Re: A Rant on the Critics of Linear Gameplay

Perhaps the championing of this non-linear gameplay has a tinge of ethnocentrism to it (Game reviewers is racist dog).

Western games, originating with PC classics dating back to the Ultima series, and moving forward in the Grand Theft Auto series, have consistently shown more of a tendency toward open-ended gameplay.  Eastern games (your Mario’s and your Final Fantasy’s) have leaned more toward straightforward game progression.

There is a charm to non-linear gameplay that is hard to describe.  Back in the early days of Ultima and other PC games the open-endedness was----well, frankly it was terrifying.  There was too much to do, and you didn’t understand how to do it anyway.  The wealth of possibilities was lost on the masses, but the select few that embraced it were rewarded.  Games like GTA have brought access to the game style.

Take a gander at the Metacritic of a GTA 4 and you will get a porn-star-load 98 scoregasm all over your face.  We all ate it up. 

Businessman: “Oh my God, cancel my 12 o’clock lucy, I’m going to be exploring Liberty City.”

Look at all the things to do in this living, breathing, retelling of NYC.

Then came the backlash.  We all turned on it, about 25% into the story: about 30 hours in.  It’s just too much. 

Of course it’s neither terrible or “the gaming version of the Godfather.”  It’s somewhere in between, but the charm of a big open-ended world is hard to ressist at first gander.

Meanwhile, as Japanese developers struggle to deal with the processing power of new hardware (see: Last Remnant) or do any reasonable iterations on traditional games (really Nintendo?... you’re selling me Smash Brothers again?) we really aren’t seeing linear games get a fair shake.  

And when we do get a traditional linear game done right, like Japanese-RPG Lost Odyssey, reviewers complain about the essence of the game---”I’m tired of turn based combat.”

Game Reviewer: “This JRPG is too JRPGy”

It all (I hope) goes back to the idea of criticizing a game for being too linear.  As a gamer, sometimes I prefer to be on the rails.  The important part is that the game makers can make an experience that I want to be along for the ride for.  

It beats making my own fun, eh Niko?