Master Chief shitting himself after playing BioshockOk, I'm not going to review Halo 3. Everyone already has, who cares? Needless to say, it's amazing.
Last night my good chum Jamie came over and we played Xbox 360 all night. Jamie is in the world of PS2 still and so has missed out on some of the amazing new stuff that's been coming out over the last few months. Also, myself, Jamie and Steve (from my band) have spent plenty of studio hours on Pro Evo 6 and I wanted him to play the PES2008 demo.
So, we played nuff demos (Stranglehold, PES2008, Lost Planet, Skate, etc, etc) and then got stuck into a couple of full games. Namely, two of this years biggest releases - Bioshock and Halo3. We played for a few hours on both and I have to say they are two of the best, most involving games I think I've ever played (along with Gears Of War).
My conundrum for the day comes from playing these two games.
Playing Bioshock I was scared. I was scared, on edge and to be honest, uncomfortable. Don't get me wrong, it's an experience that I 'enjoyed' but in the same way I enjoy watching a really dark film.
A friend of mine has been complaining lately that most of the new games coming out are really too grim for him and I can kind of see his point. Playing Halo3 afterwards was such an antidote! It's lighthearted, it's fun and it doesn't feel like hard work (although we aren't playing on legendary yet).
I'm torn. Should gaming be an entirely lighthearted experience like it used to be (back when the graphics limited the fear)? Or should we be pushing the experience like we do with films depicting graphic, stomach turning violence?
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Anyone else had the same thing with any other games (Condemned anyone?)?
One thing I do know, I'm asking myself these questions and I'm damned if I want games to be censored. My point is that I'm thinking about these choices for myself, if I don't want to play a game, I won't. Give me back my damned Manhunt 2!
2 comments:
To be honest I didn't find Bioshock that scary (until I stuck my headphones on late at night). It's a dark story, granted, but it's more to do with the atmosphere than anything else. I have to say I find most big games these days way too dark and creepy for my tastes. My advice, buy Super Paper Mario, it's the perfect antidote. It's fucking hilarious and incredibly inventive and as such it's a complete joy to play. I'm gonna put off buying Halo til I complete it I reckon.
I'd say that they can CO-EXIST. I think I made a similar point to this when I first got Bioshock..?
There's two types of game that I LOVE. There's the type, like Crackdown, that is just silly fun. I could play it for HOURS AND HOURS and I'm sure i'll still be playing it in years. A game like Bioshock however, amazing as it is, will only last last me ten or twenty hours and I won't play it through THAT many times. It's a fucking brilliant, cinematic ten hours, though, and that's sometimes just as good. :-)
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