goldfinger-cross-RBF style to the Horns and 'tar . I really have to give Okabe Keiichi a mound of credit for beng elcectic in his music styles but staying right the hell away from the synthesiser.
(ed note:Except for two tracks. goddamn it, almost flawlesss victory)
Overall,
Working!!, a show about working, and everything that doesn't involve actually working. Well executed hilarity with JUST enough oddball for it to be endeering. Major props for clean music and non-school setting, can be a bit static, but easily overlooked most of the time. Summary- a great watch, isn't going to win awards (thoguh I suspect it wasn't intending to). Good for all company.
RATING-
3 Poprawrs out of 5.
A rating of 3 means that it's overally entetaining. It's bad points outweight it's good.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Billy Blag and his Blog of wonders
Hey there generic, 5 person audience for my blog, sorry about not posting in here as much as I should, I've been looking after my other children ( Updated Tuesdays, For Hire and whatever mini project is the flavor of my month) amongst other things. I know usually I'm reputed for being lacksadaisical and apologistic towards repairing that trait, but sometimes I really do feel like looking after multiple side non-jobs gets towards the work effort of a real job, and likie a real job, you will forget things.
I guess the the Ranthole got the end of that stick this time. Anyhoo, when the UT website is finished and up (probably shortly after EXAMS) I'm gonna see what I can do to roll my Interblag the UT Interpipes blag. We'll see.
So I was having one of those existential moments, the ones I get every so often when I'm by myself (which is now frequent in my new home), I began thinking about WHY I even bother doing things like a webcomic or a Source Engine mod. I mean, it's not like webcomics nor cooperative games have never been done before. They have, alot, covering many aspect and angles. I know I'm probably not original for taking the routes, and it's debateable whether either of the two of my "kids" have anything that will add to the collective of either arena.
Still, "why?"
So after mulling this for a little I came to several realisations -
One - I don't really care if either Updated Tuesdays or For Hire "succeed": or "fail" in the end, I am right now quite enjoying working on them, and the end product is more or les jsut extra icing
Two- Even though the idea to start a webcomic wasn't origianlly my own, I'm really into it now. It's become it's own beast, which is great because if 12 months ago you said to me "You're going to make a webcomic that isn't failing", I'd have looked at you funny, especially if you told me it wasn't For Hire related. It's challenging me in a way that is different to the way For Hire challenges me too ,which is really handy, I suppose.
Three - They balance each other out in terms of my sanity karma. For Hire is balls to the wall accuracy of the realism variety, which is countered by my loose interpretation on reality in Updated Tuesdays. I guess one is like cerebral atonement for the other's.
Four- One thing's for certain - my art still sucks, either way. I am also fine with this.
Anyhoo, again, a post written post midnight that has a loose purchase on what could be considered conscious thought, I'd write these earlier, but to be honest, I'm not in a writey mood until like 11:50 pm..
So uh, yeah. This probably was a little too self0-indulgent of me, but I dunno, I just felt like writing it. I guess it had to be written or something...
Oh and check out http://updatetuesdays.blogspot.com and http://www.moddb.com/mods/for-hire at your own expense, and I'll try to keep you blaggers up to squick when I can.
Toadie Out.
I guess the the Ranthole got the end of that stick this time. Anyhoo, when the UT website is finished and up (probably shortly after EXAMS) I'm gonna see what I can do to roll my Interblag the UT Interpipes blag. We'll see.
So I was having one of those existential moments, the ones I get every so often when I'm by myself (which is now frequent in my new home), I began thinking about WHY I even bother doing things like a webcomic or a Source Engine mod. I mean, it's not like webcomics nor cooperative games have never been done before. They have, alot, covering many aspect and angles. I know I'm probably not original for taking the routes, and it's debateable whether either of the two of my "kids" have anything that will add to the collective of either arena.
Still, "why?"
So after mulling this for a little I came to several realisations -
One - I don't really care if either Updated Tuesdays or For Hire "succeed": or "fail" in the end, I am right now quite enjoying working on them, and the end product is more or les jsut extra icing
Two- Even though the idea to start a webcomic wasn't origianlly my own, I'm really into it now. It's become it's own beast, which is great because if 12 months ago you said to me "You're going to make a webcomic that isn't failing", I'd have looked at you funny, especially if you told me it wasn't For Hire related. It's challenging me in a way that is different to the way For Hire challenges me too ,which is really handy, I suppose.
Three - They balance each other out in terms of my sanity karma. For Hire is balls to the wall accuracy of the realism variety, which is countered by my loose interpretation on reality in Updated Tuesdays. I guess one is like cerebral atonement for the other's.
Four- One thing's for certain - my art still sucks, either way. I am also fine with this.
Anyhoo, again, a post written post midnight that has a loose purchase on what could be considered conscious thought, I'd write these earlier, but to be honest, I'm not in a writey mood until like 11:50 pm..
So uh, yeah. This probably was a little too self0-indulgent of me, but I dunno, I just felt like writing it. I guess it had to be written or something...
Oh and check out http://updatetuesdays.blogspot.com and http://www.moddb.com/mods/for-hire at your own expense, and I'll try to keep you blaggers up to squick when I can.
Toadie Out.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Blog Flogging
I know this is going to seem odd coming from someone who never once has owned a Sony console-
I really love the Metal Gear Series.
They are both well written, psuedo-realistic, and at the same time increibly camp and bizarre. It's this schizophrenic mix that isjsut like mad trail mix to me, and honestly I can't get enough of David Hayter doing VO work.
The reason I bring this up is because of the New Portable MGS game, Metal Gear Solid: PEace-Walker. I dunno how, but Kojima always manages to find that way to make whatever system he's making a game for POP. Peacewalker isn't just a solid shotoer game, it's friggin comprehensive Metal Gear Constructor set too, not to mention pseudo0business sim. The meta game of this thing is jsut immense, and when coupled with an already impressive sneak-and-shoot combat system, I'm really REALLY feeling something down there in my pats to go get this game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZXdCunDe_A&
I mean just look, aside from the retconing, how goddamn impressive is this. This is on a Fucking HANDHELD. It's unbelievable.
I really love the Metal Gear Series.
They are both well written, psuedo-realistic, and at the same time increibly camp and bizarre. It's this schizophrenic mix that isjsut like mad trail mix to me, and honestly I can't get enough of David Hayter doing VO work.
The reason I bring this up is because of the New Portable MGS game, Metal Gear Solid: PEace-Walker. I dunno how, but Kojima always manages to find that way to make whatever system he's making a game for POP. Peacewalker isn't just a solid shotoer game, it's friggin comprehensive Metal Gear Constructor set too, not to mention pseudo0business sim. The meta game of this thing is jsut immense, and when coupled with an already impressive sneak-and-shoot combat system, I'm really REALLY feeling something down there in my pats to go get this game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZXdCunDe_A&
I mean just look, aside from the retconing, how goddamn impressive is this. This is on a Fucking HANDHELD. It's unbelievable.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Can't Sleep Security'll eat me,
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No really, this shit isn't funny anymore guys, not giving me the option of sleep makes lanning much less fun. Uni middle managment, get ytour shit together.
No really, this shit isn't funny anymore guys, not giving me the option of sleep makes lanning much less fun. Uni middle managment, get ytour shit together.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Episode 3 : Character, the one we one Emmies for.
I don't know if it's just me, but has anyone begun to really hate, I mean REALLY hate, how simple and shallow game characters tend to be?
Okay I'll partially discount Roleplaying Games because by definition most of these are deep, though they fall into the trap excusing a whole tonne-of-brick typecasting characters, and generally only getting the term deep partially correct (where deep is word-replaced in their minds by "verbal diahorrea for dialog and backstory, and exemplify characteristics by DnD Stats, and a look defined by the BIG BOOK OF MYTHOLOGICAL SHIT"), but still , big budget game developers should be truly ashamed of what they excuse as characters in their games and game storylines.
By character, I'm speaking to every essence of what a well-rounded character personifies-
A percieved history, personal traits both good and bad , behaviour that backs up their traits and history, and appearance. At the moment, games as a general medium address merely two of these most of the time and the rest is usually Mary-Sue/Marty-Stu'd from wherever that shit comes from (probably Fanfic.net). The result is dull characters that one could not give a crap about.
Okay, take Marcus Fenix. Epic gave him a marty-stu armoured-hulk backstory, hulking armor and a voice from the same guy who does Bender from Futurama. He is, however, not well rounded. His actions, or more importantly, the actions the player had at his disposal didn't do any credit to his character's demeanor or backstory, it went tangentical to it in fact. He shows little remorse about his actions, doesn't lament for the dead, and as far as the game will let you go toward being a psychopathic senseless killer.
While that's all fine and great in the scope of the game, where you're stopping an enemy that threatens humanity in all existence, it's still inconsistent with Fenix's background as a decorated soldier who was imprisoned after abandoning his post to save his father. Rarely does this get reflected in the game. In Gears, all he does is tow party line, at the expense of comrades and friends, mercilessly slaughtering locusts for the good of the COG.
For all intents and purposes too, Marcus' background is locked back tight with only a few surface shreds to show for it's existence, and it is never delved into. For the intents of the game, he could just be a robot with a gun and the game would play more or less similarly.
A comparable character to Marcus is Duke Nukem. Yes, Duke Nukem. Unlike Marcus though, Duke Nukem is that way by legay and by design. He's shallow because he comes from an age predating Quicktime events and dead-serious drama in games. He's a cryogenically frozen and occasionally-thawed clone of 1980s Arnold Schwarzenegger, without the bad accent, in a game. The difference between the two is not in the gameplay (because they both are action heroes with over the top bloody combat and crazy weapons and one-liners). The difference is that Duke is 10 years Marcus' senior, and overal game story deisng has moved on, but Marcus hasn't.
Then of course the question begins to be asked- " Would I want to find out about Marcus?"
Appallingly, the answer is no. Especially not in the midst of a psychotic chainsawgun-powered testosterone-injected superviolent action game. There is space for exposition, but it'd be a waste in Gears. I mean really, why even bother. Also while I'm at it, I'll thumb Halo for similar characterization.Though to it's credit, it does go out of it's way to break that where it can and has limited success, but fuck it anyway.
Of course someone will inevitably bring up one of several Bioware games, or Fallout (probably 3).Again, RPG games, and they are true exceptions to the rule, because they spend exorbitant amounts of effort doing it.. Except Fallout 3, 'cause fuck that. It shows, mind you, because Bioware games are AMAZING at that specific edge of storytelling. Especially Mass Effect 1 and 2 (and aside from Dragon Age) , do not fall back on DnD Cruxes and typecasting).
People go around and thumb their noses at Far Cry 2 for being quite "bland and boring", however there is a lot to be said for the writing and characters of that game. Like Anthony Burch, I find myself unequivocally attracted to the writing and storyline fuelling this game, as well as it's technical achievements. In particular the characterisation in the game is brilliant. Every characters is unique, with their own goals and ideals, and they back their traits with their actions. Even the Buddies, the interchangeable characters that the player can play as and have as help are all varied in their background, look and vocals. Then there's the Jackal, the elusive bad villain, who you pick up the tapes of in your quest to apprehend him as you venture through the very closest a video game has yet got to the genius introspective of Apocalypse Now, all be it as a subtext to the immediate plot.
Far Cry 2 is characterisation done right. Uncharted 2 is Characterisation done right. Gears is characterisation done wrong, Darksiders is characterisation done wrong.
Characters, at least in my book are not all generic Mary-sue. Everyone in the world has a certain amount of uniqueness to them, everyone has a story. Games with any shred of narrative structure should reflect this. It's almost Lit 101 grade basics here. Movies came to grasp with this, theatre REVOLVES around character, hell even anime/manga as a whole has a concept of how characterising works ( though typecasting is common, but it's still stronger writing than most games).
Characterising , in my books is the one area of game narrative that is being held back continually. It's probably the one thing stopping the progression of games as a progressive medium towards the realms of artistic recognition, and away from comic book territory. There is hope, as long as Bioware and Valve keep doing their thing, we may still cling to the hope the industry wakes up to realise that Rounded characters from design to execution are MUCH better for them than, say , Genenric overarmoured grunt, generic space marine, generic soldier (with insert twist), generic fantasy group, generic space travellers. Good design means you could Have ANY of those archetypes, but you can layer one detail of history, ideals , emotions, traits.
Guiltier than Gear and Halo though, are games featuring Modern day soldiers. Not joking, they are literally the shallowest of the charaxcter archetypes. Rarely do you get more than an "oh he's here, he's from X, he's here to Y".
Soldiers are people too, I should know, I know a few, and they all have personalities. When they get together, they have ways of speaking that aren't just text-book military lexicon. Especially in Military groups like Spec Ops or at the squad level, interactions between people is on a much more personable level than games lead you to believe. Game soldiers are, as a whole, cardboard thin cutouts of what soldiers embody. Granted, soldiering is their job, but like all jobs, that's not al lthat defines them, even "lifers".
I think, and I know I'm going to get rozzered for this, Rainbow Six, even Vegas are about the closest I've seen to characterisation in any Modern Day shooter. This maybe because Tom Clancy penned the original script to work off of, but there is enough character to even the NEW Rainbow Soldiers (Logan, Bishop, Kan, etc) to not worry about mary-sue syndrome. Every character has backstory, and even though the games aren't focused around character interaction much at all ,and game tech limited greatly how much visual characterization each had, every rainbow operative has backstory, a height ,weight, build, traits, things he/she excels at, things he/she fails at, and though All the games up to Lockdown couldn't visually or aurally express the difference, the AI for each handled differently, which in the game's scope was enough. Of course Lockdown and Vegas had proper characterising, complete with graphics and speech to boot, which was probably their only strengths, but my point remains the same. Rainbow Six - Best Character portrayals in modern shooters given it's scope.
Now imagine what you could do with a good script write, and today's game tech.
Lastly A brief look at another excellent characterisation game- Battlefield Bad Company. Every one of the main protagonists has a back-story (it's not deep, but it serves purpose), and coupled with creative writing and easily discernible looks for each, you have a recipe for great characters. Though the back-stories are shallow, they are deepened by the actions ingame, a shared experience between the player and the 3 other characters.
The player's character was introduced the right way, scripted in cutscenes the right way, each of the other characters was executed the right way that it seemed almost seamless the way the characters grow on you.
Bad Company sets to change the tone of things for the characters, which I'm personally apprehensive about, but providing they don't mess the characters built out of the first game, I'd still probably find it acceptable.
So yeah, game characters are on a whole, shallow twigs. They shouldn't be, but are. One day I shall fix this. Maybe today, maybe tommorrow.
Umm that's all I have to say for now, tune in next week where I chew something even more massive out maybe. If you have anything you wanna say, drop it in the comments below or reach me at the usual places.
Okay I'll partially discount Roleplaying Games because by definition most of these are deep, though they fall into the trap excusing a whole tonne-of-brick typecasting characters, and generally only getting the term deep partially correct (where deep is word-replaced in their minds by "verbal diahorrea for dialog and backstory, and exemplify characteristics by DnD Stats, and a look defined by the BIG BOOK OF MYTHOLOGICAL SHIT"), but still , big budget game developers should be truly ashamed of what they excuse as characters in their games and game storylines.
By character, I'm speaking to every essence of what a well-rounded character personifies-
A percieved history, personal traits both good and bad , behaviour that backs up their traits and history, and appearance. At the moment, games as a general medium address merely two of these most of the time and the rest is usually Mary-Sue/Marty-Stu'd from wherever that shit comes from (probably Fanfic.net). The result is dull characters that one could not give a crap about.
Okay, take Marcus Fenix. Epic gave him a marty-stu armoured-hulk backstory, hulking armor and a voice from the same guy who does Bender from Futurama. He is, however, not well rounded. His actions, or more importantly, the actions the player had at his disposal didn't do any credit to his character's demeanor or backstory, it went tangentical to it in fact. He shows little remorse about his actions, doesn't lament for the dead, and as far as the game will let you go toward being a psychopathic senseless killer.
While that's all fine and great in the scope of the game, where you're stopping an enemy that threatens humanity in all existence, it's still inconsistent with Fenix's background as a decorated soldier who was imprisoned after abandoning his post to save his father. Rarely does this get reflected in the game. In Gears, all he does is tow party line, at the expense of comrades and friends, mercilessly slaughtering locusts for the good of the COG.
For all intents and purposes too, Marcus' background is locked back tight with only a few surface shreds to show for it's existence, and it is never delved into. For the intents of the game, he could just be a robot with a gun and the game would play more or less similarly.
A comparable character to Marcus is Duke Nukem. Yes, Duke Nukem. Unlike Marcus though, Duke Nukem is that way by legay and by design. He's shallow because he comes from an age predating Quicktime events and dead-serious drama in games. He's a cryogenically frozen and occasionally-thawed clone of 1980s Arnold Schwarzenegger, without the bad accent, in a game. The difference between the two is not in the gameplay (because they both are action heroes with over the top bloody combat and crazy weapons and one-liners). The difference is that Duke is 10 years Marcus' senior, and overal game story deisng has moved on, but Marcus hasn't.
Then of course the question begins to be asked- " Would I want to find out about Marcus?"
Appallingly, the answer is no. Especially not in the midst of a psychotic chainsawgun-powered testosterone-injected superviolent action game. There is space for exposition, but it'd be a waste in Gears. I mean really, why even bother. Also while I'm at it, I'll thumb Halo for similar characterization.Though to it's credit, it does go out of it's way to break that where it can and has limited success, but fuck it anyway.
Of course someone will inevitably bring up one of several Bioware games, or Fallout (probably 3).Again, RPG games, and they are true exceptions to the rule, because they spend exorbitant amounts of effort doing it.. Except Fallout 3, 'cause fuck that. It shows, mind you, because Bioware games are AMAZING at that specific edge of storytelling. Especially Mass Effect 1 and 2 (and aside from Dragon Age) , do not fall back on DnD Cruxes and typecasting).
People go around and thumb their noses at Far Cry 2 for being quite "bland and boring", however there is a lot to be said for the writing and characters of that game. Like Anthony Burch, I find myself unequivocally attracted to the writing and storyline fuelling this game, as well as it's technical achievements. In particular the characterisation in the game is brilliant. Every characters is unique, with their own goals and ideals, and they back their traits with their actions. Even the Buddies, the interchangeable characters that the player can play as and have as help are all varied in their background, look and vocals. Then there's the Jackal, the elusive bad villain, who you pick up the tapes of in your quest to apprehend him as you venture through the very closest a video game has yet got to the genius introspective of Apocalypse Now, all be it as a subtext to the immediate plot.
Far Cry 2 is characterisation done right. Uncharted 2 is Characterisation done right. Gears is characterisation done wrong, Darksiders is characterisation done wrong.
Characters, at least in my book are not all generic Mary-sue. Everyone in the world has a certain amount of uniqueness to them, everyone has a story. Games with any shred of narrative structure should reflect this. It's almost Lit 101 grade basics here. Movies came to grasp with this, theatre REVOLVES around character, hell even anime/manga as a whole has a concept of how characterising works ( though typecasting is common, but it's still stronger writing than most games).
Characterising , in my books is the one area of game narrative that is being held back continually. It's probably the one thing stopping the progression of games as a progressive medium towards the realms of artistic recognition, and away from comic book territory. There is hope, as long as Bioware and Valve keep doing their thing, we may still cling to the hope the industry wakes up to realise that Rounded characters from design to execution are MUCH better for them than, say , Genenric overarmoured grunt, generic space marine, generic soldier (with insert twist), generic fantasy group, generic space travellers. Good design means you could Have ANY of those archetypes, but you can layer one detail of history, ideals , emotions, traits.
Guiltier than Gear and Halo though, are games featuring Modern day soldiers. Not joking, they are literally the shallowest of the charaxcter archetypes. Rarely do you get more than an "oh he's here, he's from X, he's here to Y".
Soldiers are people too, I should know, I know a few, and they all have personalities. When they get together, they have ways of speaking that aren't just text-book military lexicon. Especially in Military groups like Spec Ops or at the squad level, interactions between people is on a much more personable level than games lead you to believe. Game soldiers are, as a whole, cardboard thin cutouts of what soldiers embody. Granted, soldiering is their job, but like all jobs, that's not al lthat defines them, even "lifers".
I think, and I know I'm going to get rozzered for this, Rainbow Six, even Vegas are about the closest I've seen to characterisation in any Modern Day shooter. This maybe because Tom Clancy penned the original script to work off of, but there is enough character to even the NEW Rainbow Soldiers (Logan, Bishop, Kan, etc) to not worry about mary-sue syndrome. Every character has backstory, and even though the games aren't focused around character interaction much at all ,and game tech limited greatly how much visual characterization each had, every rainbow operative has backstory, a height ,weight, build, traits, things he/she excels at, things he/she fails at, and though All the games up to Lockdown couldn't visually or aurally express the difference, the AI for each handled differently, which in the game's scope was enough. Of course Lockdown and Vegas had proper characterising, complete with graphics and speech to boot, which was probably their only strengths, but my point remains the same. Rainbow Six - Best Character portrayals in modern shooters given it's scope.
Now imagine what you could do with a good script write, and today's game tech.
Lastly A brief look at another excellent characterisation game- Battlefield Bad Company. Every one of the main protagonists has a back-story (it's not deep, but it serves purpose), and coupled with creative writing and easily discernible looks for each, you have a recipe for great characters. Though the back-stories are shallow, they are deepened by the actions ingame, a shared experience between the player and the 3 other characters.
The player's character was introduced the right way, scripted in cutscenes the right way, each of the other characters was executed the right way that it seemed almost seamless the way the characters grow on you.
Bad Company sets to change the tone of things for the characters, which I'm personally apprehensive about, but providing they don't mess the characters built out of the first game, I'd still probably find it acceptable.
So yeah, game characters are on a whole, shallow twigs. They shouldn't be, but are. One day I shall fix this. Maybe today, maybe tommorrow.
Umm that's all I have to say for now, tune in next week where I chew something even more massive out maybe. If you have anything you wanna say, drop it in the comments below or reach me at the usual places.
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