Unspectacular Wreck Brethren
So, you’re watching your favorite TV show and the cast is huddled together on a nondescript couch with equally nondescript game controllers in their hands. From that information, you can probably deduce that they’re playing a video game, although these days, the prevalence of the Wii-mote might make that judgement a little more difficult (four-player channel changing, anyone?), but I digress.
Everything’s fine thus far, but suddenly your ears are wracked with pain, as though someone had run their nails down a chalkboard or told a Chuck Norris joke — it’s those insidious stereotypical bleeps and bloops that characterize mainstream television’s apparent grasp on video games. “Blasphemy!” you bellow, arms akimbo in a show of disgust — how can they portray gaming in a such a backward manner? In response, you do what any responsible gamer would do; you jiggle your mouse, rouse your computer from sleep mode, and surf over to your favorite gaming forum to complain. Now, here’s the clincher: would you be shocked if your fellow gamers held an opinion of gaming nearly as backward as the good people at ABC, or even Fox? Well, in a way, many of them do.
In a semi-recent post on her blog at Sexy Videogameland, Leigh Alexander had a few choice words about the appeal of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. “If I had to review Smash Bros., in other words, would you as an audience rather I factor in my emotional response to Nintendo iconography, or should I discard it as personal?” she asked. “Does your answer depend on your own opinion of the iconography?”
Leigh eloquently ponders a question that’s been surging through the gaming community as of late, mostly as a result of Smash Bros’ recent release: should character content influence reviews of a game, or should it be based solely on gameplay? Now, let’s complete Leigh’s little experiment by not only removing Nintendo characters from the equation, but the entire game altogether. And let’s replace it with, say, Portal. Should we judge Portal, a triumph of character and storytelling in games, based solely on its gameplay? Of course not.
Look at it this way: without GLaDOS’ frosting-coated morbid personality, would Valve have dedicated half of its staff to adding a trophy room to their building?* Sure, portals were a novel gameplay concept, but objectively, a two hour pack of portal puzzles hardly sounds like Game of the Year material.
And so, I believe we absolutely shouldn’t disregard characters when reviewing a game. The very idea is as antiquated as Pac Man’s ubiquitous death knell and other such sound effects. Back in the day, we could’ve flung a bucket of black paint on the original Pitfall’s main character and there probably wouldn’t have been much of a difference — outside of the inevitable comparisons to Nintendo’s Game and Watch character, anyway. Nowadays, however, characters are inextricably tied to our gameplay experiences — Portal, Bioshock, and especially Smash Bros. are excellent examples of this. In Smash Bros’ case, does this mean a portion of the audience won’t derive full, Nintendo nostalg-tastic enjoyment out of the game? Yes, but then, someone with only a passing interest in fighting games is unlikely to ever derive full masochistic pleasure from Virtua Fighter 5, so it just comes down to different strokes for different folks.
As gaming continues to stretch its wings as a storytelling medium, the importance of characters will only grow. It’s simply a matter of time before the question asked by Leigh and like-minded gamers won’t even be a question anymore.
*I’m kidding. They’re actually constructing a new building from the ground-up.
A Smashing Good Time
So, Super Smash Brothers: Brawl.
On Saturday night, I slipped into Gamestop and picked up a copy. As it turned out, there was a tournament before the actual launch, but sadly, I missed it. The night wasn’t entirely devoid of entertainment value, however.
As soon as I drove past Panera’s darkened form, I found that even in Shermanthisplaceistiny, Texas, Smash Brothers is a phenomenon. In what should have been an abandoned parking lot, occupied only by cold and dark, there were cars. A lot of cars. A veritable caravan stretched forth in front of my eyes. With the sounds of Coheed and Cambria’s “No World for Tomorrow” still blaring in my ears (that seems to be all I listen to these days) I strode towards Gamestop.
Many people were bunched together outside of the store. The guy in front of me indicated that the people were in a line, but I’m fairly sure it was a mob — I’m almost certain there were pitchforks.
This article is sorely lacking in the way of pictures, so here’s one. Believe me when I say that dire circumstances prevented me from posting any others. This particular picture may or may not have something to do with the reason why.
All manner of people comprised the line: little, big, even female! A jumble of words and voices was all I could hear as the line inched forward. To pass time, I made small talk with the guy in front of me and he was fairly amicable. For the most part, we simply exchanged quips about the most obvious thing there: the line. I mean, we’re talking about Sherman, Texas here. I’d never even seen that many people in Sherman’s trendiest gathering place, Target.
After what seemed like and was a few minutes, I entered the warm confines of Gamestop. People were huddled around a small LCD screen, playing Brawl, of course; but that’s when it finally hit me: I was excited about this game. See, for the longest time, the gaming community has been hyping this game moreso than even the fabled second coming of Master Chief. And if you’re over the age of six, you likely remember how hectic that was. But for some reason, I just couldn’t move beyond “meh” on my excitement hierarchy. Walking through those doors and seeing the game in-action fixed all that.
The line moved like it was being chased by robot bears and I soon found myself grasping a copy of Brawl firmly with both hands. I did my typical Legend of Zelda-style new-item-celebration — complete with orchestrated soundtrack played by The London Symphony My Mouth — but soon realized that I needed some Gamecube controllers in order to get the most out of the game. Now, some of the more astute (read: obsessive Smash Bros. Dojo, er, readers) audience members might be preparing angry comments about how each of the game’s control schemes are equally effective. Well, go ahead, because I like getting comments. But, put simply, Brawl was made with the Gamecube controller foremost in-mind. After all, Brawl is essentially a Gamecube game running on the Gamecube 1.5 — oh, excuse me, the Wii. *Ducks*
For a minute or two, I panicked at the idea of getting back in the ever swelling line for what should’ve been a quick controller purchase, and completely ignored all the people around me who, in turn, were silently mocking my over-exaggerated, distressed facial expressions. Finally, a solution presented itself! I asked the Gamestop employee if he had any Gamecube controllers. “Yes,” he replied. Awwww Yeaaaa—”But you can’t buy them until tomorrow,” he quickly added. My life’s story had just played out in front of me, and I was powerless to stop it.
As for actual impressions of the game, well, those are coming at some point. They might appear in the form of a large, thematic article, as I’m going to be working on a review game, an article that will hopefully appear on Kombo, and other, top-secret projects. Those things don’t leave much time for “fluffy” impression write-ups, unfortunately. And with that, I bid you goodnight. And to those who purchased Brawl, enjoy your third all-nighter in a row. Remember, the monsters are only hallucinations. Except for the raptors — those are real.
