What FFXIII, Mass Effect 2, And Heavy Rain Have In Common

24 Feb 2010 at 00:00:00 by Tim McDonald

Final Fantasy XIII. Mass Effect 2. Heavy Rain. Three gigantic games, and three things I've been spending a lot of time with, recently. Chances are this has skewed my perspective slightly, but all three provide different takes on providing cinematic gaming.

It's a word I've used a lot lately. The Mass Effect 2 review might've used it as many as five times, which is enough for me to start self-flagellating, and I can't count how many times I've used it when describing Heavy Rain. The only reason I haven't used it with Final Fantasy XIII is because I have yet to actually talk about that with anyone. Just wait. I'm going to go for six uses in that review.

If repeating a word that often results in me whipping myself then I'm probably going to have to cut off a finger for explaining what it means, but here goes: “film-like.” Except that's a crap definition, isn't it? Games aren't films. What I tend to mean when I use it is that it's above and beyond most games in terms of animation, direction, voice acting, lip-synching, and all the other things which – when done badly – not only break the fourth wall but grab you by the shoulders, scream in your face, spit on your shirt, and knee you in the bollocks for good measure. Mass Effect 2 is cinematic in every respect: every animation, from conversations to combat to cutscenes, is spot on; it's graphically flawless, the voice acting is pretty much unparalleled and the actors have a fantastic script to work with, and the cutscenes are better directed than most films.

Anyway, yes. All three provide different takes. Final Fantasy XIII goes the standard Final Fantasy route with long (but unfeasibly pretty) cutscenes and some attack visuals that are pretty much setpieces; Mass Effect 2 attempts to make every single conversation into a mini-cutscene; Heavy Rain is an interactive film with a clever, twisting plot and some of the most sumptuous graphics gaming has yet seen.

What's also interesting about all three is that each has a very, very unique take on gameplay. Heavy Rain is best described as an interactive movie, with player choices and unorthodox input methods driving the game forward. The other two provide streamlined takes on RPGs, albeit by going in totally opposite directions: where Mass Effect 2 emphasises player choice in every conversation, Final Fantasy XIII cuts it out almost completely, to the point of – for most of the game – removing sidequests, player-initiated conversations and, really, any illusion of choice at all.

The obvious thing to say next would be which one does its job the best and which one falls flat on its face. Well, I can't. Firstly, I haven't finished Final Fantasy XIII and I'm not ready to state a full opinion. Secondly, I don't think any of them fall flat: each accomplish the goal of creating a cinematic experience, both in gameplay and in cutscenes, through wholly different means.

What I find striking is that these three games have turned up at a point so close to each other, with roughly two months separating their launches. Sure, we've had cinematic games before, but these three all streamline the gameplay for the purposes of making everything much more cinematic, albeit in different ways. I don't know whether we're at a point where technology and finances have finally caught up to ambition, or whether publishers are becoming more willing to take risks (although admittedly Mass Effect and Final Fantasy are both franchises so popular that even the worst titles would sell astronomically) or whether there's some sort of strange turning point in the minds of project developers, but if telling solid stories in superb ways is going to take a larger role in the future of gaming, then I, at least, couldn't be happier.

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