Category: Video Games

“In Halo 1, there was maybe 30 seconds of fun that happened over and over and over and over again. And so, if you can get 30 seconds of fun, you can pretty much stretch that out to be an entire game.”

The above is a relatively famous quote in the gaming scene, from Bungie game designer Jaime Griesemer. While Griesemer meant to convey that his team thought of the various set-pieces in the game as 30 second loops of varied and fun gameplay, each unique in their own right, this is not the message that most developers and gamers took from the quote. Instead, it seemed to speak of core gameplay mechanics, and the fact that as long as there are “30 seconds of fun” in the basic mechanics, then you’ve got a great game regardless of other factors.

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One of my most anticipated game releases last year was the Halo: Master Chief Collection. Having all four campaigns on one disc, two of which had been remastered with new textures and soundtracks, sounded cool, but it wasn’t the main draw for me. Instead, I was thrilled to hear about the multiplayer component: all hundred-something maps from all (numbered) Halo games, all accessible from the same menu and the same matchmaking screen. The game promised the dream of being able to jump freely from game to game, map to map, running a marathon multiplayer session with unparalleled gameplay variety.

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(Note before reading: This article contains examples from Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite, and The Stanley Parable that may be considered spoilers. In the case of Bioshock, the example is a pivotal moment in the game and best left unspoiled if you are interested in playing it in the future. The examples from Bioshock Infinite and The Stanley Parable are less pivotal, but also reveal the main philosophies behind those games. The Bioshock Infinite segment mentions a couple rather unique locations from the end of the game, as well. If you want to remain completely unspoiled, do not read ahead.)

When does a form of storytelling or expression become its own artistic medium? Was film a medium as soon as Edison began to showcase the May Irwin kiss (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUyTcpvTPu0), or was that just an early example of a technical achievement? When our ancient ancestors began to scribble the likenesses of men and animals on the sides of cave walls, had they created two dimensional art? Or were they just experimenting?

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Spoiler-Free General Review:

Gaming as a medium is much less evolved than the other visual mediums. I’ve often likened gaming’s current state to the early days of film, when many of the most-respected pieces were simply pre-existing plays, recorded from a vantage point not far removed from the audience and presented as-is. This was before montage, close-ups, and many of the devices we now utilize as the primary tools of filmmaking.

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