The Glorification of Violence and Fornication

One of the main problems people seem to have with video games is that they “glorify” sex and violence and this makes children grow up corrupted and desensitised and they might stab people. Of course, there have been loads of studies that prove that games make children violent, they are just secret studies that only exist in a realm of reality that only anti-game enthusiasts can see, or at least that’s what I imagine because I sure as hell can’t find any. They just spout random statistics to get ignorant people like putty in their hands so they’ll buy their latest book or whatever they’re selling.

Violence in media has always been around and video games are just the latest punch bag to emerge, 30 years ago, people would be complaining about violence on TV, 80 years ago people would have complained about violence in movies, 10,000 years ago, probably complained about violence in cave paintings. People are always looking for an excuse why someone stabbed someone and instead of blaming the child’s own free will, poor parenting or perhaps the person in question deserved to be stabbed, no its Rockstar’s fault because they “taught” him how to use a knife, I’m not even sure how this works, unless you’re unaware of which end made people bleed.

It’s pretty clear that these so called “experts” haven’t played a game in their life but people believe anything you tell them if you’re over the age of 50 and in a suit and stick some sort of percentage in there. No, you don’t get “points” for killing cops and the aim of the game isn’t to kill prostitutes.

Complaints were actually received about the advert for Heavy Rain glorifying violence, now, anyone with a brainstem can tell this game is in no way glorifying violence, on the contrary. It shows the after effects, the consequences, the problems that come with taking a life. Then, to bring up a point Jo made in a previous article you have adverts for joining the army. They show guns, tanks, airplanes, boats all the machines that where invented to kill a guy quicker than he can kill you, they make it all flashy and give it the “boy with their toys” appeal. This is for an invention, the sole purpose of which is for ending life. Now, which one of these is actually doing the glorifying? Which one is getting the blame for people getting killed?

Then there’s sex, which is equally as hypocritical, all you have to do is turn prime time TV on and see the latest advert for deodorant or make-up and have far more sexual content then you’d see in most video games, and even then, watch anything on Channel 4 post watershed and you’ll see stuff worse than pretty much all video games (well, all of the ones sold outside Japan anyway). Yet Mass Effect got accused of being a “porn simulator” (which when you look at it is a deeply flawed term anyways, how does one simulate porn?) yet it’s actually tastefully done, and shows the feelings and connection between the two characters and the most graphic thing you get is a sideboob. What kind of porn are they actually watching?

Granted this issue does seem to be getting less pressing, Mass Effect 2 didn’t get any stick to my knowledge and that was probably more graphic, and Heavy Rain (yes I know I keep using this game in examples, if it’s bothering you play a drinking game or something) didn’t receive much notoriety and that’s probably more graphic still.

One more point on sex in games, I found this link today: Click. Now, surely he must have known of Rule 34’s existence, by its very nature you can find porn of anything, Sonic, Pokémon, The Land Before Time and pretty much anything that will destroy your childhood in a few simple jpegs. None of these previously had any sexual context but the internet got hold of it and suddenly Simba has a foot long. So, you make a game like Bayonetta which is pretty sexual itself, you’re pretty much doing half the work for them, and then you had the stones to complain when porn of it emerges? If you’re going to make a highly sexual character expect the character to be highly sexualised, it would be like serving someone an extremely salty meal and complaining if they get a drink afterwards.

Video games are no worse than any other form of media, TV, film, music, all influence people to some extent but people are always in control, if someone “copies” a video game it’s not at the fault of the game but at the fault of the person. Some people are naturally violent regardless of what hobbies they do or don’t have (except maybe yoga) and these people should be dealt with accordingly instead of fighting against an industry and ruining it for all the people who have self control and the little voice that tells them what’s real and what isn’t.

The best idea is to educate people more on game ratings, people still think that the age rating is purely based on difficulty and nothing else and then complain when they find out their 8 year old is running over pensioners in a golf cart. I saw a mother and her kid in game a few days ago, the kid wanted Forza Motorsport and the mother said “No, it’s obviously a 12 for a reason” obviously having no idea that a simple flip of the case would tell her exactly why it’s a 12. (which as it turns out is bad language, why you need to effectively cut out a large percentage of your audience by adding a few swears to a racing game of all games is beyond me). PEGI should run a few adverts on TV, tell parents about ratings and leave it all up to them instead of letting the Daily Mail handle it.

In return, for gamers, have a rating on all talk shows when video games are the topic, with little icons that mean “contains people that haven’t the faintest what they are on about” and “contains an audience with a collective amount of less than 5 brain cells” just to give us a heads up on what to expect from the next 20 minutes that way and prepare accordingly, possibly by performing a lobotomy on ourselves beforehand so we’re on the same train of thought as the people on the program.




“Before you go and criticize the younger generation, just remember who raised them.” ~ Unknown

Heavy Rain - Review

Introduction

Heavy Rain is the spiritual successor to Quantic Dream’s Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy if you’re from across the pond). I haven’t played Fahrenheit yet myself (thought I recently purchased it after having enjoyed Heavy Rain so much but haven’t got round to playing it yet) but if you have expect more of the same thing. If you haven’t Heavy Rain is an “Interactive Drama” think of it to be a bit like one of them create-your-own-adventure books you’d read as a kid, or like the extra that came with the Final Destination 3 DVD except actually worth the physical space it occupies.

The gameplay itself is fairly minimal, similar in some ways to the Dreamcast title, Shenmue. You have free sections where you walk around looking for evidence, clues or items and having conversations, and then you have the dreaded quick time events that seem to have been all the rage since Resident Evil 4 resurrected them although Heavy Rain actually does them pretty well (or at least as good as QTEs can get anyway). But playing Heavy Rain for the gameplay would be like eating Chinese food for the chopsticks, you play it for the story like you would watch a movie or read a book.

The story behind follows four separate characters all with their fates entwined by a serial killer dubbed the origami killer who kidnaps boys aged between 9 and 13 and drowns them in rain water then leaves their bodies on waste land with a orchid on their chest and a origami figure in their hand.

-Spoilers for the first hour or so of play-

The first and main character is Ethan Mars, a happily married and a successful architect, for the prologue at least. During a visit to the mall his older (and frankly stupider) child is run over a killed. The game then jumps to two years later after the accident where he is divorced, suffering from depression and black outs and is trying to reconnect with his other son, Shaun. Shaun is then kidnapped by the origami killer during one of Ethan’s blackouts, eventually leading Ethan (and the police force) to believe he is the origami killer whilst he is simultaneously trying to save his son.

The second character is an FBI agent from Washington called Norman Jayden who has been called to assist the police force with the capture of the killer. Norman comes equipped with a pair of sunglasses called ARI (Advanced Reality Interface) which help him identify and analyse evidence and aid him in capturing the killer. Unfortunately at the same time he is also suffering from drug problems which he has to fight in the process.

The third character is a Scott Shelby, a private investigator hired by the families of the victims of the origami killer and suffers from asthma (wow no-one in this game is actually well are they?).

The fourth character is Madison Paige, a photographer who is a picture of perfect health – ok that was a lie, she has chronic insomnia. Not much is known about her at first but suffice to say she ends up getting heavily involved in the case.

-End Spoilers-

One of the main aspects of Heavy Rain is that even the smallest choice can have a huge impact on the rest of the story, with multiple endings (18 epilogues with 4 for each playthrough) there’s plenty of incentive to replay. If a character dies, they die for good, what one character does can later on effect another there is no direct right and wrong choice and it just overall feels far less artificial than most other choice systems.

Another good thing about Heavy Rain is that it can appeal to a casual audience without slitting the throat of the gaming nation and drinking its still warm blood, á la the Wii. Several times while playing this I had my Mum of all people sat next to me just as absorbed into the story as I was (granted it made the sex scene a little awkward but that’s beside the point). This is a great game to play with other people just as you would a movie and makes it even more enjoyable.

Gameplay

As mentioned, the gameplay is minimal so there’s not much I can say here. Everything in the game is achieved by button prompts, be it in a free environment or a QTE, buttons will appear on screen and you will have to press, mash or slowly guide the stick/button to match the prompt to do whatever needs doing. Some require you to press multiple buttons at once but overall it’s really very simple.

Some of the QTEs and button prompt are genuinely challenging if played on the hardest difficulty (which I recommend if you are a regular gamer) and are akin to playing a game of twister with your fingers (one I had to resort to pressing a button with my tongue, no joke) but other than that there’s not really much to be said.

Story

Well seen as this game sells on the promise of a good story it’s a good job it delivers. It’s incredibly compelling, deeply emotional and one of the most immersive games I’ve ever played. There’s a few discrepancies in the plot and not quite all loose ends are tied up but that just leaves it open for debate which in my opinion makes it more enjoyable. It doesn’t feel the need to hold your hand and slowly explain every single aspect in detail and leaves some of it to your imagination. That said, a couple of the “plot holes” could have done with a bit more explanation but overall it’s done pretty well and is arguably as deep as any movie or book.

Graphics

Graphically this game is one of the best the PS3 has to offer. The environments are grim, dark and gloomy but that was the intention, this isn’t a happy pretty lets all ride unicorns across rainbows to the treacle fountain of ecstasy type game. They set the mood perfectly, the characters emotions are portrayed brilliantly and it’s just an overall brilliant presentation.

Sound

Without exaggerating this is probably my favourite game of all time, I come from a background of Zelda, Sonic and more recently Metroid, all are pretty renowned for their scores but none of these in my opinion set the mood quite as well as the soundtrack here. I’m sure a lot of you would like to play the Final Fantasy card here (John included) but I’ve never really played a FF game to compare but I would be pretty impressed if it surpassed this.

The voice acting is a bit hit and miss, but it’s not awful. Most of the characters are pretty believable, the odd line will sound a bit robotic but the only characters to really falter are the children and one of them does die in the first half hour so it’s forgiveable. The only other character to really suffer is Norman who can’t seem to pronounce his own name and apparently no-one in the entire cast can pronounce origami correctly. Other than that it’s passable, not the best ever but far from the worst.

Overall

I can imagine Heavy Rain being a marmite, I personally love it but if you’re the kind of gamer that can’t go long without cracking a few skulls then maybe it’s not for you. If you want a deep emotional experience then maybe it is.

+ Incredible Story
+ Brilliant Soundtrack
+ Incentive to replay
+ Good “social” game
- Voice acting can be a bit shoddy at times
- Some of the story could have done with a bit more explanation



"Agent NAHMAN Jayden, FBI" ~ Norman Jayden

When did right and wrong become so black and white?

In my Mass Effect 2 review I mentioned how most games that implement a moral choice system seem to be incredibly black and white about it without so much as a single shade of gray. Do you save the drowning puppy or throw it into an even deeper pond, or just walk on by for the “neutral” option, I’m not quite sure how letting an innocent puppy die can in any way be considered neutral, assuming you’re not a character from an early GTA game and have the means the save him.

A prime example is inFamous, as much as I love this game, the choice system seemed tacked on and wasn’t even really needed, all it did was change how your powers upgraded and this would often make several of the powers useless whilst the other half remained viable in combat and if you played the opposite side they magically seemed to swap round and the previously shoddy powers where now pretty useful.

The problem is with inFamous is that the choices often don’t really pose that much of a choice and you would just choose the one you want depending on whether you are doing a good or evil playthrough, not what you would choose if presented with that situation in real life. Do you start a small riot and let innocents die just to save yourself the trouble of knocking out a few cops, or just go straight for the cops? The answer should be pretty obvious, really.

Bioware are known for the choice systems in their games and often they get it right but sometimes its feels more like a choice between humane and being well, a bit of a prick. Greet the new party member with open arms and a pat on the back, or accuse them of being a dirty alien in a xenophobic manner, even though in the previous scene you’re the one who convinced them to tag along, I’m sometimes not sure if my character is supposed to be a “renegade” or just someone with deeply rooted psychological issues. Additionally, no matter how paragon I’m trying to make my character appear if presented with the option to defenestrate someone, I will, though perhaps that’s saying more about me as a person and less about the game.

GTAIV kind of glossed over the choice systems, and this is a series it could really work in my opinion, do you kill everyone mercilessly in cold blood or just kill those that deserve to die? Sadly in the entire 20+ hours of GTAIV there are about 4 choices and all they seem to do is determine whether a character comes back in a short bonus mission that honestly isn’t really worth the trouble because by the time they do come back you’ll have enough money to buy a small island.

Another example for choice in games is the recently released Heavy Rain (expect the review in the near future), who ever said choice has to be good or evil? You make a choice completely unaware of the repercussions that will follow later in the game, there’s no right or wrong answer but it will often have a dramatic effect towards the end and this is how it should be; no clear correct way to go and you just choose what you personally would do in that situation, not which one nets you the points for your desired route, which at the end of the day seems to be what these moral choice systems are all about.



“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” ~ Albert Einstein