On the Subject of Challenge

Monica Bellucci

As I write, it's the eve of the release of Far Cry 2. I can't make any sort of definitive judgement until I've had some serious hands-on time with it, obviously, but like any AAA title, it's generating the usual forum chatter.

I've discussed the apparent rise in senseless criticism of new games previously, but with Far Cry it has struck me that there's another angle to be explored. It's very similar to the "veteran" syndrome in MMOs, whereby players who have spent countless hours playing essentially interchangeable MMOs reach the erroneous conclusion that they have become better than the games they're playing. That any new game that appears isn't a worthy challenge for their god-like skills. With Far Cry, and also Crysis before it, some FPS gamers (and I'm rightly ignoring the worthless multiplayer crowd) revel in the delusion that they're now too good for the games. That every new FPS looks "easy", or they've seen it all before.

It seems to me that they're missing an important aspect of gaming. A game doesn't have to be a "challenge" any more than a book or a film has to. They can be, but they can also provide simple entertainment. There's no law that says a game has to constitute some sort of metric for demonstrating how "good" you are at FPSes. It's like an extension of the PvP pissing contest in the single-player space.

It's slightly tragic in a way, similar to how being a die-hard audiophile is tragic in that they will allow technicalities like speakers and codecs to spoil their appreciation of the artistry of music. It's not something to be applauded, instead they deserve commiseration.

What's more, it's a hopeless stance that ultimately means they will never be satisfied by another FPS, ever. Because developers are in the business of selling games, not providing wank fantasies for the hardcore purist minority. In the same way that MMO developers will always tend towards the proven success of WoW rather than designing games for the elitists.

Anyway, FC2 is looking pretty sweet. It's telling that pretty much a year after the release of Crysis there still isn't another game out there, or even in development, that comes close to it's visual fidelity, and FC2 is no exception. Although given that it's also being shipped on the xbox it's not surprising. Fingers crossed that the compromises made for the xbox don't extend to gameplay design. That's what will make or break the game.

Also nice to see a new Alan Wake trailer out. I was never particularly interested in the game, simply noting it's apparent "vapourware" status. However since I discovered the joys of Max Payne recently I'm suddenly paying more attention as Wake comes from the same developers. It's true that thanks to it's extended development period the once-staggering visuals are now merely impressive, but given how much fun I had in the 7 year old Max Payne 1, not to mention the 5 year old MP2, I suspect it will make up for any graphical shortcomings with top-drawer playability and cinematic immersion. The new trailer is certainly evidence of the latter.