Can movies work as video games?
The discussion over whether or not
video games can be considered art has a lot of arguments for or against. I
personally believe that video games are in fact art, but in their own special
way. The thing is, recent industry developments have shown me that game
executives and developers want to prove gaming as an art form as well, but in
all the wrong ways.
To say that Hideo Kojima is an
industry legend is like saying grass is green at this point. The creator of the
Metal Gear series and the man chosen
to helm Silent Hill’s future before
things went horribly wrong (plus who could forget his most famous work, Penguin Adventure?), Kojima returned to
the spotlight last year when he announced he had escaped Konami’s grasp once
and for all and was now making games for Sony. This led to him announcing a
brand new game at E3 2016, that being Death
Stranding. We still know nothing for certain about what kind of game Death Stranding will be, except that it
boasts a star-studded cast that includes names like Norman Reedus, Guillermo
del Toro and Mads Mikkelsen.
Recently Kojima was interviewed about Death Stranding, and he had this to say:
“If
we just make a game people are less likely to choose that as something to do. They
would rather engage in something that combines different forms of entertainment
together.” Basically, Kojima is trying to make a game…but also a movie.
That’s…concerning.
A
huge film buff, Kojima has a long history of trying to make his games feel
similar to movies, the Metal Gear series
being a prime example of this. The funny thing is that he’s actually one of the
tamer examples of movies disguised as video games. Does anyone remember The Order: 1886? If you don’t, I
wouldn’t blame you. 1886 was a game
that decided it didn’t want to be a
game. It wanted to be a movie! This led to a film-like aspect ratio that
resulted in black bars on the screen during gameplay, an overdose of cutscenes
and gameplay that consisted mostly of quick time events. The developers even
deliberately held back the framerate from 60 FPS to 30 because in interviews they
legitimately seemed to have forgotten they were making a game, referring to 1886 as “our movie”. Similarly, Telltale Games have become famous through
their “choose your own adventure” style games, featuring minimal gameplay other
than making choices to move the story along. They’re not bad (well, most of
them), but they definitely feel more like an interactive story than a video
game. There’s also David Cage’s production company that have produced games
like Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls
and the upcoming Detroit: Become Human that
are little more than glorified movies that boast how good their narratives are
and how high the production quality is (ha!) over the gameplay.
And
herein lies one of the biggest problems in why video games haven’t been
accepted as an art form by the general public: at times it seems like it’s
trying to rip off another art form to be accepted as such, that being film.
Oftentimes a game will sacrifice framerate for the sake of looking “cinematic”.
To put this in a way a normal human being would understand, it means developers
actively trying to make a game run worse to try to make it look like a movie in
a haphazard attempt to try and have people take it seriously. It rarely works.
While
the “cinematic” argument has become far less prevalent than it was back in
early 2015 when The Order: 1886 was
released, it’s footprint remains. We’ve got games like the previously mentioned
Death Stranding and Detroit: Become Human on the way, and
while those games both look admittedly interesting, they have a common factor:
they both look like they’re trying to be a movie. Hell, we still have no idea
what kind of game Death Stranding is
supposed to be! We just know that it’s got a bunch of movie stars onboard to
play the roles, and that they’re involved in some wacky story involving babies and
dead fish.
There
are many reasons why games aren’t considered art in the public eye yet,
including the rampant pre-order culture and the industry that’s constantly
trying to get into your wallet. In my opinion, though, the fact that games are
looking up to movies as what they should aspire to be like instead of, oh, I
dunno, other games is why it’s been
held back for so long. I love it when a game tells me a good story, but I love
it even more when it gives me something to actually do that propels the story
forward. Let me propel the narrative through gameplay, not watch some Hollywood
celebrity do it for me.
Song of the Week
The song that played during the Death Stranding E3 trailer, I’ll Keep Coming by Low Roar. I doubt
this song will have anything to do with the game itself, but it’s a good one to
listen to.
While I’ve got your attention, I’m
always trying to improve this site and the articles we have on here. I want to
know what type of stuff my readers want to see more of, so I’ve made a quick
survey. Just choose which types of stuff you enjoy reading on here (you can pick
as many as you like), and vote! Thanks!
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