Let’s talk about them for a moment, shall we?
It’s a pretty catch-all word when it comes to entertainment in general and games n particular and it can be very subjective. But there are some intangibilities that do make a difference and a pretty big one. Take music, for one example.
In a movie, a good score can raise a mediocre movie to something memorable. In rare cases, it can turn a bad movie into an absolute classic. Don’t believe me? I direct your attention to the gawd-damn-awful Rocky Horror Picture Show. Don’t get it twisted, I LOVE going to the movie or a stage show of it, but let’s be honest, Shakespeare it ain’t. The music, though… to this day when The Time Warp starts, everyone hits the dance floor. Foley Artists are another example of something you don’t notice until it’s bad or missing, then it ruins everything. (For those not in the know, a Foley Artist is someone that makes all the little sound effects, from punches landing to high heels clicking on tile, and matches them up to what’s going on on the screen. It’s funny as hell to watch them and they don’t get near the credit they deserve… but I digress.)
Intangibles in games come in even more varieties and often can make or break the game regardless of what the game is in and of itself. And these intangibles can come in many different forms; from the soundtrack (which gets way more attention these days than in the past), visuals (games are stunning these days, Render Artists deserve more praise) to the actual gameplay itself. What’s the learning curve? Is it controller friendly? Is the UI clunky or easy to use? Does the Tutorial cover enough without being boring? And I could go on… But I can feel Skully frowning, so I’ll get to the point as it regards Midnight Suns. It’s the first superhero video game I can recall seeing where it feels like a comic book. The scenes we’ve seen of Spider-Man jumping around alone look like someone animated one of his fight scenes, panel for panel, just for us. The other heroes we’ve seen are just as well portrayed, and the small vignettes are just long enough to reinforce that sensation of not just playing, but being in a damn comic book! The dialogue seems pretty damn solid, too, but it’s the fighting that really caught my attention as being more true to the source material than any other game I can think of.
That’s not an easy task. Translating from one medium to another is always a tricky business, just ask anyone that’s read the book; they’ll never shy away from telling you why it’s better than the movie (Doesn’t matter what book, or what movie…)
That the game itself is getting praise for being very strategic and entertaining is great, but I think there’s something to be said for making it look, sound and FEEL like I just cracked open the latest issue. It’s a hard thing to pull off but Firaxis seems to have not just done it, but done it better than any other superhero game I’ve ever seen. I think that deserves some attention and no small amount of praise. I’m sure when I’m actually playing the game, I won’t notice it every second. But the fact that I’m not only playing, but getting the feeling of being IN a comic book and enjoying it to the nth degree will float around the back of my mind constantly.
Intangibly.
- Rock
Comments