LA Noire

Back in the olden days of Faceplant, my first post was a review of Heavy Rain.  Good game, but I wrote at the time that it was more interactive drama than game.  It felt more akin to watching a movie than playing something most of the time.  It was the only game that I got that feeling with, until I played LA Noire.  Well, parts of LA Noire.  Seeing as how the game comes from Rockstar, the initial impression is that of a GTA style game set in 1940’s Los Angeles, which wouldn’t really be a bad thing.  However, the experience LA Noire crafts is not one of a sandbox game, despite the lovingly detailed recreation of LA.  The meat of the game is laser focused on story, primarily shown through main character Cole Phelp’s interaction with other people and the impressive new facial recognition technology that debuts to the general video gaming public in this game.  Interviewing witnesses and criminals become the highlight because of it.  The interview process really forces you to pay attention to what exactly characters are saying, to a degree that I don’t think most gamers usually do.  The thrill and satisfaction of playing LA Noire will not come from hitting somebody center mass with a shotgun, although that certainly happens more than a few times.  No, the real thrills will come from catching somebody in a lie and knowing you have the perfect piece of evidence to prove it with.  It’s this experience that makes LA Noire worth playing.  It’s a unique experience and a good one, but it actually makes the more traditional “game” elements feel a little bit silly in comparison.  It almost feels like LA Noire is trying to be two games at once and that they both suffer for it.  However, that won’t matter when you’re wrapped up in a case and desperately trying to find your next lead.  It’s not a perfect game, but LA Noire succeeds on a purely absorbing level.  Despite a few flaws, this is a game that should be played.

Infamous

Who doesn’t love being a super hero?  The powers, the gadgets, the spandex, the babes!  In comic book form (or more recently, in film)  they wield incredible powers and cut a swath of destruction through the puny henchmen of whatever super villan of the week appears on the radar.  So how come being a super hero in a GAME is so difficult to pull off?  Other than Batman: Arkham Asylum I can’t think of a game that truly makes you feel like the savior of a city.  Infamous, even more so than Batman, captures this feeling due to its great sense of scale and strong main character.  The fact that the universe of Infamous is an original IP lets the game build the hero, villains, and setting in such a way almost perfectly suited to gaming.

The blog has been stolen by ninjas

Video games have come a long way in terms of story over the past three decades.  Back in the days when 8 bit was the new 4 bit and you had to use your imagination to fill in the gaps between those pixels, the only plot you really needed was “you’re a good guy.  Everyone else is bad.  Kill kill kill.”

Today you have games with writers, real honest-to-god screen writers coming up with dialogue and plot twists, almost like video games are becoming a form of art.  (Eat it Ebert)  Games are now produced with a budget big enough to rival today’s blockbuster movies, and even in the goriest hack-n-slash game, you can find something unexpected.  Still, games can present a unique challenge to writers, since there are certain elements that absolutely need to be in each game.

There needs to be action.  There needs to be a lot of action and combat and Madden football and poker, or, I dunno, random white rhinos charging Cabella or something.  Therefore, most action and adventure games seem to fall into one of four generic game molds, with their story crafted around a simple premise you might find in an old school NES game.

Red Dead Redemption: The Pinnacle of Storytelling?

The following deals with the themes and story found in Red Dead Redemption. It was spawned by a conversation that I had with Enosh in the comment section of his RDR review. I just recently finished the game and really feel like some of the things it explores in the narrative are worthy of examination. This article contains MAJOR spoilers for RDR. Do not read this if you intend to play the game or are in the process of doing so. If you have played the game or never plan to, I’d say start by reading Enosh’s review and the comments, then come back to this. I will admit this might be difficult to follow at points if your not familiar with the game at all, but I think the themes manage to show through. If you have any questions, leave a comment, I will respond! In case you can’t tell by the article, I would be eager to talk about any of this. Happy reading!