Am I Dead Again?

Death and dying have been an integral part of the gaming experience since the beginning. When you failed at a game, usually you pick yourself right back up and try again. Death is usually a big part of the gameplay or used to get you to put in more quarters and increase the length of play time. Today we try to fight back even if we can’t. (I’m probably going to spoil some games where the main character gets killed off. That’s the WARNING.)

Permadeath has been reintroduced to gaming lately in the form of rouge-lites like Rogue Legacy or Dark Souls. These deaths represent a mistake the player has made with the consequence of losing progress. It’s becoming a larger trend in more mainstream, big budgeted games to kill off the player as a plot point. When Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare had you die in nuclear fallout it was an incredible scene that no one saw coming. Earlier in COD4 you took the role of a political prisoner who is executed, this was a compelling piece of storytelling that hadn’t been utilized in such a high profile title before. The wave it started is one that really bothers me.

Epic literature has a history of chronicling a hero’s life that usually ends in death. These stories are about a character that isn’t supposed to represent the player, they’re widely told biographies about an exceptional person’s life. I hate to break it to you, but in Killzone: Shadowfall the main character gets murdered with a handgun right when he finds out what is going on. This isn’t the most shocking event as the act is carried out by the commanding officer you’ve willingly disobeyed orders from; it isn’t even a shocking betrayal. It’s more shocking that the entire game you’ve been shrugging off bullet wound after bullet wound, I’d rather be left on a space station that’s exploding with no way out while fruitlessly running around in first person. The story in the latest Killzone game isn’t anywhere near epic in scope, the set up and universe is interesting but it’s still just a science fiction first person shooter.

Outlast is a survival horror game that also came out recently and was the latest release for Playstation Network’s Plus free software program for the PS4. Throughout the game you have no means to fight back and must run and hide from enemies al la Clock Tower. There’s little wrong with the actual gameplay but the atmosphere gets old and stops being creepy about an hour and a half in. So the daring investigative reporter stops the crazy experiments in the basement of the asylum only to get shot repeatedly by what looks like a private security corp. The main character’s death is an unfulfilling important plot point, but you know that he’s met a grim end and a possible fate worse than death.

There are many older games that kill off main characters, especially role playing games. Modern Warfare just seemed to have started the mass injection into the mainstream. That magical commanding officer betrayal handgun also appeared in Modern Warfare 2 and killed off two major characters; these games were like watching huge action movies that needed much better realized plot points. I’m sorry to have spoiled two recent releases but you weren’t playing those for story were you?

I wonder how long until we hit George R. R. Martin levels of character death.

And That Is Why I’m Not Torn

I talked about the Playstation Vita quite a bit in a previous post. The only real problem with the system was lack of software. There is no shortage of 3DS games that keep getting ported over to the Sony handheld and they really don’t show what the rig is capable of. If only there was a game that showcased all of the features of the system in an interesting way. Today we fight with the kitchen sink!

Tearaway is a charming title developed by the crazies over at Media Molecule. They also brought us Little Big Planet. I’m sorry to say that I really liked the concept of LBP but just wasn’t a fan of the game itself. It was adorable and championed user created content but the controls were floaty and there was an overwhelming amount of content to shovel through. History has not repeated itself as Tearaway is an extremely well constructed experience!

First off the graphics are amazing considering the fact that everything looks like it was cut out of construction paper. You can see the dioramas that must have coated shoe boxes during the design part of the game making process. It looks like a child has come up with this world and it’s the exact amount of charming that you’d want in a family friendly platformer. The real achievement here is that they made a 3D platformer in the paper style as opposed to sidescrolling in only two dimensions. I’m happy to say that the jumping feels just right with no floatiness and the Vita’s thumb sticks are definitely up to the challenge.

Difficulty wise, Tearaway is a little bit easy and a tad short. You won’t be mad at the game for giving you precision platforming that hates you a la Super Mario 3D Land and you’ll be through the story in matter of hours. This is definitely a relaxing, family oriented experience that you would have no trouble letting a young one ponder through. With the length of the game in question, a $40 price tag may be asking a bit much but nabbing it at any price less than $30 seems about right.

There is a story here. You are guiding a letter that must be delivered to You. Yes, You. The postal system in this world is bad enough that the letters have had to resort to growing arms and legs to deliver themselves. You reside in the sun; you know this because the sun shows active video from the front camera that would usually point at your own face. Insert Teletubbie joke here. I never realized how serious I looked gaming until now. The letter can’t even jump for the first hour of the game, instead you have to tap the back touch screen to make it bounce or press certain face buttons to move platforms to get to your destination. You get to do all this while playing a solid 3D platformer. The integration of the features of the PS Vita are the real stars here. I was home for the holidays and had my father roar into the microphone when it asked; every time a certain animal roars it’s my dad pretending to be a lion, just like the old days! I even have some animals running around with the pattern from my mother’s sitting room chair mapped onto them. The player gets to design their own items for in the world as well by cutting shapes out of paper using the touch screen. They can be as detailed or as simple as you like. I’me sure someone’s game has plenty of penis shaped snowflakes floating around.

Did I mention Tearaway is extremely charming? For that alone it should be one of those games that every Vita owner should own. This is the first time we’ve had an exclusive title that shows off the many features they threw into the Vita and it should be a pack in title. Playstation Network should at the very least drop Uncharted: Golden Abyss from the “permanent” free to subscribers line up and give everyone the experience of Tearaway; it’s a much better showcase piece for the system. Play it!