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The adventure game “Dragon’s Lair,” was a laserdisc title that was essentially a video “choose your own adventure.” A full motion movie would play out, and the player’s inputs (there were very few and they were quite simple) would trigger a branching video: much like skipping to page fifty four if you want to take the right tunnel. It’s often cited as an example of extremely primitive gameplay, one that we think that we have outgrown.
It’s ironic, then, that we see this proto-gameplay heavily featured in such modern titles as God of War and Heavenly Sword. In fact, more and more games are featuring mini-game style combat mechanics. It seems that it’s an effective way to set up controlled situations that allow for uniquely involved animations.
In a way, Dragon’s Lair style gameplay can be found in any action or combat game with a combo structure. Performing a launcher and then a followup in Devil May Cry amounts to pressing buttons and then watching a short film: at first blush the only difference is the ratio of controller inputs to the duration of the film. But there is a key difference between mini-games and combos that demonstrates the larger difference between lame duck Dragon’s Lair gameplay and true gameplay.
At the end of the day, what separates a combo from a mini-game? Is it because the buttons the player is supposed to press don’t flash on the screen?
Continue reading ‘Dragon’s Lair in Action Games’
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I was going to write something about how Call of Duty was far and away the most next-gen game I have played.
But then Assassin’s Creed came out.
Because the good things I have to say about the game are nearly endless, let me throw out this one negative: the combat is shallow, and a bit […]
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I hesitate to write on Halo 3, as so much has already been said on the topic, but I feel compelled, as it is rare that I am as affected by a game as I was by this massive, opulent, and finely tuned game.
I played Halo 3 with a fresh set of eyes, having played […]
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Over and over and over and over
Like a monkey with a miniature cymbal
The spell of repetition really is in you.
– Hot Chip, Repetition
Repetition is a fundamental, though often overlooked, element of a game’s structure. Like other electronic media, such as digital music, duplication is given to us for free by technology. If you […]
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I am attempting to discover some consistent underlying properties to what we call “fun,” that ever elusive aesthetic unique to interactive media. What is it which, across genres and across platforms, inspires that particular tingle we get from a clever strategy, a narrow escape, a flawless victory?
At first I thought that the common […]
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Recently I got the chance to play the wholly excellent Earth Defense Force 2017. Though rough around some of its edges, the game is truly one of the most fun I have experienced in some time. Some of the art is entry level at best, all the powerups look like they’re from the […]
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A friend of mine remarked upon head-tracking in games today, and I found myself realizing how important it can be to a game’s immersion. Technically, it’s such an easy thing to do, yet the degree to which it enhances one’s sympathy to an animated 3d character is uncanny.
The excellent adventure game Grim Fandango used […]
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This will be a fairly dry entry, I just wanted to make a note about something that I saw while playing God of War 2. First off, though, a brief definition of one of my favorite words I learned in media studies: diegesis.
Diegesis is a word used to refer to the internal world of […]
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There is no doubt that Guitar Hero represents a quantum leap forward in music games. It’s incredible that a game that requires a peripheral to play could be such a sweeping success. There is no doubt in my mind that Harmonix deserves much credit for such an innovative game.
At the same time however, […]
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So far, I have worked on two shipped titles. Please click the following links for more information:
Xiaolin Showdown
Ultima Online: Samurai Empire
