2008 Woodie Awards
Simple, Poingnant Story Lines Make for Better Games
Mustafa Gatollari
Issue date: 2/6/06 Section: Life & Leisure
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I'm fed up with a lot of video games today. Let me just jump right into my problem: they try too hard on the story line, and way too much on the plot. It works for some games, like "God of War" and "Shadow of the Colossus," but do I seriously need to know the names and backgrounds of street racers from some greasy mechanic when I play "Midnight Club III"?
What tickles all the wrong nerves in my body even more are games that try to take their "narrative" aspects to the next level by adding in a bunch of complex plot-twists and turns, when all I really want to do is play the damn game.
That's why I'm about to make a lofty claim right now: "Double Dragon" for the NES has the best opening ever.
The screen opens, and you see three male thugs and one woman in a sultry (for 8 bits) red dress.
The main thug walks up to her, punches her in the stomach and carries her away, the two other thugs follow suit.
Then you're a man with a blue outfit, fighting a bunch of guys and if you have a close friend or a brother, they're the red outfit guy, and you kick ass together.
Without any words, we know that she's the girlfriend of the blue-suit dude because he's player No. 1, and the red-suit dude is his brother/friend/martial arts training partner/rival accompanying him because of his intense love/care/respect/friendliness/homosexual attraction for the blue suit dude. And that's all you need to know about the game. It doesn't try to bog you down with a bunch of needless details.
You make the story your own. When I played the game with my older brother, the blue guy was a doctor, and the red character (I was always second player) was a concert pianist with amnesia, and only through fighting to the death would he regain his memory. It didn't need to make sense, and the game doesn't try to.
You're in a steel yard in level two, and then a forest in level three. It's cool, you don't need a transitional piece to tell you how you got there. All that matters is that you're there!
What tickles all the wrong nerves in my body even more are games that try to take their "narrative" aspects to the next level by adding in a bunch of complex plot-twists and turns, when all I really want to do is play the damn game.
That's why I'm about to make a lofty claim right now: "Double Dragon" for the NES has the best opening ever.
The screen opens, and you see three male thugs and one woman in a sultry (for 8 bits) red dress.
The main thug walks up to her, punches her in the stomach and carries her away, the two other thugs follow suit.
Then you're a man with a blue outfit, fighting a bunch of guys and if you have a close friend or a brother, they're the red outfit guy, and you kick ass together.
Without any words, we know that she's the girlfriend of the blue-suit dude because he's player No. 1, and the red-suit dude is his brother/friend/martial arts training partner/rival accompanying him because of his intense love/care/respect/friendliness/homosexual attraction for the blue suit dude. And that's all you need to know about the game. It doesn't try to bog you down with a bunch of needless details.
You make the story your own. When I played the game with my older brother, the blue guy was a doctor, and the red character (I was always second player) was a concert pianist with amnesia, and only through fighting to the death would he regain his memory. It didn't need to make sense, and the game doesn't try to.
You're in a steel yard in level two, and then a forest in level three. It's cool, you don't need a transitional piece to tell you how you got there. All that matters is that you're there!