The Brainy Gamer (via Electro Lemon) has a very interesting article up discussing the heady ideals of Blacksite: Area 51, Midway's latest attempt to bring the Area 51 label a decent game. By all accounts, the title is but a shallow one about shooting aliens and provides little of thoughtful substance, but according to lead designer Harvey Smith, its intentions are/were so much loftier, aiming to provide commentary on the state of the Iraq war:
It's very much there ... It's subtle stuff, but moving into the first mission where you're about to be briefed, you're going past people and cars and checkpoints that have been quarantined. They're going, "Hey, you guys can't do this," and somebody else is saying, "The hell we can't."
Then it just gets more and more subversive from there...The whole theme is, "Who is the enemy? Look at the enemy -- do I look like the enemy to you?" One year, somebody's a freedom fighter, the next year they're a terrorist.
The Brainy Gamer's writer expresses his disappointment at a message so subtle and interwoven that it actually isn't there at all. Aside from having the cajones to namedrop Iraq, it seems that Area 51 is very much just a game about aliens, and nothing more. He ends with frustration that games are not moving in the direction that Area 51 was promised to move in and I very much join him in his lamentation. More socially aware games, rich in commentary and provocative in message, are something I yearn for, and it's a shame that a game with such intent became a generic and shallow shooter.
Even BioShock fell way short of its deep, thoughtful promise. A game of supposed moral choice devolved into a very black-and-white, good-and-evil affair. In fact, most games claiming to be deep, engaging and shaded in grey turn out to be little more than shallow tarts in high-class dresses. Only Call of Duty 4's single player campaign has come close to an affecting and engaging socially aware experience this year, in my estimation. Other games could take a cue from it if they aspire to something greater than mindless monster fragging.
Contest:
7:22 PM on 11.19.2007
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"Oh, Bowser is a symbol of smoking and Peach is the life that he steals, while Mario is the strength to quit."
La, la la. Write a game like BioShock if you're going to make a commentary on an issue and you want people to listen.
The British! Has he never seen star wars?
I'm all for games being deeper, but going beyond the good/evil of a game like Bioshock is risking walking down the middle ground.
Forcing you to one poll or the other imho is good, makes you question and a bit uncomfortable at times.
(sigh) anti-climactic is becoming the new "emo" in gaming.
...OH SHI-Don't TAZE ME BRO!!!
I don't know, I just think games can do more than draw an almost childlike line between saintly being of love and snarling devil fiend from Hell. The "moral choice" in BioShock was quite simple -- either you're a good man or an asshole. There was none of this "do I kill to survive?" questioning of personal ethics that we were led to expect. The game was, by and large, a very shallow title disguised as a deep experience by aesthetics.
BioShock was a great game, yes it was, but it was not the Holy Grail I've been waiting for. It was not the final Jackson sequence of Call of Duty 4.
I'm not asking for games to tread a middle ground, I'm asking for games to deliver what they promise. I wanted the choice to harvest Little Sisters go beyond just choosing whether or not to be an asshole. I wanted the choice to have meaning, to have impact. It did not.
Saying that, I had to stop playing Bioshock for about an hour after harvesting a little sister for the first time. Are you saying you would liked to have that happen to everyone who plays the game?
and cod4 really does show "reality" more than any other game too. totally compelling story telling, i wonder if mass effect is up for it.
And I'm not asking for preachy agenda, although I do have to accept that would be a byproduct. I'm after some serious commentary and provocation of thought. You might want every game to be completely devoid of mental substance, but I want something compelling.
Good luck with that.
For the creator to drop IRAQ into the conversation might have been a tad iffy, but there will only be so much you can expect from shooters. Sorry guys, Deus Ex was not as good as you remember and it was painfully obvious from the get-go where they were taking that story.
i do wish people would get less uppity about games that just so happen to touch on interesting topics, be it moral gray areas or real world parallels. gaming is a medium, and mediums tend to run the gamut. trust me, these games are far better than the absolutely offensive dreck that's out there now (Saints' Row couldn't be further apart from Grand Theft Auto). and don't you worry, simple playful shootin' and platformin' goodness isn't going anywhere!
but good lookin' out, Jim! Harvey Smith did an interview with Brandon Sheffield on the subversive last month. also, i talked a short bit about videogames and commentary a little while back. liked to hear your opinions!
@ Boolean
Huh?
@ Boolean
Huh?
Oh goddammit. This bug always pops up at night.
"I think part of the problem with moral choices is that the technology isn't quite at the point where it's feasible to offer varying shades of gray along with the obvious good and evil choices. (That, or the technology is being used covering the world in bloom lighting.)"
that just gave me flashbacks from Fable. but! i do think games are capable of it now! it's surprising how much an actual talented writer/creative director/project lead/etc. and some publisher leeway can accomplish!
;)
There is a group of people that thinks the best way to voice their opinions on the situation in the Middle East and how the U.S. is handling it is through Area 51: Blacksite, a game about blowing the shit out of aliens. Do I have it mostly correct?
I have felt a great disturbance in the Force. It was as if millions of Public Relations workers around the world cried out in agony, and then were silenced.
Also, there are thought provoking games out there, like that Left-behind-after-the-rapture game. That provokes all kinds of thoughts in me.
They are nice touches though, too bad you see those bits over and over again, coz once you die, you have to wait 2 minutes to reload and retry and hear the same things over and over again :P
Maybe they tried and failed. Maybe Haze will make the same mistakes with their try to put political commentary in that game?
With such well written and subtle dialog like this, it's such a shame it all fell short. (!)
If I wanted to hear such ham-fisted and awkward 'political commentary, I'd just join Moveon.org.
Everyone seems to forget one critical element about Blacksite: It wasn't fun. :X
Proving once again, that although we all crave it, demand it and require it the story in a video game doesn't matter.