From February to March this year, there are many high-profile games, and the types are also quite rich, and each platform is competing to launch its own works. After completing the eldon Ring of Law, which was also expected to perform very well, I immediately threw myself into another "Ghost Line: Tokyo" that I personally paid close attention to, to see how far the tango studio could reach this time after Shinji Mikami almost completely let go.
The game is set in Shibuya, tokyo, and the theme is a rare first-person yin-yang knotting ghost; the scene art is outstanding, the details are pleasing to the characters, and it looks really good and cute.
However, after about two hours, I found that the game was really not fun. Repetitive operations, thin systems, copy-and-paste task designs, it's boring to say it's crazy. This is a canned open world that is clearly two or three years behind industry standards, and it is unlikely that even Ubisoft and other studios that share its philosophy will be able to do it today. I even doubted at one point whether it was outsourced to Avalanche's studio that touched whoever burped...
To be fair, the theme and art of "Ghost Line: Tokyo" are really good. But pulling aside its "culture" skin, in terms of gameplay, it is a vulgar thing that can be replaced by any commercial open world game. Such games have been accounting for a considerable number in the industry for many years, and their evaluation will always be inseparable from this sentence - excellent ideas are paired with poor implementation.
Tilted balances
Since you want to introduce works with such a situation, you may wish to start with the recent classic "Ghost Line: Tokyo".
Before that, it's important to understand that although it's a full-price game with a $60 knife, it's actually much smaller than the AAA canned games on the market at the same time. Tango Studios' core team is only a few dozen people, and distributor Bethesda also has its own set of standard lines for funding its projects – usually below the industry AAA average, so it is natural to understand some of its performance and technical limitations.
Under this premise, we can see that the picture of this work is still good. Although some of the textures and long-ranges are relatively blurry, the artistic texture is better, and the environment layout is quite careful. It is no exaggeration to say that this game brings the best and most realistic modern Japanese urban night scene in the industry, which is better than the "Like a Dragon" series, which also takes modern Japan as the stage.
This is also the project pursuit emphasized by the main creative team when the game was announced. They wanted to show a highly restored Tokyo that would make players feel as if they were really alone in the aftermath of a paranormal disaster. The scenes in the game are based on the Shibuya area, and the style of the street area is different, and a lot of details make the atmosphere of life seem very strong. Many players who know Japan or live in the local area have recognized its degree of restoration, and happily look for a variety of stores with a strong sense of vision.
Many of the scenes in the main line are performed with sincerity, and even many Japanese houses or underworld spaces that appear only once can be seen in quite elaborate arrangements. Coupled with the unique advantages of the first person in terms of movement and observation, the experience is very immersive, as if it really makes people travel in the empty Tokyo Shibuya.
In addition, it is also very good at the dissemination of Japanese culture. A comprehensive introduction to Japan from all angles, from history, cuisine to popular culture. Although much of the content is encyclopedic in order to make it better understood by the foreign public, the breadth has far exceeded that of most of the current games involving Japanese culture.
Unfortunately, such a unique looking personality work is really boring to play. The knot seal ghost that looks very cool and seems to be very creative in the promotional video is actually a leather-changing hand-rubbing laser gun, and even the entire combat system, including enemy design, is not much fun. Tango originally said that he had pulled two DOOM 2016 developers to come to help, but when he looked at the list of development members, there were really only two people in charge of the battle...
Originally, I thought that the game would be better to play with the highest difficulty, with strictly limited resources and a fairly good feel. But as an open-world game that emphasizes growth, the design itself goes against its genre fun. Moreover, no matter how you look at it, all the experiences and currency designed to grow in this game, upgrades, catching monsters to unlock advanced skills, resource acquisition, etc., are very boring. No matter how you add drama, you will not get too much flavor.
The fun of combat is limited to the highest difficulty of design problems, the upgrade process is long and cumbersome, the exploration experience is also a mess, and the gameplay structure of the whole game is a disaster. Personally, because I haven't played this kind of canned game very seriously in recent years, I can tolerate it, and I like its scene art, but I don't recognize its crotch-pulling part.
Especially the person who came up with the experience of sucking souls, quickly cut off 9 heads for the one who pulled out in place of Shinji Mikami. This is the stupidest, most malicious and unnecessary system I've seen in recent years, anti-human to the extreme.
Logically, Ghost Line: Tokyo combines a lot of success elements. The unexpected "out of the circle" of the art director at the time of the first launch, the new and interesting way of expression, these are very attractive to users who love Japanese culture, and the product quality is very stable, but all the beauty is ruined in the gameplay. What's worse is that tango doesn't do it – they're clearly focusing their energies elsewhere. The well-intentioned, brilliant designs in the game all emphasize this fact.
Excellent concept and mediocre gameplay, sincere intentions and perfunctory carelessness coexist in this game, which makes the situation of this game very embarrassing. If they put half of the scene art on the gameplay design, it will not cause the experience to tilt so badly.
Will think will not do
The performance of Ghost Line: Tokyo reminds me of Saboteur, which EA released many years ago. This game is also an open-world game with the main process of clearing question marks, and it borrows a lot from the assassin's creed and the "Rampage" series, but it can only be said that it has learned the skin, and it is not very interesting to play.
However, its design concept is good. Inspired by real historical figures, the game tells the story of An Irish racing driver, Sean Devlin, who joined the Paris Resistance army in order to avenge the murder of his friend who was killed by the Nazis. The game takes the fall of France as the stage, and tells the story of World War II from the perspective of "sabotage behind enemy lines", and the black-and-white shots of the Nazi occupation zone are also impressive.
But even if these games weren't as popular at the time, it's hard to say where to go and blow up what to drive back to" process would be fun. In addition to the brilliant visual rendering and era background of this work, the rest of the part is difficult to lift people's spirits, and they are always sleepy when playing.
If the surface appeals to people on the inside but is tedious and cheesy because of the lack of balance of concentration during development, then cases like "Torture Prototype" belong to the situation that in addition to good ideas, neither expression nor gameplay is good.
This 2009 open-world action game is set in New York City, where the "black light virus" has erupted. However, unlike games such as Resident Evil, the player plays as a powerful biological weapon born after the infection of the virus prototype. Although he retains the appearance of humans, disguises and memories, he is able to use a variety of powerful superpowers, even by absorbing infected creatures to gain new powers. The main selling point of the game is to manipulate this superhuman, wreaking havoc, killing, and climbing to the top of the food chain in the large map of the GTA paradigm.
This game is quite famous at home and abroad, and the publisher Activision's various CG trailers and strong publicity around the comic are naturally a big achievement. On the other hand, it's because its themes — cool gimmicks like the end of the virus, mutation enhancement, superhumanism, etc. – are appealing to young people at all times. At that time, the protagonist ability setting of many apocalyptic drifting network articles was not less influenced by the protagonist Alex of this work.
The protagonist's abilities are unlocked as they progress and enhanced by leveling up. Alex can change into claws, whip blades, or exoskeleton armor to suit different combat situations; he is extremely mobile, can easily jump on high-rise buildings, and can make parkour that violates the laws of physics on walls or busy highways, and even glides.
The game emphasizes at every turn that the player has a powerful power beyond human understanding. You can hold out for a long time during machine gun fire, carry a few tank shells head-on, and instantly repair damage by devouring other mobs. Alex can lift the car and grab a human with one hand to run and jump without affecting the power of the machine. Even if the situation is not good, it can absorb humans and then disguise themselves as each other.
At that point in 2009, everything about the game looked too cool and trendy. And this anti-routine dark protagonist, powerful superpowers, cities completely destroyed by the virus and other eye-catching ideas, but with a set of boring gameplay...
Most of the main lines in the game are mainly to experience the plot, and it often happens that the ability is limited or can only act according to the requirements, and cannot be played at will. A large number of side quests are even more disastrous, basically a racing mini-game that arrives at a designated location in a limited time or destroys how many things.
In addition, although the protagonist has a lot of super powers, the essence of the use will find that these claws and knives are just weapons with different values. Many superpowers don't seem to be so powerful, bullying innocent passers-by is ok, but it has not shown any advantage against the army and mutated monsters, and it is better to grab the rocket cannon in the hands of soldiers and shoot a few rounds.
This is not a factor in the difficulty. Games with similar settings such as Devil May Cry are equally challenging, but players can still experience the strength of the protagonist in the operation and truly reach the height described in the plot through practice. But although "The Prototype of Torture" gives you a protagonist who is extremely powerful and stands on the tip of the game's combat power, it is difficult to say whether the game reflects this feeling.
The fundamental factor is that the action system of this work is not very good, and the protagonist's operation is also very awkward, and it is often difficult to fight back. Many of the abilities are also similar to the essence of ghost line: Tokyo, which is only a shooting principle, just a change of expression. In addition, in the process, the player's actions are limited for the sake of the story service, so that those cool forces are not cool.
A similar problem arose with the Crysis series. In that period when the super department was declining and the realistic military theme FPS was popular, the "world's most advanced high-tech combat uniform" used in this game was particularly fresh. The protagonist's extremely pulling shape of the nano combat suit, the mode of switching according to a variety of battle conditions, and the stylish sense of technology have quickly caught the player's attention.
However, after actually playing it, people found that this nano suit is not as powerful as it seems. All modes will instantly empty the energy, "Macho" can only be 3 seconds, switching and using are very awkward. Under most of the difficulty of the game, it does not reflect the feeling of being a super soldier, and the player's ability to resist fighting is not stronger than that of the enemy soldier.
The only consolation is probably that when the enemy soldiers are single, you can hold them up by the neck with one hand, or find a turtle or something that is not very good at fighting back.
In the sequel, this nano service system is further weakened because of the great reduction. What super speed super power, is only the standard melee combat or acceleration running, and the ability feedback does not form a gap with other sci-fi FPS. Coupled with its own mechanics and level design problems, compared with the entire FPS environment, the overall combat effectiveness of the protagonists of this series in the actual playing experience can even be said to be weak.
Although it is true that you can add more drama to yourself after playing it, it can indeed have a little super soldier feeling, but if you change to another game, your expression and feeling after practice may be better. Recall the coaxing of the various commercials in the original series, and then compare it with the cowering and shrinking in the game.
A market that does whatever comes to mind
It has the highlights of the mainstream market products that are unique and full of gimmicks, but there is no obvious gap between the actual internal and similar works - and even the overall quality is slightly lower. This kind of case has appeared in the Japanese and American game markets, but now the most common is the various "XX simulators" in the indie game market.
Due to the size of the funding and the size of the team, and of course the pursuit of their own creators, indie games are often in a serious state of "partiality". Either the gameplay is superior to other parts of the crotch, or there is only art eye-catching, or it is simply empty of a good idea. The various "XX simulators" can be described as one of the most typical representatives in recent years.
This type of game is not specific to any genre, but like some strange industry unspoken rule, as long as the work is based on a certain occupation, identity or behavior and the content is concentrated in this regard, it can almost be named "XX Simulator".
They tend to attract interest in related genres or to find players who are different from the mainstream genres in the market. Many indie developers also often work hard in this area in order to stand out in the huge Steam market, so there are all kinds of bizarre simulator games flooding the market.
The probability of this kind of game being good or bad is politely about five or five. You can find a lot of works with good reviews, unique themes, and basically good gameplay. Some time ago, Steam just held a special event for simulation games, like the old faces of "Car Mechanic Simulator" in the hot bar, which can be described as the "top stream" among them.
However, more than that, there is still a theme and a very subtle quality. For example, "Mowing Simulator" - this is not the meme of "Three Kingdoms", but in terms of gameplay, it really just lets you trim the lawn. The game prepares a large number of lawn mowers based on real brands, performance and feel, and the judgment of the grass you need to cut is also very rigorous, which is not to be said to be careless.
But in addition to specific users, it is obviously a bit embarrassing to say that you really drive the lawn mower around the courtyard for a few hours and think, "Wow, this is really cool and fun."
And like "Homeless Simulator", its perspective looks really fresh. Picking up garbage everywhere in the city, giving the middle finger to passers-by, or fighting with the city manager for begging, coupled with nonsensical expression, you really can't find any similar works. However, the madness aside, we will find that it is nothing more than a three-dimensional open-world game that does not reach the passing line, and in a few hours it will hollow out the content and fun.
Objectively speaking, many simulators are not bad from the perspective of commodities, at least they are reliable in the "simulation" experience given to players by their own related themes. But if judged by the logic of traditional games, it really can't be said how well it is done - it is closer to a work that is more functional than fun to play. When the fresh energy passes, its mediocre quality is exposed.
They are more extreme than the commercial games mentioned above, and are basically supported by just one idea. Many simulator games, are only discovered in the development process between the conflict between the gameplay and the theme; there are responsible for tinkering and tinkering to at least ensure that the first few hours of playing is still a little fun, no sense of responsibility is really "ok to move".
Then again, in the PS2 era, there were many similar strange coffee games for small and medium-sized manufacturers in Japan. But at least the strange works of the early years such as "Mosquito" can be seen that there is a certain balance between the theme and the gameplay, not simply relying on gimmicks to win. You can even pop up from time to time such a strange and fun masterpiece as "Block Soul".
Of course, it can't all be good works. You'll also find brain circuits like Cheap 2000 Series 50 THE Big Beauty that are curious, but also empty inside. All in all, for a simulator that is similar to a Japanese-style weird café game, it is always right to be cautious about projects that are obviously tossed out of the head.
epilogue
While the games that appear in the article all seem to be mentioning their bad aspects, they are not meant to be critical. More often, I regret this kind of work with novel ideas that are different from mainstream themes.
The game is not a single medium, it is an interactive form that takes the gameplay as the core and combines various experiences such as screen music and text reading. Even today, due to technological advances and expanded expressions, the tolerance for games has reached the point where "if other aspects are prominent, they can be forgiven for not being fun."
In fact, although they are all complaining about the gameplay, in fact, many players have admitted that ghost line: Tokyo has done a good job in other places after actually experiencing it. Over the years, "Crysis" and "Archetype of Torture", as well as other works that are not mentioned in other articles but have similar situations, have also established their own popularity base because of their unique and charming concepts.
For today's homogeneous and serialized game market, a good work idea is indeed worthy of admiration. Maybe you will not be able to bring a perfect all-round masterpiece because of various factors, but at least don't rot into a mold carved out of a mold. This kind of case is not without - in the period when Call of Duty first exploded, there were a lot of military gun games on the market that looked almost moral.
Something like "Victory Moment" is completely a copycat World War II COD. The project is in a hurry, the theme is not a brain, and I do what people do. Similar cases You can also see various neon sci-fi in recent years, as well as blonde youth and beautiful teenagers/girls running to the top of the mountain to see the distance. Regardless of whether the finished game is good or bad, it is difficult to see much difference at a glance. This is a disaster for the player.
Wonderful works are often rooted in a high degree of balance, so that excellent gameplay, themes and performances can be integrated with each other. But it is indeed a bit harsh to require each manufacturer to be excellent in all aspects, so if the work cannot be "extreme" to the gameplay, at least come up with some fresh tricks in terms of theme.
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