Ben-DutkaWe've seen some pretty high praise for Naughty Dog's The Last Of Us , but this one might take the cake.
Avalanche Studios founder and chief creative officer Christofer Sundberg was interviewed by Edge , and he answered industry questions concerning the present and future state of gaming.
When asked to identify what disappoints him about games today, Sundberg replied- "Lack of focus and decisiveness. It's eating the industry alive." He also added that developers should be more concerned with making a top-quality game rather than "business models." Essentially, he says the revenue comes with the success of a great title; you don't throw money at something to make it great. That doesn't always work, although significant resources help.
As for The Last Of Us , here's the quote:
"The most recent game I played was The Last of Us and I haven't finished it yet, but hell yes, I enjoy it. It's like God crawled into a console. Pure art."
That's especially interesting because Avalanche specializes in open-world insanity, as their Just Cause games (and their upcoming Mad Max title) are all about freedom and over-the-top action. Sundberg himself has been accused of attacking linear games and saying they're sort of falling by the wayside. But Naughty Dog impresses everyone, ya know?
hopefully there's more linear games to balance out the numerous open world offerings.
But I don't really want to see more games like FFXIII and AC3 that try to straddle both. It seems both them games start very linear and then open up. I don't think that's a formula any dev has been successful with recently. So hopefully Avalanche stays consistent with whatever they choose.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 11/5/2013 11:04:05 AM
Me too. I don't get this sudden fixation on open world games. Suddenly games have to be open world or they're no good apparently. They can be fun no doubt but the best games I've ever played have usually been linear and heavy on narrative and story telling.
First they had to have multiplayer, now they have to be open world.
I see open worlds as an expression of people's desire to have virtual reality. It seems to me people want to feel like they're re-inventing themselves in an important role of another time and era. Where they feel like they can be who they imagine themselves to be and exhibit it all from the first person. Where we recognize that while there's a plot and incentives to do things, reality isn't written by an author dictating what we should feel and know from a form of expressing meaning. It's like a fundamental clashing of purpose when I think of strong story telling and open world gaming.
I see Naughty Dog's efforts as one trying to blend movies with games. Where a person is engaging the content wholly from the third person, watching events unfold passively. where the game play is there to serve to the interactive intensity of only the characters actions. But you never are that role or that character. It's a form of gaming that's it's own but it nearly seems Naughty Dog is one of the few still doing it. Hideo Kojima has even abandoned this decidedly 'old fashioned' approach to AAA gaming.
I wouldn't want to see it go extinct either. I like open world gaming a lot but I'd like things to feel varied.
My thoughts exactly Temji.
Silly to think linear games aren't ever appropriate for certain types of experiences. I'll take a perfectly executed, wholly believable journey game like Last of Us over GTA V any day of the week.
Kudos to Cristofer Sundberg for that comment. And the funny thing is, he's still not finish with the game. I wonder, what will his reaction going to be when he finally finished the amazing game.
Maybe if God were a giant cliche story. Ahem…
It's weird because fans recognize that adding freedom erodes a certain type of game but developers still haven't realized it.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 11/5/2013 1:56:54 PM
The overall story was cliche, true. But there were some elements of the narrative that were well done far better than any game I've ever played.
I really should get around to buying this one already, shouldn't I…
one thing im really missing in games is that wow moment.
be it a plot twist, or just something that makes you stop and reflect over the past events of the game.
TLoU and the giraffe moment, thats actually by far my most favorite part of the game it was just so brilliantly done!
amazing how something so simple, and mundane, can have such a profound effect!
well its gud that another dev is praising a gud game linear game(sort of) for once say something like this for this kind of game than a shooter just for once in a while no the BF4 isn't great fun and amazing
happy gaming =)
TLOU is great,and has proven that indeed when you make a topgame then the money comes plenty.
And that for a game that is only on 1 system!
AND for a game that isn't a COD clone or has COD gameplay,i hope the gaming-industry learns from this.
And open world games:i like it sometimes,as do i like linear games.