GameSpotting


 Miguel Lopez
Assistant Previews Editor, Video Games
Now Playing: Virtua Fighter 4, Pikmin, Freedom Force, Assault Suit Leynos 2
 More: Energy swords, industrial robots
Less: Wal-Mart games, soulless multiplatform specters

Giant Robots Vs. Invisible Hands

Tonight, I've been thinking about robots a lot. Lots of things I see in the world every day make me think about robots: transit buses, cool buildings, power lines, and so on. Also, the images that I'm surrounded by every day make this stuff manifest. And the fact that I work with guys like Gerald, Ryan Davis, and Giancarlo doesn't help either. These things are all up in my face and brain all the time. I think I also have something of a predilection for them, though. Robots are fresh.

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Look, robots.
You've probably noticed that there are a whole bunch of games with robots in them. Mostly, you see Japanese mecha or else autonomous constructs somehow inspired by their traditional design. What about other sorts of robots, though, designs grounded in less fantastical sensibilities? Seldom do we see lumbering, '50s sci-fi bucketheads in games--and even less so in nonironic contexts. We can't blame game designers, really--who would take something like that seriously these days? They're probably suited only to the realm of pastiche at this point. But think beyond those things and try to focus on a more contemporary, pragmatic view of robotics--think of the things that build cars, cool molten iron, and patrol the skies to provide weather forecasts. It's totally logical to assume that these sorts of machines will eventually evolve into the star-spanning, energy sword-carrying defenders of virtue and life that we've come to fantasize about, especially if our view of the future would be utterly shattered if it didn't pan out as such. But the world is often both unfair and illogical, so consider, if you will, what is really likely to happen: robots' continued role, for the foreseeable future, as mainly industrial devices designed to relieve human tedium. Japan is totally on that tip right now--lots of investment in the private sector is being channeled toward robotics development. Of course, you could assume that many of the people designing and engineering these machines grew up with Astro Boy and the Ronin Warriors. Take that into account. And then, look at the Web page for the last Robodex show in Japan--one of the more prominent trade shows in the robotics field. I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, but I think it's something along the lines of commenting on the convergence of the fantastical, idealized, and generally testosterone-driven view of robotics' role in the world with the more practical, utilitarian mind set. Basically, you're going to have Tranzor Z cleaning your septic tank. Perhaps not quite, but you know what I mean. They're also building robot guard dogs, but they can't bite just yet--they're like walking alarm systems.

 
 Which robots are best?

Walking tanks (MechWarrior)
Graceful and deadly (ZOE)
Transformers (Gunmetal)
Industrial (Ford Industries)
Personable (Posy)
Shut up
They should come out with energy swords

 
But I digress. This should be about games, after all. So check it out: What's going to happen when robots become more of an everyday part of your life? Will seeing Valkyrie clones bust stuff up still wow you? Or will our current robot fantasies be smacked into obsolescence by how crazy real robots turn out? Isn't that what mechs did to bucketheads? We've already thought of all sorts of crazy scenarios involving robots--or autonomous machines in general. Just look at 20th century film and science-fiction literature. But very few works of humankind have touched upon the possible sensations of what being attacked by a Ford factory would be like. Think about real-life robots for a second and not prototype stuff like Asimo--think of huge pieces of machinery with piston-powered arms and no faces, drilling into huge chunks of metal and walking around on spider legs. Those things could mess you up, man. Remember the robots in Silent Bomber? They were all sorts of industrial-looking in design. The closest things to anthromorphic robots in that game were dudes in exoframes. For the most part, it was all just evil machinery trying to crush you, disintegrate you, or otherwise dispose of your flesh with binary efficiency. Stuff like that is pretty intense, and it would be cool to see more games touch on that. Robots don't have to move like people, despite how cool it is for them to do so. And perhaps when we start seeing real robots on the streets more, our collective imagination will start to refine the way it fantasizes about them.

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I see the way your fear looks. You are a sinner.
Still, some people are designing robots with a philosophy diametrically opposite to the one we're positing as the most prominent. Look at Posy. The focus of "her" design was to make her presence comforting to humans. She has a face, a slight, unimposing frame, and a high-pitched voice. Am I the only one who finds her look insanely disturbing? Imagine if they made her able to lift 10,000 pounds and made it so that her coat and eyes glowed a fluorescent purple at night. That's enough for food for 1,001 nightmares and/or robot survival horror game scenarios. But that's another life, in any event. Till then, I'll be "fetishizing" the Tekki control panel and looking forward to MechAssault.
 
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