Angry Gaming 12.11.06: RIP Badasses
Posted by Damian Sarcuni on 12.11.2006
The brave are always the first to die.
Welcome to Angry Gaming, the column that inspired humanity's decision to blow up its own cities in Gears of War. I am your hate master, Damian Sarcuni and I'm too much of a wuss to ask out the girl working at my local Gamestop. So it goes…
Before We Begin
A special thanks to Jordan Williams for joining me in last week's double team action against the game industry. Our combined reference score came out to 50 points total. That's twice the minimum judicial sentence for premeditated murder, so I'd say our rating is we killed the game industry AND it's mother. Thanks for reading and we can't wait to play again. (If any other columnists join in, I'll take the liberty of grading them as well.)
Also, thanks to everyone who responded to last week's article. Unfortunately, I decided not to print/respond to anything anyone sent me in relation to that article. I'm not trying to be an asshole; I'm just trying to be fair. Attacking Final Fantasy on a video game site is the equivalent of mocking Princess Diana in England. Some things just aren't worth the press, and those emails poured in not because of my writing merit but because of the article's subject. Just before the article went up, I went online looking for images of the games, only to find that at least 5% of all images on the internet are hand drawn renditions of scenes from Final Fantasy. If people have nothing better to do than redraw these characters over an over, the topic is simply too hot to take credit for.
I picked up an Xbox 360 this weekend. My gamer tag is DamianOnPaxil so if anyone wants to throw down on multiplayer I'll be picking up more and more games over the next few weeks. I'm open to suggestions for great games that aren't first person shooters too (Christ, does Microsoft license anything else?) so voice messages are welcome.
Lastly, the end of this column will feature nominations for the Hate Club Hall of Shame Awards which will be posted next week. While the rest of 411 games goes on about all the crap they claim to have just LOVED this year, we realists at Angry Gaming will be breaking down what was one of the worst years for games overall. Shoot me an email if you want to cast your vote and make your voice heard.
RIP Badasses
As I write this, Cartoon Network is in the process of showcasing one of the worst and yet greatest shows to ever make its way out of Japan, Voltron. While watching the show and reliving the impressionable days of my youth, it occurred to me that there is a big difference between the protagonists of the Voltron force and the brutal, unhinged anti-heroes we've all been worshiping for the past 10 years or so. At least, I think it was 10 years…
I can't remember exactly when we traded Bret Hart for Steve Austin or Spiderman for Wolverine, but the fact is that somewhere along the line society started to love heroes who are anything but heroes. I guess the past decade, at least, has been the key period where most of our main characters have thrown the rule books to the side and gone their own route, and the public has loved them for it. This is especially true of video games, where punk ass bitches like the Voltron force cannot survive and Vin Diesel as Riddick thrives.
However, the next generation of games is upon us and from a developmental standpoint, it looks like our badass heroes are going out with the garbage. Bad boy brutality is dying in the gaming world, and we got the proof right here. The following is a list of three anti-heroes who have recently made it big in the gaming world, and yet their very existence and background stories indicate the end of the video game anti-hero era.
Jericho Cross - Darkwatch
While Darkwatch is already somewhat on the classics list, the fact that its main character is a classic badass fits our purposes perfectly. Jericho is an outlaw in the old west, who has made his living as a thieving, murdering career criminal. Late one night, Jericho attempts a train heist on a suspicious, shadowy looking locomotive. It quickly becomes clear that Jericho has hit the wrong train, as he accidentally unleashes a vampire in charge of a horde of hellish demons. To make matters even worse, Jericho is bitten and slowly becomes a half breed of human and vampire. In order to save his soul and avenge himself, Jericho must join up with the Darkwatch, a force of bounty hunters who take down anything evil and supernatural.
The game is set in America's old west, and Jericho fits the archetype of gun slinging outlaw perfectly. He wears long overcoats, large hats, an eye patch, and the spurs on his high boots my clinking noises as he walks. Jericho also possesses vampire characteristics like glowing eyes and extendable fangs. His outfit colors go from white to black and he is definitely the strong silent type. Throughout the game, Jericho Cross never says a single word. Players determine whether his actions will be good or evil in nature, regardless of the game's actual storyline. In other words, Cross is a big quiet hunk of skill with a bold look and a mean streak. Does that sound familiar?
This is where our archetype starts to die. If you haven't played it, Darkwatch is really good and does pretty much everything right for a first person shooter. However, there are only so many places you can go with the story. Whether Jericho chooses the good or bad path, the end result doesn't leave much plot for any sequels with Cross as a main character. Since Cross never talks, it's impossible to imagine him being affected by the events of this game. Whether he's been spending his time hunting humans or hunting demons, any plot twist that might interrupt the hunt would be pretty bland. This is the first reason bad asses are losing their ground, and it shows. The unique world of Darkwatch screams for a sequel, even with Jericho as a character, but his nature holds him back.
Shadow the Hedgehog
I thought long and hard about whether or not to include Shadow in here. It's really difficult to call a character a bad ass when he's actually a furry little animal with big shoes. As anyone who played Shadow's self-titled game can tell you though, he uses guns and he's got a thing for white girls, so that's enough to qualify for now. Shadow is Sonic the Hedgehog's sometime nemesis and sometime ally with powers equal or greater to Sonic himself. Shadow has no problem using firearms or vehicles to get his job done, and most of the time that job is spent trying to recover his lost memory.
Like many bad ass characters, Shadow doesn't quite have himself figured out and throughout several Sonic brand games; players have worked to put the pieces of the puzzle together for him. This means that, like Jericho Cross, Shadow must choose between good and evil actions to determine his overall nature. This leads us to the second reason that bad ass characters are dying out in games…limited appeal.
Games are different from other art forms due to their interactivity. As gamers, we usually go through games just as a movie buff would go through their favorite film, but the difference is that in most games, our actions are not necessarily predetermined. Shadow doesn't do the same thing every time we pop a Sonic game into our console, he reacts to the things we do. If we feel like letting Shadow kill humans for the next 3 days, we can do it and throw the rest of the game out the window. You can't do that in movies or books, the characters must go through their preset actions.
That means that Shadow stays with us far longer than a character from another media would. On top of that, since gamers interact with these characters and determine their actions, they can become more attached to that character than an on screen actor as well. But Shadow can only be a bad ass for so long. Eventually, he finds out his past and his character is shot to hell right there. Once Shadow has himself figured out, he becomes a different character altogether and players must associate with a new Shadow who has no lost some of the appeal that made him so great in the first place. On other forms of media, this isn't such a big deal because characters leave us fairly quickly after performing their actions. In games, it's a death sentence, and one that comes all too fast as players quickly become entrenched in learning Shadow's past, only to lose that intensity because of it.
Marcus Fenix – Gears of War
Alright soldier, here's the situation. Marcus Fenix (not to be confused with the late Praetor Fenix of Protoss legend) is the take no prisoners squad leader and main protagonist in Gears of War for the Xbox 360. Marcus has dilemma…he is caught in the middle of one of the most brutal wars in humanity's history. An army of monstrous super creatures known as the "locusts" have not only ravaged humanity, but also killed Marcus' pappy and made him very, very sad. Marcus tried to save his father in the middle of this god awful war, but failed miserably and wound up getting sentenced to 40 years in prison for his actions. HEY! Wait just a damn minute!
Humanity is being overrun, it needs all the help they can get, and yet they found time to throw this guy in the pen for 40 YEARS…for trying to save his father and ignoring orders?! Come on now. I have no love for the military but even I know that plot device is unrealistic. I won't give away too many details but suffice to say Marcus is released from the prison when the war turns ugly, and he uses his anti-hero skills and brutal attitude to fight back against the enemy, whether his superiors like it or not.
As you progress through the game you'll find out that Marcus' family was actually quite rich before the war. Ridiculously rich actually, I mean like "WOW." Yet somehow both Marcus and his father found a way to join the space marines (anyone ever read Starship Troopers?) and basically toss all their wealth and power to the side. Marcus trades in his top hat for a bandanna and his cane for a gun with a chainsaw attached to it, and develops a hardcore attitude and a voice so rough you'll believe he was always that way. When Marcus encounters his old mansion dwellings, he doesn't even act like he ever lived there and this is what makes his character so unbelievable. It's also the last death knell for bad ass video game characters overall.
Bad asses were so big in the past decade, and so popular with the gaming public, that developers are really stretching to give their characters a mean streak. There is no more valiant Prince Graham searching for lost crap in King's Quest, these days in order to sell games you need guys that love blood and guts and killing. Yet there can only be so many bad asses in the world and developers are simply running out of back stories that make these bad ass characters appealing. So what if Marcus' father is dead? Dan from Street Fighter Alpha had his father killed twice, and you don't see him getting any super powers from it.
The Anger
There's no question that the bad asses of yesteryear are leaving us, and that more interesting and flawed heroes (Frank West of Dead Rising comes to mind) will be taking their place. Still, I'm not quite sure how I feel about the loss of bad asses in the video game market. On the one hand, games are oversaturated with anti-heroes and it is time for a change. On the other hand, lack of a stereotypical mean streak will make it harder to find justification for the brutal violence and mindless fun we've all become used to.
I believe it was Joey McIntyre of NKOTB who said that music comes in phases. It's all boy bands and techno now, but people will get angry eventually and listen to grunge and metal again. Well Joey, perhaps games are the same way, and the bad asses are only going into the grave temporarily. Until their return, embrace the hatred.
And the Nominees Are…
Welcome to the 2006 Hate Club Hall of Shame Awards! While this year saw the release of all the next generation systems from the biggest names in development, most of the year sucked for gaming in general (check out your local rental source for more proof of this). If you want to vote on any of the categories or add a category yourself just shoot me an email and I'll include it in next week's awards ceremony. Don't forget to include a comment or two about why you chose the way you did. There are three nominees for each category as selected by a professional panel of me:
1) Hardcore Nerd Achievement of the Year
- Completing All Reward Cards in Need For Speed Carbon
- Beating Side Arms: Hyper Dyne in Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2
- Getting a mount in World of Warcraft
2) 2006 Character Who Needs To Be Disemboweled
- Roxas, Kingdom Hearts 2
- Shujinko, Mortal Kombat Armageddon
- Vent, Mega Man ZX
3) 2006 Game Most Offensive To Women
- The Sopranos, PS2
- Scarface: The World is Yours, Xbox (360), PS2, PC
- Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, Xbox 360
4) Worst of the Next Generation Consoles
- Red Steel, Nintendo Wii
- Samurai Warriors 2, Xbox 360
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire, PS3
5) Most Shameful Gamer News Story of the Year
- Man Kills Daughter Over Lost Xbox Save
- PS3 Riots and Crime
- Tomonobu Itagaki Demoted for Sexual Harassment
6) Most Likely Developer to Be Bought Out By Microsoft
- Roxor Games
- RareWare
- Sega
7) Most Overused Cliché 2006
- Little Girl Ghost with Hair In Front of Her Face, F.E.A.R, Fatal Frame.
- Spy Gets Betrayed By His Superiors, Metal Gear (all of them), Splinter Cell Double Agent
- Strong Girls Rescues Weak, Pathetic Man, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy
8) Worst of the Old Generation Consoles
- One Piece: Grand Battle, Nintendo Gamecube
- Dirge of Cerebrus, PS2
- Sonic Riders, Xbox
9) Most Useless Piece of Crap
- Game Console Intercoolers
- The Nintendo Wii Remote Strap
- The Xbox 360 DVD Drive
10) 2006 Game You Are Most Likely to Wipe Your Ass With
- Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales, PC
- Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run, PS2
- Family Guy, PS2
