I had a big long post I was writing about a level in the new Modern Warfare 2, about how it provoked in me a depth of feeling I’ve only felt a few times in a video game, how the game uses the interactiveness unique to games to create this reaction, instead of simply imitating the storytelling techniques of movies and books. Then I decided the scrap the whole thing. It’s a fun game, with brilliant flashes of storytelling illuminating an otherwise off-the-shelf military thriller. I will probably spend an unhealthy time playing the multiplayer, play some more co-op and revisit the single player again sometime.
It feels like the gaming world is on the cusp of something. The New York Times ran an article the other day about the nascent “indie” movement in gaming, with Flower and Braid in the vanguard. Jim Rohrer, the creator of the interesting little meditation Passage, was quoted:
“Just as early film production copied the stage,” he said, video games have yet to escape the influence of film. “Eventually film figured out editing, camera movement — the tools that made movies movies. Video games need to discover what’s special and different about their own medium to break out of their cultural ghetto.”
I feel like this could be something gradually seen across the board from indie to commercial, where we see games with an equal range of sensibilities like that of other media. Games will always be games, they don’t all need to be deep thoughts on the nature of the human condition, they just need to find their voice. And though the subject matter of MW2 is just another Tom Clancy novel turned Michael Bay flick, it feels like it has discovered a unique potential for emotional response in games.
I just realized I never explained the big experience in the game, but you can ask me sometime. Trust me, it was something to remember.