With more emphasis on stories and characters, the latest wave of big budget videogames are aiming for a cultural recognition that goes far beyond the screen. Steve O’Rourke and Tom Winterton investigate.
There was a time when fine wine, nibbles and a high brow chat about cleverly crafted stories would be the preserve of the book clubs. But times are changing. A small group of twenty, and thirty-something adults sit in the cosy back room of a Notting Hill pub. In between glasses of wine they debate plot points, character motives, and competitively compare progress throughout the epic story they are discussing. To an outsider this looks like a typical book club gathering. However, the attendees are not clutching paperbacks; instead, on the table lies several copies of Mass Effect 2, a new sci-fi/ action videogame.
It is a Monday evening and over the preceding weekend the attendees have been feverishly playing the game to give them as much material to discuss as possible. A handful have finished the title (easily 30 hours plus) but most have put in at least 12-20 hours. As the room fills, talk immediately turns to the game, and the varying degrees of progress that has been made.
The evening has been organised by EA Games who publish the BioWare -developed title Mass Effect 2. The thinking behind it, being that it takes an awful lot to impress modern gamers with graphics and the look of a game nowadays, is that story is king and substance rules over style. Indeed, several of the biggest games of 2010 (Heavy Rain, Alan Wake, BioShock 2, and of course Mass Effect 2) are focusing as much on the story and scripting of a game, as they are on the graphics, gameplay and sound.
The host from EA kicks off by asking what the group made of the game’s explosive intro and for the first (and almost last) time in the evening, all are in total agreement that ‘unbelievable’ doesn’t come close. Going into the detail of the night will be tricky without giving away countless spoilers, suffice to say that Mass Effect 2 starts with a bang, turns it up to 11, and cranks up the action consistently from then on in.
Over the course of the evening, the group discusses their varying approaches to the game (the real-time dialogue system allows gamers to be a brash, aggressive maverick, all the way through to a caring peacekeeper); the plot scenarios and characters which these decisions lead to, the game’s wider influences (Blade Runner is mentioned countless times), and what truly makes a 10/10 game (though all are in agreement, this is one of those titles).
As the host wraps up the evening and thanks everyone for coming, there is just one question on the lips of attendees as they chat over their final drinks: “When can we do this again?” There’s talk of similar groups, nicknamed ‘console clubs’ starting up all over the UK. With a raft of adult-orientated titles on the radar, combined with the majority of gamers growing ever older, there seems an inevitability that in time to come, pubs across the land will be filled with grown-ups discussing the merits of the latest button basher. We’ll see you at the bar.
Check out our review of Mass Effect 2 here
