I will not talk about the murders of women and people, the stampede of passers-by at Turismo, the senseless violence and adultery with alien life forms, which various housewives and lawyers so actively and vehemently reproach interactive entertainment for. Today we will not talk about this. It’s no secret that reading literature can broaden your horizons and make you think about some important things. Especially if you don’t read all kinds of waste paper like pulp novels or cheap detective stories, but give preference to more worthwhile things, such as classical prose or works written in a narcotic stupor in the second half of the twentieth century (this is not sarcasm, in fact a curious phenomenon). Can’t games make you think?? Since when were they considered cheap entertainment for pathological imbeciles?? Is there really not a single project that, during its passage, will present you with various current problems and force you to think about something in your spare time?? It turns out that this also exists in our wonderful world. Let’s move on to examples, gentlemen.
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
The second part of the famous series of shooters about shooting from the hip and wearing funny hats on the head was a completely ordinary, although not bad, action movie with an unusual plot theme. The game tells the story of a family: three brothers: the youngest – an idealistic priest – and the middle and eldest – notorious scoundrels, robbers and murderers. The story begins when the senseless and brutal American Civil War claims the lives of their father and mother, forcing the heroes to go to Mexico. The lust for gold and a love triangle to boot make the middle and older brothers bitter enemies, which leads to an inevitable duel between them, during which the younger one stands between them in the line of fire and is exposed to a bullet. With the blood of his brother on his hands, the eldest realizes that there is not, has not been and will not be anything more valuable in this life than family. Neither all the gold in the world nor the women were worth the life of his younger brother, which he essentially sacrificed in order to convey this simple truth to his violent relatives. The competent work of the screenwriters and well-seasoned drama make the plot of the project worthy of many good films and books, and the message of the game is very relevant and well presented.
The Walking Dead
An unexpected masterpiece from www.bingostormcasino.co.uk Telltale Games, which, not without reason, many dubbed the game of the year. An interactive movie for which the zombie apocalypse is just a backdrop for a deeper story about people placed in the cruel framework of survival. Danger at every step is a kind of catalyst that enhances the manifestation of good and bad personality traits tenfold. Even though the game was not varied and, in fact, all your decisions changed only the details of the plot, and not the entire plot as a whole, the creation of Telltale Games does an excellent job with its primary task – it allows you to feel the elusive line between good and evil, between good and bad. Unlike the original comic, which was literally full of misanthropy and ambiguity in the actions of the heroes, the game adaptation was more optimistic and showed the desire of people to remain human even in the most dire circumstances. In many ways, this fortitude and inner core were embodied in the image of the little girl Clementine. Playing Walking Dead, you feel hope and despair, faith in the best and anxiety, you see how some characters break, while others remain strong to the end. Because of this, it’s really time to compare the game with literary classics, glorifying the best in people, contrasting individuals with the cruel reality and all the complexity of the trials that befall the heroes. Even with some banality of the game situations, the plot demonstrates the internal conflicts of the characters like, forgive me for such a daring comparison, a school curriculum on literature, such as “War and Peace”, “The White Guard” or “Quiet Don”, outlining in black and white cruelty and meanness, nobility and resilience of character and creating a huge basis for thought.
Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven
A cinematic to the extreme story of a criminal with principles, showing a fairly believable (I had no experience in theft, racketeering, murder and liquor smuggling, but judging by the films of Coppola and Scorsese, the game is quite realistic) picture of American organized crime during the Great Depression. An ordinary taxi driver, Thomas Angelo, suddenly becomes involved in the world of criminal gangs. The scriptwriters deliberately focus on the fact that the main character is a victim of circumstances and only by the will of bitch fate becomes a bandit. And this life, I must say, at first seems quite good to the guy: expensive cars, patronage of powerful people, respect, status in society, the opportunity to get drunk on expensive whiskey and all sorts of similar bonuses. However, Angelo soon realizes that he has gotten himself into something dirty, immoral and dangerous. Each new order for murder gives rise to serious doubts in the hero’s head about the correctness of his choice. The hero’s inner beliefs oppose what is happening. He does not want to kill women and friends, he is disgusted by torture and cruelty in the methods of the Italian mafia. But these are the laws of this world. As a result, the life path of the mafioso will destroy him – he becomes a victim of a vendetta for violating the Cosa Nostra code, dying from a point-blank shot from a shotgun on the lawn of his own house. Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven once again proves that life among criminals kills everything good in a person, equating him to a weak-willed weapon, devoid of honor and freedom of choice. “He who wants too much risks losing absolutely everything,” Tommy Angelo sums up his life. And damn me if this Italian is wrong.
The story about the tragedy of an underwater utopia initially attracted the attention of the gaming community with its original setting. Even before release, Bioshock was labeled with all sorts of labels, like “Shooter 2.”.0" or "Breakthrough in the genre". Let’s not talk about whether Ken Levine’s brainchild has become a new word in FPS mechanics or not. The important thing is that the game had a surprisingly deep plot with dystopian elements, and generally amazed with the scope of the story told. An underwater city isolated from the outside world, loud slogans promising inviolability of property, freedom of enterprise and any disregard for “sanctimonious morality”. An ideal world for the best representatives of the human race. Colossus with feet of clay. Time bomb. Bioshock is a multi-faceted story about a man who imagines himself to be God, blindly believing in ideals, immorality and carelessness. After all, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Bioshock is a harsh criticism of materialism and individualism, this is a story about how a person cannot cross certain boundaries. All that Andrew Ryan’s dream led to was chaos, murder, sadistic scientific experiments, sick forms of fine art and, as the inevitable result of all this, the death of the creator himself and his great creation. The philosophical subtext of what is happening is so obvious, and at the same time extensive, that many science fiction fans compare the game with the work of George Orwell and other titans of the dystopian movement in literature.
The Cat Lady
Not recognized in wide circles, a masterpiece, in my humble opinion, is an adventure game that tells the story of a person’s difficult struggle with himself, his fears and grievances. The plot centers on a lonely woman, Susan Ashworth, broken by the tragic circumstances of her fate. She can’t stand her empty, shitty life and decides to commit suicide. But survives. Further events are her path to salvation. Her hard work on herself and her attempt to regain her faith in people. The plot makes you think about very ambiguous things, like life and death, the fragility of happiness and the will to live. Damn, I seriously felt a lump in my throat during the final cutscene. The technical wretchedness of the game after an hour of gameplay miraculously turns from a minus to a plus, because it does not distract from the essence of the game with excessive pretentiousness and graphics – the dialogues and thoughts of the main character about all of the above. Here one cannot help but draw a parallel with The Walking Dead: The Cat Lady is also a kind of hymn to strength of character and the desire to live despite the misfortunes and injustice of life. This is exactly what needs to be shown first of all to the idiotic skeptics who never tire of saying that games are not art at all, but just entertainment for a couple of evenings.
P.S. The other day a localization of the game by Akella with Russian subtitles was released, so even if you have trouble with English, you can also appreciate The Cat Lady. My only complaint is about that fucked-up drug dealer who made the cover for the game. You can’t even imagine the degree of my frustration when I saw this:
Brief mentions of other worthy games
What I did not write about in detail, but which simply cannot be ignored here:
Silent Hill 2 – a famous Japanese horror film with subtle psychological overtones. SH2 is a game about love, regrets, guilt, sins and punishment for them.
Max Payne interesting as an aesthetic noir, as a story of shattered dreams and retribution. The protagonist’s desperation is palpable physically, thanks to the soundtrack and great in-game comics.
Jade Empire – a role-playing game in an interesting setting, telling about good and evil and the Universal balance in the manner of an oriental parable. Stylish, original and fascinating-touching.
Cry of Fear – an amateur modification for the first Half-Life with an unexpectedly interesting plot about the struggle with oneself and the ability to live, despite the blows of fate (yes, yes, there is something in common with The Cat Lady).
Lone Survivor – a project with a terribly ambiguous plot that can be interpreted in different ways, so as not to spoil it, I’ll just say that Lone Survivor is a story full of surrealism about grief and loss, expressed indirectly through post-apocalypse and survival.