I
wasoriginallygoingtotitlethiscolumn:‘Totellbetter
stories,gamesneedbettercharacters.’It’strue,butit
impliesthatgamesdon’ttellcompellingstoriesright
now, and that’sunfair.There’sa widearrayofgamesthathave
weaved wonderfullyentertainingtales,fromtheBioShock
and Portalgames,toBioWare’suniqueandbrilliantMass
Effect trilogy.
More recently,Telltale’sadventuregameshaveaddedtothe
pile of fantasticstory-drivenexperiences,andthereare
innumerableindietitles,suchasTotheMoonandKentucky
Route Zero,whicharemajesticallywrittenand
plotted. Eventhestoryofthisyear’sWolfenstein,
a game aboutshootingNazirobotdogswithlaser
guns, punchedaboveitsweight.
All thesegamessharethesamereasonbehind
their storytellingsuccess– characters,whichare
crucial to anystory.Thankfully,strong,memorable
charactersarebecomingmorecommonplace,and
that’s worthhighlighting.Gamesweren’talways
this way, andit wouldbeeasytoslipbackwards
into bad habits.
For a long time, games viewed stories mechanically. Writing
was designed to fit within a particular set of levels or missions,
and narratives were objective-driven. You can even see this
approach in a game such as Thief, where the story accommodates
the mission setting. The difference with Thief, of course, is that
it introduced Garrett, and Garrett’s character sustains our
interest over the plot.
You can still see this style of storytelling today, most obviously
in Call of Duty. These games follow the exact same plot structure
as Thief, except they’re devoid of any interesting characters.
That’s why it’s impossible to care about their world-saving
missions,andwhythenowtraditional‘deathofa comrade’ scene
goingintothethirdacthasbecomesoineffective.Compare it
witha gamesuchasPortal,whichisarguablytheepitome of
thislevel-basednarrative,butbringsit togetherthrough the
magnificentGLaDOS.
BioShockdida lottofinishthatstorytellingstyle.It featured
greatcharacters,butitalsoused,abusedandinverted the
traditionalstructuresomasterfullythatit couldn’t really be
bettered,forcinggamestotrya differenttack.Consequently,
gameshavemovedonevenfurther– they’renotsimply making
themselvesinterestingthroughgoodcharacters,
butbeingdrivenbycharacters.
MassEffect2 is myfavouriteexample, a game
thatspendsmanyhoursestablishingrelationships
betweenyouandyourcrew,earningtheir ‘loyalty’
forthesakeofundertakinganextremelydangerous
mission.Then,whenthatmissioncomes, it isn’t
theobjectivethatinterestsyou,butsimply trying
tokeepyourfriendsalive.TheWalkingDead took
thisapproachevenfurther,creatinga game that’s
entirely about characters.
We’re even at the stage where character can play a vital role
in games without a scripted story. Strategy games such as
Crusader Kings and XCOM are made vastly more interesting
by letting you control recognisable individuals rather than
entire armies or nations – individuals who grow, change, live
and die, depending on your actions.
The importance of character in creating meaningful and
relatable games can’t be underestimated. The industry is slowly
realising this fact, but we need to ensure it continues down
this route by being aware of the difference good characterisation
can make to a game, and praising it where we see it.Games
Rick Lane is Custom PC’s games editor @Rick_LaneRICKLANE/INVERSELOOK
IN PRAISE OF CHARACTERS
Rick Lane analyses the importance of character when games tell stories
The importance of
character in creating
meaningful and
relatable games can’t
be underestimated