After the excitement of E3 followed by an overpowering week of work and lackluster gaming, I turned to a friend for Dutch inspiration. What was the nugget of truth he dropped? Was it a random sentence or word I was really hoping for?
Nope. It was a rant, and a valid rant at that.
Many developers are looking to create the perfect simulation or experience. Take Gran Tourismo 5 for example; a stunning game that’s beautifully rendered and realistic down to the last detail. True to life physics mean you feel every driving subtlety, while body roll affects your cornering, just as with real life sports cars.
It’s a true racing simulator except for one minor thing – it’s still a video game.
Despite its impressive aesthetics and capabilities, the arcade nature of gaming will always shine through.
Well into an endurance challenge, AI drivers are still able to cut you off and somehow put into the wall at high speed, which is unlikely in a real world racing situation yet common in the realm of gaming. This action will end your game, essentially wasting four hours of your life, frustrating yourself and (presumably) your loved ones as you (presumably) let loose a string of profanity at the TV and PlayStation.
I say presumably because that’s what I would do if I was in that situation. In fact, it’s what I regularly do when I feel the pain of pixilated reality.
I think I didn’t stop swearing after three minutes of Forza 3– I found it so realistic to the point that not only did I dislike driving, but I didn’t want to play video games anymore. It was so much hard work for so little payoff. I’ve mentioned this before, but when I play games I like to have fun and not worry about nuances such as tyre pressure and heat.
First person shooters were also included in my friends rant, with maximum prejudice towards the running headshot. From a sniper perspective, I for one accept this move as standard. If you can pull it off, be it noob fluke or planned, good on you. I can understand the frustration as a grunt though and don’t understand why when two opponents are running head-on and shooting at each others heads that one opponent will get the head shot and another won’t.
I also don’t understand why games like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas will introduce teams with team management abilities, yet make you do all the work. There is a reason why I asked the team to flank and break in before I got there…
What are your major gaming beefs?
Retailer exclusive downloadable content is my biggest beef. Big releases like LA Noire come with vouchers to download an exclusive case depending on your retailer of choice. Then, the cases from the other retailers are up on the PSN/XBLA for 7 bucks a pop. So if you want the full experience its however much for the game, and up to 30 bucks for all the additional content (which doesn't end up being worthwhile anyway).
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