We at TSA are always open to receiving guest pieces from the community. Today’s offering comes from the keyboard of Burgess_101, who seems to be a bit angry about the current drive for realism in games.
I was talking to one of my friends about “The Darkness II” about how amazing it was and how “badass” it makes you feel. Anyone that has played the game will know exactly what I mean. He asked me what it was about, so rather than describe it I thought what better way to explain it then to show him a video. After I had shown him this video he told me it looked terrible. “Why?” I asked and the reason he gave me sums up a lot of criticism that seems to appear nowadays.
He told me it wasn’t realistic enough. Now I’ll give you guys some time to remove palms from faces. I don’t normally associate this specific friend with my others that only play FIFA or COD, so this answer threw me off big time.
[drop]This got me thinking about the current state of gaming. There are some truly great games out there that are being shunned for being imaginative. How many now prefer a short military story (if you can call it that) glorifying Americans (read COD/BF3) to the fantasy realm of Skyrim? I know it can depend on who you’re with, how much time you have etc. but the sales figures seem to show that the majority of gamers would rather sit down with an FPS, just look at the sales figures of Call of Duty or Battlefield.It’s not just sales figures either, there’s a general attitude amongst consumers as well. My friends have clearly shown this by taking the mick out of me for saying I would rather go around with awesome devil tentacles dual wielding UZIs, than be a macho clichéd soldier. Why? Because you cant be a badass demon in real life and that’s it. Or because I play games they have never heard of before.
Basically I feel people think realism equals a great game. The amount of times I have heard people say COD is more realistic than BF3 or vice versa is ridiculous.People seem to have lost their imagination and forgotten what gaming is all about. Escaping from the trials and tribulations of the real world. Bad day at work? Become engrossed in another world and forget all about it for a while. Whats the point of throwing yourself back into the same world?
I dont hate COD or Battlefield at all, in fact I play them quite a bit myself. FIFA I play loads of (mostly with friends). Sometimes you want to shoot virtual people in the face. I understand. Sometimes you want to score a 30 yard volley with Emile Heskey. I understand. Just broaden your horizons. Take a risk on a different game. I did just that recently with Rayman: Origins. I never really enjoyed platformers before because I’m awful at them, but it turned out to be one of the best games I have played in a long time.
If things stay the way they are, we will end up with just the same ‘Modern Battlefield World War V: Terrrorists Return’ because that is what sells and individual games like The Darkness, Heavy Rain and so many others, will just be swept under the carpet and forgotten of; ridiculed for their individualities.
I certainly don’t want that but as they say, money talks.
TheShepanator
I don’t care if a game is realistic or not, as long as it is consistent.
Oh, and it should be a good game too.
Lee
I don’t like and thus refuse to play any game that is current (including WW2) military/soldier/squad based. It just doesn’t do it for me and why play a game genre I dislike? Even some of the future set FPS are too current-military based for me.
What I do like though, is realism based on the rules of the game world, even if it is a fantasy world, there are rules of physics etc which should be consistent and believable. Backwards flying dragons are obviously not right :)
For me a game is about fantasy, otherwise it’s a simulator…
HelixSundown
Seeing people in the comments say they want “realism” in their FPSes makes me want to facepalm too. How many of the FPSes you play actually contain realism? When in Call of Duty has somebody hit bricks by your head with a couple rounds of 7.62×39 and blinded you with fragmentation, and then executed you while you thrash around on the ground? Never. But THAT’S realism. The “run at top speed and jump around with combat gear on while shooting double barrelled shotguns and knifing ankles” bullshit is not realism.
There is a difference between realism and what we PERCEIVE as realism. Educate yourself and you will understand how far away we are from realistic games.
HelixSundown
Not only that, but would a truly realistic game be any fun? This is something I argue to myself all the time. It can’t be realistic, or it’s not a “game,” by definition.