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Criticizing my Criticism thru Comics
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The best video games strike an artful balance between innovation and the tried and true. Our 'game of the year' winners from last week are examples: Both are sequels built on foundations from generations past (not to mention their own pedigrees), and both go beyond anything done in their categories.
I'm game critic - call me an enthusiast, a satirist, a creator of content, even occasionally a journalist, but since I don't make games, it all boils down to 'critic.' Critics are always picking apart the here-and-now compared to the what-once-was, with a penchant for predicting what-will-be. Game Grump has been around for three years in its current incarnation. Before that, I was writing reviews and columns for Adrenaline Vault. And before that, I produced a web comic. All of it contained game criticism.
Within that criticism, how well did I see what-will-be? If game developers must learn from the past, I think critics should do the same. So I've unearthed my earliest game criticism, which comes from that aforementioned comic. It's been seven years. Let's critique the criticism.
And look at some cartoons while we're at it.
Commentary on Violence in Video Games (2002)
Apparently, GTA III got me thinking about where game violence was going.- Panel 4: though we never got a game called 'Serial Killer,' I don't think anyone would bat an eye if they saw Shoe's pitch in a press release today.
- Panel 5: Game violence has gone to ridiculous extremes, but what I didn't predict: it would be gamers who started calling the industry back from the brink. See the umbrage taken over the infamous 'No Russian' scene in Modern Warfare 2, or the 'come on, really?' reactions to the horrific imagery of Dante's Inferno.
- Panel 6: Extra points for stylish dismemberments. Yep. Lots of these. Mad World comes to mind immediately.
- Panel 7: Kid killing is still off limits in games. Mostly. The kid-killing in BioShock doesn't count, because that was really arty (and isn't that how it always starts?)
- Panel 1: I really did hurt my arm from playing GTA III too much.
Score: Overall, I'll give myself a 'C+' for my violence commentary. Much of the escalation was easy to predict, giving this a 'dog bites man' quality. But, the dog really did bite the man. Hard. And it was bloody.
Commentary on Sex in Video Games (2002)
Next, I took to predicting the sex vector. Let's see how I did.- Panel 2: 'Boob Fighters.' The Dead or Alive series did take it to the next level of titillation with their Xtreme Beach Volley Ball side story, but I think Shoe's question remains poignant: where are the games focused centrally on sex?
- Panels 4, 5, and 6: Nowhere. Because I still think this is what they would sort of look like.
- Panel 5: Called it. See the rhythm-based sex in the God of War series and GTA: San Andreas' unfinished 'Hot Coffee' feature.
- Panel 6: Ha ha ha. A game where you collect female conquests like so many exotic cars! Ridiculo... wait. Once again, called it: See the sexy trading cards you receive for each woman you bang in The Witcher.
- Panel 7: This is a definite miss. After the trance vibrator of Rez (which already existed when I drew this), the sex toy thing didn't really go anywhere. Not even after the advent of the Wii, which seemed ripe for such things (if only by way of its name).
Score: I'll give myself another 'C+'. Despite all the hits I got, I missed the big picture. I was unable to predict the surprisingly high level of maturity that games would display when sex actually started to come into the picture.
Sure, tits and ass are still on display in much the same fashion they were in 2002. But Bayonetta is being defended by feminists as female empowerment. And Mass Effect has brought us tasteful 'interludes' born out of substantive character choices in-game. Heavy Rain is on the way, too - the games press is falling all over itself to point out how mature its 'truly adult' situations will be.
Sex has arrived, but so tastefully! Maybe it's because the industry is, like most of America, filled with a bunch of hopeless prudes who feel more at home killing than fucking. Maybe it's because porn has gone mainstream. I just don't know.
Commentary on Online Chat (2002)
Headsets were actually a new thing to console gaming in 2002.- Panels 1 through 4: This is still a pretty accurate picture of the arc that voice chat went through. Reaction 1: Wow, cool. Reaction 2: Do I really need this feature? Reaction 3: Nope. It's mostly used for locker-room bullshit.
- Panel 10: I actually refrained from using the Seven Words through the entire run of the 'Area 337' comic. It seems so quaint, now.
Score: I'll pat myself on the back with a 'B.' I predicted that something designers envisioned as a strategic team-play feature would end up being nothing of the sort. But swear words certainly can be, and are used regularly in the process, and I couldn't show that, due to my self-imposed regulations. Maybe that's why Shoe is so frustrated.
Commentary on Cel Shading (2003)
Cel shading was popping up everywhere around this time.- I'll give myself some credit, if only to say that a cel-shaded racing game was one of the most ridiculous (if cool) uses for the technology ever.
Score: Meh. 'D.' I pointed out a trend, but there's not really any commentary here. I think I mostly wanted a version of Auto Modellista that didn't suck.
Commentary on Star Wars (2003)
As long as there have been video games, there have been Star Wars video games.- Panel 2: I'm still the only one who calls it 'GameStapo.' I guess it's just one of those 'too clever by half' things. I even bought the domain, did nothing with it, and now some squatter owns it. Oh well.
- Panel 1: There it is. After a few moments of outrage over the crapfest that was the prequel trilogy, my peers went right back to the 'Dark Side' and kept buying the stuff.
Score: 'A.' Everyone pilloried Lucas for shitting on their childhood, but they all went crawling back. People snapped up copies of Soul Calibur IV just to play as Vader and Yoda, Lego Star Wars games became a smash hit, KOTOR got a sequel, and this year they are releasing a Massively Multiplayer version of the 'Old Republic' universe. And otherwise reasonable people are still pining for 'a new X-Wing game.'
These aren't little kids buying all of this shit. It's people my age. People who should know better. Me? My stance has not changed. There are some things we do not forgive.
Commentary on Video Game Navel Gazing (2003)
To outsiders, geeky discussions must sound pretty childish.- Panel 1: Yes, I still cherish everything up until Empire. This panel remains accurate, and it is the only self-respecting stance a (former) Star Wars fan should have.
- Panel 1: The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600 remains the best Star Wars game.
- Panel 2: This all might sound childish, but it's no more silly than any all-consuming hobby. We're just not as accepted by the mainstream as, say, Sports Geeks. I mean, Sports Fans. Geeks.
- Panel 1: Did you notice the scan lines on the left for each of the 2600 sprites? Sorry, just geeking out on a small detail.
This last comic, and in fact this whole article, illustrates just how silly and self-indulgent we game critics can seem to outsiders. But like anyone with an all-consuming hobby, be it sports or politics or whatever, we would really have it no other way. Talking about the hobby is just as fun as indulging in its fruit. Final Score: 'A.'
Area 337: The complete archive
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Parry by Daniel Dujnic
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I'll be the first to say it: Let's get some new comics up in here! It's interesting to see how some of those stood up after 8 years. Here, let me add to the criticism singularity:
I hear that the player can kill a kid in Dragon Age, but I think he's possessed, does that make it a gray area? Also, in Fallout 3, a game in which you can't kill kids, I was supposed to find a new home for a boy I saved from giant fire-breathing ants. I kept playing, and out of neglect I never got around to finding him a home, I never even came back to the phone-booth/single-person-fallout-shelter I left him in ages ago...
Eh, he's probably fine.
Regarding a Serial Killer Game: The comic was made in 2002, the next year in 2003 Manhunt came out on the PS2. Not sure if it awards 'style points' but when you made that comic someone was pitching Manhunt and an Exec wasn't batting an eye.
I've been seeing mixed reactions about Dante's Inferno. Here at GG we've had an initially negative reaction, but fact is, it might actually be an interesting game. All this marketing ahead of time was probably to soften the blow about the content so that people will actually take the time to see if it's actually good instead of dismissing it out of hand. Wouldn't it be surprising if it turned out to be, horror of horrors, an exceptional game? I have to say I'm curious, I've thought about buying it and haven't reached a justification yet. Comes out next week.
Also, I've been playing Mass Effect 2: 15 hours in and still haven't seen any tasteful interludes.
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'Criticizing my Criticism thru Comics'
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