Ah, the joys of nitpicking. Most of the time I try to keep them to myself. But, well — I’ve just written about Gears of War, and playing it’s sequel directly afterward doesn’t leave me with a whole hell of a lot to think on. So I’m combing through Marcus Fenix’s hideous man-fur for one little thing that maybe only I can see. It’s not fair, but c’est la vie!
Halo: Combat Evolved was Microsoft’s killer app for the original Xbox. It somehow became the magical, revolutionary piece of software that justified the entire existence of an otherwise questionable platform. Microsoft would later make another dubious choice by jumping into the seventh console generation almost exactly one full year before its competitors, and, personally, I’d argue that this decision didn’t pay off until the launch of Epic’s Gears of War. In fact, from a purely anecdotal standpoint, I can’t recall hearing of a single prior 360 title that really wowed audiences. Halo and Gears: both will forever be linked by their astonishing success as exclusives on unproved systems.
What I’m trying to say is, Gears of War’s an important game. The strength of its cover implementation practically birthed a new genre. Not unlike the way Halo: Combat Evolved managed to port something new and different from the PC to the TV.
Of course, otherwise, the two series are pretty different; while the Halo titles represent the seminal console first-person shooters, the Gears games are known for popularizing third-person shooting. Rather than seeing through the eyes of the avatar, players view the action from an over-the-shoulder perspective. This encourages a more protective style of play in keeping with the emphasis on cover and strategic movement.
Though far from the world’s biggest Tetris fan, I certainly appreciate the game’s brilliance. In fact, I took Russian in high school largely because Alexey Pajitnov was a household name for me. All I knew about him was that he lived in the Soviet Union. But how the hell did this guy from Russia come up with something so genius?! Seemed it might be wise to learn of his culture and upbringing.
Unfortunately, college-prep language classes didn’t grant me any insight on Pajitnov or his falling block puzzle design. Perhaps this is part of why, when I play a puzzle-based game today, Tetris is always lurking at the back of my mind. It begs unfair comparison: is this title as simple? As elegant? As timeless?
The answer to these questions is almost invariably no. So why not slide as far up the scale from such criteria as possible? Alexey Pajitnov may have tried to do just that with Hexic.
It’s easy to see why New Super Mario Bros. Wii frustrates the hell out of some people, and Mitch Krpata’s piece over at Insult Swordfighting does a great job succinctly explaining why:
…the manual tries to play up the unpredictable nature of the multiplayer, sort of jokingly suggesting that you might choose to grief your allies rather than help them. This would be all well and good if such a thing were optional, but instead the experience of playing this game with somebody else is an unbroken series of cheap, obnoxious deaths.
Krpata is right to focus on the (somewhat) cooperative aspect…according to Mario-creator Shigeru Miyamoto, it’s the game’s reason for being. Personally, I’ve never played NSMBWii alone, and I can’t see why anyone would bother trying. Sure there’d be less “cheap, obnoxious deaths,” but so what — we’ve all played THAT game before.
Teh Haloez. The series’ success in popularizing console first-person shooters is much discussed. These titles have been nothing but development studio gold, and, fortunately, the folks at Bungie are pretty forthcoming about some of the core philosophies that minted their moneymakers.
It all started when, way back in the Halo: Combat Evolved days, Bungie’s design gang reportedly came up with a gameplay mandate: “30 seconds of fun.” Apparently, the plan was to first engineer this particular brand of goodness, then copy, paste, and tweak it into a full-on game. They delivered in spades.
But what did they deliver, exactly? Multiplayer Designer Lars Bakken states that the “Golden Triangle of Halo” play consists of “weapons, grenades, and melee.” These make for a strikingly elegant combat recipe that seamlessly fuses short-, mid-, and long-range ingredients. Despite some minor adjustments, this basic formula remained much the same for two subsequent iterations of the game. And then along came Halo 3: ODST.
Well, it’s finally 2010. And by God, I’m going to do a few things differently around here.
In short: I want this blog to be more productive. I’d started it with a lot of vague hopes and dreams, none of which have come to fruition. Nor, for that matter, were they very realistic. But at the very least I’ve stuck with my bottom line, which was the relatively simple matter of writing every week. Now it’s time to make sure that energy is focused on something.
So. At the very least, I’m going to start posting about the raw MEAT of whatever I play. Trim the fat, skip the starch and get straight to the taste of every game.
And maybe (just maybe) — if I can swing it — I’ll be blogging about and prototyping some design ideas.
I don’t expect these changes to come easy, but hey. Here’s to a brand new year!
Please. For the love of all that is good and holy…STOP GameStop.
I’m begging. If this mega-retailer-cum-pawn shop has ever wronged you, your family, or someone you know…STOP GameStop.
I implore you. If you feel it’s unfair that developers don’t see a dime from used game sales…STOP GameStop.
I ask only this. If you’ve ever wanted to buy a game and been turned away because you didn’t pre-order…STOP GameStop.
Please. For the love…STOP GameStop.
