Recently, Horizon West's Desperate Situation was finally released, and the next generation of lighting and textures combined with a stable frame rate of 60 frames made the scales, indicators, and feathers of countless mechanical creatures more vivid, and in battle, the series's featured "part shedding system" was also more realistic. The behavior and movements of creatures such as mechanical snakes, mechanical pterosaurs, and mechanical mammoths have also become more vivid and smooth, and such a vibrant "Forbidden Land of the West" often makes people ignore its sinister interior and indulge in the beauty and cannot extricate themselves.
However, one of my friends was obsessed with not the beauty of the Forbidden Zone...
As one famous person put it: "The people of the world always seem to be unexpectedly consistent in terms of 'color'." ”
If you have to talk about the difference, it may be the difference in taste. Just as you like FPS I love RPGs, he circles around the cat lady all day, people always have some subtle requirements and preferences in terms of type, gameplay and even some details, but the "mecha monster" has a great domination of the world, so that countless men are addicted to it, which makes me very confused.
Mech monsters are very energetic!
Speaking of which, the most important thing on the modern screen is often the fight of tall steel mechs and the trampling of towering monsters, and the visual impact of the two has never disappointed the audience. The famous science fiction movie "Pacific Rim" has conquered countless monsters and mech fans with the fight scene of majestic mechs and tall monsters colliding with each other.
If you look at monsters separately from mechs, people naturally love them for different reasons.
Fierce and extremely wild appearance is the main reason why people love monsters, tall, mighty, handsome, when these words are combined with beasts, one classic monster image after another is born, such as King Kong, and Godzilla. In battle, their form sometimes changes according to their combat status, showing a different "biological beauty". In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla uses the signature skill "Atomic Breath" to emit a faint blue light on his back, which can be described as the domineering spirit of the Monster King.
Modern monster movies dig deep into the spiritual core of the story, but also make the monsters more than just a symbol of destruction and destruction, the American Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures two companies have been deeply involved in the monster theme since the 20th century, trying to give these tall monsters divinity and humanity. Godzilla can metaphorically "humanity destroys the environment and eventually kills itself", and King Kong can "make enemies of all mankind for love and ultimately sacrifice himself". This makes the image of the monsters more plump and vivid, rather than beasts that rely on primitive instincts, which is another reason why monsters have become more popular with audiences in the past two years.
The reason for the popularity of mechs is even simpler, the collision between huge steel bodies, the streamlined industrial shape, the narrative that is always linked to war, and the various shining and cool weapons, all reveal the handsomeness of the warriors who were born out of industrial technology. Even without talking about the "Generation of Gods" "Gundam" series, the science fiction movie "Steel Armor Iron Fist" with the theme of "Robot Boxing" can fully portray the violent collision of "fist and fist hitting iron" between mecha:
So, when the wildness of the monster itself merges with the deep core and the hard and tall mech, it becomes a picture that men can't refuse: the sharp metal scales of the monster collide with each other to make a crisp sound, accompanied by the roar of the electronic effect, spewing out a pillar of fire from its mouth that shoots straight into the sky...
This kind of design with both mechanical beauty and monster wildness has swept the world, and people can see their shadows in countless film and television dramas and video games.
As close as the mechanical triceratops in the movie "Transformers 4: Extinct Rebirth", as far as the "Archaeopteryx" in the old version of the "Transformers" animation "Beast Man" in 1991, the figure of the mechanical monster accompanies generations of audiences. Their large size and aggressive teeth and sharp horns give them the characteristics of "warriors" and "weapons", and when the rhythm of machinery and the roar of the wild merge, they can create a different sensory impact.
It is precisely for this reason that when the "mechanical Godzilla" in "Godzilla vs King Kong" and "Ready Player One" appeared, it caused countless monster fans to revel in.
Mechanical dinosaurs crisscross the post-apocalyptic world
Like the movie, many video games also have the figure of mechanical monsters, in the 2013 release of "Bioshock: Infinity", the mechanical bird "Songbird", which protects Elizabeth, has left a deep impression on many players, loud roars, red eyes, huge soft wings, in the game itself steampunk setting, songbirds also have wild, rough and hard metal characteristics.
Mechanical monsters are not only tall and mighty, but also glowing, handsome to the extreme. But when it comes to giving mechanical monsters plenty of wildness and creating their true state of existence in nature, the Horizon series is none other.
In the first generation, Horizon Zero Dawn, each mechanical monster has its own idle, alert, and combat state, and their daily behavior is different, as well as their attack strategies in battle. Velociraptor-like observers like to hunt in groups and cooperate with each other to kill prey, while the lightning jaw, which resembles a Tyrannosaurus rex, is used to sweeping enemies with a thick tail, and the directional missiles on its back can bomb in a range to eliminate all threats.
The production team ingeniously used the physics engine to divide the body of the mechanical dinosaur into multiple modules to create a real "mechanical scale shedding effect", which will appear due to the different attack sites of Eloy's bow and spear. When facing powerful mechanical dinosaurs, using positions and tumbling to create a good shooting angle, breaking through the various weaknesses of mechanical dinosaurs to deal high damage, has also become a source of fun in combat.
The mechanical dinosaurs, whose biological characteristics are combined with military weapons, are in stark contrast to humans who use primitive weapons such as bows and arrows and spears, and the asymmetry of strength makes every battle more thrilling, and the survival rules of nature are also revealed.
A song of praise for mechanical monsters
While mechanical monsters are constantly evolving, for the most part they rely on visually striking appearances to make people fanatical. But I always hope that the mechanical monster genre can make more interesting derivatives, such as the reflection on the development of science and technology in the core of the story, the metaphor of human abuse of technology that eventually leads to destruction, and the awakening of artificial intelligence, and the balanced relationship between nature and technological development.
Perhaps we can also imagine that one day in the future, when the earth's ecosystem is on the verge of collapse, mechanical beasts can really make up for the lack of natural circulation, play an important role in saving human civilization, the harmonious coexistence of humans and intelligent machinery may set off a new wave of ideas, technology will no longer be synonymous with "destruction", but a symbol of salvation and hope, just as the theme of "Horizon" wants to convey: "Artificial intelligence can destroy us, but it can also save us." ”