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Indy 4 Sucked Because Spielberg Was Too Busy Playing COD4!?
December 10, 2008
Today I read an interesting article courtesy of MCV that basically had an interview where Steven Spielberg was QQing about how he saw no real “synergy” between storytelling and gaming. Now, while I may actually agree with him that their is nothing worse than a shitty cut-scene, I also believe that Steve is missing the the real paradigm in the way that games and narratives connect and should take a deeper dive at games based on “systemic story telling.” Like for example, if you play chess there is no real story given to you, but given the attributes of the character, the mechanics of gameplay, and the general rules of the world, the player is allowed to create one.
I don’t think any other game did it better than GTA3, every time the game turned on it felt like you were living the greatest scene from the French Connection, yet it somehow felt better and was more gratifying than the emotions any movie could provide. The spectators watching you play would LOL because it was amazing that so much stuff was happening, all in context with the narrative, but it was completely “unscripted.” Because “truth is stranger than fiction” and “you can’t make this shit up” is what games can give you and movies will never be able to.
Another shining example of “systemic story telling” is HITMAN, (not to be mistaken with the scripted horse shit of Assassin’s Creed). In HITMAN, especially BLOODMONEY, the player is allowed a million ways to skin a cat, and really craft their own sequence of events, i.e. the narrative that tells the story the game ultimately wants you to experience. When you play HITMAN you feel like a trained killer who makes his own choices not because it is written but because the system of the game supports it.
To quote Spielberg, “You know the thing that doesn’t work for me in these games are the little movies where they attempt to tell a story in between the playable levels. That’s where there hasn’t been a synergy between storytelling and gaming.”
IMO, Steven is suffering from nostalgia paralysis and is unable to see the synergy because he is looking where he thinks he should but not where he ought to. To truly understand how to take advantage of the medium you need to understand that it is a medium where “the user is the content,” not the other way around. It’s ok, I forgive him for being a noob, I loved MUNICH!
To justify my story header, Spielberg was quoted, “There have been a lot of games, including all the sequels for Medal of Honor, that I’ve really admired. I love the direction it’s taken. I also like the competitive games. I’m currently playing Call of Duty 4. A lot of these first person shooters are very interesting.”
Ok, I’ve always known Spielberg loves violence, so where the hell were the melting faces in Indy4? Or the Heart getting torn out of the chest?? The ant swarm was lame!! Do over!!
One Response to “Indy 4 Sucked Because Spielberg Was Too Busy Playing COD4!?”
Im just thrilled to read that someone else liked Hitman: Blood Money!! I loved all of the hitman games and you never hear about them anymore.
By DylanMMc on Dec 11, 2008