Telling a story

 When you think of telling a story a lot of people purely think of things like books, TV and films. It is kind of a sore point with me since I've been around them for 30 years or more now but videogames as they are now can tell stories with far greater scope than can be covered in a 2 hour film. Yes I know games can be just a stupid fun diversion, can be something that has little actual merit in it or simply has no real redeeming qualities whatsoever. This is also true of other forms of media, have you seen the majority of crap that poses as a TV show?

  Back in 2009 Uncharted 2 was released and being a fan of the first game it was on my Christmas list. When I sat down to play it I ended up being amazed by what I experienced. Yes it is derived from the classic adventure story as told in something like the original Indiana Jones film but the characters actually interact with each other in a normal and emotional way. You can feel what they feel and relate to how they react in the situations they find themselves in. I ended up just playing and playing, wanting to see what happened next. I became invested in the characters and their fate. How many other stories can you truly say that about?

  To illustrate my point I'm going to include the last 7 minutes of the game which picks up right after the final "boss" fight (which to be honest the game didn't really need). It would take me forever to describe the events that lead up to this point since the game is about 12 hours long all told. So here it is then:-

  After a lot of action and a final bit of gameplay shown in that video the usual winding down and summing up takes place. But the way they do it via character interaction rather than just wrapping up story points (hello 3rd Lord of the Rings film) makes it a much more memorable and enjoyable ending. The final section where it is just the two characters talking gets across how they feel about each other far better than some scene of two people kissing as the screen fades to black. The fact that you have been controlling this man, getting him through the situations he finds himself in and spending so much time with him connects you to the people in the story in a far stronger way than I experience in other forms of story telling.

  What I'm expressing here is that while a good story with interesting events is good if you don't feel for the characters, be able to empathise with them and care about their situation the overall story telling experience is much weaker. Some of the most powerful and enjoyable stories I have experienced have been where I adore the characters and if I can find that kind of story then it will always be close to my heart.