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I haven't really gotten into playing games much in awhile, but yesterday I decided to jump back on the horse, so to speak. Husband and I started playing Heavy Rain last night... finished it today after being basically unable to put it down. Seriously, we played it until midnight, finally put it down to sleep, and then woke up first thing to play it again. And talked about it while going to sleep. And after it was finished sat talking about it for another hour. We managed to have all four protagonists survive until the ending. He was in charge of Ethan and Shelby, and I was in charge of Jayden and Madison. He did all of Ethan's trials save the murder-trial, and all Shelby's parts seemed to be revised optimally. For my part, I messed up and killed Nathaniel and then wrongly accused Blake, but didn't miss a beat with Maddie's stuff. So we got the best endings for everyone except Jayden, who started hallucinating. I didn't remember ever taking a hit, but we theorise that if you shoot Nathaniel, you don't get a choice.
I was really, really skeptical of the whole concept of interactive movie games. I repeatedly expressed incredulity that my husband could find Asura's Wrath at all interesting. I'm, to be frank, not very good at getting invested in media to begin with. I can get caught up in the emotion of a scene, but it rarely stays with me for long, and I have difficulty holding interest for very long at all. I find it very difficult to even follow TV shows because I can't focus on just watching the screen for a full hour. By extension, I doubted the ability of video games to inspire in me anything more than the same detached interest and admiration I feel while watching good movies or reading good books - the interactivity of the experience was a relevant factor in theory, but I couldn't imagine that translating into honest-to-god immersion. But now, finally, years after much of the rest of the world, I get it. And I want more.
We also have LA Noire, as of yet unplayed, but I want to wait a little while. Either it won't be anywhere near as good as Heavy Rain and the contrast will be unfair, or it'll be as good/better than Heavy Rain. Either way, I want it to last. So I'm back to playing Mafia II for a little while; I'm sure I'll finish it eventually. Husband is playing Mass Effect (now up to 3) with an ultra-Paragon Infiltrator m!Shep. He liased with Miranda in 2, but now apparently has designs on Ashley. I'm trying to steer him towards Cortez, but I don't seem to be selling it very well. Am curious to see the extended cut endings in an actual game as opposed to on YT, but all I can really muster now is a dull frustration.
I was really, really skeptical of the whole concept of interactive movie games. I repeatedly expressed incredulity that my husband could find Asura's Wrath at all interesting. I'm, to be frank, not very good at getting invested in media to begin with. I can get caught up in the emotion of a scene, but it rarely stays with me for long, and I have difficulty holding interest for very long at all. I find it very difficult to even follow TV shows because I can't focus on just watching the screen for a full hour. By extension, I doubted the ability of video games to inspire in me anything more than the same detached interest and admiration I feel while watching good movies or reading good books - the interactivity of the experience was a relevant factor in theory, but I couldn't imagine that translating into honest-to-god immersion. But now, finally, years after much of the rest of the world, I get it. And I want more.
We also have LA Noire, as of yet unplayed, but I want to wait a little while. Either it won't be anywhere near as good as Heavy Rain and the contrast will be unfair, or it'll be as good/better than Heavy Rain. Either way, I want it to last. So I'm back to playing Mafia II for a little while; I'm sure I'll finish it eventually. Husband is playing Mass Effect (now up to 3) with an ultra-Paragon Infiltrator m!Shep. He liased with Miranda in 2, but now apparently has designs on Ashley. I'm trying to steer him towards Cortez, but I don't seem to be selling it very well. Am curious to see the extended cut endings in an actual game as opposed to on YT, but all I can really muster now is a dull frustration.
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Date: 2012-07-27 02:04 pm (UTC)From:Also, I think the interactive variants of each genre are actually quite different experiences from the "static" counterpart. A lot of thought goes into player agency.
(Incidentally, if you haven't played it already: Choice of Zombies is an excellent little piece of interactive fiction.)