Here we go again. We are just over half way through the newest FPS or 3PS shooter. The game design is beautiful. The story line has us sucked in. The game play is flawless.
Awesome new guns...check
Sound effects that make me think I need ear plugs...check
Lighting that nearly causes seizures...check
Intelligent and challenging AI enemies...check
No stupid annoying monsters...chec...oh wait, there they are!
Why must every shooter game be infested with some variant of a video game monster, zombies, mutants or aliens? How many come to mind right off the top of my head that I've played recently?
Uncharted
Halo
Crackdown 2
Bioshock
Resident Evil
And the list goes on. I believe there are 3 reasons we are forced to have monsters in games.
1. We Like to be Scared
Being scared is never a good feeling but for some reason we subject ourselves to being scared on purpose. Haunted houses, scary movies, ghost stories...Its like some kind of sick pleasure equivalent to S&M.
*Bright Idea
Perhaps I can get my g/f to dress up in leather and whip me as I try to get to that next health pack before a video game monster kills me. That would be niceeeeeeee.
2. Humans Suck
Are humans not a challenge to us anymore. Isn't hunting a human supposed to be the most challenging hunt? (Shout out to the new Predator movie, can't wait for the bootleg!(I'm just kidding, bootlegging is bad and it robs artists of their hardwork. That would be like me coming and jacking you for your check after you got done making hamburgers all week. Don't do it. It's illegal)) I guess we are so full of ourselves that hunting and killing each other is beneath us.
3. Desensitize Me
Are game makers afraid that if we kill humans in a game we will kill humans in real life? Yeah, because that happens all the time right? The last story I remember was when that kid got killed over a Madden football game. I'm pretty sure you aren't able to kill anybody in Madden. Maybe if there were a video game monster in Madden, there would be less killing in the real world.
*Bright Idea
Lets send a bunch of Xboxes to Israel and Palestine and have them settle their differences over a game of Modern Warfare 2. We'll just throw Cat5 cables over the East Bank wall and settle this thing once and for all.
No more Mr. Video Game Monster! I'm tired of things scurrying around in the dark trying to kill me. The in-game lighting and music score have gotten way too good. Its starting to really creep me out. Damn, where is my nightlight?
