Shaky Cam Games
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
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.
It's true; Castlevania also did the "chain/whip weapons" and "kill all the monsters of the Greek pantheon/Hammer & Universal Horror films" thing long before the PlayStation or XBox even existed. I feel sad when such an innovative series is so forgotten it's seen as a poor-quality imitation. Kind of like going back and watching Babylon 5 again.Lerxst said:
Well, "every" *might* be an exaggeration.... let's see.Brotherofwill said:
God of War series, Dante's Inferno, and Castlevania, sure. Also every game in the Devil May Cry series, Bayonetta, Heavenly Sword, Enslaved, all the xbox/ps3 Ninja Gaiden games, SW:TFU.... that's at least 15 games unless you count sigma and sigma 2 as separate, which I won't. It's also 9 franchises.
I'm having a small amount of difficulty thinking of other recent action games. I'm not extremely focused on the genre, being fond of adventure, RPG, FPS, 3PS, etc.
Maybe if it helps, I use "action" and "hack 'n slash" interchangeably. That might be the point of confusion. So yeah, I don't count games like Zelda or Fable as action games. They are adventure games with a hint of RPG (a bit more than a hint in Fable's case). That classification is entirely arbitrary and if you disagree with it, that's fine, but maybe my point makes more sense to you in that context?
That, or God of War was just so damn good, fun and relaxing package of mindless slaughter like Serious Sam and Painkiller but without FPS form. I think I'll go with the second option.Yahtzee said:
I like to refer to this genre as the Third-Person Brawler. It's a third-person action game with a focus on fantastical melee attacks and combos.
So does Prince of Persia: Warrior Within count as a God of War type game? Angsty hero beating up the local Satan and his cannon fodder hordes with stylish combo attacks, collecting souls to power up his weapons, instant kill throw attack, magic powers... Except it's bolted onto a level pack for Sands of Time, a platformer with light combat elements.
So does Prince of Persia: Warrior Within count as a God of War type game? Angsty hero beating up the local Satan and his cannon fodder hordes with stylish combo attacks, collecting souls to power up his weapons, instant kill throw attack, magic powers... Except it's bolted onto a level pack for Sands of Time, a platformer with light combat elements.
True dat, but I think I found that the Castlevania Game didn't do right was to appeal to the ravin' fanboys, at its core its a good game with original concepts overwhelmed by what it copies or uses as inspiration. As the Penny Arcade one about Darksiders it really depends on your perspective. (Wait I have a point)Labcoat Samurai said:
The thing is that what the reviewers are doing AKA nitpicking is largely because there isn't a lot to complain about. Watch IGNs review, watch gamespot review, even Gametrailers at some point... All they do is nitpick, Yahtzee's take is on the "Shaky" camera. More like Wavy camera... It's ok, reviews are still subjective so if he doesn't like it then its going to be a bad review. I like it... Largely because it's fun. And so... true dat, in most 3ds nowadays having a character standing still will have the camera move around.
Sometimes yes. I do get really sick of his attitude as much I enjoy his wit. If I went to a stage performance staring Mr. Croshaw I'm not sure if I would bring flowers or grenades. Ideally I would want some sort of incendiary posies.sravankb said:
I also wonder if the irony is not lost on him that he rags on American capitalism all the time but works in an industry dependent on it? American consumerism FTW
Because in an age of extreme indulgence, we frequently conflate 'crap' with authenticity and 'low budget' with 'artistic.'Direwolf750 said:
I think Yahtzee may have summed up why I've never been enthralled by the GoW series. I just don't hate women enough.
>.>
never seen the shaky camera and the moments the camera was onnaying because i couldn't move it were rare. if it is true that you will see the camera 'shake' when you stand still, then complaining about that is really forced. i always try not the compare games to each other, because i want to rate a game on HIS content, not what is has in comparison with other game. like i said in the comments on the video, i really like CV and i think its one of the best games of the year.
It's interesting, though. Most of the critics were very positive about the game. For what it's worth, the PS3 version stands at 85 on Metacritic. That's a pretty respectable score for a hack 'n slash game. Here's the blurb Metacritic quotes from the *most* negative review they tracked:Misho- said:
"Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a great amalgamation of the genres and games it combines. It makes sure they all come together effortlessly, but it never really owns the gameplay it borrows. It's a fun game, but not a revolution."
That's the *most* negative mainstream review that Metacritic counted.
Yahtzee is way out of step with the rest of the reviewers on this one with the bile he's heaping on this game. Of course, he commonly is out of step with them... but there are certain reviewers whose opinions I find more useful that Yahtzee's... most of them, actually. I mean, Yahtzee is highly amusing, and occasionally says something insightful, but otherwise, his perspective is so often irreconcilably different from mine that I don't put a lot of stock in his reviews. When he likes something, I find it interesting, but when he hates something.... meh, it might be for all the wrong reasons in my view.
