Maybe those better than I can trace the origins of the barrel in gaming, but insofar as I can see it is just an enigma.



Barrels explode,



Barrels can be used to hurt over-sized reptiles,



or plumbers,



or contain sidekick monkeys,



or sometimes they launch monkeys across jungles,

But whether they explode, provide hideouts for small hat-wearing chimps or aid in simian aviation; we can agree that barrels are an enigmatic part of many games.

A barrel can change things, a barrel can sit there, a barrel can launch you wildly across a jungle with some sort of rudimentary propulsion system.

But why the barrel? I'm not sure who's concept it was, but it seems to have stuck; and while few games have the ingenuity of a wooden barrel explosive travel system, but if there are guns and a first person perspective, you better believe that a flammable steel tube is in your future.

When we were younger gamers, just discovering the shooter genre, we were taught many things about this world; Everyone is against you, escort missions are terrible and those people that need escorting are useless, Space Marine is a fully realistic job opportunity and above all; Barrels explode.



There are questions that need answering, who is storing flammable liquids in so many conveniently placed barrels? If I shoot that barrel, will it explode and cause untold destruction? or will it simply sit there? Countless times I have shot a barrel in hopes that it would bring my foes an early end only to be riddled full of lead wondering why my old friend the barrel had betrayed me.

But we forgive, we forget, because no matter how much someone complains about a lack of original game design, cliches and overused set pieces, we love the barrel. We love it in such a mixed up and crazy way that our love is probably illegal in several states, because no matter the capacity this barrel serves us. the Barrel; has always been there.