Article defending linear games and why player choice and freedom isn't necessarily the pinnacle of video game narrative.
VGChartz's Evan Norris: "If you haven't played Rainbow Cotton before, you're not alone. A Dreamcast exclusive released only in Japan, it's not exactly a household name. Looking to change that, and bring the sixth-gen game back into the spotlight, is German studio KRITZELKRATZ 3000, which — with the backing of publisher ININ and original developer SUCCESS — has remade the 3D shoot-'em-up from the ground up. Featuring several modern quality-of-life upgrades, plus HD graphics and a brand new local co-op mode, it promises to merge the past and present when it launches digitally on consoles and PC on May 9.
Ahead of the game's release, I chatted with Andreas Scholl, technical director at KRITZELKRATZ 3000 and lead programmer for Rainbow Cotton, about what fans can expect from the remake."
It's fun to be a kid again.
If you noticed that recent weapons nerfs made your favorite guns feel different and are ruining gameplay in The Finals, you are not alone.
I'm in agreement that linear is not a dirty word. Like free-roaming games, there's a place for linear games as well. Each style has its own strengths and weaknesses. When I played Call of Duty I don't class its linearity as a negative, because it's trying to be linear, that's the style it's going for because, as the article says, it's a Micheal Bay type of game, a rollercoaster ride.
it's really simple
not every game should be open world
and not every game should be linear
that's why we need both ...not just one
Every game is linear if you think about it.. You cant make the game your own... It has a story already laid out... Making choices is just a smoke screen or a gimmick the company promises you to buy it.... I had to learn that the hard way with the Mass Effect trilogy.
Linearity is an interesting complaint. There is nothing inherently wrong with it, but there is an art to making a linear game feel big.
Half Life 2 is obviously the blueprint for phenomenal linear game design that feels large. You seemingly always know exactly where to go, despite the fact that there are no objective markers to tell you where that might be.
3 of the most important linear story factors? PACING, PACING, PACING. You get the pace and momentum of the game right (Uncharted 2 hombre), you can't stop playing. Good story beats, intertwining suspense, explosive action, catch breath, do it all again.
I will say that certain games feel RESTRICTIVE *cough* FFXIII. Games that needed to branch out. Linear titles that weren't ambitious enough.
I recently made a post stating 'When people play videogames they don't necessarily want the same linear structure that they get in a book.
Even in a light gun game people like to see branches that they can choose from'.
and I got 3 disgarees and no agrees.
Figure that out! So what the disagreers are saying is that when people play videogames they do NECESSARILY (i.e. everyone, every single time) want the same linear structure that they get in a book. So they're saying that EVERY single person can't stand games with even a small amount of choice. In that case they must hate practically every videogame made for the over 3s.
They're also saying that people prefer their linear light gun games to be as linear as it is humanly possible to make a game. No branching paths. Probably auto aim for them too- what could be more linear? Heck, make the game play itself and make it entirely linear to please these 3.