A few days ago, I finished up playing the newly released title: Deus ex: Human Evolution. The game has you assume the role of a corporate chief of security named Adam Jensen. The corporation he happens to be working for goes by the name of Sarif Industries, which specializes in the manufacturing of human enhancement technology called augmentations. These augmentations give human's extraordinary abilities akin to what a comic book super hero might have. Adam Jensen involuntarily finds himself in a situation where he has to forfeit his natural body in order to receive augmentations, which ultimately is for saving his life. The game focuses on a dystopian view of the world in which the ethics of human advancement through the use of science and technology is shrouded in a great deal of ambiguity and uncertainty; world governments wildly use technology to monitor and control the population and regulate these augments which are now widely dispersed among everyday citizens. Throughout the game, you are presented with a considerable amount of choices, some ranging from the point of entry into a building you decide to go with, to what your ideological views are of augmentations in general. The game itself was fairly amusing, but I noticed a kind of trend that was appearing more often in some of the games these days, especially western games. The fact that the choices are becoming complex, more open ended, and how the goal of the game isn't always clearly defined. I've seen games in the past that had similar engaging stories, but they mostly required you, the gamer, to take on a more passive role and to just sit and watch the events unfold.

This was especially true with a lot of the games I played back when I was younger. Most were pretty simplistic in their story telling and pretty much had the "save the princess, save the world" scenario where you weren't forced to make any kind of a decision and you definably weren't bothered to question the morality of saving the princess. It was just the right thing to do to win the game. It seems like as video games have since matured, more games are starting to become complex and we're now coming to the point where gamers are directly involved in the events of the game's realm, for better or worse. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and the other games of the Elder Scrolls series are another good example. Basically, from the point of inauguration into the game, you decide what you want to do and where you want to go. The world which the player interacts in is gigantic and it's all a giant sandbox for the player to explore and play; you also don't have to adhere to the main plot, you're essentially unleashed to do as you see fit. This type of opened ended sandbox type gameplay is what a lot of gamers have become accustomed to, some even demand it. I'm sure that some aspect of this is good marketing, as you can create a game with a ambiguous ending thus allowing you to make another sequel that is as successful . We've been seeing sequel, upon sequel these days. However, some of this could just be a desire for something different, something that goes beyond normal; Something which a lot of other forms of art and entertainment strive for. Like with what you see in older movies, they weren't as complex in their meaning as some of the newer films can be, but eventually you started to get titles that were thought provoking and dealt with issues that we face everyday. Personally, I really do appreciate a game that is not just about the battle of good and evil as much as it is a game that explores the many different aspects of the human condition and that really challenges the player to reach within their own beliefs to determine what to do next. That may just be my opinion though, I tend to be a deep guy at times. With that said, I still occasionally like to just sit and play a simple game of Im the hero, watch me save the day.