Here's Your Fries -- Sorry, We're All Out of Narrative

by Alan , COMMUNITY WRITER

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Editor's Note: I'm not really sure if I agree with Alan's claim that videogames are more powerful than movies. Hell, I've never been as moved as I was when I watched Guile deliver his morale-raising speech in Street Fighter. Show me a person who can watch that and *not* want to immediately do the splits while punching someone in the balls. -Michael

I put down the controller. I'm tired. My eyes are bloodshot from playing 19 hours of Metal Gear Solid 3 in two days. And my mind is whirling. My parent's call down for me to go to bed, telling me that I have school the next day. But I'm not paying attention, because I had just played through one of the greatest narrative pieces ever made; I had just felt the bone-crushing betrayal that Jack felt as he saluted the man who had ordered his mentor to her death. It was heartbreaking. It was unbelievable. It was the greatest proof yet that I have as to why videogames are potentially better narrative-weavers than movies will ever be.

When you go to a movie, you root for the main character, and when he/she shares a tender kiss you watch vacantly, never really caring. And when they are betrayed, hurt, or beaten, you marvel at the villain's cunning, at the wounds the hero bare. You are unconnected to the person, you are simply watching their story unfold. You are not part of the experience, you are just a spectator.

But in games like Metal Gear Solid 3, every time Jack is hit, you flinch. Every time he tricks the bad guys, you smirk with the same charisma that he has. When you play games, you are the character, thus you share the same actions. And because of this, any emotions you feel are far greater than those experienced when sitting in the seats at your local cinema. One example of this is just after Jack has bested his mentor in combat -- she is dying and begs him to pull the trigger to end her misery.

Watching this scene, I just sat there silent, waiting for the shot to ring out, but I was shocked it wasn't happening. It was then that I realized that I was supposed to pull the trigger. At that moment I was terrified -- the barrel of the gun was steadily pointed at the face of a woman I had grown to know over the last 19 hours. But I pulled the trigger button, and the shot echoed from the TV. Moving stuff.

Another example of the potential of videogame's superority over films was in Resident Evil 4. It happened early on in the game, when I was in a small rural village where the local populace were crazy cannibals who wanted nothing more than to eat me for dinner.

So I barricaded myself inside a house, the door blocked by a cabinet. I quickly run up the staircase, where I see a man on a ladder outside the window about to climb in. I sprint over and smugly push the ladder away. And as he falls, I hear the guttural crys of a chainsaw starting. My heart stops dead -- the chainsaw noise came from downstairs, and I just pushed down my only means of escape. The chainsaw-wielder had a cloth sack on his head and advanced with a terrifying slowness with the chainsaw held above his head. I only had two bullets left in my shotgun, and I blast the first, then second into his head at point blank range. But he didn't go down. He just kept on coming.

There is no moment in movies that can recreate the complete and utter terror of that moment, as I clumsily tried to pull out my pistol and the man quickily decapitated me. It was simply terrifying.

A truly terrifying moment worthy of new underwear

But not all games are as effective as these two examples, but they are definitely going in the right direction. Compared to movies, videogame's narratives are akin to movies from the late eighties: full of butch, one-man armies, and plots as flimsy as the chicken necks broken by the hero. I am very optimistic that games are only going to get better, with deeper storylines, more well-rounded characters, and even more axe-wielding bastards with heads like riot shields.

I learned my lesson: Pack more ammo next time!

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Comments (8)

Brian Condry

July 09, 2009

I think you make some interesting points here, but I feel I have to disagree with you. Vehemently. I have never, EVER been close to being as moved in a video game as some movies I've seen. You make the point of saying one sits vacantly, not caring during some tenderness displayed on the screen and I have to ask, although it is a dick thing to say, maybe you're just not watching the right movies. No game has made me feel as connected, has made characters feel as real as Once. In the years and acres of games I've experienced, from the biggest blockbuster to the smallest indie game, not one has ever come close to breaking my heart like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And the critical element, to me, is the lack of quality writing, characterization, acting and mood.

Sure, shooting Boss in the head sucked. But all the story bullshit I had to endure in MGS3? All the weirdness that turned me off? The janky controls, the endless menus, the overwritten...everything? Nah, that drives me away from connecting with the game, constantly tells me it's not real. Resident Evil is no doubt INTENSE, but nothing more than hitting the trail on my mountain bike. I didn't turn off the game and in the dark of my apartment and feel an icy chill down the back of my neck, knowing nothing is there but fearing it is. There's more terror in any Argento horror flick or classic Cronenberg movie than anything in RE4.

I will not disagree with you that video games can illicit excitemnt, joy or the occasional terror (but not RE4. It's a fucking action b-movie with zombies, for Christ's sake!). But anything stronger than that just comes across as trying a little too hard to justify one's hobby.

Brice Gilbert

July 09, 2009

Games are not movies. They can create different emotions through different situations than films do. Yeah games have menus which aren't realistic, and "take you out of the experience" but the sum of the parts (like in Metal Gear or Shadow of the Colossus) can overcome what some might think of as detracting of the experience.

Comic Books! Books themselves are not realistic. In comics you have to overcome the lack of motion for crying out loud! Once you do you can be touched just like movies. In exactly the same way? No maybe not, but they are different mediums. Even Television presents a different format than film. You spend far more time with characters and really there is far more "filler" when compared to film, and yet I find Buffy, Lost or Firefly better than 90% of the films out there.

Games can do it. You just need to find the right balance of good writing, good characters, immersion, pacing, and gameplay.

James DeRosa

July 09, 2009

It's funny that you would use a title like Metal Gear Solid 3 to support your argument. Don't get me wrong, I love Metal Gear as much as the next guy, but I think as a whole the series plays to the mediums weaknesses. It seems to me that you've conflated cinematic storytelling with interactive storytelling - precisely what Kojima himself does. Too many times in Metal Gear, you listen to talking heads musing about existence and war through the Codec (or in the case of MGS4 Drebin's ridiculously verbose post boss monologues).

I think if I were to argue the point of game's as expression, I would turn to games where the interactivity tells the story - see: Ico, Braid, or even something ridiculous like Rez or Incredible Crisis. These games tell stories that are uniquely tied to their interface, rather than relying on some pre-established "borrowing" from some other medium.

But I wouldn't argue your point anyway. I would argue that videogames are equal to film, and books and music as well. All of these media offer distinct approaches towards the same idea. The elicitation of emotion and response, as well a way to have discourse between "creator" and "reader". I find all of these pursuits equally enriching, and I think it's a bit obtuse to try to elevate one above the other. It's not some sort of competition.

James DeRosa

July 09, 2009

@Brian Condry: Argento? Really? He's not half the auteur that people make him out to be. Have you seen Trauma or The Five Days? Bleh...

And as for Eternal Sunshine... Gondry, Condry... can't be a coincidence. It's a pretty good movie, though. Cheers.

Allistair Everett

July 09, 2009

Games with great narrative: Deus Ex, Harvester, Sanitarium, MGS series (the in some weird lame ass anime sort of way).

I don't think games have narratives that can compare to other mediums but there is a connection within games that is stronger, IMO.

The example I often use is that books and films can never, ever scare me. Yet, I'll shit my pants silly if I play Silent Hill. Why is this? It's because I'm taking on the role--I'm an active participant. By putting the controller in my hand, it's now my life on display.

Omar Yusuf

July 09, 2009

I think everyone is shitting on Alan for some very bad reasons. He definately means well. I'll agree that, having invested dozens in hours in some games, it's possible to feel a strong sense of attachment to the fate of characters who populate the fictional world. Games have a habit of illiciting joy, dread, pity and general pathos. I have indeed felt crestfallen at the sight of a dying Max Payne, or at the conclusion of Fallout 3's main story-line. But to insinuate that video games present more intricate and involving narratives than films and literature? That's where I get off the bus, Alan.

The industry ethos today exists as one of transition. Video games may one day be blessed with talent the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Carey Grant and Marlon Brando. But as it stands today, most video games do a terrible job at illiciting the complex myriad of sentiment which films and literature have. Resident Evil may be exciting in some sense, but as Brian Condry put it, it's essentially a B or C horror film.

I think this is a case of simple exposure.

Alan. Go read Aesop, Sophocles, William Faulkner, Fyodor Dostoevsky or James Joyce. It's clear that you've not seen the extent to which literature or motion pictures can effect an individual. Who knows? Maybe all you've ever read are shitty young-adult novels. Maybe all you've ever seen are summer Hollywood blockbusters.

I suggest you expose yourself to some quality literature or film for a change. I'm convinced you'll come back with a very different attitude.

Rob Savillo

July 10, 2009

I think this is a little bit like claiming that films have more potential as a superior narrative device than novels because you can see the characters interact on screen rather than imagine them in your mind.

But that doesn't mean I don't agree that video games can be a strong narrative device -- hell, Valkyria Chronicles nearly brought me to tears at certain points -- but as others have pointed out, it's how the narrative is crafted rather than the medium it resides in that counts the most.

Ken Fujimura

July 10, 2009

I don't think Games have quite gotten there yet, but MGS3 does prove there is definitely promise that has yet to be fully exploited. For as moving as the fight with The Boss was, her hamfisted monologue right before is rather inconsistent with the emotions you're writing about. If MGS3 could be made without all the corny jokes and ridiculous dialog expositions, then arguably it wouldn't be Metal Gear anymore, but you'll get a lot of these nay-sayers to change their minds. Personally, I like all of the corn. When I'm playing a 24-30 hour game, I need something to break up the nonstop murder and drama. If MGS was all serious all the time, I would probably shoot myself from depression.

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