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| The Halo Campaigns. My review. | |
| Posted By: 3Suns | Date: 1/11/07 1:31 p.m. |
In Response To: Re: Susan O'Connor - process of games writing OT (Jillybean) You know, it is interesting. In another thread about a month or so ago, Sep7imus mentioned that he felt Gears was very much along the lines of "get bomb, ok now, take bomb to cave, ok that didn't work, now go try this" kind of thing. (I wish I could find his post. The sentiment was very well articulated.) I didn't say anything for various reasons, but my feeling was that he basically described my experience with the campaign for both Halo games. It struck me as incredibly ironic. For me, the Halo campaigns are "Ok, now, run over there and flick that switch. Ok, now kill some elites and grunts. Now, hop in that vehicle and kill some more grunts while you drive over there to flick that swich and turn the big thingy on. Alright, good job. Now, we are going to tell you the story behind all that. You will really like it. .... ... Alright, now, run over there and climb to the top of that structure. When you get there, flick that big switch." For me, that is the Halo campaigns, and it is as the Penny Arcade boys described in their first comic review. (Multiplayer, on the other hand, inspite of the nasty Timmys out there, is bar none. It is a frickin' Olympic sport. - and this is where the 30 seconds of fun are repeated over and over again.) The main reason why I feel that way about the Halo campaigns and I don't feel that way about the Gears campaign is this. In Halo, the story doesn't match the action, in Gears it does. Halo is a FPS, which means the player is supposed to be the Master Chief. The Master Chief is a brilliant, genetically enhanced cyber-soldier with practically the knowledge of the Universe as his A.I. assistant. So, why is it then, that even when there is only one way to complete an objective, we still have orders coming in. I think the only way to deal properly with the nature of the character we are supposed to be assuming, is to give us broad, final objectives, and then accompany such with all sorts of intel, including maps, enemy locations etc. that we can access, and then let us decide how we are going to accomplish that objective. The gameplay needs to be as cerebral as the story. The story is too grand for a FPS in which the protagonist is always told what to do. In Halo, everytime a cut scene (in which Great Stories are told, and literally, the Secrets of the Universe are revealed) comes to a conclusion, we are given these objectives that are jarringly simple. The contrast between the magnitude of the events unfolding in the cut scenes, and the point-to-point, each-step-along-the-way objectives shocks me; it takes me out of the game, and trivializes the character I am supposed to be assuming. I believe that one of the ways they could make a better match between story and gameplay, aside from making it an RPG, is to change the gameplay as I described above. I never played Marathon, but I think that the way in which the story was presented (through writtten text dispensed on futuristic computer terminals), and the settings in which the action occured, served to tie the story and action more closely together. I would love to hear what those who hold Marathon dear, think of this idea. Anyway, in Gears, your action is the story. You are living it as you go. (That is why I never had a problem with events in which something didn't work and another approach had to be tried to accomplish the original objective). Marcus is a grunt following orders. We don't expect him to come up with a brilliant plan to save the universe, nor do we even want him to - that would be out of character. Marcus couldn't give a shit. He already proved as much when he abandoned saving the multitudes, to save his father. The Gears story matches the gameplay very well. What few cut scenes there are, never go beyond the scope of the character or the action. Hmm... maybe it is just the caffine in the chocolate I should never, ever have eaten just before bedtime, but, I think that Bioshock is actually going to be more a of spiritual successor to Marathon, than the first 2 Halos are. (ha ha Not having ever played either game, that is pretty ridiculous statement.) ;) Cheers,
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