Video Game Stories and Context

 

Alright, the whole gameplay vs. story in video games debacle has been around for a long time, ever since gaming was finally able to tell more fleshed out stories back in the late 90s era of video games where non RPGs were able to tell more fleshed out stories than "kill the bad guy". I will admit, I am a gameplay guy first and foremost and I always will be, but lately after playing racing games like Burnout 3 Takedown and Hot Wheels Unleashed, I am starting to value story more in games, not so much well written stories but the investment a game story can provide when adding context to the gameplay.

I have lately been dabbling in racing games when I finished Jak X recently a year ago, and I surprisingly really enjoyed it despite not being big on the genre beforehand and combined that with the Stockholm Syndrome I got when playing racing mini games in other genres like Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper and various mandatory missions in open world games and 3D platformers like the aforementioned Jak series, I decided to dabble in more racing games. After a playing a number of them, they made me realize just how important stories in games can be when it comes to adding investment to getting through to the end. Jak X stands above all the racing games I played after due its commitment to telling a story and adding context to the various races you will be partaking in. If Jak X didn't have this, I probably wouldn't have been able to see it through to the end. The fact that Jak X has a clear cut ending and that I am able to tell when the game is over makes Jak X more interesting than the number of racers I have dabbled in. This is not only because I have a strange obsession with wanting to finish a game every few days all though that is a part of it. It's also because while the story in Jak X won't win any awards outside of being a well written story for a racing game is that the game gives me the drive to want to me to see it through to the end and the game doing a good job at changing up the gameplay while having solid driving controls just adds even more to the overall package.

So in spite of the fact that I claim to be a gameplay person, why am I not a big fan of Hot Wheels Unleashed and Burnout 3 despite them controlling well, and feeling smooth to play? It's because both these games feature so little context as to why you are racing, and why you be number 1 at all the races. Both these games tend to feature the same tracks, the same game types, and reuse a ton of content yet the reason why I can't play these games for more than a few hours without getting bored is that there is no context as to why I should be invested to winning the races. Burnout 3 is mechanically superior to Jak X with its risk reward system and to most if not all racing games due to that system and how it motivates the player to make risks like missing ongoing cars, driving on the wrong side of the road, performing fancy drifts, doing the titular Takedowns and so on. This system is more mechanically involving than all the racing games I have ever played, yet I get so bored with this game within a couple of hours. Burnout 3 doesn't really have a traditional campaign and there is no beginning, middle and end to it, you just keep playing race tracks until you are number 1, and you keep doing this for hours. I wouldn't mind the endless reused content, if the game gave me more of a reason as to why I should be performing takedowns, and taking risks. Am I saying Burnout 3 should have a traditional Story Mode? I would certainly do even if the game could likely ruin it's pick up and play feel, the context a typical Story Mode can provide can make me want to play Burnout 3 more. It's why even as a kid, I got bored of Burnout 3 after a few hours despite the other issues the game has like super long tracks, AI that will catch up to you no matter how fast you are going and how repetitive the racing can get, a story or at least the feeling that I am conquering an overwhelming threat could be enough to get me through the game despite my issues with it. Much of this can apply to Hot Wheels as well. It's why stuff like the various Dragon Ball Z fighting games, Star Wars Battlefront particularly 2, and the Ratchet and Clank series engaged me more. There was more investment to be had in them because there were framing devices to the gameplay in these games even Battlefront's Galactic Conquest has more going for it in terms of factors going into them than a lot of racing games do where you have to beat the opposing faction in various battles and whoever beats the opposing faction wins, that's more than you get in your average racer.

Am asking every racing should have their own dedicated Story Mode with more indepth framing devices? In a perfect world, absolutely, but at the same time I get who those games appeal to, I doubt they are even targeting my demographic with these titles, and writing a story in these games is going to be harder to write than any other genre in gaming even more so than fighting games, and I am not sure how Burnout could work with a Story Mode if they somehow made another one but at the same time, I feel like the games provide an exhilarating sense of gameplay that I feel more context can add can go a long way. To use an anime example, the series "Initial D" is famous for its over the top street racing and of course, the Eurobeat soundtrack but if the series was nothing but that with little context leading up to each Eurobeat music street race, the show would be really dull as a result. A lot of racing games can get the moment to moment racing action down but lack the investment to want you to keep racing. I'll still play racing games but depending on which one, I will just do it for a few hours and then play something else.

With my thoughts on racing games aside, I feel like in general depending on what the game is going for, certain framing devices work for certain games. For example, platformers work with as little context as, "beat the main bad guy and his generals and get through the challenges" works well for the kind of game that it is. The games are about jumping through overwhelming obstacles and I wouldn't want constant cutscenes and exposition dumps to get in the way of the platforming action. As long as it feels like I am effecting the game world with my action  whether it's be gameplay where it adds different challenges or narrative where the villain get more annoyed with me winning, just a sense of progress.

Another example would be the original Doom from 1993, despite one of the game's creators, John Carmack infamously saying story in a game is like story in porn, that game ironically gives you just the amount of narrative needed to go your demon killing sprees through hell. You are a lone space marine fighting wave after wave of demons after a portal to hell has been opened. The game gives you plot dumps at end of every episode to keep remind the player what he has done during the pack of levels. Is it great? No, but it's just enough to make me keep going and I stay because of the shooting and level design. An example where you are given too much context is the Machine Games' Wolfenstein reboot games. The premise of Wolfenstein is about being a badass solider killing Nazis that alone should suffice on going on the power fantasy Nazi killing spree but yet the games bog down their pacing with needless cutscenes and drama in a game that ultimately boils down to killing lots of enemies. Compare this to the older Medal of Honor games where you are given briefings at the start of every mission giving the player the context needed when playing the missions and the player is given incentive to read the papers before the start of every mission due to the fact that it gives you tips to help you during the levels. This is enough needed, let me go shoot things.

Even games with infamously bad stories by the gaming community like Metal Gear Solid 5 the Phantom Pain gives you a decent amount of information needed to get through at least the first chapter of the game especially if you play Ground Zeroes, the prologue to the former. In GZ, you go on a mission that ultimately leads to your Mother Base and private army getting destroyed by a villain known as "Skull Face" and the player wakes up from a coma, is wanted by the world and needs to build his private army back. Say what you want about the story of TPP, but for an open world game that is about causing reckless abandon through stealth or guns blazing, this is really more than enough context needed for the kind of game MGS5 is, sure this is lacking in the wackiness that Kojima's games are known for and it doesn't drown in exposition but this level of context is just sufficient.

Similar games like Just Cause 3 despite my numerous issues with it and is a game where the writing can get derided by some people gave me enough to get me invested in to want me to see Rico kill the main villain of that game. Is it great? No. But this along with satisfying gunplay and the amazing traversal system was enough to make me spend 25 hours with the main story regardless of my many problems with the overall design.

Games like the Thief trilogy can be impressive in how much context can be given in such a short amount of time. Garrett is a down on his luck Thief, and the games are of course about stealing things, so the game smartly has most if not all of its cutscenes be dedicated to Garrett going over his plan to both himself and the player giving both enough motivation to get through the heist, it gives information and the games would be worse with this removed and the games were just stealth rooms with no story.

I don't even mind games like Hulk Ultimate Destruction and Splinter Cell Chaos Theory have a lot of their narratives be optional because the text entries are short and they don't get in the way of playing the game.

In conclusion, while I feel the whole gameplay vs. story debate is super over blown and gameplay will always be king, I am not completely against the idea of narratives in games. After all, beating the bad guy and triumphing over evil is enough of a motivator in any medium since I can't do that in real life and fiction can provide me a sense of victory in a safe environment, but I feel depending on the game and even when games with good mechanics can really benefit with interesting enough framing devices.