Call of Duty: World at war

[Thrik]

Pity most of them look about the same.

[Erratic]

A sci fi game can look like may things. There are a hundred ways to portray a sci fi world. There is 1 way to portray WW2. You dont even need to figure out a visual style or a story...

That seems like a really short sited perspective to be honest. Really, there's only one single way to visually and narratively present a game set during WW2? Certainly most WW2 games take the beat path, I'll agree there, but to say that your art direction and narrative/story is completely done for you is non sense. There's virtually infinite number of directions you could take any time period both visually and narratively.

[dux]

A sci fi game can look like may things. There are a hundred ways to portray a sci fi world. There is 1 way to portray WW2. You dont even need to figure out a visual style or a story...

That seems like a really short sited perspective to be honest. Really, there's only one single way to visually and narratively present a game set during WW2? Certainly most WW2 games take the beat path, I'll agree there, but to say that your art direction and narrative/story is completely done for you is non sense. There's virtually infinite number of directions you could take any time period both visually and narratively.

If that's the case I've yet to see it in any of the big WW2 games that have been released. It's always been the same but sometimes with bump mapping. Then with Ragdolls. The only difference I ever notice with WW2 games is that they have slightly newer tech with each new release.

[Hourences]

A sci fi game can look like may things. There are a hundred ways to portray a sci fi world. There is 1 way to portray WW2. You dont even need to figure out a visual style or a story...

That seems like a really short sited perspective to be honest. Really, there's only one single way to visually and narratively present a game set during WW2? Certainly most WW2 games take the beat path, I'll agree there, but to say that your art direction and narrative/story is completely done for you is non sense. There's virtually infinite number of directions you could take any time period both visually and narratively.

Of course you can try to be original with a WW2 game, but no matter what you do, it will always be a WW2 game, and you can only add those things that really were there in WW2. Sure you can give it a twist, but you can't change it. And that is the whole point. You cant possibly argue that there is a lot of freedom in creating a WW2 game.

Sci fi games can look like minority report, or like 5th element, or like something in between. Or it could have this typical 1950s ufo touch to it, or jakk and dexter like, or you it could take the matrix path. It could be about an alien invasion, genetic mutations, war against machines, massive human warfare, or even a space battle. It could be absolutely anything you can imagine. The guns could be huge and over the top, or simple. It could involve a mechnical arm grabbing helicopters in mid air, or some dude who breaths below water (waterworld alike sci fi), or perhaps it could be Mad Max or Fallout like, or perhaps like Tron.

Those are not just variations on a certain theme (sci fi), they are almost entire themes on themselves. That you can't do in WW2.

The whole point is that Sci fi is an overspanning genre/theme that actually enveloppes many different subgenres/themes, like for example 5th element vs matrix. WW2 is not an overspanning genre, it is subgenre in itself, and it belongs to the realistic and contemporary games. Now comparing contemporary games to sci fi games is a whole other discussion, but there is no way that a subgenre can offer at least as much as sci fi in general. And when any single subgenre becomes overexploited, it will become boring very quickly, exactly because a subgenre can only offer so much, and after a while you have basically just seen it all.

[-HP-]

That's why I still love Return to Castle Wolfestein, WW2 + Scifi!

[Sentura]

A sci fi game can look like may things. There are a hundred ways to portray a sci fi world. There is 1 way to portray WW2. You dont even need to figure out a visual style or a story...

That seems like a really short sited perspective to be honest. Really, there's only one single way to visually and narratively present a game set during WW2? Certainly most WW2 games take the beat path, I'll agree there, but to say that your art direction and narrative/story is completely done for you is non sense. There's virtually infinite number of directions you could take any time period both visually and narratively.

Of course you can try to be original with a WW2 game, but no matter what you do, it will always be a WW2 game, and you can only add those things that really were there in WW2. Sure you can give it a twist, but you can't change it. And that is the whole point. You cant possibly argue that there is a lot of freedom in creating a WW2 game.

Sci fi games can look like minority report, or like 5th element, or like something in between. Or it could have this typical 1950s ufo touch to it, or jakk and dexter like, or you it could take the matrix path. It could be about an alien invasion, genetic mutations, war against machines, massive human warfare, or even a space battle. It could be absolutely anything you can imagine. The guns could be huge and over the top, or simple. It could involve a mechnical arm grabbing helicopters in mid air, or some dude who breaths below water (waterworld alike sci fi), or perhaps it could be Mad Max or Fallout like, or perhaps like Tron.

Those are not just variations on a certain theme (sci fi), they are almost entire themes on themselves. That you can't do in WW2.

The whole point is that Sci fi is an overspanning genre/theme that actually enveloppes many different subgenres/themes, like for example 5th element vs matrix. WW2 is not an overspanning genre, it is subgenre in itself, and it belongs to the realistic and contemporary games. Now comparing contemporary games to sci fi games is a whole other discussion, but there is no way that a subgenre can offer at least as much as sci fi in general. And when any single subgenre becomes overexploited, it will become boring very quickly, exactly because a subgenre can only offer so much, and after a while you have basically just seen it all.

i think the whole point made here lies in abstraction. put it this way: sci fi is an abstractive genre with endless possibilities; whereas world war 2 is a more concrete genre, from the abstractive genre war. comparing them is like comparing a helicopter to a car, and asking why the car can't fly. the genre of world war 2 is very limited because it is so specific and limited (because it is an instance of war), where as sci fi holds freedom because there are no limits.

[JohnC]

But when was the last time anyone explored the creative space in a sci-fi game?

They do it so they can pull plot twists and magic powers out of their ass. Look at the force fields in HL2. Everyone else can walk through them, I can throw stuff through them, I can shoot through them, but I can't walk through them. Real scientific.

And the intro to Episode 1, the cheapest plot twist I've ever seen. "We screwed ourselves storywise the last time so a Vortigaunt did it. Yeah, they can do this now."

So really, while Treyarch in this case is trying to tell a compelling story within the confines of recorded events, the sci-fi crowd has far more freedom but doesn't make much use of it.

I'd love a science fiction game that WASN'T about evil aliens with a mastery of English coming to kill us and rule our planet for no apparent reason.

[Sentura]

But when was the last time anyone explored the creative space in a sci-fi game?

They do it so they can pull plot twists and magic powers out of their ass. Look at the force fields in HL2. Everyone else can walk through them, I can throw stuff through them, I can shoot through them, but I can't walk through them. Real scientific.

And the intro to Episode 1, the cheapest plot twist I've ever seen. "We screwed ourselves storywise the last time so a Vortigaunt did it. Yeah, they can do this now."

So really, while Treyarch in this case is trying to tell a compelling story within the confines of recorded events, the sci-fi crowd has far more freedom but doesn't make much use of it.

I'd love a science fiction game that WASN'T about evil aliens with a mastery of English coming to kill us and rule our planet for no apparent reason.

so you prefer germans to aliens?

[JohnC]

Oy. No, I'm not going that far. My point is they're both generic and neither one is a hotbed of fresh ideas.

[-HP-]

It has zombies and co-op, the single factor which causes me to maybe purchase this damn thing!

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/42003.html

[dux]

Oh how I laughed. That's just made me dislike it even more than before. What is this g ame trying to be, serious world war 2, return to castle wolfenstein AND left 4 dead all at the same time? Please.

[-HP-]

Ah c'mon.. who cares! Look at the zombies walking anims!! their awesome!!

[dux]

It's call of duty...

[Jetsetlemming]

Oh how I laughed. That's just made me dislike it even more than before. What is this g ame trying to be, serious world war 2, return to castle wolfenstein AND left 4 dead all at the same time? Please.

I'm willing to give their RtcW + L4D ripoff minigame the benefit of the doubt if it's a good game, and more importantly, has a good PC port. With Treyarch behind it, I'm doubting that last point. I'll wait to get excited until after it's released and I've seen some PC focused reviews.

[mjens]

http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/10/2 ... ld-at-war/