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At E3 2013, I had at least ten conversations that went something like this:
Me: So what did you think of Destiny?
Colleague: *yawn* It looks like a Bungie game.
Me: It should. It’s being made by Bungie.
Colleague: No, I mean it feels and looks too much like Halo.
Me: There are a lot elements in the game that are nothing like Halo, but I guess there are some visual similarities. But so what?
Colleague: I’m just tired of them doing the same thing game after game.
At E3 2013, I also had at least ten conversations that went something like this:
Me: So what did you think of Sunset Overdrive?
Colleague: *excited* It looks like an Insomniac game!
Me: It should. It’s being made by Insomniac.
Colleague: No, I mean it looks like what I expect from them. Resistance didn’t look and feel like an Insomniac game. This is more like it!
Me: I guess the tone feels more like what the company has done prior to Resistance, but I don’t mind when developers try different things.
Colleague: Yeah, but this is what I love about Insomniac.
In one case, people are criticizing Bungie for (supposedly) going to the well again. In the other case, people are lauding Insomniac for (supposedly) going to the well again. It’s funny, isn’t it? I’m not sure what the deal is — it’s like you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. Destiny is pretty ambitious, but some people are down on it because it has some artistic and tonal similarities to other Bungie games. Sunset Overdrive is also ambitious, and it’s getting praised because it has some artistic and tonal similarities to other Insomniac games. In my head, this kind of inconsistency is causing game developers to sing Adam Lambert’s “Whataya Want From Me?” on an hourly basis.
There’s something comforting about creators — of any kind, not just game developers — using familiar elements. There’s also something exciting about creators trying something new. The results of both approaches can be good or bad. I get that. What I don’t get is the inconsistent pigeonholing game journalists and gamers are doing with these two titles. Why is it good for one developer to use a similar style and bad for another?
Don’t get me wrong. I respect the hell out of Bungie and I’m a huge Insomniac mark. I just think it’s unfair that Bungie is getting dinged and Insomniac is getting praised for the same reason.
Perhaps you can explain it to me. Are these judgements just? Are they inconsistent? Leave your thoughts on the matter in the comments section (please!).
I think you talked to ppl who either dislike shooters, or dislike Halo since the guns suck.
Segueway: halo 4 short review (late I know): it sucks. the guns suck. the story sucks. the villain sucks. the new enemies suck. the visuals are recycled. the game sucks. i switched to easy to blow through it as fast as i could hoping for a good story or plot twist. nope. nothing. I’m sure 343 has a 5 page story and MS has decided to make at least 10 games off of those 5 pages. Game is bad.
I didn’t think it was THAT bad. If anything, my biggest gripe about the weapons was that the covenant weapons were really watered-down and the Promethean weapons were just day-glow versions of the human weapons (which actually kind of makes sense from the story’s perspective).
I think the narrative suffered a similar fate as Halo 2. They are trying to be deep and profound as something you would find in a good novel, but video games are only good for telling a certain style of narrative that is usually more streamlined and interactive from something you find in a book. I’m almost certain that Bioshock Infinite made this mistake as well. It’s the video game equivalent of biting off more than you can chew. The only reason for Halo 3’s existence was to simply tie up all of the loose threads from Halo 2. Think about that for a minute. Bungie had to make an entire game to fill all the plot holes from their previous game. I don’t know about you, but I call that a narrative failure.
You should have told me before you started playing and I would have gone through the whole thing with you in heroic or legendary. It’s much more of a challenge and going through the game with friends makes it a lot more enjoyable.
Technically, there was a huge plot twist about the Prometheans, but you had to collect all of the terminals in the game and then watch them in Halo Waypoint to elaborate a lot of the back story about the Forerunners. Although, in your defense, you could probably plot out the entire game on one or two pages. My biggest problem with the game was the the whole Cortana love story that totally did not belong there. It was one of the most retarded uses of a plot device I’ve ever experienced in a game. I know there are some people out there that could argue the metaphysical manifestation of what that “love” relationship symbolizes, but these are probably the same kinds of people that will argue that the image of Jesus appeared in a turd they crapped out after eating too much P.F. Chang’s. The other thing that I hated was the whole “silent protagonist” thing. Almost every single supporting character in that game was way more interesting than Master Chief. It hurts that the main character in the game and the person you are playing as has all the charisma of wet cardboard. He is as uninteresting and emotionless as a creative director at EA. I would have much rather have played as Del Rio or that female Spartan or Dr. Halsey, or Cortana, or even a janitor on the Infinity with a chip on his shoulder. Also, now that I think about it, the climax was retarded as well.
-M
Wow you made me realize that my mind refused to connect the word Love to her story. Haha.
The guns are just horrible. In this awesome tech filled science fiction we have personal defenses that are amazing but have weapons that would have a hard time destroying an old van door propped against a tree.
I agree with Infinite. The story was kinda slow and all about character development and then whammo sped up a lot and then dropped a big deal on you. Kinda felt rushed and I can see that being true since the game was delayed quite a bit and initially shown off nearly 4 years ago.
2 quick questions, and as can be expected from me, neither are related to the topic.
First, Is Kingdom hearts 3 going to be multiplat? Ps4 only? Fore?
Secondly, Ray, did you happen to see the Dark Souls 2 booth? Thoughts?
It’s literally my favorite game franchise ever.
KHIII is for both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Dark Souls 2 was one of the games I missed. I don’t recall seeing it on the floor and Namco Bandai was using meeting rooms to show games, so I might be able to use a Han Solo and say, “It’s not my fault.”
and then I can come back with a Robin Williams, and say “It’s not your fault” until you start weeping.