"Hey, this is belated."
"Didn't expect the cryostasis to actually work. Hah. HAHAHAH!"
_______________
Before we said goodbye, 7th generation said, "Save the girl, save the world, b*tch."
"Okay," we sat down, warily. But we did it. Eventually by the edges of our claw-and-ball seats, we did.
Because the story-oriented, character-driven experience of a generation was on the horizon.
The original Bioshock came out on an annus mirabilis. The year of Super Mario Galaxy, The Orange Box. The birth of the Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. Made by Irrational Games and overseen by mother brain/Looking Glass alumnus Ken Levine, this survival horror game from over a decade ago now was at the time fledgling, and fresh, and dripping with atmosphere. The atmosphere of a System Shock game. Claustrophobic, iconoclastic, beset with grandiose commentary on Nature. Political philosophy and self-reference was hardcoded into its narrative DNA, addressing the medium, its workings, its implications on the humanity caged and simulated within that framework, and how those seams distorted themselves.
It wasn't always as steady as it wanted to be. But hey -- no cutscenes.
After an announcement trailer which sent ripples across the world, pond, and parts of Zimbabwe, fans were reiteratively promised the same thrill ride, but bigger, brighter, bustier, SKYHOOKS, in Bioshock Infinite. White City, Gilded Age, Pinkerton influences. A city in the sky, for crying out loud, Dorothy, a city in the gotdamn sky. The parallel to the Rapture of Bioshock 1 and 2 (separately designed by another studio, and the actual Greatest game contender in this retinue) was as clear as an upturned glass. Instead of an underwater city, a suspended one. Instead of dark corners, dizzying sun. Instead of Little Sisters, little sister. Instead of Big Daddy, Booker DeWitt. Go on, take that coin from Elizabeth for the umpteenth time. You can do it.
MEANWHILE, in Santa Monica, Naughty Dog was wrapping up its Uncharted trilogy, pulling off a risky tease in the last game to a morbid sounding project that couldn't possibly have had anything to do with them.
Oh, look, a montage with post-9/11 imagery and an impeccably brooding voiceover.
Oh look, The Last of Us, by really? Really?
Helmed by Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, The Last of Us was a AAA game that promised to place drama and story first. Those zombies attacking Joel and Ellie in the trailer meant this was totally not a zombie game, and would be nitty-gritty, featuring pails of blood, bricks, obligatory post-apocalyptic clutter, and the million dollar question. The gaming world soon realized these guys were serious. Real serious. They were going to put all their blood, sweat, and blood-sweating secretions into telling this story.
Sony has a reputation these days the original onset of which can be traced back somewhere here. Uncharted was kicked off in 2007 with Drake's Fortune and lauded for breaking ludological ground. It managed to feel like a movie while playing like a game. Some love it, and its characters. Some love it, while wishing Nate would have put on a gag (to which I say, 'bah'). Plenty comprise varying states of ambivalence and indifference. Others pan it entirely; all style, no substance. All story, no plot. All pastiche, no luster.
Everyone's eyes were on Naughty Dog to see what their next move would be.
________________________
It is an old argument, now. Had a thread on one half of it just the other day. So it usually goes, that Bioshock Infinite was messy and self-indulgent but fun and thought provoking, while TLOU was told well and polished but contrived and dour. It also appears vice versa, in plenty other variations.
Why did people compare 'em?
1) you had a girl to protect, 2) there will be blood, 3) both came out on a 'legendary' year, in the shadow of GTAV, 4) they were very story focused, 5) Troy Baker.
In the end they were primarily just heavily marketed AAA action adventures. But how they represented dual approaches to the same desire, how the demographic gauged each via their own personal metrics, was of interesting timing, don'tchya think? It allowed us to visibly see how different types of audiences venn diagrammed different cuts of meat with the same penchant for character fueled, ball rolling narrative essence. The kind of essence that would grow to become a very highly valued 'asset' to the Big Deal, cinematic game design pipeline of the western world, later.
Where Bioshock told a story of sacrifice, TLOU chose self-preservation. Where Bioshock was first-person, TLOU was third. Where TLOU was grounded and realistic, Bioshock was satirical and exaggerated.
Perhaps the comparison is uncouth. But the point is that many people played both at around the same time. It was easy to thread that yarn. And divisively, several people who had problems with TLOU didn't see those same problems in Bioshock -- and those with Bioshock, in TLOU. Where do you think they stand on certain fronts? It could be that they're both fine, after all.
Also wow I'm hungry, so I am gonna eat a bowl of cereal before continuing this. But since this is long enough I'll probably hang it up to dry, FOREVER. If you got this far post 'fast Concorde' in spoiler tags. Just kidding. You don't need to do that. *crunch, crunch*
Which did you think was the superior summer smash of '13?
AND which had the better ending? ;p *munch munch*
"Didn't expect the cryostasis to actually work. Hah. HAHAHAH!"
_______________
Before we said goodbye, 7th generation said, "Save the girl, save the world, b*tch."
"Okay," we sat down, warily. But we did it. Eventually by the edges of our claw-and-ball seats, we did.
Because the story-oriented, character-driven experience of a generation was on the horizon.
The original Bioshock came out on an annus mirabilis. The year of Super Mario Galaxy, The Orange Box. The birth of the Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. Made by Irrational Games and overseen by mother brain/Looking Glass alumnus Ken Levine, this survival horror game from over a decade ago now was at the time fledgling, and fresh, and dripping with atmosphere. The atmosphere of a System Shock game. Claustrophobic, iconoclastic, beset with grandiose commentary on Nature. Political philosophy and self-reference was hardcoded into its narrative DNA, addressing the medium, its workings, its implications on the humanity caged and simulated within that framework, and how those seams distorted themselves.
It wasn't always as steady as it wanted to be. But hey -- no cutscenes.
After an announcement trailer which sent ripples across the world, pond, and parts of Zimbabwe, fans were reiteratively promised the same thrill ride, but bigger, brighter, bustier, SKYHOOKS, in Bioshock Infinite. White City, Gilded Age, Pinkerton influences. A city in the sky, for crying out loud, Dorothy, a city in the gotdamn sky. The parallel to the Rapture of Bioshock 1 and 2 (separately designed by another studio, and the actual Greatest game contender in this retinue) was as clear as an upturned glass. Instead of an underwater city, a suspended one. Instead of dark corners, dizzying sun. Instead of Little Sisters, little sister. Instead of Big Daddy, Booker DeWitt. Go on, take that coin from Elizabeth for the umpteenth time. You can do it.
MEANWHILE, in Santa Monica, Naughty Dog was wrapping up its Uncharted trilogy, pulling off a risky tease in the last game to a morbid sounding project that couldn't possibly have had anything to do with them.
Oh, look, a montage with post-9/11 imagery and an impeccably brooding voiceover.
Oh look, The Last of Us, by really? Really?
Helmed by Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, The Last of Us was a AAA game that promised to place drama and story first. Those zombies attacking Joel and Ellie in the trailer meant this was totally not a zombie game, and would be nitty-gritty, featuring pails of blood, bricks, obligatory post-apocalyptic clutter, and the million dollar question. The gaming world soon realized these guys were serious. Real serious. They were going to put all their blood, sweat, and blood-sweating secretions into telling this story.
Sony has a reputation these days the original onset of which can be traced back somewhere here. Uncharted was kicked off in 2007 with Drake's Fortune and lauded for breaking ludological ground. It managed to feel like a movie while playing like a game. Some love it, and its characters. Some love it, while wishing Nate would have put on a gag (to which I say, 'bah'). Plenty comprise varying states of ambivalence and indifference. Others pan it entirely; all style, no substance. All story, no plot. All pastiche, no luster.
Everyone's eyes were on Naughty Dog to see what their next move would be.
________________________
It is an old argument, now. Had a thread on one half of it just the other day. So it usually goes, that Bioshock Infinite was messy and self-indulgent but fun and thought provoking, while TLOU was told well and polished but contrived and dour. It also appears vice versa, in plenty other variations.
Why did people compare 'em?
1) you had a girl to protect, 2) there will be blood, 3) both came out on a 'legendary' year, in the shadow of GTAV, 4) they were very story focused, 5) Troy Baker.
In the end they were primarily just heavily marketed AAA action adventures. But how they represented dual approaches to the same desire, how the demographic gauged each via their own personal metrics, was of interesting timing, don'tchya think? It allowed us to visibly see how different types of audiences venn diagrammed different cuts of meat with the same penchant for character fueled, ball rolling narrative essence. The kind of essence that would grow to become a very highly valued 'asset' to the Big Deal, cinematic game design pipeline of the western world, later.
Where Bioshock told a story of sacrifice, TLOU chose self-preservation. Where Bioshock was first-person, TLOU was third. Where TLOU was grounded and realistic, Bioshock was satirical and exaggerated.
Perhaps the comparison is uncouth. But the point is that many people played both at around the same time. It was easy to thread that yarn. And divisively, several people who had problems with TLOU didn't see those same problems in Bioshock -- and those with Bioshock, in TLOU. Where do you think they stand on certain fronts? It could be that they're both fine, after all.
Also wow I'm hungry, so I am gonna eat a bowl of cereal before continuing this. But since this is long enough I'll probably hang it up to dry, FOREVER. If you got this far post 'fast Concorde' in spoiler tags. Just kidding. You don't need to do that. *crunch, crunch*
Which did you think was the superior summer smash of '13?
AND which had the better ending? ;p *munch munch*
