Metal Gear Solid
Continuing down the rambling path of the "game" element being the foundation of the video game experience brings me squarely into the camp of what is arguably the greatest PlayStation game of all-time: Metal Gear Solid. The best thing about MGS, in my opinion, is that one can see how it was a game first and a production second. What I mean is that Metal Gear Solid was designed as a game--with rules, challenges, a stream-lined interface, and motivation provided to the player to become proficient at it--before it was burdened with colourful characters, beautiful artwork, brilliant storyboards, etc. etc. This is important, because many people look at a game like Metal Gear Solid and think that it was mainly a hit because of the production value it had. Why, then, does MGS have so much longevity where imitation products of similar production value are popular for a short window and fade quickly into obscurity? It's the "game" element that is being missed out on, or so I think.
Of course, it really doesn't hurt that as far as video game productions go, Metal Gear Solid is one of the most original and interesting ever made. The manga/John Woo style of character and story development is perfectly executed (although it may strike some people who aren't into anime/manga as unusual), and I am endlessly enamoured with the dark, industrial setting of a military research bunker near Alaska. All of these elements contribute well to the development of themes central to the game--human solitude, human vulnerability, and human strength, amoung others. It is an understatement to say that MGS has a lot of character. I think it has plenty of thematic depth as well.
So when you mix the great production value (of course, the game doesn't look half as slick by today's standards--but that is one of the failings of mere production value trying to carry a video game) with an original and interesting background, laced with some thematic depth and much emphasis on the carefully engineered game mechanics, you are bound to end up with something that people will remember. Metal Gear Solid is definitely remembered by those who appreciated it.
Resident Evil 4
Well, this blog is supposed to be ranting and raving about games of "all eras" so I might as well cover something in the very recent past. I could easily have ranted about the original Resident Evil instead, but I have a lot of similar things to say about the current one, so why not stick to the present for once?
Gamers who have been around for a while (no offense to the 16 and under crowd, but you guys just wait and see how you feel about video games in another decade) often seem to complain about how a lot of the "magic" has gone out of games these days. Supposedly games have lost their "spark" or they aren't as "fun and challenging" as they used to be. I have my own theory about this, which is basically that there are as many great games being made today as there always has been, but there are also many more video games being made in general, and it's just that the great ones are being lost in the shuffle of the hyped-up crappy ones. It's all because the video game industry is very lucrative these days, and frankly a lot of the people who are in the industry to make big bucks don't understand what it takes to make gamers care about their games. It's far easier to throw together an expensive production with great graphics, sound engineering, and storyboards--a glossy game that will draw in lots of casual player dollars while generally lacking the "punch" that really gets people hooked on video games.
Resident Evil 4 has that "punch" that I am talking about. For reasons that are difficult to explain or even properly articulate, RE4 makes the player want to be good at it. It's not the sort of game that you play through and tell your friends, "yeah, it was fun, you can borrow it if you like"; rather, it's the sort that keeps you up late at night, foaming at the mouth with blistered thumbs, with nearly all sense of the outside world obliterated. That is gaming. That is what I am here for.
And sure, RE4 has amazing graphics and production value. I do appreciate that, and it definitely enhances the experience, but it's the fact that there is a real experience to build on in the first place that drives me. A big part of it is the gameplay; the rich, deep gameplay. There are skills to master in RE4--and I don't mean no freaking stats that you "level up," although there are those as well. I mean getting
good at the
game, like learning the right and wrong way to do things, and making the controls second-nature so that when a scary monster jumps out at you from the dark, the motion of brining your shotgun to bear and sending him into the abyss requires no thought or hesitation. When things like that are done as well as they are in RE4, it goes a long, long way towards drawing the player into the game. And RE4 demonstrates exactly how that sort of thing should be done.
Point Blank
When it comes to under-appreciated video game classics, Namco's Point Blank has a special place in my heart. (Hmmm... am I in the habit of saying that sort of thing about nearly every game I post about? I suppose that is to be expected, given the theme of this blog.) Right up there with Time Crisis and Virtua Cop, Point Blank represents the best of the best arcade lightgun shooters. Unlike most of its peers, Point Blank has the look and feel of a puzzle game rather than a violent action movie shoot-out. The lightning-quick reflexes demanded by this game will create the illusion in an experienced player that the game interface is completely transparent--the pistol becomes a part of oneself, and one does not "shoot" targets so much as one blows them into oblivion by the force of one's will alone.
A large part of the experience (although difficult to find anymore) are the classic "force feedback" pistols that come stock with Point Blank--they are the same quality product used in Namco's Time Crisis and Time Crisis 2. The kick generated by these pink and baby blue plastic guns is actually reported to be similar to the kick generated by many real-life 9mm guns, which I have to admit, frightens me a little. But believing that your expertise at a game like Point Blank could actually translate into the real-world in some far fetched fantasy way is part of the fun in a "boys all dream about being cowboys and police officers" sort of way. All I'm trying to say is that Point Blank, along with many other games of the genre, brings out the child in me a little, and that is good.
When all is said and done, Point Blank remains one of those formitive experience games that drives the gamer in me completely bonkers. I get the same feeling when I see a Point Blank arcade machine as I do when I see a copy of Suikoden II on the shelf of a game store, or a good Sega Saturn import game. It's just one of those things that I live for.
