Games that Aren't Games

There are plenty of genres I like when it comes to games. Just looking at some of my favorites there are plenty of platformers, fighters, RPGs, and games of other genres that come to mind. Then there are a few other games I think of that…I can’t really classify. When I look them up I see a lot of genres listed for them, actually. Like nobody can really agree. One thing I see for all of them that I can think of is “adventure.”
What “adventure” means to me is that it doesn’t really fit into anything else. There’s not enough jumping to call it a platformer, not enough shooting to call it a shooter, not enough puzzle-solving to call it a puzzle game, not enough combat to call it a beat ‘em up, just a whole bunch of elements of other genres put together in a game where you progress from one area to the next exploring. That’s what an “adventure game” is to me. And I really don’t like that term, because the only games I can think of that really fit that genre are Zelda and games similar to it.


Like, it just bugs me, I dunno. You see a game like Zelda in Adventure, but then you also see a game like Heavy Rain.

…what in God’s name do those two games have in common? Absolutely nothing, that’s what.

Heavy Rain is actually one of the games I want to talk about today. Developed by Quantic Dream, it was released in 2010 as a PS3 exclusive and got almost universal praise from critics and sold extremely well. However, it’s one of those games that everyone on the internet hates for some reason. Why? Well, let me explain the gameplay for you.

In Heavy Rain you control 4 main characters. You walk around investigating a mystery, collecting clues, talking to people, etc. The only gameplay besides the investigations and walking around consists of quicktime events. The game actually introduces a lot of really unique ideas that I haven’t seen in many games before. For example, if one of the 4 main characters dies at any point in the story, they don’t come back. The rest of the game plays out without them, and is often very different as a result. There are a lot of karma choices to make that aren’t nearly as black and white as they are in a game like, say InFamous. There are all kinds of tough choices to make, from saving the life of the serial killer that you’ve been chasing the entire game to whether you should drink the orange juice directly from the carton or not. The game’s actually really lengthy, it’s different outcomes and karma choices give it plenty of replay value, and it’s deep story and likeable characters give you plenty to like.

However, it’s gotten the reputation of being called a “movie” more than a game. And, well…that’s…not really true? Technically, it’s a game. You can spout off with whatever you want, but it is a video game. However, it does have a lot of movie elements, as there are a lot of cutscenes and you aren’t in complete control of your character for a lot of the game. Why does this upset so many people? Well, I guess they’d rather see something like this AS a movie rather than a $60 retail game. But unlike a movie, the game is 10 hours long, and even during the cutscenes you’re given choices of dialog to make or actions to do that drastically change the rest of the story, so…yeah. I really wouldn’t say they’re the same thing. It’s not a traditional video game, no. There are a lot of movie elements, yes. That doesn’t change what it is; a video game! If you don’t like a game that plays a bit like a movie in some parts, then that’s up to you I guess, but I don’t know why you wouldn’t. I mean, you like movies, right? Most people like movies. So when you take elements from one and put in a whole lot of interactivity I don’t see where the problems come in. Now if you think it’s a bad movie or a bad game or whatever, I’m not gonna get into that, but the point is that this is a game that gets way too much hate for something that’s really not a problem.

Oh, Ethan Mars, why must everyone hate you?

I’m not gonna say Heavy Rain was perfect, but it had a lot of original ideas that worked out pretty well and I’m looking forward to Quantic Dream’s next project. But it certainly isn’t the only, nor the first game to be compared to something besides a video game itself. Everyone, say hello to Mr. Wright.

In 2001, Capcom released Gyakuten Saiban in Japan on the Gameboy Advance. After the Nintendo DS was released, an updated version was released in North America and other regions of the world in 2005 as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, and much like Heavy Rain, given critical acclaim. This game doesn’t see nearly as much hate on the internet, but I honestly don’t get why not. If you look at it for what it is, there’s even less interactivity than Heavy Rain; you investigate, present things in court, and…that’s it. There’s not even any voice acting or anything, just a whole bunch of reading, the only really interactive parts being the cross-examinations in court, and even then that’s just choosing the right piece of evidence. In that sense it’s more like a book than a movie, which again leads to the question; is this a video game?

Well…again, yeah. It’s on a DS cart so I’m gonna say it’s a video game. People call it a visual novel or a point and click, but to me those things are still video games. The gameplay itself is basically just paying attention to what’s going on, then saying the right things and presenting the right evidence. Honestly, I’d be less willing to defend this as a game than Heavy Rain, but again…I don’t get the problem. The story is well-written, the characters are almost all likeable and memorable, the music is fitting and catchy, and the series just leaves a big impression on the player. These are all good things. The series and characters have obviously become ridiculously popular, with the trademark “Objection!” becoming a lame internet meme, Phoenix Wright being a playable character in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (with his reveal trailer having WAY more views than that of any other fighter in the game), and even getting its own movie. Whether you’d call it a game or not, it’s impact on the gaming community is obvious and the content present in the series is some of the most genuinely entertaining stuff I’ve seen in any game OR book.

Ace Attorney’s popularity is so huge, this guy even managed to score a cameo in some golf game!

The last game I want to talk about is Journey on PSN. And, well, it’s…really strange to talk about. Like Heavy Rain and Ace Attorney, the game received a whole lot of positive reviews, but has a good chunk of the internet hating it. Why? Well, there isn’t a whole lot of “game” to it. The game is an hour and a half long your first time through and the majority of the gameplay is just walking around and exploring with a little bit of platforming thrown in. This one isn’t so much a debate of “is it a game or not” and more a debate of if the game is any good or not. Honestly, I was smiling the whole way through, and the emotional impact the devs were trying to make when creating the game totally hit me the way it was meant to. The graphics are gorgeous and the music is among the best I’ve ever heard in a game. Some of the ideas like playing co-op with people online but not having any idea who they are until the credits and being unable to communicate with them are legitimately brilliant, but I think could be implemented better in future games. There’s a lot of debate regarding the game’s meaning, but frankly there’s a big group of people who don’t care. The people who say that sound, graphics, and story should never be a factor in a game’s value. If you’re one of them, you’ll have no interest in Journey, and probably not a whole lot in the other games I mentioned. But if you’re into games as an experience and can appreciate all the work that goes into the other elements besides gameplay, you need to play Journey. It’s short, it’s simple, but it’s really amazing to play and gives you a feeling that I don’t think I’ve ever felt in a game before. It hasn’t “changed the way I’ll look at games forever”, but it was a lot of fun and made me feel things that I hadn’t felt with other games. It’s pretty pricey at $15, but if you’re willing to fork that much over or if you have a friend that has it, I recommend you play it. If not, you’ll get more-or-less the same experience just watching a playthrough on YouTube.

Possibly the best damned hour and a half of my life.

In conclusion, Heavy Rain, Ace Attorney, and Journey are three games that have gotten hate for being video games that aren’t really video games. Me at least, I don’t get it. Compare them to movies, and books, and art, and whatever else you want to, it doesn’t make a difference to me. A good movie is a good movie, a good book is a good book, a good piece of art is a good piece of art, and most importantly, a good video game is a good video game. These 3 games have brought in plenty of ideas that I hadn’t seen or heard of before and contain more creativity than a huge chunk of other games that have come out in the last decade. There are people that say the ONLY thing that should matter in a game is the gameplay itself, but I’m not one of those people. If that makes me a casual or something, then so be it, but a lot of hard work goes into aspects like the soundtrack, the graphics, the story, and in a lot of cases, the emotional investment. I think these are three games that show that better than any other.