Character is more important in video games than we think

(many typos...)

One of the first games I noticed this in was the main character from The Last Of Us. When this was released it was the talk of the town and won many awards. Almost every one I know who played this game loved, but I couldn’t get into it. Many I though the violence was too extreme with many of the stealth takedowns feeling a bit too gruesome. On the other had I played games with more violence than that. Maybe it was dark and serious the game was, but than again I’ve played worse as well.

When looking back I think it was more about me not liking the main character. After playing it for about 6 hours I just couldn’t stand him and I didn’t want to play as him. I really cant put my finger on it either. I think it was because of how unlikeable he seamed. I got a little farther after finding about the little girls secret and from what I told that when the story started to get better but playing up to that point I didn’t want to play as that character any more and just stopped playing. Truthfully I believe I didn’t give it a good chance and might give it another chance once it comes to the PS4 and goes on sale.

I also think this explains why I’m not a fan of the Cal of Duty franchise. Since I’m not as good as many people who play FPS’s I tend to play single player, and they really don’t put much character development in here. I most of the CoD games I played have you jump from solder to solder completing objectives and uncovering the truth about the overall war being fought. In these game your not really playing as a character but a part of the military, and it’s the military’s story, not yours. Because of that why do I care if my character finishes his goal? Most times I play it I usually don’t.

The game that really made me think about this was WatchDogs. It was a game that had promise. You travel around Chicago going around hacking system and running from the police. Sounds fun right? Well when I played this game the story mode was horrible. I didn’t like my main character one bit. While I had more fun with that than with the Last of Us I think there was one reason for that. I spent most of my time playing side missions. I unlocked all the map sections and filled out my skill tree as far as it would allow (much of it is locked by story progression) before completing the second chapter. Once I went back to playing the story mode I couldn’t stand watching it. Maybe it was a bad story but I felt that the main character was unlikeable.

But now here’s something really strange, I saw reviews for inFAMOUS Second Son witch clamed the character was not really likeable. These lackluster reviews, and the fact I wasn’t that impressed with the first game in the series, I decided not try this game. Eventually I gave in and tried the game out and I felt I was misled. While the character development isn’t that deep I felt I liked this character a lot more that the ones in the other games I mentioned. I think this is because he has a unique personality, and some character flaws that the story can work with, especially with the moral system. How you choose to handle a situation when prompted will affect how he interacts with people. Basically, you do good, he acts good, you do bad, he’s a jerk. Because of this I wanted to play as a good guy because I wanted to like him as a character, and since I was playing as him it was more I wanting to like myself.

Another game I played was Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeros. Yes this game is way overpriced, but I did enjoy the time I had with it. I enjoyed it a lot more that the ones I’m complaining about in this article. A lot of this had to do with character development. Snake is there trying to rescue people captured from the base and though this brief gameplay I felt more connected to Snake that wanted to see him through to the end. Wanted him to couplet his mission and because of this I cant wait for the Phantom Pain to come out. Because of that I felt paying for this game was more worth it that the others even thought I will fully admit they should of only charged $5-$10 for this.

With many game today doing for a dark and gritty look developers are forgetting what will keep us playing these games. Yes gameplay is Key but if you don’t like the character you’re playing as your not going to like the game. As you connect to the character you become the character, and if you don’t like what that character is you will eventually not like what you become

UkyoConvoy

July 2014

http://superraginggamers.com/character-important-video-games/

#character #secondaryresearch