Mainstream gaming

I was just surfing around the net today when I started watching some of the older Zero Puntuation game reviews. One of the videos is the review of Braid, one of the better games released last year, despite it beeing a 2D platform game. Now the reason I bring this up is because isn't because of the game review itself, but he makes some really interesting points about the game industry and where it's heading. I just couldn't agree more with what he's saying.



Now I agree that a game shouldn't hide or excuse gameplay, story elements or anything because it's trying to be "artsy", I also agree that all games should have closure. There's nothing more unsatisfactionary than spending days playing a game and then having it all ending with some weird, ununderstandable or completly open ending.
"It's open for interpertation" my ass..
Open endings are okay though as long as there's a sequal coming up, but there should still be some closure and ending to make the player happy and satisfied. I've played a few games that have just dropped that and gone for a completly open ending. The whole game ends up like a waste of time.. It's like canceling your favourite TV series mid season or your favourite movie 20 minutes before the end.

Anyways, what I really wanted to talk about was the part that games are becoming more and more action oriented.
I've taken Resident Evil as an example here. The first game in the series was great! You start out by entering an old mansion out in nowhere. The house appears empty and the atmosphere is just really spooky. You know something isn't right, you're constantly on guard, expecting something horrible to show up around the next corner - and still it often manages to scare the bejezus out of you when you least expect it. The story is simple, but interesting. The puzzles are good and actually requires some thinking. Wow.. A word that developers seems to steer away from these days.

The newly released Resident Evil 5 continue the series and proves my inital point. Now it's not a bad game at all, but it's just not scary... it's not very atmospheric or claustrophobic either, even the puzzles are a cakewalk. The game setting is out in daylight and you're shooting at hordes of angry people coming towards you. The scariest thing that happens is having to reload or running out of ammo.

But as I said, it's not a crappy game as it is. It's fun and enteratining - as a game should be! It's just that could have been any game. It could've been "John Doe, action hero extreme" .. All the elements which made the original so great has been swapped for a pure action killing spree, just milking off the franchise name.

Another example is the Neverwinter Night series. Good games, but I constanly get the feeling that I'm fighting horeds of monsters that has been put in there solely as a time consumption and to keep me from progressing the story too fast. Those are the parts of the game that makes me quit and do something else.

On the other hand I guess I have to respect that maybe most gamers like the action parts better than the story parts.. I dunno, but I hope to see more games like Braid in the future. I am posivite about the gaming future as well! Because as more and more people start to play games and the few really big production companies keeps buying up the medium sized companies I'm sure there will be a demand and a marked for small, orignal indie games. We're already seeing some of this today :)