A game’s narrative is a fancy word for a game’s story. This means if you ever see a game which is narrative-driven, or story-driven they are the same thing. A few of the best narrative-driven games are:
- Portal (as well as great puzzle game).
- Persona 3 and 4
- The Walking Dead (Seasons 1 and 2)
- The Wolf Among Us
- Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy)
- Heavy Rain
Let’s go on a journey through what makes or breaks a game’s narrative, bearing in mind this has nothing to do with gameplay. You can have a terrible narrative, but terrific gameplay.
(Warning contains spoilers for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Far Cry 3 and an early choice for Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Season 1)
What Makes a Narrative…
…Terrible?
A terrible story specifically reminds you that you are in a video game…
A terrible narrative can simply be caused by bad writing, or a thin plot, but something that can really cause a narrative to fall apart is incoherence. When the narrative threads jump around with no real relevance to each other can cause you to lose interest, and confusion. You stop caring or simply don’t know about what is going to happen, and any cut scenes will be boring. A terrible story specifically reminds you that you are in a video game, and that if there is a man in front of you as you must shoot them, because you must. Why? To advance the story silly.
This is often used in FPS games, specifically Call of Duty: Ghosts. There was no real coherence between actions you perform, the place you are in and the characters behaviours. The locations and set pieces influenced the story instead of both being built around each other. Another example is in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, there is one mission, called Throttle, where you are randomly in a rail shooter, flying a jet through canyons then back on your feet without knowing what had happened.
A screenshot of the mission ‘Throttle’ in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
A cliché is a pretty terrible to use, especially when linked with the handling of motivations for any characters. One specific example is the strong male hero character has their weak female wife or girlfriend taken or killed. It’s overused and really boring, you don’t get invested into the characters because they are just always angry or sad, especially when the death of the wife happens before the game even starts.
…Bad?
One thing that really bugs me about Call of Duty recently is the amount of near death experiences.
A bad narrative does not break the narrative of the game overall, it simply reminds you that you are playing a game for a split second, after that you then drawn back in. One thing that really bugs me about Call of Duty recently is the amount of near death experiences. It was a novel thing to start with, however it did get tiresome after the rehash of the same ideas in every game. Most of them are so unrealistic, they take you out of the game. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, during the finale, you get stabbed through the chest. However your character appears not to care, simply pulling the knife out, casually spinning it in his hand, and throwing it with the accuracy and strength of a perfectly healthy man, the knife flies through the air and kills General Shepherd hitting him square in the left eye. It is just simply to far out of reality, and the games fiction. You can take 100s of bullets during gameplay, but one stab or gun shot during a cutscene instantly stops you doing anything until the vital moment.
A perfect throw after pulling a knife out of your chest? I think not.
The story is going so well…suspense and adrenaline are running high then…
The story is getting better, everything is advancing at the perfect pace, the writing is on point, you love all the characters on your side and hate but respect the ones you are fighting. The story is going so well, you feel it reaching the mid section crescendo and you look for the plot twist. Thinking back through each characters backstory trying to spot who will do something stupid or turn on you. The game then reaches the exciting mid section crescendo, suspense and adrenaline are running high then…
Everyone is dead and you win.
Don’t you just hate that?
…Good?
I find a good story often has plot twists which do something the wrong way round, they remove interesting and complex characters, and replace them with less interesting and more simplistic characters. Neither character is badly written or voice acted, and both are understandable or relatable. However due to the first character just being so good it leaves the second feeling bland. This happened in Far Cry 3, with Vaas being replaced by Hoyt Volker. If Far Cry 3 had done this the other way round, it would be under the next heading.
Vaas on the left, Hoyt on the right.
Another really good trick that writers use on you is the old bait and switch. You get really invested into one specific character who is your friend, you trust them and they are privy to sensitive information. Then suddenly they turn on you, turns out the whole time they were lying, of course the best writing leaves clues about their intentions, but does not explicitly tell you they are secretly working against you untill a pivotal moment.
…Terrific?
Decision making like this is what games…are pefect for…
Let’s now look at the very best narrative games can offer. Not only can games give you the ability to meet engaging characters, who are not just black and white but morally grey. Games can allow you to become this character, to take on the hard decisions they will have to face, Telltale’s The Walking Dead is a perfect example of this. Every decision you make you dread, you know that neither is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. They are snap decisions which will always have bad consequences. Decision making like this is what games are best at doing, they are perfect for it and with writing as strong as in The Walking Dead you can really see why.
Who lives and who dies? You pick. Not easy right?
…when wielded well it can create some amazing and powerful moments.
Empathy, the ability to understand or share the emotion someone else is experiencing. It’s powerful stuff, when you can make a character the player can empathise with, the feeling of loss, betrayal, anger, sympathy or compassion can then all be projected onto the player, sometimes all at once. Making you, as the player, care about a character will get you invested into the story, then if that character dies (if they take a supporting role) you will feel loss, and maybe anger, then want avenge your fallen comrade. It can also be used on the player character in much the same way. Empathy is a powerful tool, and when wielded well it can create some amazing and powerful moments.
Have you every wondered what makes or breaks a game’s narrative? Let me know your thoughts in the comments bellow.
Published: Dec 13, 2014 08:28 am