NY Times article on the new James Bond videogame:
Mr. Bonnell said that innovative game developers had pushed the standards of graphics and sound so high that the results can approach Hollywood production values. And this film sensibility is something that gamers are coming to expect, he said.As a result, game play must follow. "We have moved from 50 to 60 hours of low-res graphics and beeping sounds to 15 to 20 hours of very impressive, immersive game play," he said of games like his company's latest car-chase title, Driv3r.
Note that the length of the game is also cut by two-thirds. While I appreciate the cinematic aspects of games and a good storyline, when you lose that much interactive time with a game because you're pumping up graphic and audio fidelity, I can't help but think that you're sacrificing gameplay for the prettiness. In our house, we often zap through cut scenes when given a chance-- especially if we end up having to see them multiple times, which often happens. Even in cases where there's a decent storyline, we often only pay it minimal attention since the overall story doesn't usually help you get through the game. It's just window dressing. More often than not, the story ends up just a distraction from the game itself-- something you zap through to get to the reason you forked out $50 in the first place, which is actually doing something, not sitting and watching a movie.
Posted by Jason at March 25, 2004 10:29 AM