Indigo Prophecy: In conclusion, what sticks

When I originally created this blog I created it with the intent on judging games for both their good and bad qualities, mainly mentioning one good thing or two and then going on and on about why it SUCKED SO MUCH. My first three entries were primarily that, I looked at Mirror's Edge, Bioshock, and even did a review of Indigo Prophecy. Then the gods reminded me, "But Joe, this blog is for a class, you need to critique certain aspects of one game based on the different guidelines outlined in Jeannie Novak's Game Development book of whatever its called." And before I could tell the gods to shut it I realized they were right and I knew secretly as much as I liked reviewing every game and its mothers and I needed to get a good grade in the class. So I hung my head, bowed down to the gods, then they went off laughing and played a couple rounds of Hail to the Chimp.

What the gods play. I laugh.

However, my next two posts I get to do exactly what my original intent was: judge a game based on its qualities. The first entry (which, yes, you are reading, calm it) will be comprised mainly of what worked and what the game did well. Or, as I have been calling it getting back to my pasta/narcotics obsession, what makes the game stick.

My love. Both metaphorical and delicious.

So we have this game Indigo Prophecy. And its a game that arguably does a lot of things very well. Probably its two greatest stand out points is its use of story/narrative, and characters. I wouldn't go so far to call it Interactive Movie but creator David Cage and the rest of QuanticDream (who still won't return my phone calls, damn French) seem convinced to explore the ideas of character and plot with their video games. Its as if they realized that having a story was suddenly important, who would've thought.

"But Joey C," you say, "lots of video games have stories. Actually, almost all video games have stories." "Oh ho," I say back, "True that may be, but few video games exist out there solely for the pursuit of story. JRPG's like Final Fantasy may love their story but they still have character building and other elements like whining grown men who look like tiny twelve-year old girls. Adventure P&C are driven by story but still have all the puzzle solving to figure out. This game takes the ideas of plot from both of these and skims down on the other details. There's no advancing of abilities and the only thing one could consider a mini-game is the "action sequences" which work as continuously drawn out quicktime events.

One of things that I really liked was how realistic the characters were in the game. The game tried very hard to stay clear of stereotypes and archetypes. And even when it had archetypes it made sure that it followed the character arch, where the character continues to advance or develop of the course of the game. It wasn't simply about being "Master Chief" or "Marcus Fenix" where you're a shear amount of awesomeness the whole time. It was about being like "Niko" in GTA4, where you're character rises up and takes on the world. However, in Indigo Prophecy this works a little differently. Its more psychological and about taking a depressed and anxiety-stressed man who's just killed a person and making them realize their true purpose in the universe and "the grand scheme of things" in time to, literally, save the world. It's also about building relationships, saving relationships, and somehow becoming a better person in the process.

The ultimate hero.



The ultimate badass (but not without some character development first).

I want to take this time to acknowledge the power and interest of nonlinear games. I know they're all the rage with open-ended worlds and gameplay being at its finest. Everyone clamors around the "sandbox game" like its the hottest prostitute on some street corner. But however hot she may be doesn't mean she won't give you the clap. I think people should still try to admire games like Indigo Prophecy because they took a linear world where you have one specific story to follow and then gave you alternate paths on how to achieve the final goal. Its like those choose your own adventure books. You still have some sort of objective to achieve or fail in the end. If choose your own adventure books where like sandbox games you'd read the first page then you could read any of the following pages and that would be it. However with games like these your actions have consequences, and I think that's something that should still be admired today.

Anyway, those are just a couple of things that make Indigo Prophecy stick to the wall. However, soon next weekend comes, and I'll have plenty to say about it to let it fall.

Bioshock: Or How Your Daddy will Beat You for Killing your Sister

I'm going into this knowing that there aren't a lot of things that I can say are wrong about Bioshock. Its been out for quite a bit of time and has been reviewed by everyone and their mothers and yet it seems that the game is quite close to perfect. Perfect, you say? Perhaps not quite perfect, but the game is without a doubt very, very good.

I'd like to give you a rundown of the story but I think if I did that I would take away from the game itself. So I'll just that in this first person shooter sci-fi/horror/period game you play as Jack, the lone survivor of a plane crash who seeks refuge in an underwater city called Rapture only to discover that Rapture has been transformed into the darkest corner of hell filled with mutant beings and mechanical machines. You're also in contact with a man named Atlas who's guiding you through this dystopian city ... and that's all I'll say because I don't want to spoil it for the few living under a rock who haven't played.

I'll just add that its set in the 1960's and filled with haunting decorum and music from the 1930's so its pretty on the eyes and ears. I may take back that pretty on the eyes because this game goes on overload with the blood so perhaps if your a little sadistic you'll still call this game pretty.

If you haven't noticed already I'm saying little about the plot while hyping it up at the same time. That's because, without a doubt, the plot makes this game. There are very few fps's that can claim to have plot as part of the reason why you keep going. Halo? No, you keep going because you can kill everything because unless you follow that series religiously the plot is a little less than like walking through muddy quicksand. The plot of Bioshock is disturbingly intriguing, as you're thrown into a world where you know absolutely nothing and slowly, through encounters with demented villains, audio recordings, and contact with the city's creator Andrew Ryan, you begin to unravel the mystery of what happened to this city, what tore it apart, and what deep seeded connection you actually share with Rapture. That's all I'm going to say about the story. It's one of the first games where the player actually wants to listen to the four minute long audio recording. And then will listen to fifty more of a similar length because they want to know what happened here.

Sure there's the shooter part of the game, but that's pretty standard. You have your various weapons which you use in your right hand, leaving your left hand open for plasmids (cough, magic powers) where you can unleash fire, ice, insects, telekinesis, and a menagerie of other weapons. The rpg elements of the game, where you can a weapon more powerful and choose between saving "Little Sisters" (path of good) or harvesting them (path of evil) are interesting but are what they are, which are rpg elements.

I won't go so far as to say that this noodle sticks to the wall for forever, but it sticks for a pretty damn long time. The game, while not scary, is still very jumpy, and while I haven't even brought it up, the gameplay is still quite fun (though it is still what a shooter is, which is going from room to room and killing obstacles that get in your way). All around its a very impressive game, but what makes it so strong, and game makers should take note here, is its story. Its inventive, original, clever, and intriguing.

There's about a million different elements that I failed to mention. For instance, the Big Daddy's, which are mechanized beings which protect the Little Sisters, who carry the Adam....but by now you've probably played the game and know all of that. If you haven't, what rock have you been living under?