Redfall, Cyberpunk and Potential

 The promise unspoken

What is the one thing worse than a steaming pile of irredeemable Saints Row 2022? Any game that is just as decrepit but had at one time the potential to be something more than it ended up being. I mean that's the one thing constantly hanging over the heads of the young, isn't it? The 'potential' of what they could be coming up against whatever way they've disappointed their elders today- those who live their own disappointing realities vicariously through the admonishment of the next generation on. But I am slipping wildly off track for the moment, let me refocus. Every game started with a great dream of what could be, and most every one that made it to market fell somewhat short of that promise. That's just the natural consequence of designing anything, afterall. But the dream of the creator is an unattainable high, it is the game's job to create the dream of the consumers- but that doesn't make that pinnacle any easier to hit, oh no! And the consequence for missing that peak is certainly a hell of a lot louder.

We talk about games that are fantastic all the time, and whisper curses at the worst of the worst that sully our memories to even linger; but it's only sadness that tinges the disappointments. Sighed wisps of cheers never voiced, praises never lifted and hearts never soared. We can almost see, behind the cobwebs of reality, the ideal that was promised, or which we conjured in our minds- and like a floating knife it's handle seems so real to clutch- only to prove intangible. The failure of a game is something that will forever hang over it like a cloud. The terrible could never have made it in the first place, pretending otherwise was delusional from the start; but we have expectations of our hero companies. We believe in Dice, in Arkane, in CDPR, such that the output regularly just seems to boggle the mind with how wrong it all is. No one can quite make sense of ruined potential.

Battlefield 2042 is perhaps a prime example of this idea being that it was not only going to be the next title to carry on the storied Battlefield legacy, but it was also tying into one of the most cult classic entries in the franchise that hadn't even gotten lip service in years by that point- Battlefield 2242. A sci-fi style Battlefield game like no other since, invoking that name was a signal to the player base that this game was going to go back to what made the franchise great. Complex maps, in depth progression and grand scale conflict. And of course the result was a half-finished battlefield title with blandly designed maps, an ill-fitting 'operative' player system reminiscent of COD Warzone and a whole heap of bugs and disappointment. After whipping the fanbase up into an absolute frenzy, this was about the worst case scenario for everyone involved- not least of all through Dice who shattered the last vestiges of hope that non-diehards had in their bodies. 

And in a somewhat similar vein we have old faithful in the Cyberpunk 2077 debacle. What can I say that you don't already know? This game promised to be Deus Ex stretched out into an open world, with all that immersive sim goodness on a grand scale. Branching narrative, interactive city space, progressively updated multiplayer- Cyberpunk 2077 wanted to be everything at once. Or more specifically, it wanted to be the GTA that even Rockstar couldn't make. And it wasn't that. The game is good, and I think the writing and performances are excellent, but the world lacked any of that immersive interactivity which was promised, the multiplayer was cancelled and the narrative branches were cut off the tree. For everything the team promised this game would be, repeatedly up until the final few weeks before launch, Cyberpunk will live on as a disappointment of cataclysmic proportions.

Which brings us back around to Redfall. Whilst not in itself a very fascinating concept, Arkane are a studio renowned for their complex and thoughtful approach to design when it comes to the games that they make and the worlds that they build. Whether it's robust gameplay systems or sprawling multi-faceted level design, Arkane are typically a developer you can rely on to put out quality games that will appeal to the immersive sim lover out there to some level. Even at their most dubious, such as Deathloop, it's more the direction of the game that rubbed me and some others the wrong way, not the quality of the game in of itself. That same gratis cannot be extended towards Redfall, however, for it's utterly unambitious and generic presentation that rivals Ubisoft in it's contrived nature. There's nothing of the creative flair to design that made Arkane famous here, and consequently nothing of the studio's soul and reputation. It's actually something of a wonder that a game like this could even have been made in the modern year.

Oh, but did I even mention 'Mass Effect Andromeda'? Yeah I'm going back to the past now with a game that tried to revive the legacy of the relatively recently concluded Mass Effect trilogy. As I always insist, I think Mass Effect Andromeda played it far too soon to follow up on what ME3 set-up, and that was somewhat clear in a game that neither matched nor pressed above the scope of the previous title. What was a sprawling galaxy spanning adventure was condensed into a narrow lens with barren worlds and a scant few alien species to get involved with. The narrative branches were lacking, the gameplay fell for the trap of making 'adaptable classes' which basically just melded every playstyle into on amorphous blob. Andromeda has glimmers of Mass Effect's glory in it's body, and the ambition of what they wanted to do seems to have run aground with the time available and the size of the team who worked on it. A sad disappointment, that one.

You see, potential is a swirling pool of feasibility muddied by a veil of dreams and expectation. Oftentimes the very concept of which can be the tool of disillusionment that taints what we expect and sullies the product. I think that objectively, Fable III is a pretty decent game with some solid gameplay ideas, like 2 and 1 before it. But like 2 and 1, Fable III had the spectre of expectation built up be the words of Peter Molyneux ruining each experience before they begun. I think Fable III suffered from those promises going unanswered for so long that fans just rallied up to take it out on an alright game like that one, lambasting it for potential that the game could never honestly have achieved, because of the illusions created by another. The same could be said for 'Dragon Age: Inquisition', which was sold as a successor to 'Origins' but ended up being more similar to Mass Effect in it's style and presentation. Not bad, just not what was promised.

Meeting potential is as much an art of wrestling with the audience as it wrestling with oneself, because the very idea of 'potential' is as ethereal as a dream. You can't realistically compare one piece of art with the success and achievement of another and insist that someone should be able to create something just as important or exciting because that standard has been proven as possible. Art is twisting and shifting and implacable; if you try and limit it down to definitive values then you suck all the life out of the craft and end up being Ubisoft. And no one wants more Ubisoft's in the world. (I shudder at the thought.) Still, it is the very inner force of 'potential' that drives us to be the best that we feel we can be so as to not waste what is said to be at our very fingertips. My lesson? Be guided by potential, not battered by it's heft.

Celebrity Cameos

They're just like you or I

Let me be cynical for a second as I say that the easiest way to circumvent the process of creating an interesting and likeable character who is loved for all of their strong personality traits and/or driving goals, is to just replace all that with a celebrity cameo. Now, of course, that isn't always the case when it come to arrangements like this but it sure tends to be more often than not. Afterall, celebrities already have a following of some sort, must be innately likable in some way, and can draw a decent crowd to your project. This is the reason why big name actors now rule the Hollywood screens and why we see gaming studios drop big money to bring such talent over to this world.

I've always approached the fabled celebrity cameo with a healthy degree of skepticism as I try to figure out exactly what it is that the studios are trying to sell me. Even in the times when the cameo has worked out so well that you forget you're listening to the soothe vibrations of celebrity vocal cords, there is still a hint of exploitation behind the whole process that turns my stomach a little bit. The exercise must rake in some success, however, seeing as how video game studios are still giving it a swing as recently as this year. (It still isn't rampant as in main stream movies, though, so it can't be too profitable in the long run.)

I think that perhaps the most contemporary example of this is in Hideo Kojima's latest work, Death Stranding. (Light spoilers.) Some ripples have reverberated over the Internet in regards to this title and it's not just because of the fact that the game is as weird and wacky as people have been assuming it would be for all these years. Nor is it due to the occasional piece of out-of-place product placement that we see scattered around the game world. I think the biggest "What?" that seems to have been stemming from this game is the secret in which you can track down Conan O'Brien and have him give you a hat in the shape of an Otter. Now I could go into details of where you find him and the potential links that this appearance could have to his 'Clueless gamer' skits, but honestly does any of that really matter? Conan O'Brien's hologram shows up in a Hideo Kojima game. 'Nuff said.

When I forced myself into Gears of War fandom in order to keep up with everyone else's hype, the last thing I was expecting was for a rapper to turn up as one of the side characters in the latest entry. And yet, Gears of War 3's Aaron Griffin turned out to be exactly that as he was voiced and loosely modelled around Ice-T. Epic games were clearly proud of this particular collaboration as he was one of the hardest characters to unlock in that game's horde mode too, requiring players to make a stupid amount of money through playing the mode. (Enough to require several days worth of playtime to be dedicated exclusively to this mode.) Epic even reached out to Mr. T again (Not that Mr.T) when it came time for Borderlands 3. Or at least, I assume the Epic connection was the reason why Gearbox were saddled with bringing Ice into their game.

Ubisoft wanted to get onto this train this year with a game that I have covered a decent bit on this blog: Ghost Recon Breakpoint. If you remember, I mentioned how they wanted to make a big splash with the major villain of that game by modelling him and having him voiced by Jon Bernthal. Now Mr. Bernthal is a tremendous actor known for his roles in Walking Dead and the Punisher, and casting that man as a disgruntled ex-special forces terrorist seemed like actual dream casting. Unfortunately, this game was written by Ubisoft's games-as-a-service team and so they actually managed to bungle a script that literally wrote itself. Bernthal's Walker does what he can but there is only so much anyone can do with a generic, unfocused 'mad at the system' character who is, bizarrely, designed in such a way that the player can kill him off half way through the game and have the rest of the plot play out without him. (Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a mastermind?)

Mass Effect Andromeda is hardly a game that will go down in history for great characters and/or voice acting but I always keep it at the back of my mind for several odd reasons; one of which being the fact that it is currently listed on Natalie Dormer's IMDB page. That is because Bioware decided to cast her as the Tempest's medical office, Lexi T'Perro. This was clearly done in a way to capitalize off of her recent 'Game of thrones' fame and not to benefit the actress' talents, as was made apparent by the way that Bioware published several videos teasing her involvement whilst in game she played an extremely forgettable side character. Lexi hardly has any baring on the main narrative and even when she does get the chance to speak it is as cold and clinical as humanly possible. (I honestly can't remember if this character has an emotion in the entire game.) So when it comes down to a question of wasted talent, Mass Effect Andromeda knocked it out the park here, too.

The Saints Row series, known for the odd wink-and-nod to the audience, went above and beyond with their cameo when they announced that Keith David would be playing your vice president in Saints Row 4. This came alongside much fan fare and advertisement despite the fact that, as veterans of the franchise would know, Keith David already played a character in Saints Row lore; the original leader of the Saints: Julius. (And you can bet that the Devs didn't miss a chance to mention that in the game.) Keith David is placed front and center in this game as a main character and given plenty of material to be as funny as possible, making him one of the better examples of cameos that we can see in the world of gaming.

Of course, one can hardly talk about gaming cameos without bringing up the classic; GTA San Andreas. That is because San Andreas is a game that is practically dripping with cameos out of every orifice. (Such to the point where the term 'cameo' actually loses all meaning.) We're talking about a cast containing the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Penn, Ice-T (again), James Woods, Peter Fonda, David Cross, Danny Dyer, Frank Vincent and more I'm sure. What makes it even better; some of those characters I mentioned are actually reoccurring or main characters. None of these characters are celeb fodder and most of them use the talents of the actor to elevate a strong character into an unforgettable one. This is the reason why San Andreas' cast is still remembered as the best that Rockstar ever assembled. (Also the music tracks. They were great too.)

Oftentimes celebrities are used as a replacement for good writing, that's immutable, but occasionally something decent and interesting can come from it. For every time that CoD uses Kevin Spacey or Kit Harrington for forgettable stock villains, there are games like Fallout New Vegas who know exactly how to use one of their celeb stand in's, The Radio DJ: Mr Las Vegas; to make for a fitting subject, The Radio AI; Mr New Vegas. I suppose it's up to the consumer to decide if they find the very prospect insulting enough to hold it against the larger game, or if they'll at least keep an open mind up until their suspicions are confirmed.