The Games of 2013 - Day Two

Why Grand Theft Auto V, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, and many others are not going to be on my list

Perhaps the most egregious sin one could commit would be to not recognize some of the biggest games of the year: games like Grand Theft Auto V, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Origins, and many more. Let’s get one thing out of the way: it’s not that I felt like most of these games were bad (although some of them were), it’s just that none of them carried any sort’ve weight to them. By that I mean, they felt like hollow experiences. I was left wondering why I was even playing some of these games just a few hours into them, and others I didn’t even find myself caring enough to play them for even a minute. So, let’s start with the big one: Grand Theft Auto V.

Rockstar has never made a bad game. I stand by this statement, and even though I have not personally liked every single one of their products, I acknowledge their value. So when Grand Theft Auto V was released, I expected to lose the rest of the year to this game, as I had done with previous iterations. How could I not? The game’s massive world was so large in scope it was touted as being the biggest in the series to date, completely open and free to explore from the start. The attention to detail in the game, for even the most mundane, miniscule features, was astonishing. As always, the game’s licensed soundtrack left nothing to be desired, and the game’s gritty, flawed characters were all fascinating in their own, individually corrupt way. So why did I get bored so quickly?

Well, for one, the game is almost counter-intuitive to its freedom. There is so much to do, that you can easily overwhelm yourself and get distracted. To many people, this is a plus, and there is no fault in that, but as someone who has come to expect consistency and coherency in the storytelling from Rockstar, the fact that the game does allow for so much meandering almost defeats the purpose of trying to tell such a meaningful story. It breaks any sense of connection or empathy with the characters when there is such a jarring juxtaposition from one scene to the next. Granted, the counter-argument to that is something along the lines of, “But you could always drive around and kill hookers and do whatever you wanted, so why is it a problem now!”

So much to do, so little reason to do it.

Well, this is why: Rockstar is taking themselves far too seriously now. In a game like San Andreas, which was up until the release of GTA V largely considered the most open game in the series, the story was far more tongue-and-cheek. Even Vice City before it, which took more than enough queues from Scarface and Miami Vice with people like Tommy Vercetti and Lance Vance, acknowledged its own humor. These people weren’t characters – they were caricatures: larger than life representations of cops, thugs, crime lords, and drug dealers. It wasn’t until Grand Theft Auto IV where Rockstar took a step back and said, “Well, let’s try doing something with a little more heart.” And while this polarized many of the fanbase, I was on the side of those that absolutely adored it. This was what I had always envisioned a Grand Theft Auto game to be: restrained, witty, intelligent. If I wanted to have absolute freedom in an environment without rules, and with a story that understood its place, I’d play Saint’s Row or Just Cause. But Grand Theft Auto V seemed to try way too hard to please both worlds, and in the end just ended up being a giant world with so much to do, and very little reason to do it.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag suffers from a similar problem, but to a much lesser degree. If there’s one thing that can be universally agreed upon about this game, it’s that the naval combat is far and away the best part of it. That being said, everything else is just…Assassin’s Creed, and that’s not a terribly good thing: inane side-missions, spotty platforming, poor character development, and absolutely inconsequential modern-day cutscenes that no one rightfully cares about. I get it, Ubisoft. This game and Assassin’s Creed III were just your ways of testing the waters (pun intended) for a pirate game. So just make a damn full-fledged pirate game already, then, and stop dragging this series into the mud. The franchise lost its flair when you got rid of the most interesting character, Ezio, so forgive me for not caring about any other ancestor of Desmond Miles, a character you – SPOILER ALERT – killed off in the last game. Don’t try to convince me there are still more stories to tell, because if that were true you’d have told them in a proper order.

We all know Ubisoft just wants to make an actual pirate game, so just make it.

 Of all the games not to be included on my final “Best of” list, those were the two that I felt needed the most amount of justification, and obviously of them, Grand Theft Auto V more so. But other games that you can look forward to not seeing in a few days are Batman: Arkham Origins, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Beyond: Two Souls. I’ll just rapid fire through them as reasonably as I can.

Batman: Arkham Origins. The original Arkham City was a good, solid game. It was a great rebirth for the caped crusader in the world of video games, after some noticeably abysmal attempts years ago. But that’s it. Beyond this it was nothing more than a standard block-counter action game with very little depth to its combat, and not much in the way of longstanding impact. It was just an okay game that happened to do extremely well financially because it wasn’t as bad as the older games, and understandably, the studios saw this as a way to create a new franchise. Pretty soon there’s going to be an Arkham-themed online game.

Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts. I’ll lump these two together because quite frankly, can anyone tell them apart anymore? Activision has run the Call of Duty franchise so far into the spectrum of cash cow that there’s really no reason to recognize or distinguish any of these games anymore as other than a yearly expansion pack. As for Battlefield 4, EA took what could have once been described as a true competitor to Call of Duty, and arguably one of the finest multiplayer first-person shooters on the market, and turned it into a “Call of Duty killer.” Which, if you’ve never played World of Warcraft and aren’t familiar with what it means for a game to be a killer, it’s when a development studio tries so hard to emulate the reigning king that it ends up just backfiring in their face, because if all they’re doing is making a copy of the game that already exists, then why would anyone switch?

Not even Willem Dafoe can make me play this.

Beyond: Two Souls. Fool me once, David Cage, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I’m not one to argue about whether or not a game is a “game” or a “movie.” Frankly, if you interact with it in some way, it has merit being called a game. To the Moon is one of my most cherished experiences this entire generation, and there was very little true “gameplay” in it. So when Heavy Rain was released several years ago, I was excited about it. I wanted to see what kind of story could be told through such a hands-on visual medium. The promise of an ever-evolving storyline where a character’s death would have a direct effect on the outcome only enhanced my expectations. So naturally, when I played through Heavy Rain, I was extremely careful with my decisions so as to get the best ending possible. Game breaking freezes and some spotty voice acting aside, I enjoyed the experience throughout. It was only upon reevaluation of the game that I noticed some terrible inconsistencies in character development and plot. For that reason alone, I refused to check out Beyond: Two Souls. It could be an amazing game for all I know, and maybe one day I might realize it, but right now, for me, David Cage is quickly becoming the more pretentious version of Peter Molyneux, and I have no interest in fellating his ego any more than others already do.

Sorry, that wasn’t rapid-fire enough, was it? Tomorrow, find out what I feel are the most Overrated and Underrated games of 2013.