As a conservative, I feel I should say something... but having never touched any of the games mentioned in this column, I'm sure I'd just end up putting my foot in my mouth or something without realizing it.
Shaky Cam Games
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
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Try Irreversible. The subject material is not for the faint of heart, but the camera moves are worse than any shaky cam I've ever seen - and they're on purpose.luckycharms8282 said:
My theory about C:LOS is that Patrick Sean Zobek was following Gabe with the camera the whole time, and he's got a bad case of DT.
There is ONE God of War clone with a female protagonist, but it made up for any possible progressivism by being terrible.
There is ONE God of War clone with a female protagonist, but it made up for any possible progressivism by being terrible.
"it's definitely true that liking Resident Evil 5 makes you a racist."
As a racist, I'm offended by that. I think Resident Evil 5 is shit.
As a racist, I'm offended by that. I think Resident Evil 5 is shit.
I don't know why they didn't just make a 3d CASTLEVANIA game...you know, with the open world exploration, platforming, and character upgrades (that aren't all for combat purposes) except in 3d. It could be done, and it could be done extremely well by people who give a rats ass.
Where, exactly, is the 360's/PS3's version of Zelda, Metroid, (and don't say 3d Dot Hero) or ANY GODDAMN GAME IN WHICH THE MAIN MECHANIC DOESN'T INVOLVE RIPPING CREATURES APART WITH A SWORD/GUN/MAGIC?!?! Portal is lightyears ahead of any other game on either console and it's not even a full length game!!!
"The last game that specifically drew attention to the camera was Mario 64, and only because it was relatively new technology. At the beginning they established that the controllable camera was being held on a fishing line by a small cloud monster. But who was filming whenever the cloud monster was on screen, Nintendo? You won't be lasting long if you keep trying to feed us that kind of bullshit."
Even in that game, you could play through the entire thing without knowing you were looking through a lakitu-cam. The camera was smooth and fluid, (incredible for the time) and it only brought attention to it in the first 10 seconds, and good for you if you noticed him in the mirror.
I can believe that the decision to make the camera move back and forth smoothly was to give the player depth perception and more information about their surroundings, but I seriously doubt this was the case. Yahtzee once said the best games are the ones that don't try to impress, and I find this to be more and more true every day. If a game is good, it doesn't need to put on a show and flourish sparkling batons. (then again, Yahtzee's probably making a big deal out of nothing in the case of this game)
Where, exactly, is the 360's/PS3's version of Zelda, Metroid, (and don't say 3d Dot Hero) or ANY GODDAMN GAME IN WHICH THE MAIN MECHANIC DOESN'T INVOLVE RIPPING CREATURES APART WITH A SWORD/GUN/MAGIC?!?! Portal is lightyears ahead of any other game on either console and it's not even a full length game!!!
"The last game that specifically drew attention to the camera was Mario 64, and only because it was relatively new technology. At the beginning they established that the controllable camera was being held on a fishing line by a small cloud monster. But who was filming whenever the cloud monster was on screen, Nintendo? You won't be lasting long if you keep trying to feed us that kind of bullshit."
Even in that game, you could play through the entire thing without knowing you were looking through a lakitu-cam. The camera was smooth and fluid, (incredible for the time) and it only brought attention to it in the first 10 seconds, and good for you if you noticed him in the mirror.
I can believe that the decision to make the camera move back and forth smoothly was to give the player depth perception and more information about their surroundings, but I seriously doubt this was the case. Yahtzee once said the best games are the ones that don't try to impress, and I find this to be more and more true every day. If a game is good, it doesn't need to put on a show and flourish sparkling batons. (then again, Yahtzee's probably making a big deal out of nothing in the case of this game)
I noticed the'shaky' camera aswell, but after awhile I also realised that it isn't in effect all the time. It seems it isn't used in smaller, more closed off areas (I have to play it again to be shure). This left me the impression that it was somekind of an effect in open spaces. Like someone had mounted the camera to a tree branch with ductape and over optimistic view of physics. That said, I have to completely agree that the effect is somewhat annoying feature the developers decided to implement instead of giving another look at the various main camera issues.
Struck a nerve eh? Also, to most of your comments, "Lolwut?"Labcoat Samurai said:
OT: I liked the piece. It was comedic but still addressed some seriously bad camera issues games have been having as of late.
I think shaky cam worked a few times (like when you were almost killed by an explosion in the original CoD), but not many times. However, in those few early times when it really worked, someone else saw it and went "well, I guess what made this game good is the shaky camera," and so a trend was born. It's like when the Matrix did slowmo and bullet dodging. People couldn't stop talking about Keanu Reaves falling on his ass rreeaallyy slowly.
Well, I'm exaggerating when I say "any" but it's very common. Remembering which games exactly have it is a bit of a challenge for me, because they run together a bit, and I could be projecting one game onto another in my memory, but if you've played as many games as I have, and walked away without pausing as often as I have, cameras eventually getting a mind of their own seems normal. Not that that's the same thing as what happens in CV, exactly.Fronzel said:
Dante's Inferno and Castlevania LoS are not "God of War but", they're outright God of War ripoffs, so complaining about Yahtzee talking about the similarities too much is completely retarded. He's a critic, remember?
The point of a reaction thread is to react. That's what I was doing. He made an impassioned case, I thought his points were flawed at best, so I said so. I wouldn't read too much into it.Lord Thodin said:
Eh, I stand by my comments.
Like...really? How many action games do you know XD.Labcoat Samurai said:
Hahaha. Thin line man, thin line.benzooka said:
The strive for realism has never benefitted games and yes, trying to simulate a real working camera is a pretty dumb idea. Never understood why people can't hold their hands straight in movies, it's not that hard.
Same here. I must be one of the few people who genuinely didn't seem bothered by the camera in Castlevania LoS...Labcoat Samurai said:
Sorry Yahtzee, but I'd have to say "like Castlevania" should have been the phrase. I don't mean the new Castelvania games, I mean the old, classic ones. They have all of these features:
Collect souls - collect hearts
Instakill - special weapons
Kill Satan - Dracula
The other details are in both games as well, especially if you take into consideration Symphony of the Night.
Wow, it's like Yahtzee had a checklist titled "address Falseprophet's pet peeves" this week.
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2) I'm also tired of these angsty, self-centred protagonists. It's not entirely new, either. While most 80s action heroes weren't angsty, they frequently needed a personal motivation to go after the bad guy. This was usually: the bad guy kills or kidnaps his girlfriend/wife, or more often, the bad guy kills or kidnaps his hetero life-partner. What's wrong with a protagonist who goes after the bad guy because it's his job? Or because it's the right thing to do? What shocks me most of all is this "personal agenda" crap predominates American fiction: somehow, writers from the country that was founded by a war fought over high-minded ideals can't conceive that anyone would fight for reasons other than personal ones. As much as space marine/WWII FPSes don't really appeal to me, at least most of those protagonists act out of higher ideals than themselves.
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Thank you sincerely for eloquently summarizing everything that's annoyed me about action and horror films--and by extension, games--for the last 10-15 years. I couldn't say it any better than this. I hate this whole trend of making the camera a character in the middle of the action.Anarchemitis said:
2) I'm also tired of these angsty, self-centred protagonists. It's not entirely new, either. While most 80s action heroes weren't angsty, they frequently needed a personal motivation to go after the bad guy. This was usually: the bad guy kills or kidnaps his girlfriend/wife, or more often, the bad guy kills or kidnaps his hetero life-partner. What's wrong with a protagonist who goes after the bad guy because it's his job? Or because it's the right thing to do? What shocks me most of all is this "personal agenda" crap predominates American fiction: somehow, writers from the country that was founded by a war fought over high-minded ideals can't conceive that anyone would fight for reasons other than personal ones. As much as space marine/WWII FPSes don't really appeal to me, at least most of those protagonists act out of higher ideals than themselves.