Army of Two director: 'Games tell traditional stories very badly'
- October 30, 2009 16:48 PM PST
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Army of Two: The 40th Day director Alex Hutchinson said in a recent interview that many of today's games are not telling stories correctly, and that his current game focuses more on letting the gamer creating his or her own narrative.
In a recent interview with GamePro (embedded above), Army of Two: The 40th Day director spoke very frankly about the way video games tell stories. When asked about how his work developing games like Spore and The Sims 2 at Maxis affected development of Army of Two: The 40th Day, Hutchinson responded that he hopes to bring the storytelling methods of those titles to Army of Two, stating "Player storytelling trumps game-authored story every time."
Citing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare as an example, Hutchinson explains that a gamer is more likely to look back on his or her own combat experiences rather than the narrative being told by the game, no matter how well it's written.
How will a shooter like Army of Two: The 40th Day tell a story like Spore? Hutchinson elaborated that Army of Two will tell a more private story than most. Instead of having to save the besieged world of Army of Two, the main characters' focus will be on saving each other. While there are opportunities to save others, they are completely optional to the players, thus letting them dictate their own stories.
Hutchinson talked more about current video games using Hollywood-style stories, as he said "We need to realize that we tell traditional stories very badly [...] there are very few game stories that would get published in your average fiction magazine, and it's not because we have bad writers."
The problem, Hutchinson explained, is that players assume the lead role most of the time, and their attention can be diverted from the story quite easily, be it from real-life outside elements or non-storytelling elements within the game.
Concluding his talk about the two methods of storytelling, Hutchinson said of Army of Two: The 40th Day, "We enable other people's stories, and that is so powerful and fresh that if we nail it... the sky's the limit."
You can find out more about Hutchinson's storytelling ideals, as well as Army of Two: The 40th Day's newest gameplay elements in Andy Burt's video interview above.
Do you guys agree with Alex? Are you more likely to remember gameplay moments than video game plot points? Let us know in the comments!
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- Oct 30 2009 at 04:47:47:PM PST
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Truth be told, I always remember the greatest gameplay moments better then the story. Going back to COD4, what is normally everyone's favorite part? The AC-130 gunship level "Death from Above." How many other games outside the franchise have you operating something like that?
Go to one of my favorite games, Tales of Symphonia, the part I remember the most is the ending. The fight against Mithos Yggdrasil is so much fun, and hearing the speech he gives during it is just chilling.
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On another note, if two guys take different routes to get to the same point, are they really going to reminisce on the fact they got there, or how they got there?
Chances are, it will be HOW they got there (" I zapped a zombie, then mowed down five others with my machine gun. . .")
While I have to disagree with Mr. Hutchison to an extent, he does make a point as to how a story can be memorable. A good story in a game can trump gameplay moments.
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I don't think EA really has the credibility to tell others they aren't telling stories correctly. They haven't demonstrated it properly or well at all for any of their games and maybe. We want to have our own experience instead because the videogame medium is very different than the movie medium because it's an interactive experience unlike movies. Gameplay trumps cutscenes and cutscenes and story supports the gameplay, not the other way around.
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I refuse to acknowledge the Army of 2 franchise after how hyped I was for the first one. Maybe if they pull this one off il take back my previous statement
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