When I play some games, I don't want to be reminded that I'm playing a game.
Survival Horror, a genre that grew up with technology and its ability to implement sounds and a sense of atmosphere, still doesn't seem to understand that immersion could be its greatest tool.
In our readings in the Video Game Studies book, I was thinking about what was mentioned in he section about Civilization, wherein hardcore players would see through the aesthetic representation of the game and think about functions. Functions are well and good, but dammit, when I'm playing a horror game, I want to be scared.
If I can't get through a door, there better be a damn good reason. Most horror games, (hell, most games) make ironclad wooden doors with locks so strong a good kick wouldn't do much more than leave a scratch. I'm tired of looking for keys and Macguffins. I want to explore and be scared. I there's a puzzle, I want it to be related to the environment and not be random and confusing (piss off, Resident Evil).
I don't want firepower. I don't want to be a highly-trained soldier. I want to be a shop clerk. I want to be a gas station attendant. I want to be a bad shot, I want arthritis, I want flatfeet (Can you see why I like(d) Silent Hill?)
I don't want a menu screen. I want to look into my pockets, rifle through a knapsack, lug something important by hand (Dead Space's menus are ok; at least they're in game).
As far as art and video games, I'm of the opinion that (at least for survival horror) the game should let you forget it's a game, and like the book said, deliver instead an experience. Sometimes, like a book, I want to forget what I'm doing and just be a part of it.
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I feel the same way. When playing a videogame I want the chance to escape the world around me and be engulfed on what the screen is showing me. I love Fallout 3 but I have a hard time being scared, running around the ruined DC when everytime I have to shoot someone, I have to pull up a screen and hit who knows how many buttons, blah, blah, blah and all of that takes me out of the game. I remember years and years ago playing Decent for the computer and at times being pulled into the game and getting startled at times; not that the game was scarey by any means, it was the fact I was pulled into the game. It felt like I wasn't actually playing a game and that is something I look for in videogames.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Left 4 Dead 2 will offer you the choices of being a shop clerk or gas station attendant running around with a chain saw in hand.
Is part of what you're asking for here an open-world survival/horror game? While there's a certain amount of wandering around in the Silent Hill series, the narrative is overall rather linear. I'd welcome such a game, though. GTA: Silent Hill!
ReplyDeleteNot so much an open world game but one where I don't have to break the experience by trudging through menus or playing killing machines that could easily destroy any threat. Picking up items? Stored on my person in a tangible, real area. The newer Alone in the Dark had the right idea with the jacket holding all the items, though the game itself sucked.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I like playing average people, which is why I liked Silent Hill over Resident Evil. The former's characters were in order, from 1-5, a writer, a store clerk, a teenage girl, a photographer, and a military veteran (I didn't so much like the fifth one).