May 09, 2008
Note: I was very ill this week so I had a lot of time to kill...
Stuff I missed: Gravity - Super Mario Galaxy
What sets apart one video game from another? Aesthetics aside, what makes you want to play one platformer over another platformer? Often there is some unique gameplay feature which makes one game more enjoyable than another in the same genre. And some of these ideas inspire all sorts of creativeness. These are my picks, accompanied by the games that first illustrated the concept successfully. What's your flavour?
10:Quick Time Events - Shenmue (DC)
Action-packed in-game cinemas are always a pleasure to watch, but having a hands-on component thrown in makes them even better. The history of the Quick Time Event (QTE) can be traced back to the atrociously bad Dragon's Lair - let's forget that stinker for now; Shenmue was the first video game to popularise this mechanic. During a dynamic sequence (often a chase or fight scene) a series of button commands would appear. In order to successfully overcome the trials and tribulations you had to keep on your toes and stay in sync with the on-screen prompts; failure usually resulted in getting your ass handed to you. QTEs made those split-decision moments incredibly tense and exciting, and they have since become more widespread in their use with games such as Resident Evil 4, Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy and God of War all exploiting this semi-interactive element.
9:The Force - R-Type (ARC)
The Force is a piece of Bydo flesh - an indestructible living weapon. In essence it is an energised pod-shaped accessory for your fighter craft capable of granting extreme firepower when attached to the front or rear; it can also be shot out as last-ditch offence and/or used as a sentry cannon. Most importantly, though, the Force is impervious to anything and everything. You can use it to absorb enemy fire, rendering your craft virtually untouchable on the attached side. Or you can impregnate it into the chest cavity of a gargantuan Bydo alien, leaving it to mercilessly screw and burrow itself into vital organs. The Force makes R-Type unlike any other shooter on the market and despite what Irem have to say with regards to finality, it's still as strong as ever. Don't give up just yet!
8:Taking Cover - Time Crisis (ARC)
Gears of War undoubtedly made the act of taking cover a next-gen craze: Rainbow Six Vegas, Uncharted, Grand Theft Auto IV, and a couple of others soon followed suit. Backing off when the going gets rough is what any sane man would do in a such a hairy situation, popping out to fire brief spurts of lead only when things have calmed down somewhat. Taking cover is a real life saver and it makes you look cool, too. Now we all should be aware that Solid Snake, the soldier boys over at Kill.switch, and Richard Miller of Time Crisis fame were all ducking and taking meaningful cover back in the days. So you see, it's not really a next-gen thing after all, but it's still a gameplay feature that really ought to be used in any virtual portrayal of modern warfare.
7:The Sandbox - Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
Go anywhere and do anything you want - that's what sandbox games are all about. It all started with the lukewarm Body Harvest. The Nintendo 64 wasn't exactly a powerhouse and as such the scope of what is considered to be the first true sandbox title was limited: you ride vehicles all over the place and blow up aliens - that's it pretty much. It was the Grand Theft Auto series that took the idea of a virtual playground and ran the whole nine yards with it - especially when it came to the renown GTA3 trilogy (and its two portable offshoots). The copycats soon followed: True Crime, Destroy All Humans!, Just Cause, Saints Row, Scarface, Crackdown... and even well-established media franchises jumped aboard the bandwagon with titles such as The Simpsons: Hit & Run, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, and several Spider-Man games. So-called non-linear gaming provides increased longevity and hence more bang for your buck. Exploring an open-ended world means you can go at your own pace; take a breather if the main missions are getting on your nerves. Unfortunately, it is not too uncommon to see some lazy designs sneak in - the culprit often being the numerous side missions which can be rather repetitive and pointless. Still, sandboxing done right yields a trove of goodness. Case in point: Grand Theft Auto IV.
6:Portals - Narbacular Drop (PC)
That's right - Portal WASN'T the first game to feature two interconnected portals as a gameplay mechanic. The honour instead goes to Narbacular Drop (designed by the guys who later created Portal, duh). The idea is simple enough: shoot two portals onto any non-metallic surface; walk/leap/fall through any one of them and you'll walk/leap/fall out the other in an instant. It's a brilliant concept and it has led to some of the most ingenious environmental puzzles I have ever come across. I see enormous potential with this mechanic in the future.
5:Indirect Control - Kirby: Canvas Curse (DS)
Many devout fans of HAL Laboratory's pink... "thing" were critical of Canvas Curse. Sure, it wasn't a true Kirby title - there was no real platforming to speak of - but if I may genteely twist a common phrase: "Beauty is in the 'stylus' of the beholder". That is to say Canvas Curse excelled in a way that no-one ever thought possible (but then again, the DS has annihilated the PSP in terms of popularity and even I didn't see that coming). You didn't tell Kirby to move right or jump up. No, instead you traced rainbow coloured lines upon which Kirby would spin along. Deadly pits could be bridged with a single swift stroke and increasing Kirby's speed was just a rollercoaster loop doodle away. You could even block off enemy projectiles by scribbling in a faux wall. The only direct control you had over Kirby was in initiating his powers (or tackle), done by simply tapping his spherical hide. No more, no less. Now if only more games dared to be as different as this innovative offshoot. We've already got Line Rider and LocoRoco, but I demand more!
4:Tag Teams - X-Men vs. Street Fighter (ARC)
An honourable fight is carried out mano-a-mano. But the more the merrier, right? In the mid-nineties the fighting game genre hit a speed bump. Then came X-Men vs. Street Fighter (XSF) - the very first tag team brawler. Infinite combo glitches aside, XSF brought a never-before-seen element into the fray. Not being confined to just a single character meant that your potential movelist was doubled (or tripled in sequels); any inherent weakness (e.g. short vs. long range) able to be exploited by your opponent became moot when you took into account a counter-character partner. Would you strike a fine balance of fighting styles? Or would you compound similar attributes to give your team a synergistic advantage? With tag teaming, strategy has no bounds. On the 3D side of things, Tekken Tag Tournament (a personal favourite) showed what tag team integration could do for a fighting game. It was a little different here in that your fighters were vulnerable as they tagged in/out, and a single KO would conclude the match. But this feature alone made Tag an instant classic. Now why aren't the more recent fighting games making use of this innovative concept?!
3:Timed Hits - Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
Take away the epic story and most old-school RPGs fall flat. I know there are many fans of turn-based battles out there, and a few who even have a soft spot for random encounters. But honestly, wading through countless battles, where the "fun" lies in issuing orders and watching your heroes perform them one at a time, gets boring fast - especially when you are forced to grind for levels, abilities and/or items every so often. Let me just say this once: "Thank you Mario. Your Princess may be in another castle, but who cares when your debut RPG is this good!" Among many things which Super Mario RPG did right was the usage (and introduction) of timed hits. By pressing the right button at the right time Mario and co. would be able to power up their offence for more damage or additional strikes, raise their defence considerably, or even evade attacks altogether. This made battles far more involving and interesting; contrast this subtle level of interactivity to simply watching your every command execute like a broken record - how can you go back? These days most traditional RPGs have some sort of timed attack element to them, be they special manoeuvres (Final Fantasy VIII's Gunblade instantly springs to mind) or complete battle systems (Shadow Hearts' Judgment Ring). Heck, even modern action games are taking a cue from the plumber - Devil May Cry 4's Nero has timed hits by way of the Instant Rev technique which grants him a Godly amount of insane power.
2:Time Manipulation - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (PS2)
Sometimes I can't help but feel that I should've done things in a different way. This applies to video games, too. However, more often that not, experimentation leads to death, or something similar. This was not the case in the Prince of Persia Trilogy where the ancient Sands of Time allowed our hero to right the wrongs... or right the rights, but in a different way. Before the Prince arrived, though, we had Blinx the Time Sweeping cat - star of "The World's First 4D Action Game" (oh how pretentious) - and Link of Hyrule had a brief flirt with rewinding in Majora's Mask. However, this time manipulating mechanic has not be utilised very much. TimeShift is currently the most recent title to pull out some old-school VCR tricks, but it disappointed on many fronts (being a generic first-person shooter is one of them). There is still so much untapped potential with time manipulation. Since the Prince has given up on his precious Sands in the forseeable future, who's going to carry the torch now?
1:Light/Dark World - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
Call it a parallel universe or an alternate reality if you please - they all mean the same thing. Shigeru Miyamoto struck gold (again) with the release of A Link to the Past. What really stood out in that game was the concept of a light and dark world, and how things done in one realm would directly impact the other. This brought puzzle solving to a whole new level. The light/dark world mechanic was further improved in Ocarina of Time, with a particularly stand-out moment occurring when Link has to travel to the past to teach a musician an important song, a song that Link only learnt a moment ago from that same musician... in the present! Several other games have since made good use of parallel worlds that affect one another: Onimusha 3; Metroid Prime 2; Prince of Persia: Warrior Within; the Gameboy Color exclusive Zelda titles - and they have all been well received. The concept is no longer fresh, but it is one that has infinite possibilities. Unfortunately you can't force a light/dark world upon just any adventure game. But I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us yet.
My perfect game would incorporate every single one of these design features into a cohesive whole. That said, my perfect game will probably never exist. Except perhaps in my dreams - feel free to visit anytime =)
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