Video games have come a long was since I first started playing them as an eleven year old kid.
I’d play loads of Mario and platform games, however the first real video game I owned was Final Fantasy VII on Playstation, it was just a different experience from all the others. Driven by its complex story and characters, it was an adventure and changed the way I feel about video games. Since my Final Fantasy VII days a lot has changed, and while video games are still a relatively new product compared to DVDs and CDs they are currently out selling both combined. These fantasy worlds in the games offer a means to release our animalistic violent desires in shoot them up games (FPS), or allow you to enter a social online universe with thousands of other players from around the world to go hunting for space monsters with friends (MMORPG). Of course, you can still have some innocent fun and play tennis with your grandma (Wii).
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Recently, games like Heavy Rain have caught my attention as they bridge the gap between cinema and video games. This new genre has reinvented the game play as your choices through out, such as different actions in conversations, effect events that are yet to happen, creating a unique experience for each player. These choices unfold with different twists and eventually lead to a unique ending created with an engaging plot with interesting and realistic characters.
I see this as perhaps being the future of video games – digital interactive story telling experiences that appeal to an older audience. Video game players are getting older, and while there will always be a huge market for young gamers, people like me craving a more adult story might have something to look forward to. Sure I still love Final Fantasy and their latest instalment looks amazing so far, however they are still recreating the same experience and I must admit that I’m slowly losing interest.
Another type of video game I have become interested are those like ICO and Shadow of Colossus, which are a result of Sony trying to create something new, artistic, beautiful and fun. The games they have created so far are like no other. In Shadow of Colossus your lone wanderer is on a mission to bring back a friends life and to do this must defeat 16 huge monsters known as Colossus. During most of the game your character is riding his horse around this wonderful landscape and simply exploring, while the other times are more like a puzzle to discover the enemies weak spot. It sounds silly to describe, however if you have played it you know what I mean! It’s simply a work of art. Their new project The Last Guardian on PS3 appears to focus on a relationship between a boy and his pet (a big bird/cat thing), details are few right now however it’s shaping up to be interesting.
With the gaming industry estimated to see around a 20 percent growth this year, developers are facing a lot of choices with the future of the industry, and I sure do hope this creative approach proves profitable so that we can see more of these great creative games.
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