There's been disgracefully little time for gaming, recently. It's a poor show, frankly. Her Majesty would not approve, if she knew what gaming was. Which raises the question, if Her Majesty was a gamer, what sort of games would she indulge in? A recent visit to the former Royal Yacht Britannia revealed a love of card games, so there's a hint - I think the Queen would be partial to all sorts of casual games. She's probably got a DS, come to think of it.
One important reason for a lack of gaming recently is the untimely demise of my second Xbox 360 - this one was a replacement for my launch day purchase which shuffled off its mortal coil within one solitary week of the day I excitedly brought it home. I've owned four Microsoft consoles - two original Xboxes, and two 360s. 3 out of 4 have died unnatural deaths. Now, that's as anecdotal as evidence can get, but still. Bill G, if you chance across this post, please go to Peter Moore's office and give him a clunk over the head from me.
All this would make the most recent games I've spent any time on the following:
- C&C3. Great, vintage, micromanagers-not-welcome-here RTS goodness. For the love of God, bring back faux-Holywood cutscenes. There's tons of cool actors out there looking for work, and I want to see them in my games. EA is on the case, but what about the rest of you? Money, schmoney, get on it!
- LOTRO. WoW in Tolkien clothing, and I mean that as a compliment. In Turbine's position, I'd have done the exact same thing.
- Crackdown. Crackdown is an absolutely fabulous game - I'm a total sucker for anything remotely resembling 'freeform' gameplay. My gamer tag carries a dark secret - I actually purchased Superman Returns on the 360 - but this is as nothing compared to the lamentable fact that I actually enjoyed it.
I have no idea what design principles they were aiming for in the making of crackdown, but two things stand out for me. The most immediately obvious is the progression of the character, which adds a Diablo-esque pavlovian reward feel to the whole thing. But more importantly, as far as I'm concerned, is the fact that the core mechanics are absolutely razor sharp. The acid test as far as this genre is concerned is this - if you shrunk the game world to the size of a city block, would it still offer much fun? I can't think of a game in the 'free-form' genre that GTA3 reinvigorated (what was the first, I wonder - what came before 'Midwinter'?) that does this quite as well as Crackdown. You could play in a very small area in Crackdown, and still have masses of fun, and that's indicative of the quality of the core mechanics - the combat, the physics and the general 'feel' of the game. GTA3 or it's sequels cannot boast the same thing.
Compare and contrast Crackdown with Superman Returns. Now, granted, the developers are tremendously constrained by the license. Superman is a little bit like the Genie from Aladdin - 'infinite cosmic power' but absolutely sod all freedom to use it. If Molyneux got the Supes license, he'd soon have him sprouting horns and surrounded with flies, levelling buildings and vapourising the good citizens of Metropolis with his laser vision. Which makes for a better sounding game, frankly.
But licence restrictions aside, Superman Returns is cursed by plain old poor design. The usual litany of complaints are there if you're being fussy - the combat is pretty ropey, the graphics, while impressive enough, don't quite stack up with most other next-gen titles (although there are, I'm sure, compelling technical reasons for this in terms of what's being shown on screen). But the number one complaint has to be the complete undercutting of the entire point of a free-roaming action game by compelling the player to partake in constant 'city-saving' activity, othwise it's game over. That is one of the worst design decisions I've seen, frankly, and whoever thought it was a good idea was clearly not thinking straight at the time.
People can forgive a lack of content or ropey graphics, if you provide them the tools to make their own fun. If you give them Superman, a massive city to play in, and put some half decent game mechanics in there, you're not going to set the specialist press on fire, but by and large most people who buy the game are going to be reasonably happy. But by enforcing regular bouts of 'city saving', you are effectively turning what is already a marginal experience into a chore, and removing the one true redeeming aspect of the game - it's sense of freedom.
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