My music rules. Movies rule. Games fucking rule. And by the way, my second point--a game. Shadow of the Colossus. Got it two days ago. B and I have been trading off the controller beating this bitch. And oh god, is it awesome.
This is a completely different gaming experience from anything I've had before. There's no random coins given up by random monsters. There are no villagers with catchphrases. There are no merchants who purchase everything from armor to monster spit. There are no spoken English words. I have only two simple weapons--a sword and a bow--a pretty bitchin' horse, and me--a somewhat short, kind of gangly Celtic-looking fellow. I love the bow for its simplicity. I love that the sword is just a sword and not an ancestral relic.
Aside from his acoutrements, I love the man because he moves like a man, and what's more, he moves like a guy who's never done this before. You know how no matter what Link's doing, he always kind of looks like he's got it all under control? He rolls smoothly, he runs with endless stamina, he never stumbles, he does flips when he jumps. This guy, this unnamed guy in Shadow of the Colossus--he's short. He's young. He's obviously not in great shape. He gets tired when he runs. When he's wounded, his breathing gets heavier. He kind of runs like a girl, one arm flailing. His arm trembles when he pulls his bow. When he does front rolls, he doesn't just get up. He rolls, staggers, scrambles to his feet and then keeps running. He's got a grip that's unearthly, but he can't jump very high, and when he lands, he takes a minute to find his feet again. When he goes down, it takes him a minute to get up again. I keep getting the overwhelming impression that in this case I'm not a righteous badass with a destiny and destined weapon. I'm a desperate kid who really, really wants his girlfriend back. This guy doesn't want to be doing what he's doing, and he's not really that great at it. He looks like he pretty much just wants to go home. And here we get into the other great thing about it.
Moral ambiguity. Most of the time, in video games, we've got this clear-cut mission. You know what side you're on, or you can choose, and that determines your actions. When you're done, you know you've done a good thing, that the world is better for your efforts. A lot of times you're straight up saving the world. But in this case... no. None of that.
This kid's been told that in order to bring his girlfriend back to life, he has to kill these sixteen massive creatures. He doesn't know why, because the Voice O' God isn't real forthcoming. But he wants his girlfriend back. So he's doing it. But this isn't a righteous quest. These colossi--most of the time, before you started swinging your blade at them, they weren't doing anything to anyone. They're not evil, they're not rampaging. They're mostly just hanging out in their respective turfs. Sometimes they're sleeping. And you come up here with your nasty little sword and start stabbing them in their soft spots. They groan, they bleed, they thrash and do everything they can to throw you off. They occasionally take a swing at you, but you get the sense that they can't see you too well--you're too damn small. And really they just want you to go away. So increasingly as you progress through the game you start to almost feel bad about what you're doing. I'm told there's a revelation at the end. Haven't gotten to it yet. But I'll let you know my thoughts when I do.
The glory of this game is that it's so immersive. The world is fucking beautiful in every way. The soundtrack is minimal and perfect. The experience is painfully realistic and a little tragic in the way the "hero" (not heroic in any sense, really) stumbles and gasps as he forges on his not-necessarily-pure quest. And my new sound system shakes the fucking floor with the footsteps of the giants as they come for my ass. It's an incredible game. I fucking adore it.
More when I'm done.
Labels: Technology
