Sunday, February 15, 2004

Game Endings.

** Spoilers for some games**
Game endings!!! Two words which mean nothing to the uninitiated and volumes for the gamers. Game endings are the holy grail for which people play. Yup, we do play for the pure thrill of the kill, the chance to drive with our stars, the sheer challenge of solving a puzzle. However at the end of it all somewhere at the back of our mind we crave for a reward of some kind. Something we can take back for all the hours we gave to the game, keeping our lives on hold, bravely asking on all scorn thrown at us from our love ones who we ignore for the sake of the game.Something which makes the last 15 hours worthwhile.
Well earlier games did not have an elaborate end sequence as mostly the games themselves did not end and we just kept trying to get the next best score. However as game consoles got into more homes and games like Mario and Final Fantasy came into picture there was a need for at least a rudimentary end scene. However I am no qualified as I haven't played games of this era but suffice it to say that the end scenes were getting more and more elaborate.
I came into the picture playing games in the mid-nineties and I remember seeing short but beautiful end-sequences. In games like street fighter I have tried to win as each different character just to get the personalised end-scene. In another game called "One Must Fall" the end scene was almost the same with only the audio changing as each contestant wanted to do something quite different with the prize they had one I spent six months and won the tournament as each character just to sate my curiosity at what each one wanted to do with the power granted them.
Now coming to the present age I find the situation is not as good. For example I spent lots, and I mean LOTS(for it is quite a difficult FPS), of hours playing Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault only to have the game tell me abruptly that it was the end. That was the most shocking part of the whole game when I finished one mission all ready for the next and the game closes down on me. Now compare this to the end of Max Payne 2. After playing for quite some time I reached the end and after the MOHAA story I was quite apprehensive but I was made party to a beautiful closure. Not only that but the whole game faded into the credits-movie style- with a soundtrack, specifically a song written for the game. It was pure pleasure...you know the kind where you hoped that someone was around to see your accomplishments.
So if any of you know any game developers, please ask them to work on the endings. In today's time games take a lot of your time and one is entitled to a epic closure at the end of the whole effort.