Shaky Cam Games

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

Shaky Cam Games

Yahtzee dishes on "shaky-cam" games like Castlevania and retires the phrase "like God of War."

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[Direwolf750]

it wasn't good in the Blaire Witch project, it isn't good now. dunno why it's getting popular

 

[The Cheezy One]

Cloverfield was actually really good, but the size of the monster wavers somewhat.
I have never played GoW, so that hack'n'slash genre is just that to me, a game where yuou hack things to shreds.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

i think someone should take into account that not everyone owns all the consoles, so when a "God of War-clone" hits the market that's multi-platform, why should gamers care if its a ripoff? its not like they own a PS3, they'll take the clone and call it awesome anyways because they can't get the real thing

this is why games should not be compared to each other unless there is a GLARING rip-off (like Kratos's name spelled backwards for the main character or villian or the protagonist fighting greek gods)

 

[Luke Tideswell]

i did not enjoy cloverfield.

 

[hawk533]

Hyperboly FTW!

Liking RE5 makes you racist and liking Dante's Inferno makes you an emo, misogynistic dork. I'm glad I've never played either of those games.

 

[The Cheezy One]

i think someone should take into account that not everyone owns all the consoles, so when a "God of War-clone" hits the market that's multi-platform, why should gamers care if its a ripoff? its not like they own a PS3, they'll take the clone and call it awesome anyways because they can't get the real thing

this is why games should not be compared to each other unless there is a GLARING rip-off (like Kratos's name spelled backwards for the main character or villian or the protagonist fighting greek gods)

Are you telling me that Sotark, raw fo dog is a rip off? Sacrilige!

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Can't recall the shaky cam in Castlevania.

I just finished it on Friday, after 2 weeks of not playing, and can't recall the shaky cam.

WHERE THE FUCK WAS IT? Someone jog my memory, damn it.

 

[Labcoat Samurai]

Can't recall the shaky cam in Castlevania.

I just finished it on Friday, after 2 weeks of not playing, and can't recall the shaky cam.

WHERE THE FUCK WAS IT? Someone jog my memory, damn it.

Me either. I mean, it moves about on its own, sure. But I recall it sweeping about smoothly when it moved. There may have been times where it swept gently and slowly about while otherwise maintaining the same angle... but that's not shaky cam.

 

[JoJo]

It's not too much of a stretch to suppose that the power level of our favorite fantasy personas is inversely proportional to how weak and powerless we perceive ourselves as.

I agree with this as this fits with my personal experience: I prefer weaker but more human characters over super-powered heroes, possibly because I don't view myself as being weak or powerless (sorry this makes me sound a little full of myself). This is backed up by the fact I know several super-hero fans who have a big "I suck" attitude to their own life.

 

[Rocketboy13]

"So, if God of War is popular, it's because lots of people today are emo, selfish, self-hating, physically weak, sexist, responsibility-avoiding whiners who sympathize with Republican economic policies." -Crosshaw

I very much like this theory, might explain why everyone also like zombie games, you picture yourself as the only person with a brain left to be eaten by the monstrous hordes of mall going consumers.

Also not strictly speaking a Republican policy, just popularized by them.

 

[CitySquirrel]

haha, oh man, I love it when Yahtzee gets sincere, even if he hedges it with a joke.

 

[BENZOOKA]

A "hand-held" camera does not require the image to be shaky. Shaky is just terrible. It is not the equivalent for realism or even a hand-held camera if the image is shaking like Michael J. Fox's coffee.

The movie [Rec] offers a great example here. The camera operator should be awarded. He is just a stone cold professional quickly walking up stairs carrying a heavy camera and the image stays as smooth as if they were on rails.

 

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

I'm not racist, I hate everyone the same (j/k)

 

[CaptainCrunch]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103905/

The only real excuse for shaky cam is when the camera operator is the sole documentation of the experience, a participant in said experience, and when the realism of the experience is not sacrificed for an instant.

Most games (and even movies) have problem with that last part, where realism is temporarily sacrificed by cheap tricks to maintain interest in the plot.

To be fair, I generally dislike movies (or games) that use hand-held cameras for the above reason, and especially don't like it when it's obviously a Steadicam operator faking it. (I'm looking at you, US version of "The Office".)

 

[opportunemoment]

I liked Cloverfield - shakycam has its place, but its place is in movies where the intention is to make it difficult for the audience to see what's going on sometimes so as to (theoretically at least) make people pay close attention and wonder what's happening in the bits of the world they can't see.

It surely doesn't make any sense to draw attention to the camera in a game, though - are you supposed to think you're actually controlling two people, one with the action controls and one mysterious cameraman figure with the camera controls (if there are any)? And if so, why doesn't camera guy put down the camera and help you when you're being eaten by demons?

(Actually now I think a Cloverfield/[Rec]-style game in which the person with the camera is a character you do control and you can swap it back and forth and maybe deal damage with it might be quite cool...)

 

[Misho-]

Heh, that's the kind of Extra Punctuations I like to read, I always picture the ZP like a staged shows where Yahtzee jumps around the cage flinging poo at the face of onlookers, and then comes the XP where he changes into a robe with a pipe sitting in the living room with a chimney talking you down with his intellectual prowess haha.

And yeah That's weird but I gotta admit this XP was better than the ZP last week. I just wished I was quoted...

 

[Labcoat Samurai]

You have a big angry bloke who seriously needs to get over something, generally a lady friend.

Gabriel Belmont was not particularly angry in the game. I would say more that he was conflicted, and not just for personal reasons, and if you watch the end (before the credits...), he makes peace with everything he's done and forgives himself.

They take it out on non-human creatures with a weapon that incorporates a chain so that it can have a decent reach.

Kratos kills humans too, incidentally. He pretty much kills everyone. Gabriel only kills the monstrous. And every single action game I can think of has that. Even TFU has you killing Rancors.

It has quick light attacks and slow heavy attacks,

Well.... technically Castlevania divides it into single enemy and multiple enemy attacks. Both do have light and heavy attacks, but so does just about every game ever.

as well as combos involving the two, air combos and the ability to grab and instakill the enemy with the circle button if you're just completely bored with tossing the guy around.

Every action game I can think of has air combos. Castlevania does have some grab insta-kills against some enemies, and not *every* action game does. Though a lot do.

You gather souls from enemies and use them to upgrade your combos and magic spells you learn along the way, and collect things that eventually make your health and magic bars bigger.

Just about every single action game has this. (I can't think of an exception off the top of my head, but there are a couple I'm not completely sure of... like I can't remember if you upgrade your health bar in NG2, but you certainly collect 'souls')

Then at the end of it you kill whoever the local equivalent of Satan is.

Hades is God of War's equivalent of Satan. So even God of War doesn't fit this formula. Unless you just generically mean "The game has an end boss". And all action games do.

Many games mix and match some or most of these elements but the three that do every single one of them are God of War, Dante's Inferno and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

Apart from not *technically* being true, due to Gabriel being a different sort of protagonist, why exactly do you think this is? Might it be because you cherry picked? Bayonetta and Castlevania share a timed block/dodge slowdown mechanic that none of the other games have. God of War shares multiple selectable primary weapons with Ninja Gaiden II, and Castlevania does not have this. Ninja Gaiden II and Heavenly Sword both have chain weapons.

Almost everything you listed is *extremely* common in action games to the point that nearly every one has it. The only exceptions are chain weapons and grab finishers. These aren't the feature for feature copies you want to make them out to be.

 

[Misho-]

Can't recall the shaky cam in Castlevania.

I just finished it on Friday, after 2 weeks of not playing, and can't recall the shaky cam.

WHERE THE FUCK WAS IT? Someone jog my memory, damn it.

Me either. I mean, it moves about on its own, sure. But I recall it sweeping about smoothly when it moved. There may have been times where it swept gently and slowly about while otherwise maintaining the same angle... but that's not shaky cam.

Ok it's not shaky when you are moving, but try standing still in at the begining of a stage where Gabriel is really close to the screen and don't move at all. You will notice it waves from one side to the other like if the cam was on top of a big dog's head or something.

 

[WanderingFool]

At that last bit where he says you're a racist if you loved RE5, did anyone else think of the ZP tune kicking in just than? Also, I only played a little bit of it, but I think Castlevania needs to stick to 2D. Either that or play around with 2.5D, but no more 3D...