GRAW: A First Person Shooter that makes me think of PnP?!?
Posted by: Ruel Knudson in Developer Blog, Personal PostI took the weekend off this time. Usually, I work at least a few hours a day, even on weekends, but this weekend turned out to be a huge distraction. However, even though I spent no time actually working on my PC, things keep churning in my brain. During this weekend, my son and I decided to hit the video game store to spend a gift certificate he got from his grandfather to buy some video games for the X-Box 360. One of those games had me thinking about Modern Sagas again. This is also partly due to some of the Modern Sagas content wizards just recently added to the CRM. So what was the game that got me thinking about a Modern RPG game? Ghost Recon.
I am not a huge fan of shooting games. I got bored of them a while back. Frankly, the idea of running around and shooting things mindlessly is dull to me. Shooters have to offer something truly different to catch my attention. Some games, such as the Brothers in Arms series, are pretty evident in why they are different enough. Others, like Doom 3 might not seem too different, but in truth they are. More importantly, too me, is the nature of the game. If it is a tactical game, and handled well, then I am sold. It also has to really sell the experience. America’s Army and Battlefield 2 for the PC are great games as they emulate the experience very well and offer alot of tactical rewards. That being said, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) is something, like Brothers in Arms, that now resides in my mind as something truly special.
I have been a fan of the Ghost series since the first game. Unfortunately, as it seems to be the way with Tom Clancey shooters, the series got away from larger team management and tactical planning and evolved more into typical shoot territory. Unlike Rainbow 6, Ghost is forgivable due to what they make up for while taking away the larger elements.
I played GRAW for the X-Box and thought it was a good game and a solid and fun entry into the series. I never understood why it got bad reviews. I could understand how it wouldn’t stand up to its 360 and PC counterparts, as the X-Box just couldn’t handle a straight port. However, taken on its own, I thought it was just as good, if not better in many ways, than Ghost Recon 2. After playing a few hours this weekend with the 360 version I can forgive the reviewers as the 360 version of the game is truly a sight to behold.
X-Box Version
It got me thinking of Modern Sagas simply because GRAW is exactly what I am going for with MS. simply put, the combat is slow, tactical, and truly intense! You use cover, walls, tactical positioning, equipment like UAVs and smoke grenades, support elements like tanks and helicopters. You have a competant squad and a lot of cool gear.
The single player campaign, from the few missions I have completed so far, is truly breathtaking. Character movements, scenery, and just about every element of the playing experience contributes to this feeling of having boots on the ground. Every time you get to a corner of a building, look down the streets, you find your self stuck up against a wall, your trigger finger softy twitching in anticipation (and a bit of tense fear) as you do a quick head peek to see whats around the side. And by head peek, I mean litteraly a head peek. This isn’t the common “lean” function that most shooters have now. You peek is a gentle tilt of your head to get your eyes around the corner just enough. You can click the aim button to get your weapon to bear around the corner to. Using horizontal cover is just as good, with quick peek overs and the ability to vault over low walls much like Gears of War.
X-Box 360 Peeking around the corner
What is truly great about the way cover is used and the feeling of it in the game is when your trading rounds with enemy soldiers. The bullet effects on the walls and terrain is great, and really get you into the idea that this wall you are leaning up against is saving your life. In a game where on good shot can kill, and 2 bad shots can still kill, this game gives wall humping a new meaning.
All of this is fine. But how does it contribute to an RPG? It doesn’t, not really. A pen n paper RPG can not compete with this type of a feeling as there is very little actual stimulation that can emulate this in the same way. Tactics, high mortality, and all of that is fine. However, without the sound of stone chunks ripped off the wall and the enmy AK’s echoing down the street, the glare of the sun, and the obscuring black smoke training off the technical you just blew to hell, you are just rolling dice. I can’t think of a single way that a game rule can really make this work. But that is just fine.
Modern setting RPGs, are rarely so military minded. Most run in some kind of Cyber Punkian or spy vs. spy type of game. What I wanted to accomplish in MS was the firefights having the same kind of tactical vibe as GRAW. That, I think, we can and did handle. As I play, and now write about it, GRAW I also think about ROMP. The thoughts on romp go to the local multi-player I only got to dabble in. There are co-op missions that are different from the overall campaign that I dabbled with that got me thinking “this would be a fun Romp module”. From what I have seen so far, GRAW may be a guide post to how Romp modules will be laid out and played. I have to get some friends over to get a truly large feel for it. My son and I only fooled with it for a few minutes, but it looks very promising. If my early impressions of these missions is correct, this could be the multi-player game I was looking for to get some tangible inspiration for how the missions will look, play, and operate.
Here’s a fairly decent video of the game. And, yes, it looks and plays that good (plays better IMO).
In closing, it isn’t often that video games cross into my RPG development. Usually, it seems like RPGs are the influence for video games (4th Ed. D&D being the exception, but competing as a PnP against MMORPGs is an asanine thing to attempt in my opinion). This generation of games seems to be quite different. They can truly bring about a new level of play, and really push the envelop of the gaming experience. It is, in my opinion, why the PnP industry will always be regulated to a minor footnote in gaming hobbies for the forseeable future. RPGs used to have something that video games couldn’t do. More and more video games are begining to show us that they can do it to. Eventually, it won’t be regulated to isolated experiences. All too soon I am afraid that video games will emulate the tabletop gaming experience far too well.
Until that day comes…
Happy Gaming.
