Dynamic, Cinematic Gaming; the Future.

With the release of LA Noire and games like it, it is apparent that video games have moved towards a more dynamic and cinematic way of storytelling. In LA Noire, you play as a detective who has to investigate crime scenes, apprehend suspects, and interrogate both witnesses and suspects. The game utilizes a unique motion capture technology to bring to life all the minute facial expressions that could indicate that someone is telling the truth or lying. It is your job to decide whether to believe a character or not, and what to do about it.
This trend in gaming has been around for a while but I feel that it is finally coming into maturity and is being seen in many AAA releases. The trend I am referring to is a cinematic approach to gaming. As I was playing LA Noire today my mom happened to be walking by and she asked if I even enjoyed the game because it seemed like it was less action and more talking “like you’re watching a movie,” she said. This, for me, hammered home the point that this cinematic approach was working. For someone who isn’t into gaming to see a little bit of the game in passing and make that remark, shows that the cinematic elements are there.
In the past, storytelling in video games was a minor thing, high scores were the target. This changed with the roleplaying game and with the invention of bigger hard drives to hold more game information. Now the role of storytelling is going through another renaissance, the actions of the character have dynamic consequences on the story and on future games in some cases.
The Mass Effect series has the best use of game-to-game continuity that I have ever seen. All of the choices you made in the first game (letting Ashley or Kaiden die on Virmire, for example) have actual consequences in the second game and they will have an even bigger impact on the third game in the series. The whole story unfolds in a very unique way that you set into motion with your choices and actions in the game. This element makes you, the gamer, feel like you need to think before you do something because the consequence may be negative. Also, it adds to replay value because every time you play through, your experience will be slightly different.
But dynamic game-to-game decisions are not the only thing that is driving this gaming revolution; dynamic decisions in the same game make up a huge part of this new type of storytelling. In the game Heavy Rain, you play as four different characters and at any point one character might die and instead of a game over screen, you will get a different ending with that character dead. The game also has elements, like challenges, that will give you information you will need at the end of the game to solve the case. If you don’t complete the challenges, you won’t get the information you need at the end of the game and the clock will run out on you.
This type of open ending to the story leads you to be very careful in your dealings throughout the course of the game. It is like a playable “choose your own adventure” book. If you make the right choices you are rewarded but if you make the wrong ones, you could end up with a bad ending.
All of these developments lead games to seem more like playable movies and less like video games. In LA Noire you will probably recognize many of the actor’s faces because of how good the likeness is. The story of the game is strong enough that the lack of constant action is made up for by interrogation and investigation that could be very boring had it not been done right.
I believe that this new type of dynamic gameplay and storytelling is the future of games. Of course, we will still have our shooters, arcade style games, sports games, and other genres but I believe that many new titles will have dynamic endings, game-to-game continuity, and will feel more cinematic. Just watch the cut scene as the “suicide mission” begins in Mass Effect 2; you will feel like you are watching a movie and that is what I am looking forward to seeing more of in the future.