This title has intensely compelling story, tight voice acting, brilliant shot rhythm and action pacing. No doubt it's the work of a genius director, and I see so much talent here that it's a shame the game-play is so miserable.
Movement and world exploration are smooth enough, and do keep the player immersed in the environment. But in any plot situation, the interface presented is non-intuitive, tedious, and feels wholly unnatural for character movement. Simon-says could never be associated with good action, even if you ramp up the pace to tweak reflexes, and overlaying a perfectly good scene with bright button-mashing instructions breaks immersion, distracts from the story and visual, and alienates the player.
This really shows a talented director who is far too arrogant to believe that game design isn't one of his talents, even in spite of the obviously limited exposure he's had to them. Cage couldn't seem to give control up to the player (another sign of director arrogance,) nor provide movement interface that a player could be trusted to handle action sequences themselves. This is fine for a movie that we pay and agree to sit passively for the storytelling, but it's a serious stumbling block for interactivity, or any medium that runs longer than two hours.
There are critics who say this game should be made into a movie, and others who reply that the game is the movie. I believe if this would've been far more pleasurably memorable if it were made a movie in the first place. It's definitely a story worth watching by an excellent storyteller and director, but it's not much as a game.
Movement and world exploration are smooth enough, and do keep the player immersed in the environment. But in any plot situation, the interface presented is non-intuitive, tedious, and feels wholly unnatural for character movement. Simon-says could never be associated with good action, even if you ramp up the pace to tweak reflexes, and overlaying a perfectly good scene with bright button-mashing instructions breaks immersion, distracts from the story and visual, and alienates the player.
This really shows a talented director who is far too arrogant to believe that game design isn't one of his talents, even in spite of the obviously limited exposure he's had to them. Cage couldn't seem to give control up to the player (another sign of director arrogance,) nor provide movement interface that a player could be trusted to handle action sequences themselves. This is fine for a movie that we pay and agree to sit passively for the storytelling, but it's a serious stumbling block for interactivity, or any medium that runs longer than two hours.
There are critics who say this game should be made into a movie, and others who reply that the game is the movie. I believe if this would've been far more pleasurably memorable if it were made a movie in the first place. It's definitely a story worth watching by an excellent storyteller and director, but it's not much as a game.