Thursday 10 July, 2014

Woohoo, finished it!

The ending was really quite interesting (and long, but I was ok with that). I enjoyed the fact that there were 3 twists (I was only aware of one of them), and one of them was really counter intuitive AND gameplay related.

Throughout the entire game I was convinced that, at some point, I'd have to fight songbird. So having it come on as an ally (that, to be fair, you don't really interact with in any meaningful way) was pretty neat. Especially since it comes in at a moment where you feel there really is no way out. He makes you feel pretty badass to be honest. I'm trying to think of other games that have pulled off a twist of this kind and I can't think of any. I mean, there are lots of games with reversals (now, you lose all your powers/weapons/etc.) but I can't think of any that do the following:

1. Turn a major villain/challenge/problem into an asset.
2. Have that villain/challenge/problem be a gameplay asset.

So, the game where you fight the bad guy and then he becomes an ally doesn't really count. Similarly with, say, a giant tank that you defeat and then ride around in.

The other two twists were story-related and thus, from my point of view, less interesting. However, it really is quite an interesting game (and story, to a certain extent).

Yeah, I really thought Songbird was going to be the first boss battle when you break Elizabeth out. I enjoyed the twist, but as you said, I was a bit disappointed that the only interaction was "push x on a ship." I would have loved to ride Songbird from ship to ship, or if it had skylines on it, to zip around Songbird and help it attack ships.

I have a similar example, though I think the argument for (2) may not be exactly the same. I recently played Far Cry: Blood Dragon. If you've played Far Cry 3, or some other games, you know you can turn the local wildlife against your enemies. So if a tiger is in a cage in an enemy camp, you shoot the lock off the cage and the tiger goes wild and attacks enemies. This may not even satisfy (1) though because a caged tiger is really no threat.

But in Blood Dragon, the titular blood dragons are definitely major problem enemies, as they roam around on the map and will eat you very fast. By infiltrating an enemy base, turning off their perimeter security shields, and throwing "cyber hearts" on the ground, you can lure a blood dragon into the base to rampage and kill all the enemies inside. So you (1) turn the major enemy into an asset. Although it isn't necessarily an ally (it will attack you too, but is preoccupied with other enemies), you bend its actions to align with your goals. Then you have to lure them back out of the base and turn on the security shields again.

The blood dragons aren't quite game assets in the way I think you mean with Songbird. Although you don't directly issue them commands ("press x to have Songbird attack a ship") you perform a very similar action with similar end result ("press x to throw a cyber heart, which lures the blood dragon, which will destroy an enemy outpost for you and bring the outpost under your control"). One button press causes the enemy-turned-(temporary)ally to do what you want and achieve some in-game goal.

And of course liberating these bases is a major part of Blood Dragon. Once you liberate a base, you gain access to side missions and can use vehicles stationed there, unlock new weapon modifications and things.

What do you think?

I've played a few hours of Blood Dragon and I guess I hadn't thought of the Dinos that way. In my mind they're more neutral (you can avoid them), but I can see how they're similar to what I was describing. Good point!