STOP! (Hammertime?)
By sweep 6 Comments
I would like to begin with an extract from my favorite book in the world - "The Beach" by Alex Garland.
Both players are down to the end of their energy bars. One more hit and they're down, so they're both being cagey. They're hanging back at opposite ends of the screen, waiting for the other guy to make the first move. Leo takes the initiative. He sends off a fireball to force Theo into blocking, then jumps in with a flying kick to knock Blanka's green head off. But as he's moving through the air he hears a soft tapping. Theo's tapping the punch button on his control pad. He's charging up an electricity defence so when Ryu's foot makes contact with Blanka's head its going to Ryu who gets KO'd with 10,000 volts charging through his system.
This is the split second before game over.
Leo's heard the noise. He knows he's fucked. He has time to blurt, 'I'm toast,' before Ryu is lit up and thrown backwards across the screen, flashing like a christmas tree, a charred skeleton. Toast.
The split second is the moment you comprehend you're about to die. Different people react to it in different ways. Some swear and rage. Some sigh or gasp. Some scream. I've heard a lot of screams over the twelve years I've been addicted to video games.
I'm sure that this moment provides a rare insight into the way people react just before they really do die. The game taps into something pure and beyond affectations. As Leo hears the tapping he blurts, 'I'm toast.' He says it quickly, with resignation and understanding. If he were driving down the M1 and saw a car spinning into his path I think he'd react in the same way."
It's an interesting concept, complicated by the detached surrealism of computer games in general. Our empathy is not perfect, but it's strange how involved we can become in computer games, to the extent that our reactions could be considered extreme.
The "split second before game over" idea is one that I love. My favorite ever moment of any computer game probably comes from Resident Evil 4. When you have been dropped off at the Island by Ada and eventually arrive in the prison cells.
I walk into the dimly lit room, cautiously, jaded by recent experience. There is a desk to the right, with a few small cabinets. An empty doorway straight ahead, and a dark passage leading off to the left. I scavenge the room for useful items, saving my progress at the typewriter and picking up some herbs and handgun ammo. Turning to face the long shadowed hallway, I notice some bins pushed against the wall on the left, so saunter towards them looking for ammo to fill up my treasured shotgun. Upon flipping open the lid however, a cloth sack is revealed. The sack starts groaning and moving. Instantly I am poised to fire, gun pointed firmly at the sack with the laser-sight resting where I imagine the head to be. The sack continues to flounder inside the dumpster, the groaning rising in volume. My trigger finger itches but I refrain from firing. As the sack continues to shake, I panic. We can ask questions later. I shoot the sack twice and a red blotch soaks into the cloth. The sack goes limp, the groaning fades into silence. I remain motionless for several seconds, then relax. Panic over. I turn away, and meander slowly down the dark empty hallway. I notice there are prison cells lining the walls, their bars brown with rust. Pausing to investigate, turning slightly to the right and looking into the room reveals a metal table and dark stains littering the floor. My interest is peaked. I'm about to try the cell door when I hear a slow groan, unlike anything I have ever heard in Resident Evil before. The sound is of a slow intake of breath. I freeze, eyes wide. Leon stands motionless, waiting.
Outside the game, I turn to my brother who is sitting on the sofa beside me, watching in silence. "I'm so fucked aren't I?" He nods and grins nervously. Fuck.
I turn back to my Gamecube. Twisting Leon to the right reveals a still-empty hallway. I take a tentative step forward. Then another. Suddenly the breathing increases. I can hear a frantic shuffling of malformed feet slithering across the floor. Fuck! What do I do! I turn, and ambling towards me is a gangly formless grey figure. There is a worrying sense of lethal simplicity to the figure. It doesn't bode well. Raising my pistol I unload several rounds into the head of the creature. There is the soft splat of bullets hitting meat, but not even the impact of my beautiful Red9 creates any hindrance to the progress of this monster. After firing extensively at several limbs I manage to knock off a leg. Just in time, the creature nearly upon me. Triumphant, I turn to my brother. "That wasn't so hard!". The grey figure on the floor however clearly has other plans. With a spasm it leapt from a prone position to an assault, clamping its huge hidden jaw full of savage yellow teeth into Leon's neck. My face is a mask of horror. Blank. Leon drops to the floor.
Hell yes.
Thats the second I love. For one split second when I head that groan drift towards me, everything felt so real. The connection is heightened so much between player and game. You freeze and think "I'm so screwed." That split second of understanding transcends the simple concept of allowing a character ingame to reflect the personality of the player. This moment is shared, and the result is a much more genuine gaming experiance. This is where gaming should be going if it wants to move beyond being shallow stereotypes.
Resident Evil 4 deserves your attention if it has not recieved a sizable chunk of it already.
Anyways I hope you guys dont think i'm crazy.
Just quickly before I sign off, I wanted to let peeps know that - I ordered Medieval II Total War for my PC. I got a new laptop about 2 months ago and havent really pushed it to the limit yet. I wanted some sort of RTS game, seeing as they are so hard to find on the Xbox 360. I will let you know when I get it and what I think of it.
In other news I met some of my housemates that I will be sharing with next year at university and one guy has a PS3. I'm sure we are going to get along like a house on fire.
The behemoth are still posting stupidly irrelevant dev blogs - I want patch info!
And... thats about it.
Anyways, thanks for reading
Love Sweep