August 23, 2004
Story in Max Payne
The "bedrock" of the game? Yeah right! I recently finished playing Max Payne, a film noir first-person-shooter video game (does that make it "game noir"?) They did an excellent job in creating a sense of place through detailed settings. Story was presented as a series of graphic novel pages that would interrupt at key (or not so key...) moments in the game. There certainly is a story being told in Max Payne, but it is in fact doing nothing to "motivate [the player] forward." The story sequences could be completely removed and the player would still know exactly what to do to beat the game.
Anyone else played this?
Posted by msteffen at August 23, 2004 08:59 PMComments
I played like the first couple levels on GBA. The cut scenes held my attention pretty well (unlike many cutscenes out there e.g. Viewtiful Joe -- ahh such amazing gameplay, and such crappy little cutscenes).
The action seemed pretty darn straighforward in GBA. Shoot, get clues, repeat. If by motivated, they mean motivated to see the next cutscene, then, yeah, I was motivated.
Posted by: Brad at August 23, 2004 09:33 PM
That's true, I didn't think of it that way. I guess the only reason I kept shooting everything in sight was so I could see the cutscenes.
Posted by: Michael Steffen at August 23, 2004 11:40 PM
it probably keeps getting mentioned as an example in storytelling through games because the creators made an attempt (albeit a poor one) at creating a world within a genre and telling a really dark story through it. And look at what accolades they got just for trying!
Another game you should really check out for it's writing and enjoyable cutscenes is Grim Fandango, for the PC. It only came out on PC, I think, which is probably why it wasn't wildly popular. It's also a somewhat difficult puzzle game. But I ended up doing the walk thru just for the cutscenes! Highly recommended.
Posted by: kellee at August 24, 2004 05:04 PM
Cool! I'll check it out!
Posted by: Michael Steffen at August 25, 2004 03:37 PM
Roomie, good post! I'm glad you brought up Max Payne. Such an "eager" attempt at storytelling through a gritty and grimmy lense that they lost sight of what story really was, unique, inspiring and original. BLAH!!! The story was crap, and could easily have been taken away and had nothing to do with.
Grim Fandango is a great attempt at originality in an action adventure series that Lucas arts ended with. A unique blend of simple 3D and ancient hispanic american tradition all rolled into one. Fantastic characters and a well developed story. Still leans towards the confusing, often complicated and extremely difficult adventure gamer series from lucas arts (please check out Full Throttle and Sam and Max) but a good attempt none the less. Please feel free to contact me as I have Grim Fandango. I think that idea can be taken to a whole new dimension!
Posted by: Mike at August 29, 2004 02:32 AM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)