There is a very annoying trend in gaming that is becoming very irksome to many, especially myself. This trend tends to favor FPSs most of all. I'm talking about...
Silent PCs
In this blog, I want to focus on two examples from some of this year's biggest hits. Jack from BioShock and Dr. Gordon Freeman from the Half-Life series. Let's begin with BioShock...
With 2007 coming to a close, all the awards are going out and it seems that critics almost unanimously agree that BioShock is Game of the Year. Well, I disagree. Why? While 2K Boston's atmospheric FPS is a very enjoyable game with outstanding art direction, it lacks in its story presentation. The game does raise quite a few humanitarian and moral questions, it fails to answer any since it lacks the character to do so. Instead, Atlas, Andrew Ryan, Tenenbaum, and Fontaine all end up babbling to themselves instead of actually having a conversation. It's sad, really. It's not like the budget ran out for such a high profile game, why not get a voice actor for Jack. This ruins the chance of BioShock being a memorable story.
The Orange Box is definately a fantastic video game deal. Five superb games in one package,with Valve's wildly popular FPS Half-Life series to lead it. HL is a fantastic series. The original lacked any kind of cohesive narrative, but 2 decided to ante it up a LOT. The characters in Half-Life 2 are some of the most expressive and well-voiced out there today. So why doesn't Gordon Freeman, the famous hero of the series, have a voice or personality to go along with the rest of the characters. How is humanity inspired to follow a man who can't speak orshow any expression? More importantly, how is Alyx Vance attracted to a man who hasn't ever said a word to her... The games have such awesome potential for fantastic narrative, and in many ways, it succeeds, but because of Gordon's inability to talk, the story is dropped a couple notches.
...And just what is the cause of this trend? Laziness. That's it, laziness on the developers part. 2K Boston and Valve should take notice of a few companies like BioWare and Naughty Dog, and look at how they build a games narrative. Now I'm not saying, "don't be unique in how you present your story", just do it in a way, that well, makes sense. BioShock could have been much, much better if, say, depending on your choices, Jack slowly went insane like the rest of the populace of Rapture or rose above the madness and anarchy of the failed utopia to lead the Little Sisters to a new life. And what if Gordon Freeman was able to deliver an inspiring speech to a group of resistance fighters or mess with Barney or build up a relationship with Alyx. Hell, if that was the case, HL might be better than a BW game.
But, in the end, this is just wishful thinking...