Review: Passage

Passage
Jason Rohrer - Independent

Released in 2007, Passage is an experience that everyone interested in the videogame medium should play, plus it is free (although I recommend you support Rohrer by purchasing the IPhone Version) so before reading this I recommend you download it here, play it, read my review and then play through it again, I promise it is worth the time. Also if you are still interested I recommend you read; Anthony Burch's Article as well as listen to Robert Ashely's A Life Well Wasted Episode "Why Game", in the second segment they go in depth on Rohrer and the creation of passage check it out.

Continue Reading AFTER reading the above...

At a glance Passage is a really simple game. Passage is a 5 minute game, you control an unnamed male character who can walk in 4 directions and explore a pixelated world that changes as you progress forward. But to merely look at Passage at a glance would be missing the purpose.

You can appreciate Passage on many levels. My first time through I had a basic perception of what I felt the game was trying to portray, then upon further thought and reading about the game and the game creator Jason Rohrer himself I began to appreciate the game even more.

Passage, shares similarities with Memento Mori, a form of artistic expression from the 17th century that basically reminds the viewer that they are going to die and asks the question what will you do about it. It is effective in that Passage acts as a self contained expression of life, you begin life with a narrow field of view, your future is blurry and far into the distance and you must make the immediate choice of whether you will proceed in life with your partner (your wife in this case) by your side. If you choose to proceed with your life with your wife by your side it become more difficult to progress, narrow paths are now inaccessible but you gain twice the amount of points for every step you take forward. This decision varies the game significantly, I personally resonated far more with the lonesome protagonist, yet for my first time through I decided to take the journey alongside a partner. As you progress your character begins to age alongside your wife, and as you age your future becomes increasingly clearer, but at the same time your past begins to blur, it is these tiny metaphoric touches that make this game such a beautiful commentary on life. You continue your progression and suddenly your wife dies, there is no avoiding it, you must accept it. Suddenly you begin to put the entire experience into perspective and you probably begin to realize that your own time is numbered. Suddenly the points you had sought throughout the experience felt meaningless. In my experience I allowed my character to dwindle right there, motionless I stood there beside my Wife's grave until I died.

Looking back on each individual experience a lot of parallels can be made to life. Many people merely move left to right and never move up or down, you could not move at all, you could seek every box along the way or you could just rush through the experience, but every single one of these experiences is equally as meaningful. Passage uses every single one of the video-game mediums strengths to its advantage in order to deliver a message. Passage is genuinely interactive in that it reflects meaning from both the participant and creator, rather than being purely reactive like a book, film or many video-games. Passage represents a colossal step forward in video-games, an experience I hope to look back on in twenty years and say had a tremendous impact on the medium.

Review: Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption

Rockstar - Rockstar SanDiego

The Wild West is a genre often ignored in video-games. Red Dead Redemption applies the open world mechanics of GTA to the Wild West and it works quite well. The Wild West is an ideal setting for the game, the combination of desolate country side and rough looking towns fit the over-arching feel of the game. Red Dead is the story John Marston's redemption, his attempt at escaping the life he had left behind in order to live peacefully with his family. John Marston as a character is both sympathetic and respectable, from the on-set of the game he lays out his somewhat ironic moral code and this makes him one of Rockstar's most likable protagonists. At the same time however John Marston does fall into a similar trope as most of Rockstar's protaganist as he becomes the quintessential errand boy, running from objective to objective in the hope that he'll find what he is looking for, often to no prevail. This game-play trope offers plenty of opportunities for character development for both Marston and several tertiary characters but stands in stark opposition with John's man of action persona.

John Marston stands out as one of the more likable RockStar protagonists

The core game-play revolves around 3 aspects; Combat, exploration and vehicle sequences. Combat, an open world weak spot, is enjoyable to an extent. The cover mechanic can be frustrating at times and shooting is very hand-holding with the default lock on controls which never makes combat very interesting, except for the RPG-like Dead Eye mechanic. Like VATS in Fall-out 3, Dead Eye allows you to slow down time and carefully line up shots, it regenerates at such a pace I found myself almost exclusively using it to attack. Dead Eye suits the theme in that it makes John Marston into the fast-handed sharpshooter of the old wild west films.

Exploration is in my opinion the best part of Red Dead Redemption. The open world is fun to ride around and is populated enough with game-play opportunities that you never feel bored. With hunting challenges, treasure hunts and random missions their is almost always something to fill time and feed anyone's need for artificial accomplishment. The wild life makes the Wild West far more believable, unlike most games, Red Dead's wild life is not strictly predatory which makes for a more believable virtual ecosystem, and makes animals more than just bullet sponges.

Horses, have always been a difficult aspect to implement into games, yet RockStar has implemented a horse in the best possible way since Shadow of the Colossus. It isn't flawless, the horses can be frustrating in smaller spaces and changing directions can be tedious but for the most part riding is an incredibly enjoyable experience.

The Landscape of Red Dead is perhaps its greatest feature

-Minor Spoiler Warning-

Structure wise, Red Dead Redemption's narrative is mission oriented. You head to a marker, talk to a guy(or girl) and do what he says, this narrative structure works for the most part except for several instances in which the chronological order of events seemed bizarre. Immediately following a mission in which a farm house was assaulted and a majority of the farm hands were murdered, I did a mission in which I attempted to scam the same farmers into buying a product. The immediate change in tone is a huge flaw of any open world game that attempts at making a linear storyline. This experience took me out of the narrative and lost any sense of emotion the previous scene had had.

The game opens well and immediately immerses you in this mid-change 1911 western world. The game gives you a society struggling to adapt to a changing world, in a way the entire world reflects John Marston's struggle, the struggle of an old fashioned man in a new world trying to find peace.

The games second act, despite offering a nice scenic change of pace, felt entirely throw away. John Marston gets stuck in a power struggle between two opposing factions. Marston meets Ricketts early in the Mexican act and Ricketts makes it fairly clear that neither faction is 'good' in this conflict. Reyes' and De Santa's forces are equally as twisted and morally void, the sole difference being the overwhelming righteousness of Reyes rebel group. Every Mexican character in the act is either a coward, ignorant, desperate or morally corrupt. I found myself almost offended by this fact and made the fact that Marston had no real investment in this conflict all the worse. Marston felt merely like an observer, yet he played such a huge role in the conflict that he should have had more of an investment in the conflict past finding the location of the man he seeks.

The games finale, which I want to go into serious depth at another time, was very well done and interesting, from a narrative standpoint it was very effective but did expose some flaws in previous experiences throughout the game.

Red Dead Redemption is a great game that succeeds and fails by the faults and successes of the open world genre, it is successful at telling a story of futility, change and redemption and is best in class in its genre.

My Score 3 Stars out of 4;

Update: E3 2010 Reflection

E3 2010 Reflection

With E3 2010 over I thought I'd take some time and reflect on this year's event and some things you may have missed... So in Chronological order here are the Press Conferences followed by my personal most anticipated game of E3;

Microsoft

Microsoft, telling kids to touch vicious animals since 2010

The Good...

• Dance Central: Rock Band Developer Harmonix showed off what is perhaps the best example of Kinect functionality yet. The Game is in its simplest form a dance rhythm game which tracks your body structure but also doesn't make your jellylike blob representation the focal point of the on screen game, a fault that many Kinect games maintain and only exemplify the faults of the Kinect hardware.
  
• Halo Reach: Despite the fact that Halo has never been my personal game of choice, the demo of Halo Reach demonstrated a more open battleground for combat, combine that with a new art-style that demonstrated a human-sized architecture that is far less geometric looking and far more interesting to look at and you have what may be the most intriguing Halo since Combat Evolved.
• Kinect Hardware: By far the most interesting tech of the show, Kinect demonstrates some of the most intriguing and potentially ground-breaking hardware leap since the Wii, but as history reminds us HardWare is only as good as the Software that utilizes it.
• 360 Slim: Microsoft newest console revision fulfills many of the most requested features lacking in the 360 hardware including; Built in WiFi and reliability. Now if only it didn't feature the PS3 Phat finger print magnet.

The Meh...

• Gears of War 3: The demo had action, bro-isms, violence and explosions. It was Gears of War and hell if you like Gears of War 2 you'll love Gears of War 3. The demo showed off a new enemy type, the Lambent, and most notably the Lambent Berserker. The enemy was faster but never really did anything to dynamically change game-play, from my perspective. The female characters were well implemented and there was a lot of green, a colour that has been missing from Gears of War for quite some time. Still no Z-axis game-play unfortunately something I feel the Gears Franchise could seriously benefit from.
• Metal Gear Solid Rising: They showed it, which was enough to satisfy me, but, merely demonstrated the fact you could cut things. I find myself already missing the Kojima touch, the trailer was polished but offered little narrative representation, a hall-mark of the infamous 15 minute Metal Gear E3 trailers.
• Call of Duty Black Ops: The demo they demonstrated was a heavily scripted Helicopter sequence, which left me neither surprised nor excited. I want to give Black Ops a chance but the more and more I see it the less and less I care.

The Bad...

• Kinect Software Line-Up: I understand Kinect's goal; target the casual market and appeal to non-gamers who never felt the need to purchase a $ 300 system they'd play once a month. Which means the influx of casual game was expected, and acceptable, but I had hoped the Kinect line-up would try to be new and unique rather than derivative and simplistic. With a few notable exceptions (Dance Central and Child of Eden) most of the Kinect centric games were very similar to their Wii counter-parts. It is rather upsetting to see such potentially great hardware go to waste, perhaps in the near future we will see some innovative and unique as developers get used to the capabilities of the hardware, but until then Kinect has left me dissapointed.
• Kinect 'the name': Kinect frustrates me for a few very small reasons mostly because I always pronounce it wrong, I often say Kinetic which would've been a far more suitable name, and have spelled it wrong at least 6 times in the last five minutes.

Electronic Arts

So I heard people like shooting stuff

The Good...

• Dead Space 2: I thoroughly enjoyed Visceral Games first game Dead Space; the combination of creepy and interesting atmosphere, brilliant UI work, and stunning sound and visual design made it one of my favourite games of 2008. Dead Space 2 judging by the trailer seems to further develop on these concepts fulfilling many of the aspects that Dead Space 1 never fully developed.
• EA Live Broadcast: A neat concept that plans on making the competitive games scene a little more mainstream EA Live Broadcast allows people to watch and follow Pro-Gamers playing EA games. The service has potential but only time will tell if the service is ground-breaking or enjoyable.

The Meh ...

• A Plethora of Shooters: With Crysis 2, Medal of Honor, BulletStorm and BBC: Vietnam, EA has become the self-proclaimed house of shooters. I get it, people like shooting stuff, but did any of it make me sit back and go wow, I've never seen a game do that before ... no. BulletStorm looks like it plans on taking a different approach, which could work. The EA gunclub is EA's attempt to capitalize on this demographic by offering them special service such as early Beta Access (are Beta's really Beta's anymore?) as well as exclusive content.
  
• EA Sports: Hey its sports ... you remember those ... right?
• Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit: As a fan of Criterion's racing games I'd like to give this game the benefit of the doubt, but the demo they showed never really grabed me. The presentation was phenomenal and perhaps if I were to play it my feeling may change since racing games are so much about feel.
  

The Bad ...

• Medal of Honor: I've have not laughed so much in a long time. EA La said they wanted to make Medal of Honor the most respectable and authentic modern shooter on the market, then went on to show a over-the-top action packed kill montage to a Linkin Park Song... Really .... REALLY !!!! This is the problem with ... never mind.

Ubisoft

When will Ubisoft Learn that Shaun White does not equal Beyond Good and Evil 2

The Good...

• Child of Eden: A sequel to Rez, Child of Eden is a Kinect enabled psychedelic shooter. The art style and music looked stunning and the implementation of Kinect seemed well placed. One of the few bright spots in the Kinect line up.
• Rayman Origins: Returning to its 2D roots Rayman Origins hopes to bring Rayman back to his former glory. The combination of humor and unique art style and the prospect of co-op platforming make for what may be an incredibly interesting adventure.
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Multiplayer: The multiplayer for Assassin's Creed seems to have potential to be quite interesting, the notion of mimicking AI would make for an exceptional and unique multiplayer experience.

The Meh...

• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Single-Player: The single player Demo seemed to demonstrate an experience very similar to Assassin's Creed 2 just more action packed and large scale. Which isn't really a bad thing, but so close on the heels of Assassin's Creed 2 I can't get quite excited enough for more wrist-stabbing action

Nintendo

Hey Microsoft Remember What You Said About Motion Controls ... well Reggie does...

The Good...

• Nintendo 3DS: To be honest I wasn't very excited about the 3DS before E3 but after seeing the line up and mere graphical capability of the 3DS Nintendo has once again raised the bar in the handheld market it so heavily dominates.
• Kirby's Epic Yarn: Kirby's back and I never thought I'd be so excited. The new Yarn-based art style is quite interesting to look at and offers new unique game-play opportunities. It's really something you have to see to believe.
• Epic Mickey: Warren Spectar's latest game is Epic Mickey, revolves around a paint mechanic and pays respect to some of Disney's less popular characters. A unique game to say the least Epic Mickey's darker tone makes it a game to look out for.
• Kid Icarus: Uprising: After years of rumors Kid Icarus has finally made its return on the 3Ds. It is good to see Nintendo paying respect to some of its less popular franchises.
• Golden Sun Dark Dawn: A sequel to the beloved cult classic RPG Golden Sun is another example of a classic returning to life.

The Meh...

• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: The Legend of Zelda franchise has been a consistently solid franchise as of late, but recent installments have lacked the past Zelda's sense of awe and amazement, and has given me the sense that the series was in need of a serious over-haul. Nothing about the new Legend of Zelda made me feel like they were going in a new direction, but seemed to maintain the series roots of exploration and puzzle solving. The art style was rough, but I think was also incomplete, the game looks farther from completion then i thought it would be, only time will tell I presume.
• Donkey Kong Returns: This selection is only personal, but I really have enjoyed Retro's previous work and I see tremendous potential in their abilities, but the Donkey Kong Franchise is the only Nintendo franchise I think I'd like to see them work on. Maybe it'll be great but nothing at the moment seems to intrigue me.

The Bad...

• Goldeneye 007: The original Goldeneye was fun. Was it a good game, no not by any stretch of the imagination. It was fun because we had never had a console multiplayer of that magnitude, and I have countless great and terrible memories playing it. This recreation by Activision, not Rare, won't be able to rekindle those memories chances are it will only ruin them. The game-play has been Call-of-Duty-ized with perks and load out, if that is not a sign of Activision cashing in on our nostalgia I do not know what is.
• Pikmin 3 Not Shown: Nintendo has gone on record saying that they are working on Pikmin 3, and with another E3 in the books we still have yet to see it. Nintendo has reported they didn't want it to be overshadowed which perhaps may be for the best but I really just want to see that it exists.

Sony

Butler does what Reggie-don't

The Good...

• LittleBigPlanet 2: After developing an incredibly creative community with the first game LBP2 seeks to give further opportunity to create new levels and new games that are not just platform based. The potential for LBP2 is immense and I can't wait to get my hands on the game this fall.
• Portal 2 + Steamworks: Valve has been very upfront about not supporting the PS3, but with their recent surprise at Sony's conference means that Valve is continuing development on Ps3 and will be adding Steam-works to the PS3 console version of the game. More people playing a great game and added functionality is never a bad thing right?
• Move Support: Sony came out in full force with Move enabled games but unlike their Microsoft counterparts showed a vast variety of Core and Casual games. The Move game Sorcery seemed to take advantage of the Move in a way we have never seen on the Wii.
• Twisted Metal: Digging into their history, the Sony hallmark Car Combat action game was announced for the PS3. With David Jaffe at the helm the new Twisted Metal could bring us back to those frantic car action roots.

The Meh ...

• Killzone 3: Suffering from a similar issue as Gears 3, Killzone 3 adds extra functionality and new scenery but doesn't peak my interest for one reason or another. The Jet-Pack reminded me of the double jump in Metroid Prime, but you lose the cove mechanic and the weopan you were using while in the Jet-Pack.
• Infamous 2: The first Infamous was a great game with a lot of potential I felt the squandered. I was hoping for a little bit of a darker super hero tale that focused more on a society crumbling within the confines of Empire City. Instead I got a game that was a kind of edgy super hero tale with a broken morality system which was a lot of fun to play. Infamous 2 at a glance seem to be heading toward more light-hearted tale. Cole's character design wasn't great to begin with but I got used to it and I crafted his personality onto his figure. So when I saw they placed a Nathan Drake look alike as his new character model I almost shit a brick. i expected a studio like Sucker Punch to stand by their creative decisions better than this. They wanted to make him more like-able, well I never like the original Cole as a person but as a character that was part of the reason I enjoyed playing as him. Sigh ...
• 3D Support: Sony unveiled their line up of 3D support at E3 this year. It was nice to see them throw their support behind 3D but none of the games they demonstrated really took advantage of the fact it was in 3D. It was nice to see however that because of this the games will all be 2D/3D but I'd like to see a 3D exclusive that took advantage of 3D. Another stumbling block they must overcome is the 3D glasses, something Nintendo cleverly avoided.

The Bad...

• Exclusive Content: I understand that video-games are an industry but i'm still going to complain that the notion of exclusive content for PS3 in Dead Space 2, Medal of Honor and Mafia 2 is a definite negative similarly to the timed exclusives Microsoft has had.

GAME OF THE SHOW IMO

This Picture Brings back memories

The geniuses at ThatGameCompany showed of a few screens and the concept of their latest game Journey. The game is about adventure, you are located in a beautiful desolate desert and head toward a ominous mountain in the distance. The game emphasizes exploration and the unique environments look like a blast to explore, the game only feature two buttons, following the minimalist tradition of TGC games. TGC says the game will have a more serious tone and will incorporate an innovative online feature; As you explore you may come across another player adventuring along on their own, without voice communication you can assist one another, oppose one another or ignore one another, the idea is incredibly interesting and gets my brain racing. The world you explore is vast and tell the story of a destroyed civilization. The game is still in its early stages and is being worked on by a small team. I cannot wait to get my hands on this game in 2011.