quote:
Scott -- you need to forget everything you know and give in to suspension of disbelief. That is, until someone comes along that can make these ideas work. (Ignore the man behind the curtain...)
I''m quite willing to do that for movies and books today. But there just isn''t enough of whatever grabs me emotionally in any existing video game.
I will, however, relate the two nearest misses.
Number one was the first time I played Alpha Centauri: there was a wonderfully diverse selection of taunts and insults from each of the opposing factions that matched their playing styles. Sadly, I had seen it all the second time through.
Number two was the Covenant aliens and the marines in Halo. From the excessive profanity emitted by the aliens when they fled my fire to the way they ran in terror from grenades, it just felt so warm and fuzzy to kill them. And the motion capture and sheer number of gestures and phrases that came out of the marines blew my mind. All I can say is that this is part of the solution for me. It represented a significant advance, but it''s still pretty canned. As for storyline, Halo was strictly linear, but much like _The Matrix_ is possibly the best repackaging of the hero''s quest archetype ever, I have never enjoyed going from point A to point B any more than in _Halo_.
As for suspension of disbelief, I can also relate that just like every one of my friends, I fell over backwards in my chair in terror the first time one of those $!@#* aliens in the classic _Rescue At Fractalus_ pounded through the windshield of my space craft. You have to experience this one to appreciate it. Even knowing it was coming didn''t help. I mention this because the final level of Halo finally topped this in sheer adrenaline for me after nearly 20 years of that single moment being the reigning king of immersion for me.
Scott