Okay, so I just finished the game Brütal Legend yesterday, right? And now, I'm thinking - are games more than just entertainment? Art is supposed to inspire emotion, right? A reaction from you is the artist's goal when he creates something.
Well, I cried during this game. Yeah, this game is fully Balls-to-the-wall, In-your-face, BRUTAL, HEAD BANGING METAL through and through, but there was a very touching love story in there. A love story which was very touching, and -
WARNING! ABANDONE ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE! SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT PLAYED THE GAME YET!
- the point in which I cried was when Ophelia, the Main Character's Love interest commits suicide by jumping into the Sea of Black Tears while Ozzy's "Mr. Crowley" is playing IN PERFECT SYNC with it. I've never cried during a video game, or even that many movies for that matter. I'm just not the kinda guy to get attached to those things to the point of crying.
Now, let's get one thing straight right here - I wasn't sobbing like my dog had just been shot. This was one of those, "Damn... did... Did that really just happen?..." moments that just made me tear up and start that silent cry that all of us have now and then. But I almost never have those. So, this is kind of a big deal for me.
SPOILERS END HERE, NOW THAT I REALIZE IT
ANYWAYS, I'm rambling. My point is, if Art is supposed to evoke emotion, and a video game about killing demons and banging your head around made me feel honest to God sadness and emotional connections to characters, then does that make it art? Or is it still just Media Entertainment?
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I wouldn't put Brutal Legend in the video games as art catagory, but to each his own. For art... I'd give that to Metal Gear Solid series. Usually the best graphics of that time when they come out, great plot, dynamic characters, awesome soundtrack, and loooong cutscenes. It's the game that can't make up its mind if it's a movie or a game. The game, although usually involving Snake, a total badass, sneaking into an enemy base, getting a ton of guns, and shooting the hell out the leader and blowing shit up, actually has good intentions behind it. The creator, Hideo Kojima, makes the stories very anti-war and anti-nukes. The objective of like each game is preventing a nuclear holocaust. Although I may not be doing a good job explaining it, if I was writing an essay and planned out this comment I'd do a good job proving it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway... that was quite the tangent... I had that same moment when I believed Snake had ended his life by his own hands at the end of MGS4. Fortunately, during the credits, you see him alive and I was happy again. In MGS4, Snake is old and not far from death, but dying from suicide or in combat would be a horrible end for a man who had devoted his life, even when branded a terrorist by the US government, to stop weapons of mass destruction.