The Gamer's Quarter

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Half Life 2 places an extreme emphasis on its perspective. Seeing the intricate world through Gordon's eyes, on Gordon's level seems to be the developers' primary design choice. By this I mean that each gameplay and story decision aligns itself to work best (or only) through the immediate, human-sized eyes of the protagonist.

Now, that was all a fluffy introduction, here's the point:

The most thrilling moment for me as a player so far--I just entered Nova Prospekt with my, er, buddies--involved the striking design choice to completely change that perspective in one isolated instance. I'm talking about the crane. For a few minutes, the physics of a world designed around its own physics (and around one mans negotiation of those physics) completely change with the new perspective. Immovable pieces of the mis-en-scene become playthings. All of a sudden you toy with the parts of the world that, until then, had established themselves as totally off-limits. Neat.

Are there other games that work so hard to establish a perspective only to break briefly all the rules of that perspective? The footage from the plane levels in Call of Duty 4 seems to be in the same vein, and quite humorously so.
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dhex · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:27 pm Post subject:

i thought the plane section was (intentionally) chilling, myself.

crysis does this a few times, by sticking you in a vehicle in either first or third person. being in a vehicle of limited mobility (a la the end sequence with the vtols) is a huge changeover from being a badass superhero.

i'm sure there's a lot more, but none come to mind at the moment.

the end of the first devil may cry comes to mind, but that's also a change in mechanics.
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Redeye · . Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth

The Hive in Anachronox.

Jarring, unexpected roller coaster ride.

I loved and hated it.

Many people had a serious problem with this part.
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

dhex, do you find that those moments in crysis add to the game? or do you just feel unfairly caged?

the way the crane broke the previous parameters of the game was exhilarating.
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parkbench · . Joined: 02 Jul 2007 Posts: 145

Incidentally, is Anachronox worth it?
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dhex · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:34 pm Post subject:

Redeye · . Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth

Anachronox is epic.

Get it.

Just suffer through the boring parts.

Seriously, it's worth it.

It's huge, it's funny, it's semi-smart, it's semi-stupid.

It's a little old in the graphics.

Get it.

Planet Anachronox
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Now that I have done some thinking, there was one moment in Black that gave me the same feeling. I destroyed a few enormous fuel tanks.

Anyway, how could this concept translate to a third person game?
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Man, I remember really looking forward to Anachronox. It got really passed over in the whole DAIKATANA SUXXX furore.

Six · . Joined: 15 Jul 2006 Posts: 313 Location: montreal

i never got through it, and i'm afraid i wouldn't have the patience for it these days. this is a shame, since it really is great!

someone (a former ion storm staff member, i think) made a full-length machinima film out of it by splicing the cutscenes and some chunks of gameplay together. it's a decent watch, though you miss out on a lot of the weird, funny stuff (no mention of loonies being the galactic currency, for starters.)

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

I haven't played HL2 really so I don't know about this crane.
But it reminded me of this dockside crane w/ magnet in San Andreas, where you could (maybe you had to for a mission) get enemies to follow you in their car, then magnet them up and swing 'em around. The physics were pretty decent and the whole thing was rather fun.
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Redeye · . Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth

boojiboy7 · Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:29 pm Post subject:

I hope GTA4 has a jet pack. That and the planes (which GTA4 won't have) made San Andreas a lot more fun for me.

Redeye · . Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

I read that the producers have said 'you can't get a pink mohawk in GTA4'- that is, unlike previous installments you can't do things that go against the tone they're trying to create in this game. I think that's a shame, since half of the fun of GTA3 and GTA-inspired games like Dead Rising is that you have the freedom to be silly if you choose to. Actually, rebelling against the set tone of the game is half of the fun.

It's easy to work around, though- all they have to do is make it so if you do choose to walk into the Godfather's house in just your pants and a crash helmet, or whatever, he says 'hey, you gotta no respect, whaddthefuggaya doing in those stupid clothes, you mamaluc' and you can't see the godfather until you go home, shave your pink mohawk, and put some pants on. That way, they get to tell the story they want to tell without compromising the player's freedom.