Comments: 1 (Go to Comments)
Categories: Commentary
Tags: fallout, fps, Pac-Man
Back in my Commodore 64 days, I played an innovative Pac-Man clone which used the first person perspective. This was well before the concept of a first person shooter took hold and you might guess how well the C-64 pulled off 3D. Frankly, the game didn’t work – I’m not sure if it was possible to clear a level unless you were one of those guys who can play chess blindfolded – but it was interesting.
Pac-Man, in 3D, takes on a surreal survival horror aspect. If you’re playing a traditional Pac-Man arcade game, you have a simultaneous understanding of where the ghosts are, which dots need to be eaten, and your proximity to the power pellets. From Pac-Man’s POV, you’re stuck in a maze and instant death in the form of Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde lurks around every corner.
As an aside, people have taken the Pac-Man’s POV concept and moved it into the real world either by mixing virtual with actual reality or by turning it into a large-scale urban game.
A few years ago, I played Shades of Doom, an FPS designed for blind gamers. Dynamic, realistic sound replaced dynamic, realistic graphics. It’s not an interesting attempt at a game; it’s a fully realized game which I sucked at – but I appreciated what I was experiencing.
Perspective interests me. Currently, I’m obsessed with Fallout 3. I will write much more about Fallout 3 later, but what grabs me the most is – unlike Fallout 1 and 2′s overhead isometric perspective – Fallout 3 puts you right there in the middle of post-apocalyptic America. While previous Fallouts represented scorched earth, bombed out cities, and blasted landscapes – Fallout 3′s first/third person perspective realizes that setting.
Sure, at this point every game seems to put the player on the ground floor of a 3D, photorealistic graphicsfest – but as I took on an army of slavers who had the audacity to make the Lincoln Memorial their base camp – well, let’s just say Fallout 3 does something more.
Speaking of changing perspectives, this will be my last post for about a week. I’m going on vacation and I’ll talk to you when I get back.
Silvercube:
Hope you are having a good time on your trip.
I’m hanging in there :)