Yesterday I received a quite interesting and well thought out email from TSA reader bunimomike. It contained a suggestion for a discussion topic so good and so well elaborated on that I would deserve to be thrown from a moving car had I not unleashed it upon the rest of the world. His great and genius idea is the concept of progression in games, something that he’s borrowed from the film world. I could talk more on what he meant, but I don’t think I could do the concept justice.
So, rather than presenting his idea in my own words, here’s what the man himself has to say.
I recently watched Alien… then a week later Aliens. How on earth did it work? From a single alien in a suspenseful thriller directed by uber-meister, Ridley Scott. Then onto a roller-coaster affair with the mighty James Cameron in one of the finest action-adventure type films ever. Top of the charts in RottenTomatoes website (for that genre). It got me thinking. How did they do it?
Progression is the name of the game. The craziness is that a corporate company would definitely want to study the lifeform. Weaponise it. Turn it into a profit-making situation. With that in mind, the sequels gung-ho military hoo-ha worked a treat! It leapt from suspense to all-out-bullet-fest in one swift genre-tastic leap! With all of this in mind, what could work in the gaming world? If we ignore the inherent risk to alienating a franchise which particular game could do such a thing? Something with a strong narrative.
Uncharted? Maybe the third outing might leave it with a completely ground down Nate. Somewhere remote. The fourth title could see a lower-key affair with stealth now playing a major part. With him questioning his own sanity. The narrative would be far less “hollywood blockbuster” but all the better for it. No.3 and 4 would feel coherent. A journey through titles not just single shot games where the past doesn’t matter too much.
I honestly love this idea, I think it would be a great way to revitalise game series that are in danger of becoming stale. The only series I can think of that even comes close to this kind of progression is Splinter Cell, where conviction was a turn from the rest of the series, although not to the extent that bunimomike is suggesting.
There really aren’t many games that string together a consistent narrative throughout the series this way, although it looks like Gears of War is attempting this. Beyond that there really aren’t any games that spring to mind where the evolving narrative evolves and changes the gameplay throughout games.
So what do you think of the idea? Is this something you’d like to see? Do you buy a series for the characters, regardless of the gameplay? Or would a significant change in the style of the game push you away from buying the next title?
If you have your own suggestion for a topic why not email me at [email protected] or suggest it over in the forums?