- We're alike you and I. We're all parts to play in this play, you see. Then he swings, dancing, from one balcony to the next, playful. Out of reach...
- Friends before, now enemies! Maybe lovers in the next one. Such are the thrills of life.
How to compare a movie and a video game? Surely they are impossible to ever be drawn into a close examination. But then again aren't both works of fiction over their particular form of entertainment, drawing from the strengths and weakness of each medium?
They are. In that base, it is possible to analyse them both. So a comparison in the realms of the surreal and horror is in order in this blog.
First things first, and what did you like more? Bear in mind that this is a subjective perspective, mine and can bare slim likeness to your own.
Then, lets the match begin!!!
Alan Wake Vs Shutter Island
Round 1: Story Both stories are interesting, gripping and thrilling, being that both score in the genre of the thriller. Granted that Alan Wake is more on the supernatural side, and Shutter Island is more on the medical side of it, but both are very well done and succeed in what set out to do.
Verdict: So the (lightweight) average of 10 hours of Alan Wake settles for a draw with the 2 hour (heavyweight) of Shutter Island.
Round 2: Characters
Acting in video games is harder, since it depends not only on the voice actor, but in the team that does the animation of the given character, being more difficult to give him/her the natural feel of a living being, so this is a harder turf for Alan Wake, but lets see how it fares.
Both have memorable characters. Alan Wake has Thomas Zane, Barbara Jagger, Alan Wake himself, Dr. Emil Hartman, Clay Steward, among others. Shutter Island has Teddy Daniels, Chuck Aule, Dr. Cawley, Dolores Chanal, George Noyce, between several others.
Verdict: It is a close call, but the pitfalls of the gaming industry when it comes to animation and amplified by the interactivity of the medium, give the victory to Shutter Island.
Round 3: Sound
Both works have a good sonority, never having anything glaringly out of place, which helps and enforces the immersion. But Alan Wake goes beyond that, and makes music a core part to enhance the experience.
Verdict: To no surprise Alan Wake gains this round by a timely uppercut!
Round 4: Longevity
Movies generally are planned to present its intricacies in only one screening, having normally a limited longevity to the viewer. So this time, Shutter Island is more likely to face the ropes.
Alan Wake embodies the concerns of the medium with longevity, since it is a vital part of the desires of the consumers, and core factor when purchasing, and fills it with different kind of colectibles, and with a insane amount of detail, that takes multiple playthroughs to apprehend in all extent.
Verdict: The victory goes unsurprisingly to Alan Wake, with its preoccupation in occupying the mind of the gamers.
Round 5: Experience
Video games and movies provide different insights into the dreams of others. While video games presents the interactivity that fleshes out the experience, the movie provides a roller-coaster ride that leaves nothing to chance.
In that realm, i have to say that Alan Wake symbolizes the way games struggle to avoid cutting the immersion by presenting more gamey aspects. While most of the solutions implemented by the game where very cleaver and work really well, one was particularly bad. When the number of lines presented for each character runs out in conversation, generally they start and continue babbling something awkward to the situation, like "Tired... So tired." (when a minute before they were sooo chatty), or simply stay silent. That damages a bit the immersion. One clever implementation that could solve it, would be to have them say random general things, from time to time, just as it happen in real life, when someone talks longer than the other party wished, and they start saying random and uninteresting things.
Alan Wake is also a very coherent experience, with nothing out of place. I really felt running around solving a mistery in a country side town. Although it got a bit boring sometimes, like a trip with some stops overstaying its welcome.
Shutter Island, in another instance, delivers an experience much to the strenghts of movies, with strong pacing that delivers the excitement to be expect from a Thriller. Every scene's duration was timed with mastery, and the movie resembles a psychotic dream.
I felt both endings satisfying, despite being left more intrigued with Alan Wake and dazzled with Shutter Island, as both endings are well executed and memorable each in their own way.
Verdict: Shutter Island wins!
Overall Result: Shutter Island wins by a slight advantage.
Alan Wake feels a bit disappointed, but there is no reason for it, as it is a wonderful experience! It has a longer life span, and will be playing on my Xbox 360 longer than any movie in my dvd player.
Alan Wake and Shutter Island are each unique experiences, that justify seeing and playing them both, to every fan of thrillers, horror and creative stories. Interestingly enough, both, at some point, provide the two ways a certain twist could go.
While there are of course other strong, even stronger, contenders to match-up, these two were by themselves an interesting pair, that gave a hard fight all the way to the end.
"What would be worse? To live like a monster or die like a good man?"
There are works in every medium, be it video games, literature, movies, that by the cleaver use of the means at their disposal and tenderness are bound to shock, impress, and stay within our memory. This is a small compliment to the genius and ability of some to cause such web of feelings and emotions, that both marvel and scare us.
In videogames:
Silent Hill 2
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And old game, released in 2000, that stands to me as maybe the best video game I've ever played. It was the first one that made me feel deeply connected and shocked with the unfolding of the story. No other game before it, left so affected, hopeless, sickened, drained, for all the sorrow and sadness, from all the human flaws, so masterfully portraid into the stage called Silent Hill. A game that is bound to shock everyone that stays with it till the end.
Silent Hill 4
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A sequel to the mentioned above, and while not in par with its story or the pacing that renders it, it has some of the most touching, scary and unexpected moments ever laid to the screen. For whoever keeps with it till the end, the surprises are both unpleasant and satisfying, causing a mix of emotions that will drain you, and make you taste the sorrow so carefully woven into the game. A confusing, poorly paced, game with some of the best mindfuck moments i've ever experienced.
Final Fantasy X
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One of the most moving stories I've ever saw in a videogame. Tender and surprising, with twists around every corner, and some of them bittersweet. Hope, uncertainty, sadness, despair, destiny... the human condition shaping the story and the events to a masterpiece. A game where the story shines through, original and touching.
Persona 3: FES
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A awesome game that unfortunately lives at the shadow of its successor, Persona 4. A lengthy plot, evolving and taking me with it, growing along with me, letting me take part, and see the characters shape and reshape again, with different events, some expected, others taking me by surprise. Along with the story, there are decisions to make, some easy, others harder, affecting the story, and my emotions in it. What a great game!
In literature:
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
The reason of this blog. A book, to everyone who read it, pretty much goes on a one way trip about the dissertation about the nature of the world, life and the beings who live, till the end where everything abruptly falls apart, and the main character is left alone to his own devices, as a master of his own craft. A small but amazing book, that will stay with me.
Lesser Than Zero
A book that I read some years ago, but shocked me, by the natural and nauseating evolution of the story. Vertiginous in the drawing of the characters irrevocably human, and hopeless, in a life of excess and wealth. A plot full of aimless life written in cold emotionless words. it shocked me, but it left still a strong and emotional imprint in me.
In cinema:
Crash
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"At the speed of light we are bound to crash into one another. "
A phrase that gives both context and meaning to the different lives intertwined on the screen, making this an intricate web of interactions and behaviors that affect all in different ways. A complex movie, that gives insight about the weight of our actions in the lives of others, and shows every character, as more than a role, a human being. Great movie!
Paris Je T'aime
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A compilation as a movie of various small romantic stories within Paris. Beautiful, happy, sad, preposterous, realistic, amazing and shocking all at the same time. The different faces of love shown by different actors and directors. A homage to love, in the city of lights.
Closing comments
I hope you liked my selection, and all of these works are all heartfully recommended, as they are some of the best I have the privilege to behold.
The blogpost was initially much bigger and broader, but a small problem led the editor to scrap all of my work. ><
And what about you? What works of fiction did it ever shock you?
80 Comments
Well i had some problems initially with the Witcher Enhanced Edition, as it seems that someone forgot to put a cd key in many of the new Platinum Edition copies, mine included. :(
And, as i've played through the game once, i wasn't very happy of the low regeneration speed it takes HP and MP to regenerate, as it gets bothersome when you finish a fight and have to wait till health reaches minimal gauges to ply on through. Tried to apply this mod
There are instructions within the archive. The mod shouldn't give any trouble, as i've only changed some values. But for any feedback, post here, or send me a pm.
Today, after a period of reflection and reading, i went into a electronic store and found both the Witcher: Enhanced Edition Platinum Edition (confusing eh?) and Torchlight at 20$ each, and got tempted to buy them.
Those two games i throughly enjoyed them playing, Torchlight in a flat mate laptop, and Witcher in a second hand copy, as i didn't care much when it first launched, and the title became scarce and dificult to find.
And more than the games themselves, i care about the developers. That's something that most developers out there fail to create in me and in their clients. maybe it was their awesome and approachable attitude to gamers, or also their small size, but i care about them!
So i bought the two games! And to commemorate such a feat, i took some photos of them with my cell phone. It has some quality to it, although i've never thought of giving the camera much use.
So here they are. Excuse my lack of neck for this stuff, but it's night here, what makes it even harder.
Pretty Witcher: The Whole Set In the above picture is the set that comprises the Platinum Edition, with - from top to bottom and left to right - the Game Manual (in black and white pages), the Game Guide (in color), the cover and the game case.
For the small price of 20$ seems to be a beefy set.
The front cover of the game case In case you didn't notice (^^;) , the game case, and the package case have the same front and cover.
And then we move over to Torchlight.
Torchligh: Complete Package Torchlight is a little less substancial in terms of extras, but it has a nice Artbook, a big case and a Quick Start Guide. Still the game is awesome and that is all that matters!
Front cover In the end, i feel great about my purchases, although a little bit poorer. Both of them are awesome games, from great and small developers i love.
I'll happily play them in a little while. :D
Good work CD Projekt Red and Runic! You're Awesome!
And a small tribute, here is a photo of a small, silent but always present observer.
In each timely move of the unforgiving clock, we live the most mundane and our wildest raving, entire new lives inside an ageing one.
We create, we destroy, we arrange and rearrange.
We dream on our own and live other's, flowing in a constant path of dreamt dreams, of hopes created, nurtured, destroyed, transformed.
We are our own part, time and again, in the play of our lives, happy, sad, fortunate, and unfortunate, swinging in the arms of life.
Sometimes preoccupied, other times cheerful, sometimes the hero, sometimes the villain, but always breading our own existence, the legitimate gradation that we maintain, and change.
Painfully wounded, i crawl slowly drunken with suffering into my cave again.
My blood, My blood pouring in the ground and decorating the wall where I lean.
My armour was ripped clean and suprisingly quick out of my body by the sudden and unexpected attack.
It wont kill me, as death told me yesterday, when my sleep did not come and my heart was stopping.
Still I am alone, in the darkness created by nature and men alike, the one i carved for myself in the restlessness of my soul.
I wont die, death told me yesteday as it visited me when my heart was ceasing, as now is racing, late at night.
I wont die, death told me...
I wont die...
I won't die... but i wish i did.
Well this probably my most depressing text i've ever written, and it will stay here if anyone wants to see it. I won't put in the forums at it would be ripped apart and built into a new one.
I met today my last ex-girlfriend for her birthday, and, although she didn't tell me, she brought some of our friends as i expected, and all of the distance i had put between us, was just not enough when she called someone with sweetness over the phone, and i was defenceless. After it i come to know the other distance that separate me from my ex and her friends, with new gags between them, and hidden messages... How everything had changed, and i felt i was the only one still the same. That really hurt me. I'm overly sensitive. That's my problem. One of the biggest at least.
From this sappy story, i come to understand that i have to leave, to leave where i am now, and find a place where i can feel free. The real problem is that there just aren't places like that, that offer freedom. While i wait the answer to present itself, i will lead my normal life.
Probably no one will understand my feelings... Still one can try.
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Alan Wake is a hard game to describe, and some people will love it, while others will resent it.
The game is awesome in every technical department, from graphics, to sound, everything is top notch, and doesn't disappoint. It's technically one of the best games i've played on the Xbox 360.
The graphics are in most part beautiful to watch and the framerate is steady, still the characters sometimes have some akward body expressions. The scenarios, unlike other games, don't look like fighting arenas, and instead appear as normal locations of any village by the montains. Each detail on the scenarios is carefully placed to intensify the mood of each scene.
The sound department is top notch, with a good soundtrack, solid voice acting, and a cool voice-off effects. Interesting is the fact that you can hear Alan Wake (the character) reading some of his own writings, immersing you in them. You can also see some very well made tv programs made especially for the game.
The gameplay follows closely the third person shooter mechanics implemented by Resident Evil 4, with some small quick time events for intensifying the mood, and driving sequences. The focus in combat has been taken from the damage made by the weapons to the exposition to light they offer, with the best weapons being the ones that expose enemies to deadly doses of light (example: flashbangs), still weapons with high damage (example: handguns) are useful when combined with flashlights or other light sources.
The story is very good, with unexpected twists (also expected ones) and a tender pacing, being closely inspired in Stephen King's and H. P. Lovecraft's fictions. It takes about 10-12 hours to finish, although some people take less or more to complete.
I haven't reached the end yet (being past midpoint), still the game doesn't seem to offer greater replayability than finding all the works written by the author (Alan Wake) and other colectibles, watching all the tv programs, exploring further the enviroment and experiencing the story again.
Still there are some (small) development options taken that will be hard to get used to, and some people will find them game breaking. These are:
The lack of a minimap with which to guide ourselves by, having only visual aids, like lamp posts, and a small compass on the top left. In most games this wouldn't matter, still despite not being a sandbox, the levels are very large and life like what leads to a lot of desorientation, getting lost and frustration. People with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and/or who love to cover all the terrain will dislike this aspect of the game.
There are no invisible walls, but a combination of both natural obstacles and an over population of enemies in the edges of the playable area (making it impossible to traverse) are used to control your progression, which can lead to disorientation and frustation, especially to completitionists.
The story is broken in six parts - like a miniseries - but each episode is considerably long, possibly taking more than two hours to complete, and with only auto-save to keep your progression, making login out in the middle of a chapter, unless you see the saving icon, lose some of your progress. What isn't all that worrying since save points are quite often in the game, still leaving the game before ending the chapter can be quite annoying.
Is it worth 60$?
If you like single-player games, the themes the game swirls around of, and don't mind the flaws spoken above, then it is. It's a memorable game that I, at least, will definitively replay more than once. If you on the other hand feel some doubts about it, wait for a price drop. It is, still, a game that every person (that can) should play.
Overall it's an awesome and different experience, with a quality that is hard to match anywhere else - even by the time, polish and though put to it -, still it is dragged down a bit by some small grievances. It's specially recomended to fans of survival horror, thrillers and good stories.
Alan Wake is a hard game to describe, and some people will love it, while others will resent it.
The game is awesome in every technical department, from graphics, to sound, everything is top notch, and doesn't disappoint. It's technically one of the best games i've played on the Xbox 360.
The graphics are in most part beautiful to watch and the framerate is steady, still the characters sometimes have some akward body expressions. The scenarios, unlike other games, don't look like fighting arenas, and instead appear as normal locations of any village by the montains. Each detail on the scenarios is carefully placed to intensify the mood of each scene.
The sound department is top notch, with a good soundtrack, solid voice acting, and a cool voice-off effects. Interesting is the fact that you can hear Alan Wake (the character) reading some of his own writings, immersing you in them. You can also see some very well made tv programs made especially for the game.
The gameplay follows closely the third person shooter mechanics implemented by Resident Evil 4, with some small quick time events for intensifying the mood, and driving sequences. The focus in combat has been taken from the damage made by the weapons to the exposition to light they offer, with the best weapons being the ones that expose enemies to deadly doses of light (example: flashbangs), still weapons with high damage (example: handguns) are useful when combined with flashlights or other light sources.
The story is very good, with unexpected twists (also expected ones) and a tender pacing, being closely inspired in Stephen King's and H. P. Lovecraft's fictions. It takes about 10-12 hours to finish, although some people take less or more to complete.
I haven't reached the end yet (being past midpoint), still the game doesn't seem to offer greater replayability than finding all the works written by the author (Alan Wake) and other colectibles, watching all the tv programs, exploring further the enviroment and experiencing the story again.
Still there are some (small) development options taken that will be hard to get used to, and some people will find them game breaking. These are:
The lack of a minimap with which to guide ourselves by, having only visual aids, like lamp posts, and a small eliptical bar on the top left corner that works similarly to a compass. In most games this wouldn't matter, still despite not being a sandbox, the levels are very large and life like what leads to a lot of desorientation, getting lost and frustration. People with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and/or who love to cover all the terrain will dislike this aspect of the game.
There are no invisible walls, but a combination of both natural obstacles and an over population of enemies in the edges of the playable area (making it impossible to traverse) are used to control your progression, which can lead to disorientation and frustation, especially to completitionists.
The story is broken in six parts - like a miniseries - but each episode is considerably long, possibly taking more than two hours to complete, and with only auto-save to keep your progression, making login out in the middle of a chapter, unless you see the saving icon, lose some of your progress. What isn't all that worrying since save points are quite often in the game, still leaving the game before ending the chapter can be quite annoying.
Is it worth 60$?
If you like single-player games, the themes the game swirls around of, and don't mind the flaws spoken above, then it is. It's a memorable game that I, at least, will definitively replay more than once. If you on the other hand feel some doubts about it, wait for a price drop. It is, still, a game that every person (that can) should play.
Overall it's an awesome and different experience, with a quality that is hard to match anywhere else - even by the time, polish and though put to it -, still it is dragged down a bit by some small grievances. It's specially recomended to fans of survival horror, thrillers and good stories.
From a portuguese gaming magazine, Maxi Consolas, i heard that the new Silent Hill game will possibly be a first person shooter.
What do you think about that?
Personally i can see it working, if it is implemented in the same way it was in SH4, mixed a bit with the Condemned mechanics. Still Konami pleeeeeease don't make the enemies pass by you while they are looking for weapons. That was weird on Condemned.
About TFU, Haden Blackman said that the "ending of the new game will be surprising".
Well if it as surprising as the end of the last piece of dlc, with which he used the same expression to hype it up, i wouldn't hold my breath...
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