Because I Said So
January 12, 2000
By Ray Ivey
Come Back, Black Dahlia, All Is Forgiven
In Defense of Video
I love technology. I’m the opposite of a Luddite. Hey, do we have a term
that means “opposite of Luddite”? Okay, “Techno-Weenie.”
My point is, I don’t resist new technology; I embrace it. I know that
games can’t remain the same technically. Yesterday’s DOS 2D graphics become
pre-rendered slideshows which become real-time rendered 3D environments.
But wait. Somewhere along the way, for a couple of years in the mid-90s,
games based in video were all the rage. They purported to offer a dynamic,
“interactive movie” experience. Suddenly adventure games came
on a whole stack of CDs, because of the memory-hungry nature of digitized
video. Despite the successes of two Sierra titles, Phantasmagoria and
Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within, video quickly developed a terrible
reputation. FMV became the whipping boy of the adventure game world. After
a string of big-budget failures, like Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh
from Sierra, The Daedalus Encounter from Virgin, and Ripper
and Black Dahlia from Take 2, the death-knell seemed to toll
for video.
People seemed to hate video. The biggest complaint I hear about
it is, “I don’t feel like I’m playing! I feel like I’m watching a
movie!”
To all of those nay-sayers, I say phooey. I love video-based
games.
Why? Several reasons.
First of all, in their own way, video-format games created a new level
of immersion during an era of Myst-style slide show games. The
use of actual photography and videography in the graphics reinforced a
sense of reality to the atmosphere of the game.
Also, I found it really fun to be able to manipulate those hapless video
sprites. It really felt like an interactive movie–in a good way. To be
able to have my choices reflected in the “live” actions of these
characters could be truly riveting.
And, as to the criticism that “watching video cutscenes makes you
feel like you’re not playing a game,” again I say phooey. All
games have cutscenes, video games being no exception. We all lose
temporary control of a game during a cutscene, no matter what format it’s
presented in.
It’s useful to remember that there were two sub-types of video games:
first person and third person. Despite the fame and recognition of the
third-person Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within, I maintain that
the first-person games actually worked better. First of all, I think first-person
games are more immersive and visceral by definition (video or not), and
second, there’s an inherent awkwardness in having to watch a video sprite
stand at stiff “attention” waiting for our orders.
Don’t get me wrong as I beat the drum for this lost format. I don’t have
my blinders on (they don’t go with this outfit); I’m not saying there
weren’t big mistakes made in video-based games. Sierra made basic cinematic
blunders, such as ugly washed-out-looking video (especially in The
Beast Within), and sported characters who, to my great annoyance,
never changed clothes. SouthPeak had trouble with fuzzy images
and awkward navigation in Temujin, and with clunky presentation
of conversation and distractingly exhausting disk-swapping in Dark
Side of the Moon.
There were also some serious mistakes made in casting. Take 2 had an
unfortunate habit of hiring name stars who just didn’t seem to be taking
the job seriously. This hampers Ripper severely and Black Dahlia
to a lesser degree.
Despite these problems, however, I miss this format terribly. Some of
my most memorable adventure game experiences have been with games in this
format. Ripper and Black Dahlia were innovative, daring,
and utterly engrossing. The Beast Within had a story that is justifiably
legendary. Dark Side of the Moon created a world that felt startlingly
complete and real.
The crowning achievement of the video game era is, for my money, a magnificent
piece of work from the Discovery Channel called Byzantine. This
thrilling game combined photo-realistic Istanbul locations with good conversation,
a fascinating story, an innovative interface, and imaginative virtual
reality elements to create one of the most memorable games I’ve ever played.
After finishing Byzantine, I felt as if I personally had flown
to Istanbul and foiled a nasty group of smugglers.
Ask most computer gamers today and they’ll tell you video is as dead
as a doornail. However, I do have one hope. SouthPeak, which debuted its
innovative Video Reality engine with Temujin in 1997 and refined
it for Dark Side of the Moon in 1998, has a major release coming
up that may breathe new life in the video genre. I saw their 20,000
Leagues Under the Sea: The Adventure Continues demonstrated at the
E3 last May, and the further refinements they have made to their Video
Reality engine were quite evident and quite exciting.
If I had one wish for adventure games this year, it would be that 20,000
Leagues sells so well that it sparks a resurgence of this underappreciated
adventure game format.
So there.
