Gaming as an Art Form

Most people would agree that something which is classed as a piece of art needs to be composed by an artist and ideally convey emotions or messages to the audience. These ideas are all readily applied to Film, Music, Literature and Painting, but why not the newly developed medium of Gaming?

Just as this article may cause you to create or modify your existing opinions on this matter, games may point out aspects of society which make you feel differently, or notice how clear some social undertones are from a different perspective. What I’m trying to say is that when you analyse a book or film, usually you discover that there are hidden messages which are running themes throughout the story. One example of this would be the recent film release, The Great Gatsby.

While it received fairly average reviews, I thought that the constant tension caused by the deception between the love triangle of Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom was the main reason why I didn’t fall asleep halfway through the film. The love triangle and the spectacularly colourful 1920s setting, of course. If you were to ask a film critique whether they thought this film was a piece of art, just like any other romantic drama, they would unarguably say ‘yes’. But what about a game?

Some games cause the player to experience an emotional rollercoaster which is just as immersive as any 2013 blockbuster, if not more. Take developer Naughty Dog’s latest offering, the critically acclaimed The Last of Us. Then compare it to any half-decent film or piece of visual media. The story in this game is absolutely stellar, and the way it is presented is far better than any recent narrative. The main character that you play as, Joel initially appears to be your stereotypical grizzled protagonist who wouldn’t show any emotion even if his life depended on it. To the player, he is a blank slate which they can project themselves on to. Suddenly, you’re burdened with a girl to take across the ravaged remains of the United States, and because you don’t know this person, Joel and the player feel exactly the same.

Throughout the story, you get to watch as the relationship between Joel and Ellie goes from two people being forced together into an almost father-daughter connection. As the story develops, your emotions almost mimic the on-screen actions perfectly. Did feel as much emotion in Man of Steel as I did in The Last of Us? Certainly not, because in the superhero action film, the only time you feel anything is during the destructive battles, and even then, it’s a case of, ‘wow, I bet it cost a lot for all the CGI stuff’.

While the narrative of The Last of Us nearly caused me to cry, the setting which the story is based in is equally amazing. The colours go from vibrant and eye-catching in the outside areas, to murky and rotten on the ruined indoor areas. Have a look at some of the concept drawings for this game, and I would definitely argue that video games such as this are essentially art.

Video games are also a new opportunity for artists. Whereas with music, the composer is limited to audio messages, and painters are limited to eye-catching visuals, games allow for pretty much all aspects of art. It is entirely possible for a game to have a stunning visual background, like Crysis 3 for example, while having an immersive story and an addictive and catchy soundtrack behind it all, like Hotline Miami. Games like the recently released Bioshock Infinite also allow for social undertones to eventually become evident to the player, making them realise the flaws of their own society, despite the game being set in an alternate 1912 universe.

Also, surely gaming would worthwhile art form in comparison to film, simply for the hopeful future it has. While the film and gaming industry are equally costly, films tend to stick to pre-defined and proven genres, as film producers would much rather make a film which they know will be a worthwhile investment. Because of this, the film market tends to be oversaturated with action films overflowing with explosions. In comparison, games tend to innovate. More innovation results in the production of better games.

Granted, there has been an outpour of ‘first person shooters’ over recent years, so it is arguable that the game industry suffers from some of the same issues. On top of this, critics are probably wary of considering games as art due to the old stereotypes attached to it. The idea of college nerds gazing into a computer screen for hours on end is probably a daunting idea for sophisticated reviewers to accept. Similarly, it may be hard for them to see acne-riddled programmers as artists. 

However, gaming has matured extensively over its roughly 30-year lifespan. And just with any new idea, anyone with an ounce of maturity will be able to understand that society is wary of things which are new to it. Hopefully one day, people will take gaming seriously as a dedicated form of art. In my opinion, it isn’t a case of why society should do so, rather a case of why not? Surely it's time for games to be taken seriously...

Some First Impressions of GTA V

After finishing probably the most highly anticipated game of the current generation, I've had some time to pick my brains up from off of the floor and collect some thoughts on Rockstar's latest offering.

First and foremost, I hate to go with the flow, but this game is great. There's unfortunately little you can do to deny it, apart from a few features.

To start with, there's the performance. On near ancient systems, Rockstar have done a great job getting GTA V up to scratch, and it is a technical milestone for this generation of consoles. However, the frame rate of this game (for me at least), varies around 20 to 27, or in layman's terms, almost unbearable and hardly acceptable. That was a constant flaw that unfortunately most people will have to put up with, until a PC or next-gen release.

I would go into how the three lead characters are all really awful people, but the game understands this, and they even point this fact out occasionally. However, adding depth to your characters is all well and good, just like making them come from all walks of life lets you explore different lifestyles, but at the end of the day, this is GTA, and the first thing on everyone's list is to go on a machine-gun rampage, get in a huge police chase, and steal a fighter jet. What's the point of serious characterisation when these kinds of activities are inevitably the first things players will do?

I did really enjoy the story when it got all serious, and the three different characters allows for some great opportunities that couldn't have been done before. The variety of things to do, whether in mission or out of it is great, but I can't help but feel that some of the mechanics featured in these activities could have been a bit more refined. Take shooting, arguable one of the most important features of the game; when you choose a gun from the convenient radial menu and are desperate to fire it, I genuinely lost the reticule several times. It's a tiny dot in the middle of a screen layered with colour, and usually, explosions. Also, the guns feel solid, but aiming them is clunky in comparison with the slick UI and cover mechanics. How hard would it have been to put a standard reticule and smooth up the controls?

The thing is, Rockstar have made third-person shooters before, and their fairly recent Max Payne 3 had solid and smooth controls. While Rockstar have clearly taken some inspiration from their other games, they missed out on the opportunity to make their flagship game the benchmark for third-person shooting mechanics.

But I suppose these are all small faults in a massive game, and in a world with so much to do, these little issues are easily overshadowed. The missions are great, the driving and flying is great, customisation is immense and the soundtrack is superb. You've got tiny details too; in tunnels or certain parts of the map, certain radio stations will be unavailable. If you run into someone or honk at a stationary vehicle, you'll get the according abuse, rude gestures and even the odd person who gets out demanding a fight. And this is only half of the game. Now that the highly anticipated online portion of the game is out, people have been striving to get online to be part of the inevitable madness and multiplayer anarchy.

And so far, we've learnt that Rockstar need to invest more of their money into servers and maintenance, as people have found it notoriously difficult to get online, or either lack a constant character due to the short term inability to save online or occasionally getting kicked off for seemingly no reason. This is understandable when you've got potentially hundreds of thousands of people trying to get on at once, but as Rockstar made over $1 Billion in the first 3 days of GTA V's release, it's not like they're short of cash.

Unfortunately for me, whenever I attempt to get into the online mode and partake in the array of multiplayer activities that Rockstar have prepared, such as fleeing from fighter jets, racing, shooting or even just good old fashioned robbery, the courteous and respectful community proceed to either shoot my car tires, or my face. It's a great concept, but it is best played with friends.

It's certainly a ground-breaking game that will nicely see off this console generation, and for its technical faults, I certainly hope it'll be coming to the likes of the Xbox One and PS4. We all expected it to be an astonishing game, but for me it's slightly less great than I anticipated. In the same way that a few hundred thousand pounds are slightly disappointing in comparison to a whole million.

I'll be right back; I'm going to steal a plane or two.

Walter White: Hero or Villain?

The finale of Breaking Bad is upon us, and as excitement and anticipation swells around our feet with bewilderment of what a masked Bryan Cranston will do next, now is as good a time as any to wonder how the series became so popular, and almost iconic in modern pop culture.

At first, Breaking Bad seems like a concept that could easily fly over our collective heads. A cancer-riddled chemistry teacher who has to find alternative ways to make money? If it were set in the UK, the problem would have been solved with the NHS and we wouldn’t have been treated to the wonderful adventures of Walter White, but without Vince Gilligan’s Pilot episode, that demanded and deserved all the attention it got, few would care about the show that is shrouded in Emmy glory.

Photo courtesy of Flickr

As Cranston said in his 2008 Emmy speech, in thanking AMC and Sony for the giving the opportunity to put the ‘remarkable, challenging, wonderful, odd mix’ on air to the world, people clearly knew that such a concept was indeed a risk. And my opinion on why this risk has paid off would be the re-appearance of the anti-hero onto television screens, something which we haven’t seen in a long time.

What makes Cranston’s character an anti-hero rather than an outright villain? Well, Walter White is far too human and all too recognisable, showing the audience both sides of themselves to prevent the stark label of ’evil’ being placed upon them, hence the common comparisons between himself and Tony Soprano.  We watch his journey, or free fall from doormat Chemistry teacher to no-nonsense meth kingpin. Compare the first and latest episodes, going from a struggling, ill old guy cramming in two jobs to make ends meet for his family, something which is entirely relatable to a substantial amount of the country, and now the cold-blooded murderer, going out of his way to build a drug empire for reasons only known to himself. You can begin to understand why so many people have become immersed in this show.

Gilligan is also in the position of using the age-old trick of making us watch moral table-tennis, which gets us desperately standing up for Walt in the face of overwhelming odds, consisting of the  police, other drug lords, and even his own family who have come to hate him as we should in an ideal world. Whenever the Heisenberg character lets someone die in their sleep, orders the cold murder of a helpless nerd, or even inadvertently causes a mid-air plane crash, old relatable Walt reminds us why he ran over those two gangsters, or why he blew up an old folk’s home, to save those close to him. Vince Gilligan has the fan base often divided, in cries of, ‘He’s killed hundreds, of course he’s evil!’ and, ‘He’s doing it for his family, leave him alone!’, something which keeps the two sides glued to the Albuquerque drug business, all while raising attention for those who haven’t delved into the show, which is almost as addictive as drugs at its core.

Image courtesy of Flickr (again)

But now, it’s clear that the tables are stacked against the bald hero, with no-one to run to, and the looming idea that he has become as corrupt and twisted as the world which is chasing him down. But despite this, there are always undertones of good and redemption. Take the toxic rant he has at Skyler, filled with hate and bottled up emotion, as horrible as it is, there’s always the idea that Walt knew he was being listened to by the government, and was providing some legal cover for his wife and family. And then there is his vain attempt to send money to his family, showing that despite all he’s done, and all his family has done to him, he still wants to provide for them in any way he can.

Regardless, we all know that the former chemistry teacher could never integrate back into to normal society, especially with his past and of course, the majority of the American government chasing him. He’s not the kind of guy to quietly retreat from his past and scurry around in the shadows of his former self. It’s likely he will go down in blaze, as has been hinted at with M60 machine gun in the boot of his car, but a blaze of glory?

Walter White is the best example of how no-one is perfect, just as no character in Breaking Bad is free from guilt or their own conscience, and more importantly, how evil can creep up on you. Before you know it, you’ve killed your way through the heart of the illegal drug business and placed yourself at the head of it.

But despite all this, is the lead character of this series evil? Well, that’s the glory of a retrospective view on a TV drama such as Breaking Bad; it’s entirely up to your interpretation. With all the lies, murder and deceit in the past, it’s difficult to play Walter off as a misunderstood hero, but thankfully, it’s not impossible, and that lack of definition (at least up to now), has been the factor that has kept millions interested in the drama surrounding an aged meth-maker with a split personality.

Are Old Games Better?

Has gaming gone downhill, or are our expectations raised?

Common opinion dictates that games, especially those in large franchises like Halo and Call of Duty, are slowly declining in quality, due to stripping out beloved features or simply stagnating over time due to a lack of innovation. At the same time, these games continue to receive outstanding scores and critical acclaim, but what do they do in order to deserve it?

In comparison to another fairly new title, The Last of Us, it’s difficult to see why these predictable games achieved the scores that they did. While The Last of Us may have a fairly generic concept, that of a zombie-apocalypse based story and third-person shooting mechanics, it brings enough new features in order to stand out and appear like a desert island in an ocean of over-saturated and unoriginal ideas.

Despite its originality, compare The Last of Us to any game within the same genre and they could appear remarkably similar. Factually, it could be compared to a game such as Resident Evil, as they are both third-person, zombie orientated shooting games. One however is an original idea, whereas the other is long established franchise of action-horror games. The original Resident Evil averaged around 8/10 across the many platforms it was released, whereas the most recent edition, Resident Evil 6 which was released last year, averaged around 7/10. At first glance, it would therefore appear that older games seemed to receive better critique.

However, take a look at games which launched years ago with amazing reviews. The Half-Life series for example has remained a consistently strong franchise throughout its creation, with each game receiving high scores. The same can be said for the Far Cry series, along with Crysis, both of which have gained positive reviews throughout each iteration.

Maybe some modern games actually do deserve the acclaim they get, even those that are part of a long standing franchise. Grand Theft Auto 4, currently the latest game in the controversial series of games was received by essentially everyone and their uncle as being the greatest game of the current console generation. Yet when seen beside its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the latest game seems restricted in almost every aspect. The playable world is smaller, there are fewer weapons and vehicles, the character customisation is restricted, but the game received an array of perfect scores.

Bioshock: Infinite, another recent title was praised similarly, yet simply doused the game with a new coat of paint, using a different world and story with little to any new mechanics. The same system of using weaponry and powers was still in place, and the levels were just as linear as any other modern shooting game. Little innovation has occurred, but the game was still shrouded in critical acclaim.

If you look at the scores, it’s hard to deny that there are no great games out there. But if you look at the matter from an independent perspective, you could easily think otherwise. Personally, I think that some games that lack innovation are certainly overrated, but keep in mind that we do get brand new ground-breaking titles too, although it might seem that way, we are not in a gaming world of repetitive copy and paste franchises.

I don’t think gaming is going downhill, I just think that good games tend to be missed. To those who think that the world of video games is approaching an inevitable spiral of which it can’t escape, please, wake up. This isn’t 1995, and although game mechanics might have changed, quality certainly has not.

Game Review: Remember Me

Now, maybe I should stop acting like this game is from 2005, but to say this game is about 3 months old, absolutely everyone seems to have forgotten about it. And I'm also quite pleased that I've refrained from any puns on the game's name. 

Is this because the looming next-gen of consoles and the inevitable new CoD and Battlefield iterations? It's entirely possible, but it's more likely that this game was washed up in the video game sea of mediocrity, home to the likes of Army of Two, Tomb Raider and Just Cause 2, (excluding the PC version). These are all games ranging between 'solid' to 'actually quite enjoyable', and considering the relative youth of Remember Me, I personally don't think it's ready to be put into that bottomless ocean just yet.

What was good about the game? Well, actually a fair bit, but unfortunately at launch it seemed to be overwhelmed by its generally moderate features and mechanics.

Take the general idea and context of the game; an action/adventure title set in a futuristic iteration of Paris, melding new and old architecture together. It was pretty nice to look at, and was a great backdrop for the game. The only problem was that it wasn't really utilised as much as it could have been, it was purely just a backdrop. 

Although base jumping off of the Eiffel Tower would have been great and unrealistic, I would have settled for blowing someone's virtual brains out of their ears on the Arc De Triomphe. But there isn't really any of that. There's plenty of climbing/walking through/punching people in stylized streets resembling a hipster's paradise, but take the trademark tourist attractions out, and you could pass the setting off as any other dreamt-up futuristic city.

The setting looks great, but this also resulted in some mediocre platforming, with an arrow pointing to where you need to go. While everyone was complaining about this very small feature, I actually found it quite helpful, being the incompetent tit that I am. But seeing as people need something to complain about, that tiny little feature seemed to be as good as any. 

The main problem was that the game couldn't build on its platforming for the sake of realism, or the game's idea of realism. Unlike Uncharted or Assassin's Creed, which has notable yellow pipes or white-clothed boxes that let you know you can start climbing and/or free running, Remember Me had none of it, as it would have stuck out like a North Korean spy in the middle of King's Cross.

Courtesy of Shumafuk on Flickr

And then there's the main focus of the game, the combat. Although it did try its very best to be just like the array of Batman: Arkham games that everyone and their parents have raved about over recent years, it didn't quite pull it off, as the mechanics felt noticeably clunkier than Rocksteady's series which has become the main comparison for every third person brawler. The only other problem was the flow of Remember Me's fighting, which was constantly interrupted by an enemy which you had to dodge. Apart from that, it was again, very solid. 

Then there was the 'Combo-Lab'. A great idea! Make your own move-sets to help compliment your own fighting style. It was just somewhat poorly executed, as most people ended up stringing the same kind of attack together. What's that? You're low on health? No worries, just mash the square button until you're fine again. Rinse and repeat and exploit to your heart's content.

Apart from its flaws, I personally really liked the game. It's new and different, a brand new IP in a world over saturated with the next iteration of your big-budget FPS. It was colourful, (sometimes), and had a great aesthetic. The entire digital theme really suited it, and allowed for some cool additions, like a wrist-mounted cannon that fires data at enemies.

Also, (it's unfortunate that this is notable), it includes a female protagonist and it doesn't resort to the typical exploits that most games do. Nilin is like an unmasked Batman, without the money, and what's even better is that developers Dontnod stood by their game when publishers Capcom wanted to change it due to having a female lead. This is 2013, not the 1950s; people aren't going to be outraged due to the sex of the main character.

Granted, the story is a bit cliché with the entire context of an intrusive mega-corporation and a amnesia-riddled protagonist, but in the later hours of the game, I was quite intrigued to see what would happen, and what brains I'd be able to mess with next.

Oh yeah, one key concept behind the game was 'memory remixing', essentially sequences that were as cinematic as Heavy Rain, but had relevance and were great to experiment with. While they were scripted in the sense that you have to do certain things in order to achieve a certain set of outcomes to progress, they were really fun and made you feel really integral to the story. Unfortunately, there were only four of these brilliant sequences in the entire game, but ah well...

For what it's worth, I really enjoyed Remember Me and really cannot see what all the criticism is about. Overall, it's a solid action, brawler, whatever genre it fits in, and it has some really unrecognised new ideas. It’s a leap forward which has been overlooked. I mean, when was the last time a new IP like this came out, and not just a reboot? You can pick it up fairly cheap from a range of stores, so instead of getting one of those £20 games like Dead Space 3, Crysis 3 or the latest of one of EA or Activision's franchises, why not try something new?

Give it a go, and reward innovation in the process.

Album Review: Queens of the Stone Age - Like Clockwork...

As of its release, Queens of the Stone Age fans had gone six years without a single or album, and to be a conformist among fans, it’s a brilliant return to form.

Traditionally, I appreciate small bands which create a huge sound in proportion to their number of members, and for some strange reason, I never really went near bands with a variety of shifting musicians. Queens of the Stone Age certainly changed that, as their latest album provides a refined delight of accessible, yet sufficiently heavy and differing tracks. 

For me, this album solidifies their position as an arguably defining rock band of this generation, given how much variance these ten tracks have. ‘Keep Your Eyes Peeled’, is a slow, plodding track which occasionally bursts into energy, and is strangely compared to the Arctic Monkey’s ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ The relaxed pace of this track is defined by a looming array of dead notes, and while the pacing is similar, the comparably uplifting track ‘Kalopsia’ goes from blissful verse to chanting chorus at the flick of a switch: It’s a midnight carnival ride of a song. Speaking of Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner provided backing vocals for the track, alongside the involvement of icons such as Dave Grohl and Elton John on various songs. 

The dark undertones of the album greatly compliment the crunch of guitars alongside their stellar solos, most notably on ‘I Appear Missing’, my personal favourite on this album, chiefly due to its complexity and final solo which encourages anyone to play air guitar in public places. ‘My God is the Sun’ is essentially a prime example of modern rock music, if one was ever needed. It goes from Homme’s bellowing verse accompanied by suitably distorted bass into an all-involving chorus, kicked up dust as it sharply kicks you onto the next song.

‘The Vampyre of Time and Memory’ serves to slow the pace of the album down, and is a cracking piano-centred song. That’s another thing I’d recommend, that you listen to the entirety of this album in order, as while lyrics have never been the bands strongest feature, these tunes almost come together to form a story, which would go with the idea that the name ‘…Like Clockwork’ represents the troubles that the band faced when creating the album. 

The album as a whole is a wonderful evolution from the band’s original post-grunge outlook, and is generally a enjoyable collection of refined tracks at its worse. It’s an improvement to see long-standing bands such as Queens maintain their ascension, whereas similarly big groups, such as Muse, appear to have lost touch with their origins. In short, ‘…Like Clockwork’ is a cracking album, and definitely worth your time.

Album Review: The Joy Formidable - Wolf's Law

You know that song that you recently found? The one that you’re going to play over and over until you inevitably hate it? Well for me, Wolf’s Law by The Joy Formidable, contains eleven of those tracks which are doomed to be played on repeat for the foreseeable future.

The Welsh band released the mash-up of hits not too long ago, in January of this year, but given their relatively small fan base in comparison to other similar groups such as The Vaccines and Two Door Cinema Club, they appear to be a few fans short considering they're an emerging band on their second album.

So by that standard, they're far from a household name, and few people on the street will have heard of them, (if any). But of course, views and popularity doesn’t correlate with quality, so here’s why I think Wolf’s Law is certainly something to shout about.

Without going on about their previous stuff and live performances, let me say that it is barely imaginable that three people can make such a noise. Granted in some songs, cellos, violins and other string instruments require additional people, but the riffs and stomping noise created in the process is truly worthwhile. For me, the best example of this is in ‘The Leopard and the Lung’, a song based on the late political activist Wangari Maathai. It goes from a catchy harp section into one of the heaviest sections I have heard in the alternative rock genre. The guitar is outspoken and simple, the bass is minding its own business in the background while the drums are conveying the passion of the band in the best way that they can, all while the harp compliments it perfectly. The noise is simply wonderful, and you can easily tell that they’re beating the life out of their instruments in the process.

This album has been argued to be worse than the band’s previous work, The Big Roar, simply due to the incredible amounts of polish each track seems to have upon it. Everything fits and oozes guitar-pop accessibility, and as a result, it loses some of the quirkiness of the last album. Yet, for me, this is a fair trade-off, as everything is engineered to sound massive, and it’s not like The Big Roar is going anywhere.

It is a shame that girls with guitars are rare enough to gain special attention, but the fact that a search of the guitarist and vocalist, Ritzy Bryan, will result in more people seeking her guitar rig and setup rather than whether or not she has a boyfriend, is testament to her talent. While most younger bands seem to have the bass follow the main guitar, covering up any mistakes and simply boosting the noise, the deep sound from The Joy Formidable’s bass is self-dependent, and is much better off because of it. This is probably most notable in ‘Little Blimp’, which also has an incredibly joyful solo that you’ll immediately want to rock out to.

In short, it’s a solid album at its worse, and a compilation of great tracks which places spirit back into indie music at its best. The two main tracks, while not being my personal favourites, are ‘Cholla’ and ‘This Ladder is Ours’. 

While having somewhat odd names, the main riffs in these two tracks best display why the band can hold its own and support titans such as Muse and the Foo Fighters. These songs can initially appear to be a mash-up of ideas rather than fully thought-out ones, but this is by no means a negative comment. Even if these songs were haphazardly put together, there’s essentially no friction between all three instruments. ‘Maw Maw’ shows how the band can fill stages of any size, and is best put by the drummer, Matt Thomas, who says all that needs to be said in the track by track commentary; "It’s heavy".

Quieter songs like ‘Silent Treatment’ put previous tensions and annoyances out into the open and are the best track to fit with the album idea of ‘relationships on the mend and feeling reinvigorated’, as stated in the aforementioned commentary. As with the rest of the track list, this song feels like it’s coming from the heart of the band and despite whatever interpretation the listener has, it always has a solid and meaningful message.

I found Wolf’s Law catchy when it was released a few months ago, and it has solidified itself into my playlist of favourites. It certainly deserves all the attention it can get.