/vr/ - Retro Games

Japanese video games have had strong narrative aspects since the 8 bit era...maybe sooner? And only once pre-rendered 3D cutscenes became possible, it becomes palatable for the western audience. Lots of people like to point squarely at Kojima for this, but despite the hours of cutscenes and talking heads in his output prior to MGSV, but I think Metal Gear succeeds in using games as a medium to create a narrative that would not be possible--or at least, worse off--outside of a video game. Beyond that, I would say that the Metal Gear games have considerable gameplay depth. Compare Metal Gear Solid 2, for example, to any contemporary triple A release that could be considered a movie game.

Take the hallmark example: The Last of Us, which is an objectively thinner game than anything Naughty Dog had pursued previously, including Crash Bandicoot. In terms of mechanics and gameplay variety, TLOU doesn't even have as much going on as the Uncharted games that preceded it.

What has happened with moooovie games that's notable in the last decade is basically the walk-and-talk sequence, which is an incredible proposition really. "What if long cutscenes were entirely unskippable...BUT you also had to push the left analog stick forward for the entire thing?" Like wow great. what a great game.

I think games can tell interesting stories in interesting ways. I think video games are a unique venue for narratives, but you have to play by the rules of the medium, and the baseline rule is that said game must be compelling! And most damning is that contemporary video games don't even really ape films, a lot of the time. What they're emulating instead is prestige television...but in the most low-brow fashion.

My pet theory is that I think adult game hobbyists, and ESPECIALLY people involved in the games industry, want nothing more than games to be treated as a serious, mature format. and the shining example is some fucking emotionally shallow zombie b-movie? give me a fucking break.