Are you a fan of Sony's cinematic approach to single player campaigns?

It seems to me that Sony's background in movies plays a big part in their first party games. If you look at games like Horizon, Uncharted, God of War, Last of Us, Spider Man, Ratchet and Clank, Detroit Become Human, etc, they are all heavily cinematic. I actually do like this aspect of their games, because their games are still fun to play, and the story makes them even cooler. It's also nice to see the effort being made for single player. We really don't see much of this from Microsoft and Nintendo in my opinion, although it's hard for me to imagine Nintendo doing that lol. What are your thoughts, SW? Do you find that this approach makes the games better or do you think they interfere with the experience? I'm not making an argument for all games being this way, but it's great to see it occasionally.

dynamitecop makes sense here.

@SolidGame_basic: "Do you find that this approach makes the games better or do you think they interfere with the experience?"

I'll pick interference with the experience. Uncharted 4's SP is an example of why I'm glad in paid $20 used back in April.

@SolidGame_basic: I agree with you TC.

Absolutely no. I want my games to remain games. not to wanna be hollywood movies.

No , not at all

No, I hate it. It's like CoD

yes and no. Yes in that I will play one of their movie games if it's good. No in that I usually only play one and if it's a series like uncharted I feel like after i've played one i've played them all and since there is no multiplayer component I usually skip it unless i give in to the hype

I want games, not interactive movies.

Not personally, no but many people love them and there are still games that I like so it's all good.

Edit: to expand on this a little, it's the lack of freedom over a given situation and the divide of pacing between two different paradigms. I don't mind entering a cut-scene before a long stretch of game-play but cinematic games often blur the lines between cinematics and game-play meaning you're constantly jolted in and out of interactive and less-interactive situations.

See Uncharted where you have long stretches of climbing, cut-scenes and walking before the actual meatiest part of third person shooting. I'm not personally into this. I'd rather be mostly in control with plenty of freedom and options and then occasionally have breaks with cut-scenes to drive the context.

Games are for playing, and movies are for watching..

No I want to play games

I love pressing X for emotion.

It's probably the sole reason I haven't bought a Ps4 this gen, I wore out of those games after 3 Uncharted games and 1 TLOU on the Ps3.

People keep going on about Sony having amazing exclusives, when I just see one game spread out across different names.

Lol. I love these threads.

If I ever stumble into one these cult meetings where everyone sits in a circle chanting how much they hate video game stories, movie games, QTE's etc... I'm running like hell. Probably sacrifice me to their gameplay gods.

I prefer games with a good story so Sony's approach is right up my alley.

I usually skip most cut-scenes or ignore stories in games because the writing standard is still so poor, so when it takes up a large part of a title, I usually have no interest in it.

I love reading novels, watching movies and playing games so any combination of the above done well is a win for me. I also think it's the future of entertainment and a way to give more credibility to gaming in the world of art.

Granted, I have nothing against games that focus mainly on gameplay either, I love them too but I think there's room for both approaches. I also think games that manage to tell a story through gameplay are a really special breed and some of the best games out there like Journey or Braid.

Having said that, thankfully Sony usually combines good stories with good gameplay and their exclusive offer is also quite varied, yes they have more cinematic games than others but they also have more variety than others.

@pinkanimal: But do you feel stories in video games are comparable to other mediums? :/

Perhaps it is early days and we will get better at it over time but personally speaking, I don't think Uncharted is the way to go. It's not taking a good enough advantage of what makes video games special. At least for me, I don't see them as the future of video games but I do think they have a place in video games it's just not very promising to wave games like Uncharted around like the best we have to offer...

@SolidGame_basic:

I love the cinematic approach! It shows how much love and thought is put into the single player campaigns! God of War, Uncharted, Last of Us, Ratchet and Clank, Killzone, Twisted Metal and now Spiderman. All of Sony's exclusives are really fun to play to boot! They walk the walk just as well as they talk the talk.

@jumpaction: I think some games have great writing comparable to a good novel but yeah I agree that we are not there yet combining games with films although you have to start somewhere so I commend Sony for trying. Maybe uncharted is not the best example out there but is also not a complete failure.

I prefer a single-player game an interesting narrative, in general, so yeah.

If you want to tell a story there is no better way.

Their games aren't any more cinematic than something like The Witcher 3, Mass Effect, Gears of War, Halo, Quantum Break, CoD, Battlefield...

Nintendo is the only exception

**** no, I hate it. I prefer games with good gameplay and interesting systems. Sony doesn't offer any of that except Bloodborne

Once in a blue moon I'll want to play one but then I'm one and done. I didn't like UC2 or Gears, which everyone else seemed to adore. Running in a linear line from one set piece to another just doesn't do it for me I'm afraid. However, lots of games I like don't appeal to those who enjoy these games and diversity is a good thing. Would be a horrible world if we all liked the same damned stuff. My guess is that it has alot to do with what you played growing up.

Im big fan of cinematic story driven games and SONY seems to excel on that. Hell im even fan of indie like story driven games. I prefer playing such games than see a movie or two big time.

Cant wait for Spiderman and Last of us 2. Spiderman looked amazing and considering how great was TLOU , i have high hopes for TLOU2

No I'm not, if I were I'd have a PS4, and the completely ruined GOW with that Last of Us bullshit. GOW was fast pace combat and awesomeness. Now it's just meh

I like cinematic games so long as the story is interesting and the gameplay is good. It's when the gameplay is dumbed down to the extent that it takes a backseat to the story when I start to grumble, Like in say Xenosaga series. The gameplay is incredibly poor. The Last of Us is so damn good (played it 6 times) because it has a lot of cut scenes but we're also experiencing the story through the gameplay itself too.

In the end, I think Metal Gear Solid games does it well, Hideo Kojima creator of MGS has always said that MGS series is supposed to be very cinematic and have lots of cutscenes but also good stealth of a gameplay to go with it.

Depends on the Game.

I thought Rachet and Clank did a great job with its cut scenes. They weren't too long and Quark's narration continued while you were playing which was pretty neat. (You could even go against the narration and Quark would Respond)

But on the flip side I really like Yakuza 0's story even though Cutscenes were long, however there was a ton of gameplay in between so I never really felt bogged down by the story. Horizon is the same way.

BUT I hate Uncharted. The gameplay is good, but there can be so little of it. Sometimes it just feels like you are watching a Movie and pressing buttons.

The thing is, in this approach neither the story becomes so great nor the gameplay, if you can make a game with good gameplay and a story that rivals good products of cinema, then that'd be great, which I don't expect it from videogame industry, there's no Aaron Sorkin or C.Nolan in videogames after all.

Generally I'm more about gameplay but I do enjoy MGS and I thought Heavy Rain was like, just awesome. I gotta pick up Beyond sometime.

I think that's part of the reason Sony just has not been interesting me this gen with their offerings.

I play games, not movies.

They're shite.

@pinkanimal: There's only so much we can say when the game-play is a juxtaposition to the narrative. :/

Indiana Jones never murdered so many people.

I think they look great, but they may be using it too much. All although you might play a really good one like The Last of Us, rarely do people want to replay them. Making the used market swell with these games, making less income for Devs. They need to add a few choices or alternate endings, maybe some more DLCs releasing sooner than a year later to have people hold on to the games.

There are only a small handful of cinematic games that I enjoy such as The Last of Us which was amazing, but generally I prefer the focus to be on challenging gameplay and I dislike too much story in video games. When I want a story, books and movies are much better mediums for that. And I feel that Sony focuses too much on the cinematic approach which is one reason why they are my least favorite of the three console makers.

I'm really not a fan of the linear Uncharted-style games. I just hate repeating the same thing. It's either too easy, or you end up doing the same thing with no other options. What's even worse is having to repeat climbing sections until you find the correct ledge to grab. The cinematic part is cool, but I think I'd rather just cut out the mediocre game play sections and watch it as a movie.

R&C and HZD are great

This topic to me seems to suggest there are no cutscenes in Xbox games, if so that's boring story wise

It entirely depends on the game. That being said, a game that is too far into cinematic territory can get old pretty quick.

I dunno. I like some of the approaches but enjoy variety. If I only played these games, I'd suffer burnout. But I play an open-world, free game like Breath of the Wild, then I jump to Persona 5 which is incredibly linear, and after that I'll jump more focused on tight gameplay like Dark Souls 3, and after that challenge I'll maybe need something more scripted and linear.

So as long as I have variety and the cinematic games aren't too same-samey, I'm okay with it. Loved The Last of Us, Uncharted, and God of War is looking great.

As long as there is plenty of gameplay, and said gameplay is good, I like it.

I love them OP. I like good story and narration in my games. We aren't in the 80s and 90s anymore. Just having good gameplay and shit story doesn't cut it for me anymore. I need an extra reason to keep me motivated to beat your game. As long as a game is fun to play i have no issues with cinematic story telling.

Ratchet and Clank has strong gameplay and all the cinematics are skippable with no down time. This new direction Sony is taking is a tiresome and overly samey experience. It is the main reason that I did not enjoy playing UC4 in spite of all the shit reviews stating that the game was less cutscene heavy than UC3 (lying mofos). Story is great but gameplay is the show piece for games and should continue to be the main focus instead of force feeding the gamer story to the point where most of your "gaming" time is spent watching or pushing forward.

No, they're all the same. Liked it the first time but then realised it is just walking and talking.

I am totally burned out on Naughty Dog. I have a tough time calling what they make "video games." They're story heavy experiences with mediocre video game segments tacked on. If you want to make a story driven game, do something like Detroit Become Human or other David Cage games. Just make it an interactive story! The gunplay in the Uncharted series is repetitive and bland. The climbing segments are tedious and the treasure hunting, aka walk up to the sparkling thing, is just lazy game design and a way to pad out the game. The Last of Us is a little better, but the enemy and NPC AI breaks the immersion, which is holding back what makes the game special in the first place!

Horizon doesn't suffer from the Naughty Dog effect. The game has interesting gameplay that enhances the overall package instead of hurting it. I wasn't a fan of the old God of War games, but this one looks interesting. QTE's might water down the experience, but I will give it a shot. The same with Spider Man.

I have no problem with Sony's cinematic style of storytelling in their games. I can't play a game that doesn't have a good story and I'd easily get bored with go here kill this person rinse wash repeat. I think games like Uncharted and TLoU are among the best games that Sony has to offer. And why do people complain so much about climbing in games like GoW & Uncharted? It seems realistic to me. If you climb a whole damn mountain do you really think you can just walk on a path the whole way up? At some point you're gonna have to go vertical lol

With the exception of Naughty Dog games not really. The reason those games excel at it is because Naughty Dog has great writers.

I couldn't have cared any less about the characters and story in Horizon Zero Dawn if I tried.