A Movie Blog by Craig Koban

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THE MOST CINEMATIC VIDEO GAMES OF ALL-TIME

Guest contributors: Catherine Ashley, Voyce, and Leah Jewer

I’ve made no secret whatsoever on social media that I have a dual love affair with both movies and video games, which subsequently made it a relatively simple decision on my part to marry my two most cherished pastimes together for the purposes of a new blog post.  

Seeing as my site is celebrating its 11th Anniversary this month, it seemed like a most fitting time to do just that. 

Don't get me wrong, though: The movies will always be the harbinger of my most obsessive drives.  Yet, it’s become increasingly and abundantly clear that movies and video games – both as prevailing, cherished, and respected mass marketed art forms – are progressively and aesthetically intersecting in more ways than ever before (I even devoted a CTV segment to this very subject, a snippet of which you can watch HERE).  As the cinema has continually evolved over the years from its humblest and rudimentary beginnings over a century ago, video games as well have deeply matured in their own unique manner from their simplistically crude graphics decades ago to more fully realized products with dense storylines, compelling characters, penetrating themes, and deeply immersive mythologies.  I’ve played games all of my life – from the classic Atari era all the way through to modern next-gen consoles – and I’ve truly begun to appreciate that games have legitimately come to rival movies as a fundamentally powerful and transformative artistic medium.  The greatest films of all-time have a level of ethereal out-of-body allure that’s hard to quantify: For two-plus hours you become less and less conscious of your theatrical surroundings and instead become so enthralled in the images and stories on screen that you actively feel like a participant in the film.  The silver screen reality becomes your reality.  Video games are not really all that different in this respect; they’ve become inherently cinematic...sometimes for the better...sometimes for the worse.

Then – eureka! – it dawned on me that a blog post regarding the most cinematic video games ever produced seemed like a captivating one to explore.  I reveal my single choice below for a game – through the very experience of playing it and/or via its plot, themes, character dynamics and visual design – that felt the most cinematic to me.  To mix things up, though, I’ve called upon three lovely and remarkably wonderful industry friends of mine (all of whom, in one form or another, are avid and passionate lifelong gamers) to provide added depth and commentary (far more than a movie dude like me can muster) and to share their thoughts and selections as well, which will follow mine below.

I struggled long and hard with this subject, especially considering that I decided to narrow down my discussion to a single video game that felt the most cinematic to me.

Initially, I thought that this would be a simple endeavor, but it’s one that caused me great reflection and even greater self-doubting procrastination.  Quite frankly, my issue with this very query was one of boiling down all of my decades of video game playing (from the late 70’s through to the present) into one finite selection that fits perfectly into this category.  Now, I don’t think that anyone would select a title that dates back to the birth of the industry (what is inherently cinematic about those very archaic looking games?), so it became clear that my choice would need to be narrowed down to the modern era…and…oh my…there are just so many games that would easily make the cut here. 

FALLOUT 3 for me seems like a very obvious choice from the get-go.  It’s the very first video game that I ever put more than 100 hours into and one that I submerged myself in with a passionate gusto.  That, and the game’s alternate timeline post-apocalyptic premise (dealing with the remains of civilization hundreds of years after a vast and devastating nuclear war between China and the U.S.) and retro visuals seemed, both then and now, ripe for cinematic exploration.  Then I began thinking of open world titles like the masterful RED DEAD REDEMPTION; its bravura evocation of the American frontier of the early 20th Century felt like a living breathing Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood western come lovingly to life.  Beyond this incredibly well received Rockstar game, I began to ponder the worthiness of older titles, like Bioware’s remarkably assured and consummately executed RPG STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC, still to this day the greatest of all the games based on George Lucas’ sprawling and epic space fantasy.  And speaking of games out of this world, how could one omit the HALO series from this conversation, the landmark shooter that's so unmistakably cinematic in most key areas that it almost became a movie directed by DISTRICT 9’s Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson.  The thoughts of what could have been if that film actually saw the light of day still enraptures me. 

Yet, when all is said and done…I just seem inevitably drawn back in a tractor beam-like vortex to a video game trilogy that, for my money, trumps all of the other aforementioned selections.  And, yes, I'm picking a trilogy, which may or may not constitute cheating on my part! 

Bioware’s MASS EFFECT series is a momentous achievement in lavishly scaled and wondrously envisioned science fiction.  Cherry picking the finest traits of Lucas' STAR WARS and Roddenberry’s STAR TREK and then homogenizing them together in one smooth mixture that feels simultaneously familiar and refreshingly new, the makers of MASS EFFECT had an unbridled and awe-inspiring ambition that most game franchises have attempted to duplicate, but few have equaled or surpassed.  The galaxy spanning storyline of the three games contains an overwhelming sensation of depth, detail, and raw immersion, much akin the finest of escapist film fantasies.  That, and few games have ever felt as tactile and authentic, despite the fact that they were populated by multiple alien races, extraterrestrial entities, and strange and exotic planets envisioned with unrestrained imagination.  Bioware’s role playing/third person exploratory shooter/RPG has a deeply rooted mythology that one can simply become engrossed in on an active level of participation.  Talks of adapting MASS EFFECT into the next proverbial tentpole sci-fi movie series have gone on for years…and rightfully so.  Bioware’s game triumvirate is easily the most cinematic example of the medium...by far.  MASS EFFECT is also the very first video game, at least for me, that had an underlining and established mythology that could easily dwarf most longstanding film franchises, and that’s a testament to the game’s endearing qualitative legacy. 

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Catherine Ashley is a multi-talented freelance writer and frequent contributor to Girls On Games.  She's also an aspiring Anthropology student that just finished her undergrad degree and is now working towards her Master's in Social and Cultural Anthropology at Montreal's Concordia University. 

“Booker, are you afraid of God?”

“No, but I’m afraid of you.”

Transitioning from a black screen, the image becomes that of an individual in a rowboat with heavy rain hammering down, limiting the visibility on screen.  You see two people rowing the boat that the individual is in, but you don’t know who they are.  You don’t see who the person is that is being rowed; you witness the setting through their eyes in a first person perspective.  

The individual, you, is dropped off at a lighthouse off the coast of Maine with nobody there to greet you and nothing but a card with a code on it.  As you move forward, you look back to see there is nowhere to go but up, and you enter the lighthouse.  Up and up you go, the emptiness oppressing you.  You hear faint music and stumble upon a corpse with a sack on his head, and blood running on the floor with the words “Don’t disappoint us” around his neck.  Disoriented and frightened, you reach the top and see bells to ring in a specific order.  It matches the card you have.  You ring them and a loud, booming horn blares; the sky turns crimson and the lighthouse shudders.  A door opens and a red chair appears.  You sit.  Safeguard bindings tie you down and a countdown begins.  You start panicking as you’re launched into the air.  You break through the clouds as a voice says “Hallelujah”.  

You enter the city in the sky: the city of Columbia.  

Once breaking through the sky-city, your pod slowly descends in a vertical tunnel, and gospel-like phrases flash by you one after the other until it stops and the doors open and you find yourself in a house of worship, not all dissimilar from a church.  You hear faint, wondrous singing, and follow the laity until you reach a preacher who orders your baptism; a prerequisite to entering Columbia.  As you’re being forced beneath water, you faint and the scene cuts to a black and white setting, reminiscent of noir-style detective films, with a desk in an office.  Someone is pounding at the door, and shouting.  You get up to open the door and you find yourself in a New York City ablaze, with zeppelins flying above bombarding it.  

You then regain consciousness, gasping for air, and you’re back in Columbia and then the story truly begins.

**********************************

Sounds like a pretty awesome setup for a sci-fi-thriller flick, doesn’t it?  Too bad it isn’t.  It’s actually the opening cinematic for Irrational Games’ 2012 video game BIOSHOCK INFINITE.  If you haven’t played it (HOW DARE YOU!), I suggest you stop reading unless you’re partial to some spoiler-ish and in-depth details of the truly fantastic narrative of the game.

And the quality of narrative at play here, key to films but increasingly gaining centrality in video games, is what makes BIOSHOCK INFINITE both an astounding cinematic experience as well as an evolution in how story and gameplay are intertwined within this media.  There has always been a schism between the two mediums and comparing them can be difficult.  Any means of conveying a story of sorts has it’s own methods: its own triumphs and pitfalls.  However – and I’m not the first to write about or discover this – there’s increasing coalescence between the two mediums where ‘Video Game As Film’ and ‘Film As Video Game’ is becoming a common theme in both industries, the prior epitomized in BIOSHOCK INFINITE.  Don’t get me wrong, though: BIOSHOCK INFINITE is not the first video game to do this.  As games evolve beyond their PONG days, stories are now what sets up the incentive to play games and there are a slew of titles that develop the narrative in as much as the gameplay mechanics (THE LAST OF US, DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION).  There are also games such as Telltale Games’ THE WALKING DEAD that created gameplay as a second thought, having players do mundane, simple tasks such as quick time events and periodically pressing “A” simply to be able to enjoy the great storytelling in video game form.  Perhaps the crowning factor that sets BIOSHOCK INFINITE apart from others is its total sensory experience; one that engages all your senses and captivates you well beyond its ending.  

Visually, the game bewitches you.  From the bright, Americana-saturated colors of high Columbia, to the depressing brown and grey tones of its segregated slums, your eyes are drawn to the details of the world, such as the enormous angel set in the pastel hues of the sky, to the deep blue color of your companion Elizabeth’s eyes.   The game also inundates you with visuals of an extremely ideological society.  The zealotry of religion develops very early on, as images and slogans of the mysterious prophet Father Comstock and the forceful baptism, make up your first experiences in the game.  

Dystopian themes of elitism, depravity and extremism are central to creator Ken Levine’s masterpiece.  The world, set in an alternate America, is based around the main protagonist (and who you control) Booker DeWitt and his mission to “rescue” Elizabeth, a young woman imprisoned in the city.  Though fictional, the many themes weaved throughout the story are hinged on American exceptionalism and is allegorical to its historical and modern politics.  In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to interpret it as a critique of the West and its (neo)imperialism.  White supremacy and racial purity are another underlying thematic throughout the game.  Overt institutional racism is the driving force of the city, where racialized minorities are forced into slave labor. (Here’s a pretty powerful scene. Watch up until the 51 second mark to avoid unnecessary plot spoilers)

Though that scene is a few hours in, you’re introduced to Columbia’s racial complexities very early on.  Right after entering the city, you’re asked to participate in a public lynching.  To win a prize, you have to throw a rock at an interracial couple that is tied up on stage.  Thankfully, the game allows you to choose whether to throw the rock at the announcer or at the couple.  It’s scenes such as these that draw out a physical reaction of disgust (since, unfortunately, these types of displays are not that far into the past) while grappling with the fact that you, as the player, are taking part in and have the choice in the outcome of this spectacle.  

The game also deals with the intricacies of the human condition, in its weakness and its glory.  A communist-esque resistance group (reminiscent of the French revolution, or the Paris Red Belt) called the Vox Populi – which literally means "the voice of the people" in Latin – aim to dismantle the classist and racist governance of the Founders (the rulers) in Columbia.  The opposing struggle compounded by contrasting ideologies led the Vox Populi to use brutal warfare in their mission, blurring the lines between good and evil.  And there are also really beautiful, slightly voyeuristic moments in which you both witness and participate in the intimacy between Booker and Elizabeth.  One of my favorite parts of the game is when you find a guitar and have the option to play it.  Amidst the running and fighting, the game takes a second to create a really beautiful moment that further develops the context in which you’re playing (which you can watch HERE).

It’s a very short and delicate moment that both captivates and draws you in.

The game also offers mind-bending sci-fi elements and plot twists parallel to its cinematic counterparts.  The science behind the floating city as well as some other very important, yet plot specific aspects, are quantum physics and by the time the credits roll around, your mind is blown.  And you keep sitting there, as an endless list of names of the creators, developers and anyone else who had a hand in the game’s creation roles by, trying to wrap your head around it all.  What’s best about the game, and mentioned by Ken Levine himself, is its interpretability: From its prodigious conclusion, to its use of complex scientific theory and to it’s ability to obscure the division between right and wrong and what it means to have free will (you’ll understand that last bit if you’ve played, or will play, the game), you ultimately get to decide what the games mean to you.

And it’s that use of free will, or lack thereof, that truly elevates BIOSHOCK INFINITE as the most cinematic game I’ve ever played.  A common critique of video games’ inability to replicate movie experiences is the fact that you, as a viewer, are passively engaging with a film, while you’re an active user with choices whilst playing video games.  Some even argue that having a choice in video games actually breaks up the pace of narrative, effectively ruining its cinematic legitimacy.  While this is true for the most part (even though one can argue that video games are limited in its scope and mechanics, thus no matter what you do, you still don’t have unlimited choice), BIOSHOCK INFINITE convolutes that apparent separation.   Though you have “choice” in that you can play and move at your own pace, and decide what to do when, the ultimate underlying theme is the total illusion of freewill; everything that happens happens no matter what you do, or choose.  I know this may sound obvious, or even an absurd point to bring up about a video game, but it isn’t.  Again, you have to play the game to know what I mean.  This isn’t simply relegated to the inherent truths of the mechanics behind a video game, but a purposeful plot device woven into the story.

As you may have probably gathered by now, I am quite the BIOSHOCK INFINITE-phile.  The game absolutely delighted, disgusted, and fascinated me.  In short, I was enraptured by it.  This isn’t to claim that it’s perfect; it has quite the few shortcomings, mostly stemming from its gameplay aspects.  And like any good subversive narrative, it was embedded in controversy, fostering reactionary responses from religious groups to Tea Party supporters.  And I say reactionary because Levine’s intent was not a definite prose, but again, one open to interpretation.  Personally, I believe that the game attempts to capture the raw modern human experience, one that can be dealt with in various ways, regardless of your political or religious convictions.  No matter which strong emotional or ideological connotations you draw from the game, the important part is that it drew, or will draw, a strong reaction from you, similar to great films.

The game makes you feel something, for better or worse.  In ‘Video Games As Art Form’ BIOSHOCK INFINITE – in my opinion – is it's climax thus far, and easily situates itself amongst the best of both worlds.

Voyce is an award winning Montreal based singer, songwriter, musician, and producer.  Well respected in the industry, he recently released two music videos, SURRENDER and BEAUTIFUL PAIN (which he also co-directed), and is poised to release his upcoming album AiaC: Angels & Demons.

THE FIRST TIME I CRIED: 

I remember the first time a video game made me cry...the first time my actions in a virtual world were driven entirely by an emotional response to grief. 

Up until that point, video games to me were a passion, a distraction from real life.  I never thought of them as anything more than that.  But here I was, a younger version of myself, mourning the passing of Aerith in that iconic FINAL FANTASY VII scene.  I was drawn into a sense of uneasiness; the music played a somber melody with my heartstrings.  Sephiroth, the game’s antagonist, became more than just a villain in a story; he became much more, the focal point of my personal vendetta, the source of an unshakeable sorrow.  But how was this possible?  That moment in gaming became a staple point in how I saw and purchased future games.  Suddenly, I was more drawn to games with strong narratives, constantly seeking that emotional surrender.  Suddenly, the line that separated videogames and movies became a blur.  

And so it began...  

IT'S A MAD WORLD: 

As the years have gone on since, the gaming industry as a whole has evolved, and with it the technologies that drive it, allowing for more expansive narratives and storytelling possibilities.  The machines that power our games have allowed developers to continue to push their boundaries, with realistic graphics, audio immersion, intuitive gameplay, social connectivity, etc, to ultimately deliver an interactive cinematic experience.  GEARS OF WAR 3 as an example, through a brilliantly executed scene forever linked to MAD WORLD by Gary Jules, a song that was first featured in the series in a trailer of the original title.  The team at Epic Games understood the emotional and nostalgic impact that piece of music had on fans of the trilogy, and with that knowledge gave the character Dom a swan song departure that we will most likely never forget.  This was the third time a videogame made me cry, the first you already know, but the second time you ask?  The ending of FINAL FANTASY X.

Damn you, Square Enix…damn you!  

A NEW DILEMMA: 

Without question, games, especially now, are able to fully deliver a cinematic experience and in many ways go well beyond that.  Unlike movies, games allow its audience to not just witness their worlds but interact in them as well.  It's that level of immersion that forges a personal connection with the gamer and the narrative that is unfolding.  However, this raises a dilemma:

When does a game stop being a game and turn into an interactive movie? 

IT ALL HAPPENS IN QUICK TIME: 

A Quick Time Event, or QTE, as it is widely abbreviated as, is the bane of my gaming existence. 

The first time I took note of this gameplay mechanic was in the original GOD OF WAR release, granted at that time I didn’t mind it.  Its inclusion was fitting with the title’s brutal gameplay elements and catered to our more primal nature.  But in the years that have passed, I’ve come to truly despise it in the way it cheapens a what-could-have-been-a-more engaging moment (HALO 4 final boss, I’m looking at you)

Its presence in the final moments of a game especially irritates me; all your actions thus far, the build up, your anticipation are suddenly reduced to hitting the right button at the right time.  One particular game comes to mind, one I only just recently played through: THE ORDER 1886.  From a cinematic point of view, it is breathtaking.  The team at Ready At Dawn did a fantastic job in creating a beautifully crafted world, with picture perfect visuals, outstanding animations, superbly delivered voice acting and a well written, albeit somewhat predictable story, all of which converged into a masterful cinematic experience.  So where did it all go wrong?  All of these points alone sound like the makings of a fantastic game, but sadly you would be mistaken.  It managed to fall short in quite possibly the most important aspect of any videogame: the actual gameplay.  At its core, it delivered a run-of-the-mill cover based third person shooting experience with QTEs breaking the immersion in most of its memorable moments.  The length alone of its accumulated cinematic scenes completely overshadowed its gameplay sections, which felt uninspired in comparison.  The final result felt less like a videogame and more like an interactive movie, much like METAL GEAR SOLID 4 did before it. 

So what is the recipe for success, you ask?  

BALANCE: 

I really started taking note of Naughty Dog when they released the original UNCHARTED title. 

Its sequels built on the franchise, taking the protagonist Nathan Drake on even bigger adventures.  With each passing title, the series improved on all its aspects from its gameplay mechanics, interactive cinematic set pieces, natural sounding banter during cutscenes and gameplay sections, realistic visuals and facial animations, to voice-acting and sound design.  The recipe of its success was balance.  Its cinematic elements engaged its audience without relying to heavily on it to deliver its story.  A great game weaves elements of its narrative into its gameplay sections, that way the weight of it is not emphasized entirely in its non-interactive cinematic moments.  This is where Naughty Dog excels.  

In THE LAST OF US - their most recent release - they took everything they learned from the UNCHARTED and crafted, in my opinion, the most emotionally engaging narrative in videogame history, and this is a bold statement to say the least.  What makes this title truly beautiful is how it relies on the subtle nature of things to tell a very complicated story; the way the protagonists Ellie and Joel interact with one another and their world is raw and simple.  A prolonged stare into the distance, a split second of silence, an uncomfortable fade to black, a minimalist use of guitar, an unspoken and seemingly internal uncertainty expressed with nothing more than a few words and a few facial movements, all these things come together to tell a impacting story that feels raw.  The gameplay in itself matches the tone of the world that surrounds it; it is raw and brutal and still in all that is this budding relationship that blooms in the unlikeliest of hardships.  Banter, sound design, visual queues and other elements creatively carry the story along as you traverse this unforgiving world, taking the cinematic experience well beyond itself, making it undeniable that games can transcend other forms of media in how stories can be told. 

THE ROAD AHEAD: 

As newer technologies like Oculus VR emerge and the industry moves in bolder directions, only time will tell how the gaming cinematic experience will evolve.  If history is to be believed, there will be mistakes to be made, but that is the nature of creativity.  It is from failure that true ingenuity is born.

I would like to personally and sincerely thank from the bottom of my heart Leah, Cat, and Voyce for taking time out of their extremely busy schedules to participate in this blog.