Midaregami

There are moments when I am humbled by my era. I feel like a primitive monkey, a gibbon-boy, brachiating through forests of new media masterpieces, pausing occasionally to poke, hoot, and scratch my simian hide — that’s how wide the gap sometimes feels. I feel almost unworthy to partake, thinking nay, this pleasure must be meant for some higher life-form.

What pleasure, you ask? I have purchased an XBox, and it is blowing my mind. This is a move I have considered for many months now, beginning late last year. So it was not an impulse purchase. Along with the system, I obtained three games. Allow me to expound.

• Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge was available in an XBox Live “starter pack.” For those unfamiliar with accessories native to the particular blend of frat boy and geek that comprises the XBox’s core audience, Live is the online service, and it is supported by a huge variety of games. Online play of videogames is something that I, as a Mac user, have remained largely divorced from, but this seemed like a good idea. Crimson Skies is set in an alternate 1930s history, where the United States has fragmented into regions like The Hollywood Republic, Free Colorado, the Navaho Nation, and so on. The skies are ruled by air pirates who fly fanciful prop planes and huge zeppelins. The word “Steampunk” springs to mind.
  

  
  In any case, this is an airplane game, less flight sim and more gratuitous dogfighter. Toss in the online play, and it becomes ridiculously fun. Pulling an immelmann to evade enemy fire, then raining fiery death from above down upon him while shouting my bloody revenge — these things are moments I cherish as I cherish each beautiful dandelion as a herald of spring. Did I mention my opponent can hear my wrath? They can. Voice communication is pretty standard for XBox Live games.

• Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is a sneaky stealth spy game. I have loved me some Metal Gear Solid in the past, absolutely. Recently I played through the “Twin Snakes” remake of the first game on the GameCube, and given the chance, I would’ve loved to try “Snake Eater.” That chance was denied me by a twist of regional caprice — my beautiful ocean blue PlayStation 2 won’t play games published for non-Japanese markets. I do love the Snake, filthy though that sounds — and equally do I hate the talking. Metal Gear fans know what I’m talking about. Characters won’t shut up and let you play the thrice-damned game. They just talk, about the mission, about their job, about their childhoods, about their facial tics and dermatological disorders, — they won’t shut up. In Splinter Cell, characters say only what’s necessary. There is the occasional short digression in dialogue, which is forgivable because it is usually very funny.
  

  
  The gameplay requires some learning — unlike in the Metal Gear games, where there is typically one “best solution” to a given room or obstacle, Chaos Theory gives you a wide repertoire of abilities and equipment, even allowing you to customize your loadout for a given mission. So you’re in a factory, crouching in a dark corner to avoid detection by the guard down the catwalk. Via a poetic language of light and shadow, the game says to you: “Well, soldier, you could sneak up behind him all quiet-like while he’s turned around, and grab him, throwing him over the catwalk. Or you could hang inverted from that pipe up there and snap his neck when he walks under you. Also, you could swing yourself over the edge of the catwalk, hang there until he walks by, and then pull him down with you. Or — and this is taking the cheap way out — you have a gun, so you could, I guess, shoot him. If you’re yellow, that is.”
  

  
  And the visuals — my god, the visuals. I didn’t even know we as a species could do graphics like this in the current generation.

• It was cheap, so Knights of the Old Republic rounded out the list. This is an acclaimed Star Wars RPG, so I figured it was a safe bet. I haven’t played it much yet, but Julia is utterly absorbed by it — which works out nicely for me, since I don’t get chided for picking up yet another game console. This is clearly a lesson to remember for when the next gen rolls around in a year or so.
  

As an addendum, I should note that I picked up Burnout 3 (for a song, at my place of employment) and in terms of raw blissful open-mouthed shock value, it has eclipsed the previous three game. Think on that, ye mighty, and tremble.

I don’t think this is relevant for any of my readers, but if it is, my XBox Live gamertag is “hoshizora.” You know what to do.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 6th, 2005 at 10:24 am and is filed under Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.