Why "It's Like a Video Game" Should Not Be a Criticism
“It was like a video game” is a common phrase used in the film criticism world and rarely is it used as a compliment. It seems a great ignorance is present across the film criticism community about the potential and credibility of video games as an art form and instead of embracing it or even acknowledging it, they are only mentioning this art form in order to criticize the credentials of another. This is not an article arguing that video games are art (Plenty of those are written and ones definition of art is what constitutes whether video games can be called such a thing) or that they have surpassed film, this is an article merely stating why, some video games should be used as a template to what films should hope to achieve, not just visually but emotionally and why the phrase “It was like a video game” should be used in a more positive sense across the film criticism community.
What are the things we want when we go to the cinema? What do we want from a great film? We want to have an emotional connection to the characters, we want to care for them, loathe them, cheer for them and boo them. We want these characters to be believable, relatable and interesting. We want to be taken on a journey that takes us out of our reality for its duration; we want to see some wit, some intelligence and some invention. We want excitement, adventure and pure thrills. Now tell me, how many films that you have seen in a cinema have truly offered those things? This is not an article stating that video games are more consistent in terms of quality than films but it is an article stating that some video games can achieve what 90% of Hollywood produced cinema does not.
When critics defend their ignorant stance on video games, or when anybody defends their ignorance stance on video games for that matter, they frequently state that it is the lack of emotional investment and characterization that makes video games inferior and therefore connectable to films that poorly develop its characters and have no emotional connection. If you were to look up movies that have been criticized for being like video games, commonly you will see this comparison used in order to emphasize the films lack of emotional connection and poor characterization. Take this year’s Sucker Punch, the characters were not well drawn out and there was not the emotional connection necessary to make us care for anything happening in the film. However why do critics think video games are the art form to use as comparison to these films? It is because they have an old cliché in their minds that video games are all about the action and not about the narrative.
Last year saw the release of a Playstation 3 game named Heavy Rain. Many called it an interactive movie and is probably a more apt description for it than your typical “game” however for all intents and purposes it was a game, you could manipulate the outcome (in multiple ways) control the characters and were given challenges to complete (However unlike most games the failure to succeed in these challenges did not automatically lead to a game over sign) What Heavy Rain was heavily praised for however, was its ability to really make us emotionally connect to and invest in video game characters. Heavy Rain is the game that proves video games can be more emotionally effecting on a character level than most Hollywood movies. Infact oddly enough if any films were on a par with the emotion present in Heavy Rain it would be that of the Pixar films and scenes in Wall-e, Up and Toy Story. Animation is providing more genuine emotion these days than live action.
Heavy Rain is not the only example of a video games ability to develop emotionally believable characters and therefore cannot be dismissed as a mere fluke or once in a generation occurrence. Many were moved by the conclusion to Rockstars’ Read Dead Redemption, a game that gave me an experience of the old west I have yet to seen matched by a film (However I have not see Unforgiven or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly)
Stupidity is a problem that plagues a lot of Hollywood films, they lack invention and sometimes video games can be dismissed as similarly stupid by critics. Sucker Punch a movie that was not only berated for its lack of character development and emotion but also for its “stupidity” was commonly referred to as being “like a video game” well video games are not stupid, far from it. Pick up a copy of Portal or Portal 2 and you will find that video games can be more intellectually and inventively stimulating than most Hollywood films.
Video games are also starting to become much more original and genuinely exciting than most Hollywood efforts. The game Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is ten times more enjoyable than any action adventure movie I can think of in the past few years, it provided the level of genuine thrills that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull should have offered. While games such as Portal, God of War, Mass Effect, Assassins Creed and Infamous are providing stunning originality.
As a 15 year old, I play a lot of video games and watch a lot of films. Ultimately it is the film art form that I prefer due to the positives of that art form rather than the negatives of an other (video games). Video games whether you determine them as art or not are achieving things that a lot of films are not. The worldwide sales of video games are getting bigger and bigger, they are offering experiences that are genuinely cinematic and can be enjoyed in the comfort of your own living room without somebody kicking your chair and spilling popcorn on you. The video game industry is in a position to overtake the film industry financially and a few years down the line could even be offering a more complete experience. With the video game industry on the rise and these games providing things a lot of movies are not, perhaps it is time that film critics recognized this and started to avoid using the snobby and lazy shorthand that has become the norm in criticizing mediocre films.
I am not writing this as a whiny fifteen year old, upset that a medium he likes is not getting the respect from writers whose profession he aspires to be in. I am writing this as a budding film critic, who does not want to see that profession be associated with a group of people who do not recognize what the video game medium has offered and is offering. The video game industry is in a good place to overtake the film industry in the eyes of my generation. This is not an article demanding that Hollywood make movie adaptations of video games, far from it, nor is this article stating that all critics should start playing video games. This is an article stating from somebody who plays games and writes movie reviews that using “it’s like a video game” as a piece of criticism is a falsity that needs to be halted. Who knows if video games continue with their upward spiral of quality we could easily have video game critics writing the following line
“It was like a movie” and them not meaning it as a compliment. Every art form deserves respect and the film criticism community is not giving that respect to video games and its criteria for not doing so is rapidly and frequently being proven wrong.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
What are the things we want when we go to the cinema? What do we want from a great film? We want to have an emotional connection to the characters, we want to care for them, loathe them, cheer for them and boo them. We want these characters to be believable, relatable and interesting. We want to be taken on a journey that takes us out of our reality for its duration; we want to see some wit, some intelligence and some invention. We want excitement, adventure and pure thrills. Now tell me, how many films that you have seen in a cinema have truly offered those things? This is not an article stating that video games are more consistent in terms of quality than films but it is an article stating that some video games can achieve what 90% of Hollywood produced cinema does not.
When critics defend their ignorant stance on video games, or when anybody defends their ignorance stance on video games for that matter, they frequently state that it is the lack of emotional investment and characterization that makes video games inferior and therefore connectable to films that poorly develop its characters and have no emotional connection. If you were to look up movies that have been criticized for being like video games, commonly you will see this comparison used in order to emphasize the films lack of emotional connection and poor characterization. Take this year’s Sucker Punch, the characters were not well drawn out and there was not the emotional connection necessary to make us care for anything happening in the film. However why do critics think video games are the art form to use as comparison to these films? It is because they have an old cliché in their minds that video games are all about the action and not about the narrative.
Last year saw the release of a Playstation 3 game named Heavy Rain. Many called it an interactive movie and is probably a more apt description for it than your typical “game” however for all intents and purposes it was a game, you could manipulate the outcome (in multiple ways) control the characters and were given challenges to complete (However unlike most games the failure to succeed in these challenges did not automatically lead to a game over sign) What Heavy Rain was heavily praised for however, was its ability to really make us emotionally connect to and invest in video game characters. Heavy Rain is the game that proves video games can be more emotionally effecting on a character level than most Hollywood movies. Infact oddly enough if any films were on a par with the emotion present in Heavy Rain it would be that of the Pixar films and scenes in Wall-e, Up and Toy Story. Animation is providing more genuine emotion these days than live action.
Heavy Rain is not the only example of a video games ability to develop emotionally believable characters and therefore cannot be dismissed as a mere fluke or once in a generation occurrence. Many were moved by the conclusion to Rockstars’ Read Dead Redemption, a game that gave me an experience of the old west I have yet to seen matched by a film (However I have not see Unforgiven or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly)
Stupidity is a problem that plagues a lot of Hollywood films, they lack invention and sometimes video games can be dismissed as similarly stupid by critics. Sucker Punch a movie that was not only berated for its lack of character development and emotion but also for its “stupidity” was commonly referred to as being “like a video game” well video games are not stupid, far from it. Pick up a copy of Portal or Portal 2 and you will find that video games can be more intellectually and inventively stimulating than most Hollywood films.
Video games are also starting to become much more original and genuinely exciting than most Hollywood efforts. The game Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is ten times more enjoyable than any action adventure movie I can think of in the past few years, it provided the level of genuine thrills that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull should have offered. While games such as Portal, God of War, Mass Effect, Assassins Creed and Infamous are providing stunning originality.
As a 15 year old, I play a lot of video games and watch a lot of films. Ultimately it is the film art form that I prefer due to the positives of that art form rather than the negatives of an other (video games). Video games whether you determine them as art or not are achieving things that a lot of films are not. The worldwide sales of video games are getting bigger and bigger, they are offering experiences that are genuinely cinematic and can be enjoyed in the comfort of your own living room without somebody kicking your chair and spilling popcorn on you. The video game industry is in a position to overtake the film industry financially and a few years down the line could even be offering a more complete experience. With the video game industry on the rise and these games providing things a lot of movies are not, perhaps it is time that film critics recognized this and started to avoid using the snobby and lazy shorthand that has become the norm in criticizing mediocre films.
I am not writing this as a whiny fifteen year old, upset that a medium he likes is not getting the respect from writers whose profession he aspires to be in. I am writing this as a budding film critic, who does not want to see that profession be associated with a group of people who do not recognize what the video game medium has offered and is offering. The video game industry is in a good place to overtake the film industry in the eyes of my generation. This is not an article demanding that Hollywood make movie adaptations of video games, far from it, nor is this article stating that all critics should start playing video games. This is an article stating from somebody who plays games and writes movie reviews that using “it’s like a video game” as a piece of criticism is a falsity that needs to be halted. Who knows if video games continue with their upward spiral of quality we could easily have video game critics writing the following line
“It was like a movie” and them not meaning it as a compliment. Every art form deserves respect and the film criticism community is not giving that respect to video games and its criteria for not doing so is rapidly and frequently being proven wrong.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
