Nothing But Shoot 'em Ups & Hack 'n Slash Games

Let's be honest with ourselves. Practically every game is nothing more than a shoot 'em up or a hack 'n slash game. If it is filled with 90% or more gameplay pertaining to nothing but violence, why not categorize games into one of these categories? If nearly all nonviolent ways of communication and of driving a game's plot are contained only within cut scenes, how have games gone beyond just scratching the surface of interactivity?

Most game developers are nothing more but greedy ones and have nothing better to do other than to create cliché works. How is this industry ever going to grow out of its infancy if this is kept up? What, is experimenting with ideas in games too expensive? In some cases that may be true. On the other hand, if game developers don't worry so much about graphics and other non-interactive things within a game, they could really save themselves a lot of trouble. Graphics aren't everything. No, let me rephrase that. Graphics are the only thing that are actually amusing because that's all that most developers can handle. So much for a dream of an industry like hollywood, where movies become mature by experimenting with a lot of ideas. So, are independent game developers our only hope?

uhhhhh....what?:shock:bytgames

Umm. yeah it is expensive. and if it tanks your pretty much dead in the water. Also a list of games which are not shoot-em-ups or hack-n-slash released recently

Littlebigplanet

Flower

Noby Noby Boy

Mirror's edge (yes there are guns, but the focus is platforming)

Braid

(I can't really think of any others but I'm sure others can name them)

Uh lets see.

Skate 2

Fallout 3 (has alot of interactivity)

TES4 Oblivion (dungeons get a bit repetitive but its still a good game)

Mirrors Edge

Video games arent nothing but hack and slash/shoot em ups. Look at the halo series its a repetitive piece of **** game but bungie and microsoft are making millions and people still play that game. If you dont like those types of games THEN DONT BUY THEM.

Prince of Persia is very heavy on the platforming and less on combat.

God of War 2, while it had lots of combat, had LOTS of puzzle solving. In fact, in some ways I felt the game had more puzzle solving than fighting but it was a perfect balance.

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Nothing helps me understand the world quite like building up straw men. Thank you for sharing.AtomicTangerine

Your views on developers and the industry as a whole are quite misguided and more of an opinion than anything. You should actually look into what studios and developers are really doing and see how much progress they have made in the ways of playability and yet keeping the games simple and fun. If your telling me were still in infancy, then what was pacman??(i thought pacman was infancy) The gaming industry has grown immensely and is now a widely respected professional field that requires a college education to enter, and why is this, because the field is complex and requires much skill and knowledge beyond this "infancy" your speaking of.

Oh, and btw, i find Halo to be just as enthralling as Pacman. Its simple, yet fun and appealing with a good achievable goal.

aesthetically speaking you're spot on. there are alternatives though, and some kind of conflict is central to a lot of things (purpose, creativity, goals). you need to look at how conflict is represented and how it works with the idea of interaction. study some games; compare them.

why don't you play pikmin or portal? and i'm sure you like a zelda or an FF (FFXII is basically the art of virtual murdering).

Shoot 'em ups and hack 'n' slash games? What year is this? :DLordAndrew

Yeah, I love R-Type and Double Dragon! :P

What I meant to say is that the majority of today's games consist of nothing but violence in their gameplay. Rarely do they ever allow for nonviolent gameplay. Furthermore, they glorify violence and hatred. And you do not see any problems with this at all?Mawy_Golomb

I know that Portal and Spiritual Warfare do not have any violence at all. There actually are several other titles like that, too. Look up "nonviolent video games" on Wikipedia and you will find a list of examples. It is not bothersome that we have violence in games. What is bothersome is the fact that most of them glorify violence. In that sense, they are also glorifying hatred. Is that not a problem?Mawy_Golomb

it's only a problem if the game is rubbish. art should be exempt from rules or moral obligations.

destruction as a gameplay mechanic bothers me because it's so old and dull, and it's really just kind of soulless. but you know, there are just bad games and good games. some people need to vent aggression inside a virtual world or listen to violent music.

I know that Portal and Spiritual Warfare do not have any violence at all. There actually are several other titles like that, too. Look up "nonviolent video games" on Wikipedia and you will find a list of examples. It is not bothersome that we have violence in games. What is bothersome is the fact that most of them glorify violence. In that sense, they are also glorifying hatred. Is that not a problem?Mawy_Golomb

Spiritual Warfare is one of the only RPGs that does not have any violence at all. As for Portal, it is considered nonviolent because you do not use any violence towards anyone, even if people/things use it against you. Is it considered violence if you absord the suffering that someone inflicts upon you and if you do not strike back? No. Otherwise, that would have made MLK and Gandhi violent.

Do you believe that you can still be nonviolent in real life, even if you like violence in mass media? I do not see how it is possible. I think that if a person is nonviolent (like me), he/she will not like violence. And if a person likes violence, that person would not allow himself/herself to be harmed by another human being. But a big problem with violence is that it causes hatred. Nonviolence allows the perpetrator to see that what he/she is carrying out is not working, and really helps change that individual to a better being. A nonviolent person's goal is to love everyone--to understand and respect everyone (not love, like a spouse). Jesus said, "love your enemies." That is difficult, but it is not as difficult as liking them. Liking everyone is too difficult because everyone has different opinions and went through different experiences, so it is unlikely that you can like everyone. Why can't more games teach love in such ways? Nonviolence has been around for a while now, and one would think that we should see more things in the mass media than what we are actually seeing. Usually, it only comes in the form of a religion. No one nowadays respects Gandhi's and/or MLK's actions and their philosophies enough.

So a game is non-violent if you're not the one using violence? So would a game be non-violent if you were completely defenseless against hoards of bloodthirsty enemies who would love to horribly mutilate you? Not the way I see it.

[spoiler] And in Portal you do cause harm to others. Perhaps not the turrets, but GLaDOS is definitely an sentient intelligent being, although not human. You incinerate several of her modules (which also seem to be alive), and end up destroying her. [/spoiler]

Do you believe that you can still be nonviolent in real life, even if you like violence in mass media? I do not see how it is possible. I think that if a person is nonviolent (like me), he/she will not like violence. And if a person likes violence, that person would not allow himself/herself to be harmed by another human being.

Mawy_Golomb

That says more about your closemindness then it does about others I think. I'm a Catholic (not that religion is a instant sign of peace, bear with me), not raised a hand against another since I was a child, would hope I never do, I hate violence against fellow humans and my inclinations are strongly towards pearce. I also, incidentally, am a strong hater of the kicking tendency in football were players slid in purely to foul, I hate that and was ashamed when Gallas and co began kicking Nani. I also hate Boxing, so I don't see myself as a voilent person who likes seeing people get hurt or has a wish to punch people.

I'm able to square all that with playing GTA, Doom and others, for one I know it isn't real. Nobody gets harmed by me shooting that alien monster with my plasma gun, all that gets hurt are polygons on a screen as I simply enjoy myself. I'm not suddenly going to go looking for a fight, not going to suddenly dream of becoming a boxer so I'm not sure how I am suddenly a violent person.

Ahh... Violence. Just because it exists in many games does not mean people play games specifically for that reason. Things are not as easily simplified as they seem. And I am sure I do not need to explain the meaning behind assume, right?XIntoTheBlue

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ASK_Story

What I meant to say is that the majority of today's games consist of nothing but violence in their gameplay. Rarely do they ever allow for nonviolent gameplay. Furthermore, they glorify violence and hatred. And you do not see any problems with this at all?Mawy_Golomb