| 28 March 2010
Fact! Games are becoming increasingly robust. Open worlds are taking over as the norm in gaming, so much so that anything that's linear gets a bad rap. How many gamers were in a uproar over Final Fantasy XIII and its extreme linearity? Approximately one cubic butt-ton.
I have one small issue with creating open environments in games, which is that they often lack consequence. For example, I've been playing Batman: Arkham Asylum lately, where you have one helluva night on Arkham Island. There are some moments of tension, like when Commissioner Gordon is captured and you have to find and free him. As you race to find him before they start pulling out his fingernails and pubic hair (at the same time, mind you), the game's deliberate open world simply has too many options. Instead of jumping to the next area, I was tempted to scour Arkham's grounds for clues and secrets, all of which are placed there by the game to distract you. Any time you find a secret item or solve a riddle, you get experience points, which better prepares you for the battles ahead, so why shouldn't I find them all?
I've spent several key minutes - nay, hours - combing ridiculous places for stupid question mark icons. During that whole time, Gordon could have ended up fingernail-free, and there was no consequence for my tardiness. Sure, Batman would grumble to himself, "I've got to find Gordon!" every few minutes, but apparently, he could wait. I had secret treasures to find!
The same thing happened to me while playing the most-excellent Shadow Complex. I played it all the way to the point of fighting the end boss, and then took two hours off to explore the rest of the game's environment. That's a total tension-killer, son. I find this a lot in games, and it's annoying. Shouldn't the developers time these exploration elements a little better? Have a lull in the storyline and allow you to do your research at that point. The way it is now, I feel like I have too much freedom to do whatever the hell I want - which ultimately reminds me that I'm simply playing a "game" - and as games get more immersive, this isn't a good thing.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
