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Excuse Me, Your Cut Scene is In My Game
Via GameSetWatch, an interesting critique of game cut scenes at the blog ItBurns. He compares and contrasts several games and their use of story, gameplay, and in-game movies (with video) to get across his point. "Splinter Cell takes a more simulative approach to many of the character interactions that occur in the game. In the next clip, Sam Fisher grabs his target, Sadono, from behind and places a gun at his temple. Using Sadono as a shield, Fisher backs towards the door and forces Sadono's head into the retinal scanner to open the lock. Fisher continues through the doorway towards the roof, interrogating Sadono as they walk to the waiting helicopter for extraction. At no time during this sequence does the player relinquish control."
...which was more like an interactive movie with occasional times when you could play... ;)
"Christ what a design! I could eat a handful of iron filings and PUKE a better emergency pump than that!"
Cut scenes are just like anything else in gaming, they might suck, they might be good. It's all a matter of taste. Take FF for example. Every FF game will have pretty much a feature length movie built into it. Now if you don't have the slightest care why you are fighting strange looking birds or large rocks, you probably hate the cutscenes. But if you want to have any idea what is going on in the strange plots, the cut scenes are a must.
Plus most of us can't sit on the edge of our seats for hours on end. The cut scenes are good for a bit of relaxation and setting up the mindframe for your next objective. Now if the scenes don't drive a good story, and don't prepare you for what is going to happen next, yes, they do suck. But that isn't because it is a cutscene, it's because it's a shitty game.
Not a very meaty article, and I don't really like how the writer says "my game". Yes, it is "your" game, but it was written, directed, and developed by someone else. The Metal Gear Solid series is directed by Hideo Kojima, who has a very large, convoluted, and highly entertaining story to tell. Kojima chooses to tell that story through non-pre-rendered cutscenes and radio conversations. Whether you like it or not, that's how he chose to tell "his" story and you undoubtedly know what you're getting into when you start a Metal Gear Solid game. There are many, many games out there that don't have cutscenes or choose to tell their story in alternative methods (see Okami which begins with 30 minutes of text reading).
I honestly don't see a problem with cutscenes as long as they're still telling a story and not just wasting time or trying to show off their FMVs. Some genres and games work great with cutscenes, others don't.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
Is when a game is designed poorly in that there's no way to save within seconds of hitting a difficult stage of the story. For example, Independence War was an incredible game but the missions were very long with lots of scripting, lots of difficult points, and no way to save between stages. There was this one simply awful mission where you had to fly escort for some ship setting up observation satellites. Fifteen minutes or so elapsed from mission start to the beginning of the battle. Horrifying. The original Wing Commander Privateer was like that. The final mission to destroy that alien superweapon involved five minutes of dialog before the fight began.
Regardless of the frustration factor concerning gameplay, this also cuts down on the drama of the moment. If you're forced to watch the same moment fifty times before you get through that spot of the game, the emotional impact is reduced.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
I respectfully disagree. Several games that do not relinquish control, but restrict actions, during a "cut scene" are annoying. For instance Gears of War while you are on the radio. All it does is make you walk really slow. I found that slow walk terribly annoying for some reason. In Half Life, they stand in front of the doorway until they are done talking, also pretty annoying if you had already heard it or didn't care to hear it the first time. For me, I'd rather not have control instead of still being in control of a useless character.
I don't know why, but I'm still in control, I'm still in an action mindset and I'm more likely to miss the parts of the story the game wanted to get to me.
That sort of thing often sees me simply stop playing the game if it gets in the way too often.
Hell, I remember the train ride at the start of Half Life. Cool as hell the first time. Cool in a "oh yeah" kind of way the second time.
By the third time I played through the game, years later, I thought "Oh, I'd forgotten about this..." and went to make a cup of coffee while I waited for it to play out.
While we're on the subject of stuff you can't skip, adverts at the beginning of a game (eg for NVidia, the publisher, Intel, etc) that you can't skip fuck me off something chronic too. Attention game publishing infidels - I am fully aware of you, the dev house, ATi, NVidia, Intel, and all the other people paying you to piss me off. Please stop pissing me off, or I'll stop buying your games.
It's official. Most of you are morons.