Last week my arguments against the Bioshock movie revolved largely around the fact that I do not believe that the game’s experience can be faithfully reproduced in a non-interactive medium. My two arguments in favour of the film aren’t so much counter-arguments to my last observations as they are sort of lateral benefits.
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Bioshock · Steampunk
Last Friday it was announced that a Bioshock feature film was in the works, to be helmed by Gore Verbinski of “Pirates of the Caribbean” fame. In theory this is terrific news, Bioshock was one of my favourite games of last year. Its objectivist theme and unique setting made it rich for analysis, and it spawned several terrific essays from some of my favourite games writers.
I’ve been a big fan of Grand Theft Auto ever since the series made the jump into 3D seven years ago. GTA3 was clunky and flawed in many ways, but it was my first “open world” game. I spent hours just goofing off, exploring the city and causing havoc. I really appreciated being given so much freedom to complete objectives, which turned each mission into a creative puzzle. To this day GTA3 is the standard to which I hold every other sandbox style game. In my eyes, Crackdown is GTA with super powers and Assassin’s Creed is GTA set during the Crusades. The sequels Vice City and San Andreas became incrementally better, adding small improvements while maintaining the high production value and brilliant attention to detail.
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Title: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure
Platform: Wii
Played for: ~2.5 hours, 4-5 stages cleared
Would play again?: Yes
Zack and Wiki is considered to be one of the Wii’s hidden gems, tremendously innovative but outsold 3:1 by the uninspired Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. Perhaps comparing a new IP with a hit series isn’t fair; Z&W certainly did well enough to likely warrant a sequel. That being said, it’s a shame that more people aren’t playing this brilliant puzzle game, which features very creative Wiimote implementation.
The A button alone is used to move around and examine objects. However, to interact with these objects, players must imitate the movement they wish to perform. From turning a crank to chopping down a tree, if you want to do it in game you have to mimic it in real life. These actions aren’t treated like mini-games either, there’s no on-screen pop up telling you what to do. It’s up to you to figure out which motion is appropriate for the situation. It’s a simple formula that’s surprisingly deep.
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Title: Devil May Cry
Platform: Playstation 2
Played for: ~2 hours, up to the first boss
Would play again?: No
As I mentioned in my last post, I picked up a cheap copy of Devil May Cry mainly because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. There’s been a lot of hype around the release of the latest installment, Devil May Cry 4, and the previous ones have generally been received very well.
Unfortunately, the game is nearly seven years old and it shows. Action games have evolved significantly since then, with titles such as God of War** and Heavenly Sword showing that you can have corridor fighting and linear levels with the illusion of openness and freedom***. This is not the case in Devil May Cry, and I quickly became weary of the repetitive castle corridors, endless minions and straightforward puzzles. I couldn’t find anything remarkable about the touted “stylish combo” system either, though a trip to GameFAQs told me I could perform a slightly different combo by mashing the circle button a little more slowly.
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