Industry Leaders Panel Discussion

[fbg1]

GTA3 and GTA:VC have a mature sense of humor. As for mature gameplay, I have no idea what that is, but I think it's evident to anyone that has played these games that they have some of the best mission variation among any contemporary games. Rockstar has combined the driving and shooter genres into one game, interlaced the missions with story-driven cutscenes of twisted humor, and set the whole thing in an interesting, living, detailed, continuous level, and given it a completely open-ended format of play. Give it whatever adjectives you want, be it "mature" or not, but it's a great formula. While a lot of the story and cut-scenes consist of standard mobster and crime cliches, this is the first, or at least most successful, application of those cliches to a videogame. Subsequent titles of this new genre may have to become more sophisticated in that respect, but for GTA3 and GTA:VC it works well. Most mature gamers get a kick out of seeing allusions to Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface, etc. in GTA3 and GTA:VC, movies that today's kiddies may not even have heard of.

 

[marconelly!]

I would just like to add that Team Xbox has a thread dedicated to this that is ten times more informative. and actually talks about various aspects and highlites of what has been said...

http://forums.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=150249

 

[BenSkywalker]

but I think it's evident to anyone that has played these games that they have some of the best mission variation among any contemporary games

Have you played any other games in the last, six or seven years?

I can't speak about GTA:Vice, but GTA3 was criticized pretty much across the boards for the missions being the same thing over and over. From what I have read on GTA Vice that seems to be by far the largest improvement over GTA3.

While a lot of the story and cut-scenes consist of standard mobster and crime cliches, this is the first, or at least most successful, application of those cliches to a videogame.

Well, the guys who made GTA might be worthy of watching someone else play Mafia, but I wouldn't wager on it.

 

[Colourless]

I class a game as mature if it's content is not suitable for children. GTA's content is obviously not suitable for children hence it is a mature game. It's got nothing to do with complex or simplistic gameplay.

 

[BenSkywalker]

I class a game as mature if it's content is not suitable for children. GTA's content is obviously not suitable for children hence it is a mature game. It's got nothing to do with complex or simplistic gameplay.

By those standards I think everyone would completely agree with your classification for GTA. I tend to lean towards sophistication on a more cerebral level when I think of mature gaming content(Morrowind has not objectionable material for youngsters, but the gameplay mechanics are way the hell too complex).

 

[Colourless]

By those standards I think everyone would completely agree with your classification for GTA. I tend to lean towards sophistication on a more cerebral level when I think of mature gaming content(Morrowind has not objectionable material for youngsters, but the gameplay mechanics are way the hell too complex

Yes, my generalization isn't a particularily good one, as there might be game out there that have 'very' complex gameplay with basic undetailed environments and a lack of any sort of story. However, my comment still applies somewhat to Morrowind too. Objectionable content isn't the only thing that would make the content 'adult' (in quotes since I really just mean not child) orientated. Even though I haven't played it, wouldn't you agree that children may not particularily understand the story and the enviroments in Morrowind?

 

[BenSkywalker]

Even though I haven't played it, wouldn't you agree that children may not particularily understand the story and the enviroments in Morrowind?

As well as an adult. The subject matter isn't complex on its face, there is simply too much of it(this applies for kids and adults). The overall story is actually quite simple, you are the prophesized one that will destroy evil. The rest of it is minor, and at least to the main thrust of the story, irrelevant(loads of books to read and conversations to be had that have nothing to do with the main game).

I've heard the complaint from many people, adults, that they stopped playing Morrowind because they forgot what they were supposed to do(the journal system in Morrowind combined with the size of it make this fairly simple unless you ignore all advice to the contrary and don't talk to anyone). Bethesda went through a lot of trouble to create an enormous amount of superficial side stories that could easily confuse a child(along with a good deal of us that can't sit and play for twenty hours a day five days straight to keep it all in order). If only they would have spent a fraction of that time coding a game that worked....

Edit- Forgot to mention that I agree to your broader point that it is fully possible to have a game with a storyline, or play mechanics, too complex for younger gamers.

 

[fbg1]

I can't speak about GTA:Vice, but GTA3 was criticized pretty much across the boards for the missions being the same thing over and over.

I really don't know where those criticisms are coming from, and I wish I could see some specific examples. I played it twice and found R* was quite creative in much of their mission design.

 

[Gollum]

I really don't know where those criticisms are coming from, and I wish I could see some specific examples. I played it twice and found R* was quite creative in much of their mission design.

I can only tell you my personal experience, I stopped playing the game once the third island opened up. By then almost all mission types have at least been done twice or even more often. Some of the missions were really cool and I had a lot of fun with the game for a short while, but it was really the free-roaming gameplay that made the game shine.

The mission that caused me to uninstall the game was, if I can remember correctly, some sort of ice-cream-booth-hunt. You had to drive all over the three islands, find like a dozen booths and smash them all within a couple of minutes. That was a) boring, b) uncreative, c) done before and d) not fun, at least for me. Overall I'd say GTA3's missions were quite cool in the beginning, decent in the middle (although there's little to no story development going on in that part of the game as far as I can recall) and ever more annoying towards the end (while the story is kicking in again here, it wasn't enough to keep me playing)...

 

[fbg1]

Yeah, I can agree with that. I didn't mean to say that all of the missions were stellar, but imo there were enough good ones to keep me interested to the end.