Ah, the question that many debate over in video games. What makes a game as good as it possibly can be? What makes it have a chance as one that can stand the test of time? Like in the opening statement has already said, it's very debatable. So let's just go through the three main aspects I find are important in creating a video game, otherwise known to me as The Principles of Gaming.
First, let's start with the story that it features. Now with this, it comes down to what any good story should do. Does it engage you? Does it pull you in? Does it make you think? In a nutshell, a story should always make you want to keep going forward. For example, let's take the story in the Mass Effect series and what it brings. It's a straight forward story, man saves the galaxy from various threats in the future for the survival of man kind and for all species of life. Seems boring when put in those terms doesn't it? But the way it grips you is that the man, or woman, saving the universe is yours. You create what your vision of Commander Shepard should be, and you are thrown into it all.
Still seem boring?
Well, take in the way the story is told and how it shapes out. Its all based on how you chose what path to follow. The path of the Paragon, the good guy who does no wrong, or the path of the Renegade, the bad boy that takes no prisoners is what helps pull you into it. And then there's the setting, the way that those choices are played out with the back drop, the music, the ideal of the fate of many worlds in your hands to save and only you can save. Mass Effect tells its story in such a way that you can't help but feel betrayed at the very end of it in some ways, and believe me, you'll find no end in the amount of forums or YouTube comments discussing this every day. But that's because it was your Commander Shepard that you spent hundreds of hours playing and devoted to it.
There's also the tragic tale of Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto 4, a man trying to rid himself of past sins only to be brought back into the same life that caused those sins, and the same with John Marston in Red Dead Redemption, both products of Rockstar Games. Rockstar is just one of a few companies known for its amazing story telling, as is Ubisoft with its Assassin's Creed series. There's the entire Legend of Zelda series, the Uncharted series from Naughty Dog, and of course there's the God of War series. I mean honestly, there's a number games out there that stand the test of time or become some of the best of its era because of the story telling that it brings with it. The Legend of Zelda has done this on many occasions and has proven time and again why it's one of the greatest game franchises of all time. So it's not just this generation of games that follows a great story as a principle but past ones as well.
But the story is only part of what makes a game good.
The second part is of course game play. A story is only good in a video game if the game play matches it. And it's not always multiplayer that takes center stage to make a game amazing. Let's take the success of the Uncharted series again and show what makes it amazing. You of course have the action adventure aspect of the game, platforming, and the shooter aspect of the game all combined perfectly in many reviewers eyes (I should cite that, but as this is a blog and quite honestly you can look up the reviews, I don't see the point). One minute you're climbing on a ledge of a train hanging off a cliff and looking for the next thing to grasp onto to pull yourself up, the next minute you could be in the middle of a gun fight while looking at a magnificent temple. All of it is combined into a perfect meld in a Hollywood film style cinematic game play that is becoming more and more prevalent into today's generation. And of course it had multiplayer installed in the second game of the series.
Another fine example of game play that captivates the gaming community is Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. The open world RPG (Role Playing Game) in previous installments has always been enjoyed by its loyal fans, but this installment has taken on another level of immersion not thought possible. The way that it has brought a new leveling system, its dual handed combat where steel swords and magic can be combined in various ways, a world that has so many quests that it takes two hundred hours MINIMUM to explore a part of it. Think about that for just a second. A sixty dollar game today usually may last an average of ten to maybe twenty hours. This game takes it way past that.
That's not to say that a game has to last that long to be enjoyed. Batman Arkham City, the sequel to Batman Arkham Asylum, created a masterpiece for the Batman franchise that fans wanted after the first game. The simplistic, but fun combat system combined with Batman's many gadgets, an open world to explore, solve the Riddler's riddles and defeating many of the Dark Knight's iconic foes, including of course the Joker made it one of the best games of 2011. That game lasted for me around twenty hours, and each one was amazing to play because of the game play that it had that was so much fun to play. It basically made me continue onward.
But as with today's generation, multiplayer is also a key factor in many games now such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, Ghost Recon, Uncharted, Assassin's Creed and so on. It's the lasting nature of the games that makes people want to keep buying and playing them. Things like the intense shooting matches in Call of Duty, the sneaking but high adrenaline of Assassin's Creed, or the vendetta fueled shooter of a new comer to multiplayer in Max Payne 3 are what today's gamer want and as a result have actually made gaming cool to the public. It's what makes some of these games worth buying to the person, worth spending the money to have these games. But as I have said, it's not always the multiplayer that makes the game, but it can be a big part of it.
And my third basic principle is the intelligence of the game. Now what I mean by this is that the game has to make you...well, think. When we saw Watch Dogs at this year's E3, we saw that the player had to think wisely about his next move, about how to take out his enemies without becoming exposed while using cover in a way to protect himself, all the while trying to save a high value target. Now we've seen this been used before in shooters such as the Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six series where squad based tactics are king, as well as the Splinter Cell series where you cannot blow your cover as a stealth undercover agent, all from military novelist Tom Clancy. A game should have to make you think about choices that you are making and what the consequences could be when you make that choice It also to me has to make you think about the world as whole, what can happen to us in a game like The Last of Us which releases next year, it has to make you connect with your character in a way that you almost think like him or her and almost become that character in a way.
Those thoughts are just how I feel, everyone shares different styles of thought and may find something else to wonder about. That's my point in what I'm saying. If a game doesn't make you think for a least a second about something around you or what's happening in the game then to me, it isn't anything more than mindless play, but that's alright.
All these principles that I have are what makes an amazing game to me. If you're someone that enjoys simply going around shooting things in Call of Duty or something of that nature, then I respect your decision because it's what you chose to do. It's a difference of opinion and I have to respect that, but....doesn't mean I have to like it though, especially when I play online in Ghost Recon.
And that's where a hidden fourth main principle of mine comes into play, and it's quite simple. One, all these factors together make my type of an amazing game. Two, even if one of these is lacking, it doesn't mean a game can't be fun to play and engaging in some sort of way.
As a final note, in case you were wondering what games have done this for me in my life, I have them listed for you here since my SNES days. That's not to say that these games are the greatest of their era because they aren't, but they're the ones that have made me feel amazed by them. I'll show my top 5 at the bottom of the list. This is all compromised of what I've learned as I've gotten older and become wiser in my quest of gaming so if it's a little more modern, well it's because I'm young so don't be offended.
- Super Mario 64
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Super Mario Galaxy 2
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
- Grand Theft Auto 4
- Red Dead Redemption
- Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion
- Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
- Fallout 3
- The entire Mass Effect series (until the ending)
- The entire Assassin's Creed series
- Batman Arkham Asylum
- Batman Arkham City
- The entire God of War series
- The original Jak And Daxter trilogy
- Dead Space 1
- Dead Space 2
Quite a lot right? (Laughs) Well, I'll bring it down to my top 5 here for you to kind of get a better idea.
- Grand Theft Auto 4
- Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- Assassin's Creed 2
- Red Dead Redemption
- That's it for now. This will be posted on the Game Informer website on my blog under thomasg2488 later on tonight for your viewing pleasure as well. Feel free to leave a comment and thanks for reading
- Written by Thomas George.
