Zombies are the new World War II of gaming. You have the juggernaut that is Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2, indie titles such as Zombie Apocalypse among others, re-releases, and even DLC for other titles that have little or no reason to include zombies in their game world. I could go on but suffice to say there is alot on offer for fans of the walking dead. Amongst all these titles there are definitely some great games worthy of attention, but thus far there has not been a good zombie game. Across all these titles the zombies merely serve as the AI opponent, the antagonistic force to be overcome, they hint at the horror of the cinematic source material only through the blood splatters and flying limbs. Zombie games draw heavily from film but do so without ever replicating what it is that makes the movies horrific.
Anyone well versed in this particular film subgenre would be aware that it is not the zombies that are the greatest horror. Zombies may produce the most ’shocking’ moments, but it is the degenerative humanity in the survivors that is most horrific. Sure, there are moments of cooperation but invariably it is the selfishness or inhumanity of a survivor that leads to the groups eventual downfall. I cannot recall any game in recent years that has successfully replicated this. The Survivors in all these games are players or npc’s that are alligned with the you from the start, they never betray you to save their own skin.
As gamers we are not exposed to what makes Zombie films so interesting. The Boss Battles in Dead Rising show that people can abandon humanity in the event of a zombie apocalypse but it doesn’t go far enough. The ‘bosses’ are always antagonistic, there is never a suggestion that they might work with the player. Left 4 Dead is designed carefully to reward cooperation and survival, it wants the players to win and to feel like a team. If you have seen George A. Romero’s “…of the Dead” films then you might be aware that Cooperation and Survival are themes presented alongside Selfishness and Heartlessness. I would love to see betrayal as a realistic option for particular moments in Left 4 Dead games but that is not the direction Valve is going.
These titles can be great action games, but they represent a missed opportunity. Zombies have become the World War II of gaming because they are the thematic filter that allows for the action genre to advance in mechanics and design. All I can do is hope that game designers recognize the full range of experiences possible in the material they are using.
Machinarium from Amanita Design marks my return to a genre of videogames I confess has never really grabbed me. I put this down to my brain either, not being wired properly, or being conditioned to approach videogames in a different way. I do not doubt that many years playing games that rely more on twitch reflexes than contemplative thought has led to moments in Machinarium where I cannot advance without help. I find myself moving my mouse pointer to the upper right corner of the screen to open the little cheaters book. These give access to a walkthrough for the current screen but only after completing a minigame not dissimilar to titles like R-Type. I have to guide a Key to the keyhole, shooting fuzzy creatures and dodging blocks along the way. The game never explicitly disparages me for taking this path, but it does remind me of the type of gamer I have become.
Amanita Design have a great passion for telling stories through this gameplay format but they also know that many gamers today have never had much experience with this genre. Beyond all the visual splendor of the world of Machinarium I love that such a simple element like the cheat book minigame demonstrates an awareness of the game’s place in it’s own culture. Through the cheat book there is a point of entry for gamers like myself and it speaks these words directly to me, “You are not ready to properly beat this game yet, so here is a way to progress using an approach you are more familiar with”. I am a player who won’t be able to complete Machinarium through my skill alone, but I will be able to experience the rich world and interesting story nonetheless. Machinarium is a positive and challenging experience for any twitch gamer who wants to expand their horizons. It is a great entry point for anyone who wished to learn that point-and-click does not always mean aim-and-fire.
Around me are the sounds of battle: gunfire and explosions, near and far away. The objective, a mortar team up on the hill is harassing our armor and needs to be neutralized. How we will get up there has been on my mind for the last 5 minutes. We creep carefully closer so as to avoid the line of sight of the enemy. A lapse in concentration results in the machine gun emplacement opening up on our position. I order a fast move to the cover of a scattered pile of rocks. I take a bullet in the leg in the time it takes me to ensure my men make it to safety. Bullets zip past my head as I hit the deck and crawl to where my men are waiting. An explosion ruptures my existence, a grenade, possibly, all I see is dirt through blurred vision. I keep on moving. I make it to cover, taking a moment to assess the situation. Every glance out of cover is met with more fire from the enemy. I order my men to flank left where other scattered rocks will cover their approach. I inch out of cover to lay down a suppressing fire, allowing my men to move forward. The enemy fires again, less accurately this time. Things are looking up, I steal a moment to check on my men. They are moving to the obje….
The screen goes black, a stray bullet had struck me in the head. I am dead
The moment to moment action in the new Operation Flashpoint game, Dragon Rising is what makes this game an amazing experience. There is an ever present possibility of death, independent of choices made and you never feel the hand of the developer in these events. They have set up the base conditions and your presence is what causes the scenario to play out. Dragon Rising provides the intial (and expected) escapism and empowerment on a videogame letting you play soldier. Your actions are shown to be integral to each victory, you are the active force in this world. But you also inherit the realistic chance that as a soldier, your death is only one bullet away. Operation Flashpoint avoids many other gaming traditions aimed at reminding you of your empowered existence. There is no swell of orchestral music when you order a charge and no canned character dialogue for when a team member dies. The game succeeds because it does not try to elicit emotion or reaction from me in any way except through gameplay and given the large open nature of every mission, and unscripted AI, this comes at unexpected times. I do not need a large explosion or vista to reward me for being successful, overcoming the challenge of the game is it’s own reward. When a mission is complete there is no cutscene to form my character’s story, there is only the things I have just done, the moments that have just passed. The screen simply fades to black until I next take up the role of the soldier and define my experience by actions. The game does not try to force feed the empowerment fantasy to the player, anytime you act in a way that results in feelings of agency they feel earned and are much more effective.
Ok I admit it, the title is not 100% accurate but read on and find out my reasoning. I have revisited two games recently, both first person shooters and both very good titles in their own right. They also happen to represent two very different approaches to the genre. The first is Tron 2.0, hailing from the year 2003. This game is representative of the corridor shooters of yesteryear whose last great contributor was probably Half Life 2. The second game is Far Cry 2, a touchstone in the evolution of the genre. It conjures up terms like “sandbox” and “emergent gameplay” much more readily than “corridor” and “cutscene”. Playing them both simultaneously has illuminated the strengths and weaknesses of each game and has allowed me to reflect on how it is that I can still enjoy both immensely.
Far Cry 2 trumps Tron 2.0 in moments pure emergent gameplay. I know that the course of a battle is up to how I approach it and the decisions I have made. Recollections of my gaming here are stories of my decisions and the consequences, the moments that I was uniquely present and privileged as the game’s player. Yet as many will know Far Cry 2 is not without it’s flaws, with the diamond system being my case in point. For all the polish of this sandbox of an African nation there are moments of inconsistency such as the presence of over 200 identical cases that only the player seems to know about, the magical ability for diamonds to be deposited into my “account” once I eliminate a target or the feeling that the world does not exist without your presence bringing it into being. Tron 2.0 is a very different game to Far Cry 2. Notably as in my feeling as the player in that I am not free to define myself in the world. Yet whilst I am only the unseen controller of Jet, I am convinced of the validity of this world because I am never given any reason to think otherwise. This is because it is consistent, all the way to it’s core.
Many elements of Tron 2.0 felt archaic and obvious when I started to play the tutorial level. I was receiving sequential exposition from programs (NPC’s) about how to move and act in the world, it was as robotic and dry as any tutorial I have experienced. But, as I moved through the area it started to make sense, I was inside a computer system and everything would have to be calculated and strict. This realization provided me with a frame to judge other design decisions I encountered. As I moved played the game I noticed more and more that everything seemed to fit. For example:
Energy and Health are “downloaded” which is exactly like Half Life, except that it makes sense;
As a program I increase my version number by gaining buildpoints and define my playstyle by running upgradeable subroutines. Translation: I level up by gaining experience from collectibles and missions and select my equipment depending on the challenges in front of me;
I am able to download emails flesh out the narrative and world of Tron 2.0 but this act depletes my energy stores as a program;
When asked to find an alternative route around obvious opposition, the small vent part of the level is defined as a backdoor in the system.
Every layer of Tron 2.0 act in the service of consistent presentation, from the delightfully self aware writing and the easy justification of having a HUD whilst you are digitized into a computer to the single occasion when a program yawns because it had been taken out of sleep mode. It is this consistency that makes this game fun, it allows me to get lost in the fantastical story and it is what is missing at times in Far Cry 2. The use of diamond cases in the game is an acceptable one given the context but it is obvious in its function of enabling the player to progress and act effectively in the world. I am not disputing the element itself, just the fact that it is not consistently presented, it is a collectible whose representation as a case of diamonds feels incidental. As a result I cannot seem to ever get lost in the world of Far Cry 2 even though I have alot of fun.
I thought I might put together a video of some Tron 2.0 gameplay for those unfamiliar with the game:
