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It's not uncommon to find praise for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves that cites its impressive melding of cinema and gameplay. You truly feel like you're playing an Indiana Jones movie, albeit swapping Harrison Ford for Nathan Drake. Paramount to executing that are the game's detailed cut-scenes. Ironically, however, Naughty Dog creative director Bruce Straley told an audience at the Game Developers Conference this afternoon that cut-scenes are "counter to our medium [games]."
"There is a cost for taking away a player's control," cautioned Straley. "In other words, removing control is counter to our medium. If we all wanted to watch a movie, we'd be in a theater."
That's not to say developers shouldn't be incorporating cut-scenes into their game. It's actually a necessity to drive a cinematic narrative, he argued. What's needed is careful balance between cut-scenes, gameplay and finding ways to have the two seamlessly transition from one another.
"If we have a cut-scene," he continued, "we have to weigh whether the moment is dramatic enough to justify a cut-scene, consider how long the cut-scene's going to go on for and how frequently we're going to cut into the gameplay."
Straley was critical of Naughty Dog's execution of his own proposal, walking through instances where the team struggled to meld cut-scenes and gameplay (i.e. Chloe blowing up the truck).
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tragedy93
I think that it entirely depends on how smoothly interjected the cutscene is, sometimes it can be very jarring and the story seems completely seperate than the game.
samaside
I agree with the 'shut the hell up' sentiment. Can't I just want to play a movie? When it comes to gaming I care a lot more about the story than I even care about the gameplay. I just want to know what happens next. And, honestly, if you want to tell me that through cutscenes I am down.
B1ack_Blob
Gotta agree with straley here. I love it when, in fps' at least, there is no cut to cutscenes and you get to stay "in character". In Third person shooters/games though, it's a completely different story. Your already have the sense that you are watching the main character during the gameplay, and cutscenes just seem to work with that.
tragedy93
Yes, cutscenes as a seperate part of a game are counter to the video game mediumm. When I first played Halflife2 I was blown away by the fact that aside from an intro cutscene, all the dialog and story were acted out within the framework of the game engine and you were completely free to move about and do anything you wanted while these parts were going on and I thought for sure that this was how all games were going to be from then on. Unfortunately its been quite a few years since the debut of HL2 and a lot of devs think prerendered story scenes are the way to go, which totally ruins immersion in the game. Right on Naughty Dog!
-John-
As a Metal Gear Solid fan, I would kindly like Naught Dog to shut the hell up.
But seriously, they do have a point. But really, in a game that's about story, cutscenes are necessary in some cases. It would be nice if every game was like Half-Life, but I won't mind if it isn't.
TromboneFanatic
And I happen to think the Metal Gear Solid franchise is my favorite game series. I love a story-driven game and there are just some things that a game designer cannot program into a character without totally befuddling the player. Use MGS1 as an example: the coolest acrobatic Snake moves were performed during a cut-scene. Kojima could have programmed a lot of those moves into my game controls, but then the simplicity of said controls would have been lost.
Also, I happen to enjoy the way the cut scene takes the story from my fumbling hands and gets it back on a fast-paced track.
X02
I agree. Cut scenes have to match the pace of the gameplay and oftentimes the integration of them doesn't work as well as they should. MGS4 is a great game but one whose cutscenes I felt didn't work too well - the transition from action filled battlefield to speech heavy Drebin wasn't too smooth. (It did, however, make it a great value as I felt I paid for a game and movie.) However, it was a necessary evil in order to deliver the narrative.
On the other hand, we have Modern Warfare 2, a game that uses no cut scenes. While it contrasts with MGS4's cutscene heavy version of storytelling, Infinity Ward misses out on some opportunities to deliver a cinematic experience. Not to say theirs isn't valid, it's just different.
If you haven't yet, check out "youtube.com/michaelbarnes" for another look at MW2. Should be the first video on the page and it is really well done IMO.
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