I took pause for contemplation this morning, there’s not a lot else to do on a train to Watford Junction, and my contemplation brought me thus:
Where are the new games?
This might sound like an odd question given the slew of reviews we’ve been spooling out over the last month or two and the ever increasing stack of games I have waiting for my attention. But really, the majority of these are variations on a theme.
I have newer shinier driving games, RPGs with enhanced AI and interactions, the FPSs are more immersive and the rhythm games more fun and interactive. But all of this is simply additional buff and polish. I don’t complain too loudly here of course, I like improvements and extras as much as the next gadget freak, 
but is there anything new out there or are we limited in our gaming as much as we are in our storytelling? You may know that there are only seven fundamental stories (The Quest, Voyage and Return, Fall and Redemption/Rebirth, Comedy, Tragedy, Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches) and all others are derivations or variations upon these.
I acknowledge that Little Big Planet has some pretty cool and innovative elements to it, but it’s basically a platformer, right?
At this point I mentally stipulate that the genres we have are set and that variation is now the key. So the new question arises… Where are the new games?
Here the discussion becomes more muddied and I find myself conflicted with… erm… me. See I have played some great games this year, Mass Effect (after the hype went away and I came to the game for the second time with fresh eyes) is really good fun, very involving and seems to drink up my evening hours. Grid is a good driving game, the car handling is nice, the tracks are fun and the concept of the instant replay is actually pretty cool even if I don’t really make that much use of it and the LEGO franchise is just nothing but fun!
But LEGO is just a platform game, Mass Effect is just an RPG (I can even point out the tanks, the mages and the rogue character classes!) and the veneer is sometimes all too thin over these fundamentals.
I think about the movie industry and take that as a reference now, when was the last time you watched a movie and said “I really enjoyed that but it’s basically a fall and redemption piece” or “What a great quest tale that was”? The answer of course is not very often, unless you are the sort of film critic who appears on late night arts shows and whom no-one really likes!
Our modern movies take the fundamental story types and weave them, twist them and carve them into something almost new, and let’s be frank here they do it by copying some good literature through book licensing or by having a solid story written as the foundation for the movie.
Are our games produced this way or is the process backwards? This is rhetorical, I don’t expect an answer even from myself here but I’m going to leave it out there as food for thought.
I love games, I love movies and I love books. I suspect I’m a sucker for a good story and maybe I’m just looking a little too deeply to find one in my games.
Oh god! Maybe I’m turning into one of those critics who appear on late night arts shows and whom no-one really likes!
Anyway, I have this great idea for a new game. It’s essentially a quest tale with some fall and redemption pieces…
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