Once upon a time there was a plumber, and that plumber travelled through a fantastical trippy world to rescue the woman of his dreams from the clutches of his sworn enemy. Everyone loved experiencing the adventures of that plumber despite the fact that they made little or no sense, and we loved them because they were fun to play.


Fastforward 20 odd years, and whilst the plumber is still around he’s nowadays competing with adventures of much more substance. Where once there was little or no demand for clever storytelling in games, there is now a requirement that top tier games have stories almost rivalling those found in movies. The problem for me is that quite often this increased concentration on storytelling seems to lead to unfulfilling gameplay experiences.

It seems that games developers have become obsessed with the movie industry. Movies are far more mainstream and have gained a cultural acceptance that games are yet to achieve, so it’s understandable that game devs lust after the status of their movie counterparts. We’re all used to the stream of useless movie spin offs that have come out over the years, and that just goes to show how willing developers are to pay homage to movies. Of course there have been games made into movies, but really the less said about them the better as they are almost without exception some of the worst movies ever made and have been unanimously met with poor reviews.

It’s the interactivity that makes games so superbly entertaining, and that’s what sets them apart from movies. They force you to challenge your nerves, your reflexes and your brain in a way movies are unable to. My worry is that as games are becoming too reliant on their stories to entertain us they are losing the aspect of what sets them apart: player involvement.

Just take Heavy Rain for example, there are actually some QTE’s in that game that are impossible to fail. The outcome of each event leads the story down a different path, but it’s actually impossible to lose. That to me is not fun and is going back to the days of those books where you were given a choice of paths and told to turn to a certain page depending on your decision. If you can’t fail then I don’t see how what you’re experiencing can even be described as a game. Yes, it’s a form of interactive entertainment, but it’s not a game.



I’m sorry to say that even Final Fantasy XIII has fallen into this trap somewhat. It’s possible to get through large portions of the game by simply hitting ‘Auto Battle’ and then watching the next cutscene. The cutscenes may tell an absolutely compelling story (which in this case they do), but I find it difficult to see how this is enjoyable as a gaming experience.

 
 
It’s not all doom and gloom though as there are plenty of games that have combined this relatively new penchant for movie quality storytelling with great gameplay. the likes of Bioshock, Mass Effect and Fallout 3 all have got the basics right in that their core experiences are fun in terms of their gameplay and involving in terms of their stories. In short, we’ve got the best of both worlds.

It’s games like those that give me hope for the future, but I’m massively hoping that developers don’t forget to involve us players when crafting their stories. As much as I want games to be recognised in the same way as movies for their artistic merits, it’s vital that the separation betwen the two is maintained as otherwise I may just throw my controller in the bin.