Ok, so Naughty Dog released Left Behind, a downloadable level to the critically acclaimed The Last of Us yesterday. So, seeing as The Last of Us is one of the best games that I have ever played, I (or rather, my Valentine ^3^) bought this pack. The level is combination flashback to Ellie's early days, and filling in some holes from the main campaign. Needless to say, this review will contain spoilers so if you haven't played the main game or plan on buying the DLC, don't read this blog. I don't care if you have nothing better to do, there is a lot to say about Left Behind and all of it is spoilers to the main game as well to the DLC.
The Last of Us was my game of the year for 2013 and you can read my blog about it here http://psykoticgamer.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/game-of-year-naughty-dogs-last-of-us.html. In this blog I pretty much said that Naughty Dog's latest offering was tits on toast and absolutely worth a play. "Fluid and immersive", "an artform" and "a psykotic recommendation from me". So having such fond memories of this beautiful game, I didn't know what Left Behind would do for me. As only a 2 hour level add on for a 17 hour game, would there be enough game time to be as epic as the original? Well, no, there's not. Instead we're offered a closer, personal look at Ellie and what it means to be immune to a disease that has killed everyone you ever loved, as well as a further look at the gameplay ideas Naughty Dog had for it's game. And oh boy, does it deliver. The closest game I could compare this pack to is Valve's Portal. Portal is a suberbly crafted two hour experience, just like Left Behind is.
Well, the best place to start is the beginning. In the original game, player-character Joel is severely injured and it is up to Ellie to patch him up. Then the game skips forward to an almost recovered Joel. What happened during those months? Left Behind explains: Ellie takes Joel into a shopping mall to hide and then sets out looking for medical supplies that could save his life. While this main storyline unfolds, Ellie flashes back to a memory that was hinted at in the main storyline. In The Last of Us, Ellie tells the story of how she and her friend were bitten only for her friend to die and for her to survive. This DLC takes a closer look at the survival guilt of Ellie and how that story unfolded. We are introduced to this friend; Riley. Having disapeared weeks before, Ellie is relieved and pissed off at her friend who then takes her into a shopping mall to make it up to her.
So that's the bare minimum story. What about those refined gameplay mechanics? Well, look at any mechanic from the main game: the brick-throwing, enemy encounters, even the dialogue scenes have been spruced up. Sure, they're basically the same, but the studio has taken these ideas further. The car destroying competition, encounters with both infected and survivors at the same time, and being given a book or magic 8-Ball that you can interact with as many times as you like is super fresh. Specifically those dialougue options, even though the main game nailed it, the introduction of more player choice gives more player agency. Rather than watching two people have a conversation, this style lends itself more to support the fact that these are two friends hanging out.
Even the collectable artifacts are more thoughtful. Rather than just finding random letters between random people, each letter found is from the same person and the more letters you find the more you can discover about the horrible events that led these people to their end. And again, these collectables support the themes of survival against insurmountable odds and survivor guilt. The letters spell out the sacrifices that were made that ultimately led to Ellie finding the medical supplies she needed to save Joel. Naughty Dog hits it out of the park again.
However, my favourtie part of the game is when Ellie and Riley stumble upon an arcade. This scene is truly Naughty Dog at it's finest. Leave it to these guys to define Quick-Time Events in such a clear yet emotional affecting way. And the introduction of the new weapons for this pack: Water guns. The fights between Ellie and Riley are just as intense as the fight between Ellie and David in the original game. There are so many amazing things to say about this pack, but really this is a game that needs to played.
If you own The Last of Us you owe it to yourself to get this DLC. It's just... wow. Thanks for reading!
Saturday 15 February 2014
Saturday 4 January 2014
Rescuing Princesses
A lot of games I play seem to involve rescuing princesses. To be fair, a lot of the games I play are either from the Mario or Zelda franchise so this may be understandable. I'd like to take a look at how storming a castle, defeating a fire-breathing turtle/ox only to find out that my princess was in another castle has affected the way I approach critiquing videogames. I'll compare Princess Peach aka Princess Toadstool to Princess Zelda to do this, but I'd also like to discuss how women have been depicted in games and how Mario and Link have contributed to this. Also, who would win?
Peach doesn't vary much from game to game whereas Zelda does, so we're starting with the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. After Mario dumped Pauline, he moved on to find a new dame. One day he found out that King Koopa has turned all the Toad's into bricks and since Peach is the only one who can change them back, he kidnaps her. Mario, finding out that "rescuing princesses" is part of the job description for a plumber in the kingdom, sets out to defeat waves of goombas and koopa - troopas. So started a long tradition of the Super Mario games. To be fair, some games actually let you play as Peach and sometimes Bowser isn't always the culprit. But the stories of Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine all the New Super Mario Bros. games and both the Super Mario Galaxy games follow the template, sprucing it up a bit by Peach always making Mario cake. Many people have pointed out that Peach is a terrible role model to little girls and even going as far to say that Mario games are sexist. I can see where they're coming from, considering the distastful Super Princess Peach where her powers are pretty much PMS and her attacks in the Super Smash Bros. franchise including frying pans. I can also see how the entries in the main series could influence power fantasies of boys wishing to steal away their crushes from their seemingly evil boyfriends but I feel that's beside the point. The point of Mario games are to be solid platformers and they are just that. Add in the length of the games and you can point out that the story of Mario games don't exactly matter. They just seem to build upon old fairytales of guys saving girls. It's a relic from an older age where this was more acceptable. While I don't find this portrayal of women to be offensive there is some merit there and I would like to see Peach get an updated character for her own sake. By the way, if you want to know about Peach's problems check out this great video from The Game Theorists:
Peach doesn't vary much from game to game whereas Zelda does, so we're starting with the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. After Mario dumped Pauline, he moved on to find a new dame. One day he found out that King Koopa has turned all the Toad's into bricks and since Peach is the only one who can change them back, he kidnaps her. Mario, finding out that "rescuing princesses" is part of the job description for a plumber in the kingdom, sets out to defeat waves of goombas and koopa - troopas. So started a long tradition of the Super Mario games. To be fair, some games actually let you play as Peach and sometimes Bowser isn't always the culprit. But the stories of Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine all the New Super Mario Bros. games and both the Super Mario Galaxy games follow the template, sprucing it up a bit by Peach always making Mario cake. Many people have pointed out that Peach is a terrible role model to little girls and even going as far to say that Mario games are sexist. I can see where they're coming from, considering the distastful Super Princess Peach where her powers are pretty much PMS and her attacks in the Super Smash Bros. franchise including frying pans. I can also see how the entries in the main series could influence power fantasies of boys wishing to steal away their crushes from their seemingly evil boyfriends but I feel that's beside the point. The point of Mario games are to be solid platformers and they are just that. Add in the length of the games and you can point out that the story of Mario games don't exactly matter. They just seem to build upon old fairytales of guys saving girls. It's a relic from an older age where this was more acceptable. While I don't find this portrayal of women to be offensive there is some merit there and I would like to see Peach get an updated character for her own sake. By the way, if you want to know about Peach's problems check out this great video from The Game Theorists:
What about Zelda though? Well the incarnation in my favourite game (because they're not all the same Zelda) in Ocarina of Time is incredibly fair to her. Zelda can sometimes be seen as the antithesis of Peach and the games that give her a proper role in the story are beneficial to the series because... well her names in the title. These stories should be about her. In Ocarina of Time you meet Zelda as a child and she has dreams of keeping Hyrule safe. When she goes into hiding and Hyrule falls to darkness you're only ally is the young boy Sheik until it turns out (SPOILER) it was Zelda all along. This not only kept her in the story, but made sure she played a vital role. On the flipside, in the second game Link's Adventure she's basically asleep the whole time a la Sleeping Beauty. Wind Waker also hides Zelda's identity to begin with, under the guise of the tomboyish pirate Tetra while the kidnapee is Link's sister. Again, Zelda is central to the story and is actually given a personality. But this relates back to what I was saying before about relateness to the story. The Zelda games are meant to be epic quests, so story is paramount here. Mario could do the same thing, and in fact has done in the various Mario RPG's that are out, but the core franchise are meant to be about platforming which require a completely different approach that uses reflexes and trial and error. Ever hated it when games remake you watch a cutscene after you die in a fight? Yeah, me too. (Just should point out again that even Zelda doesn't do that, but I'm just being a fanboy here).
But that's just a look at the role that the Princess's play in their own games. How does this affect me when I look at games? Well if you read those paragraphs you'd have a good idea. Obviously, I don't mind either. But when I look at the roles women have in other games, I subconsciously come back to the same idea: "Why is this person here?" and if the game has a story, "What is her story?" Peach is there so you run from flagpole to flagpole with carefully timed jumps. Zelda is there because it's her story and she needed to be central. In Mass Effect the women can join you on your space quests, and when you come back to the ship you can sleep with most of them. One's story is that she has PTSD. If you choose not to pursue a sexual relationship her story finishes. You literally have to fuck it out of her. You could deeply analyse how that story is a power fantasy for guys who want to help (and sleep with) women in their life that they see as "tragic". In Saints Row IV you can approach any person in your crew and ask for sex and they give it. You could deeply analyse this to be a parody of how videogames tend to treat such topics. In Prince of Persia: Sands of Time your companion, Farah, knows about the sands and helps you fight enemies. Add some well written dialouge and great voice acting and you have a memorable female character. Even two of my favourite games from last year had great female leads, Ellie from The Last of Us and Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite. Elizabeth even has gameplay mechanics centred around her!
As you can tell, my theory of comparing mechanics against story can be useful to evaluate, not just women, but characters in games. So how would I apply these principles on our two Princess's of Gaming? Well I feel both come out looking like winners to me. Especially since Peach is dressed like a lady, and Mario is always a gentlemen to her I think Peach is fine. Any other arguments I counter with dwarf-Italian-plumber-that-knows-parkour-fights-firing-breathing-turtle-dragon-while-eating-mushrooms. An updated character could be great, as long as it was kept light and comedic. And the Sage herself, Princess Zelda? Well, in the latest game Skywards Sword, I heard her role changed significantly where it is very clear that she is a love interest. That's fine for me (plus I haven't actually finished the tutorial yet) plus, she's actually being explored in a way that hasn't actually been done before and I'm always for characters getting explored. That's what makes them interesting. If only you could somehow explain "interesting" to game publishers like EA and how it would mean money, you'd be set.
Then again, I'm just a gamer with a personality disorder. Do you have good or bad examples of women being portrayed in games. Who's your favorite? Or do you think I'm completely wrong? Probably neither because you're spambots and you only like clicks.
Special thanks again to Anxious Gamer for getting those videos working in the browser.
Also, if you're this far, check out a mate of mines blog http://vgbarnman.com/2014/01/04/2013-games-of-the-year/. Smarter and better written than mine, I'll tell you that.
But that's just a look at the role that the Princess's play in their own games. How does this affect me when I look at games? Well if you read those paragraphs you'd have a good idea. Obviously, I don't mind either. But when I look at the roles women have in other games, I subconsciously come back to the same idea: "Why is this person here?" and if the game has a story, "What is her story?" Peach is there so you run from flagpole to flagpole with carefully timed jumps. Zelda is there because it's her story and she needed to be central. In Mass Effect the women can join you on your space quests, and when you come back to the ship you can sleep with most of them. One's story is that she has PTSD. If you choose not to pursue a sexual relationship her story finishes. You literally have to fuck it out of her. You could deeply analyse how that story is a power fantasy for guys who want to help (and sleep with) women in their life that they see as "tragic". In Saints Row IV you can approach any person in your crew and ask for sex and they give it. You could deeply analyse this to be a parody of how videogames tend to treat such topics. In Prince of Persia: Sands of Time your companion, Farah, knows about the sands and helps you fight enemies. Add some well written dialouge and great voice acting and you have a memorable female character. Even two of my favourite games from last year had great female leads, Ellie from The Last of Us and Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite. Elizabeth even has gameplay mechanics centred around her!
As you can tell, my theory of comparing mechanics against story can be useful to evaluate, not just women, but characters in games. So how would I apply these principles on our two Princess's of Gaming? Well I feel both come out looking like winners to me. Especially since Peach is dressed like a lady, and Mario is always a gentlemen to her I think Peach is fine. Any other arguments I counter with dwarf-Italian-plumber-that-knows-parkour-fights-firing-breathing-turtle-dragon-while-eating-mushrooms. An updated character could be great, as long as it was kept light and comedic. And the Sage herself, Princess Zelda? Well, in the latest game Skywards Sword, I heard her role changed significantly where it is very clear that she is a love interest. That's fine for me (plus I haven't actually finished the tutorial yet) plus, she's actually being explored in a way that hasn't actually been done before and I'm always for characters getting explored. That's what makes them interesting. If only you could somehow explain "interesting" to game publishers like EA and how it would mean money, you'd be set.
Then again, I'm just a gamer with a personality disorder. Do you have good or bad examples of women being portrayed in games. Who's your favorite? Or do you think I'm completely wrong? Probably neither because you're spambots and you only like clicks.
Special thanks again to Anxious Gamer for getting those videos working in the browser.
Also, if you're this far, check out a mate of mines blog http://vgbarnman.com/2014/01/04/2013-games-of-the-year/. Smarter and better written than mine, I'll tell you that.
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