Andy Serkis: Game narrative is lacking, but has much potential
If Gollum says it, it must be true. Andy Serkis, who played the loathsome creature in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie adaptation, has said that he feels game stories are generally lacking. "There's no heart in them. We put so much into the writing of film scripts and plays, but not into games. And games are where the audience is going to be. I absolutely think that gaming is a massive storytelling arena in the making and now the technology has arrived to do that. It's a fascinating time." We absolutely agree with Serkis that this generation is the launchpad for real cinematic storytelling. Games like Uncharted and Metal Gear Solid 4 are paving the way, but with such a young medium there's still plenty of room for improvement. Serkis' background may be in Hollywood, but he did a lot of motion capture and dialogue work for the under-represented PS3 title Heavenly Sword, stating afterward that he'd love to work in games again. Perhaps if game stories keep improving at the rate they have over the last couple of years, it won't be long until we see him donning the skin-tight motion capture suit again.











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
doom saber @ Feb 10th 2009 4:25AM
Didn't he also motion captured King Kong?
mattclarkie @ Feb 10th 2009 4:26AM
Yes, he was Kong.
Hashbrown Hunter @ Feb 10th 2009 6:03AM
Man that was one of the best 6 hour movie license games ever. It was really well done.
mattclarkie @ Feb 10th 2009 7:58AM
Heavenly Sword showed a lot of promise, sadly I don't think will see a sequel.
I think alot of games have a reasonable story, but the big hitters such as CoD IMO don't have a story, or if they do I sure as hell haven't noticed it, so story obviously makes no difference to sales figures.
KarlW @ Feb 10th 2009 7:51AM
The only CoD I've played is COD4, and that did have a story. It wasn't fantastic, but it had some really good moments (such as the bomb level), which added to the atmosphere and really made the story come alive.
Heavenly sword had great animations and graphics, so you tried to get involved with the story, but it was too linear and the story was pretty bland. Small village gets attacked by big army, sister gets kidnapped, you go to find her. Been there, done that.
Some games do have great stories though. Metal Gear and Legacy of Kain are the two that spring to mind. They're something of a rarity today. I'd love to see more games focus on the story and dialogue. There are too many american macho space marines spouting witty one-liners to win wars. Mix it up a bit.
I met Andy Serkis at a threespeech event for Heavenly sword, and he seemed to really be enthusiastic about gaming. I suppose it's an area with a lot of potential for somebody from a motion capture background, as it's basically a universe you can create.
Spoit @ Feb 10th 2009 4:36AM
Graphics are what are killing game stories. System shock 2 had 10 times the narrative quality of bioshock.
And let's not even mention PS:T
GenBanks @ Feb 10th 2009 8:22AM
Have to disagree, graphics advance the ability to deliver immersive story-telling. Half Life 2 has a great storyline, and part of what makes the character dialogues so engrossing is the excellent facial expression animations and textures. The setting as a whole becomes more convincing as well, which means that you take the events within that setting more seriously and personally, making the story as a whole more interesting.
You could compare it to animated films... An expressively drawn and animated cartoon (Waltz with Bashir, Spirited Away, Persepolis) becomes more involving because of its visual beauty. For me at least, that enhances my receptiveness of the story.
François @ Feb 10th 2009 4:54AM
The problem is partially mechanical. For stories in games to be compelling, they must be told through the gameplay itself. But our most well-developed game mechanics simulate combat. So you either have a story about combat (which isn't a very deep subject), a story that detracts attention from the gameplay (and so must remain brief and simple to avoid frustrating the player), or quirky, underdeveloped mechanics.
Take Bully or the GTA series: story-driven games set among civilians. But the story contorts to find reasons to fight everyone, while non-violent fetch-quests and dating missions get old fast. The story can't be anything but silly.
If someone will just get on inventing an addictive gameplay mechanic that simulates _lamenting the human condition_ then we'll have a sweet Hamlet game.
KarlW @ Feb 10th 2009 7:55AM
Fallout 3 uses combat to tell the story. So far, I'm really enjoying the story, which has all the right ingredients - very immersive, atmosphere well created, and it's non-linear.
It's a matter of priorities. You could spend all your time making a technical demo (such as Doom3), and spend little or no time on the story, or you can make it the main attraction of the game (Fallout 3, Metal Gear...etc).
GenBanks @ Feb 10th 2009 8:16AM
I find the storyline for the Half Life 2 games extremely engrossing, despite the fixation on combat.
François @ Feb 10th 2009 8:39AM
I'm enjoying Fallout 3 as well, but I have little reason to care about the supporting characters, the ethical choices are exaggeratedly evil or altruistic, and the best moments are the dark humor, which is well-tread ground for game stories, and not what I would call deep or serious.
MGS games have great stories, except that they too often detracts from the game (by not letting you play it).
François @ Feb 10th 2009 8:48AM
I concede, Half-life 2 and it's episodes are very well-told as games. But they're the exception. I'm not saying deep, engrossing stories can't be told about combat situations. I'm just saying that it's a narrow space to tell stories in. Imagine if we only had action and horror movies.
Evan @ Feb 10th 2009 8:58AM
There are game mechanics that don't involve combat...
Point-and-click adventures (Maniac Mansion to Grim Fandango) was effective for telling stories, but the genre has fallen out of favor.
Visual Novels (Hotel Dusk) are popular in Japan, but have never caught on in North America.
Unfortunately, any game mechanic that doesn't involve combat seems to be rejected by American fans (see Zack and Wiki).
François @ Feb 10th 2009 9:20AM
@Evan Yes, that's the other problem. A successfully marketed game in the west needs some good ol' fashion sex, violence, and special effects, which generally makes the stories less serious. I think this is because most gamers can't prejudge the value of a game's design by the look of it. Not as well as people can prejudge a novel or movie.
For example, I love puzzle games. I know I will love Professor Layton. But all the reviews and videos do nothing to make me want it. I think games need to be played to really get their hooks in you.
Strategy_Panda (Pot & Spoon 4 Life) @ Feb 10th 2009 10:04AM
there is also a problem of resources.
There are lots of games involving combat that have good stories (see above examples) but developers know that often times people are not willing to put up with it or even care (see above example of MGS4). At that point it becomes a matter of resources. Do we spend time and money working on graphics and bugs etc, or do we spend time crafting a story that people may or may not care about?
François @ Feb 10th 2009 10:21AM
@Strategy_Panda True. Not all games need a strong narrative to work, but a charmingly simple story is much better (and cheaper) than a pitifully half-baked attempt (you know who you are).
slycooper_rocker (The Agent of Orange) @ Feb 10th 2009 10:38PM
@ Francois
case in point: LittleBigPlanet
the story is laughably silly (SPOILER: the collector stole everyone's stuff cause he had no friends) but the gameplay is so strong and the way they tell the story make it memorable.
GMonkey @ Feb 10th 2009 5:28AM
Improvement in narrative? Where?
Hashbrown Hunter @ Feb 10th 2009 6:08AM
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was a big game in terms of the narrative landscape for gaming. Also GTA IV was a very serious, mature story that could've been a standalone movie if it ever happened.
GMonkey @ Feb 10th 2009 7:12AM
I hope you're kidding.
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Feb 10th 2009 8:12AM
I completely agree with you. GTAIV had a great story, one that you would typical find in a crime novel or crime film.
GMonkey @ Feb 10th 2009 8:57AM
Is today sarcasm day or something?
Strategy_Panda (Pot & Spoon 4 Life) @ Feb 10th 2009 10:16AM
no, today is "GMonkey makes himself look like an idiot on the internet" day
John @ Feb 10th 2009 10:09AM
Hey GMonkey. Let me introduce you to a thing called opinion. Just because it is different from yours, doesn't make it wrong or right or sarcasm. It may come as a shock to you that I am not kidding or being sarcastic.
bamb0o-stick @ Feb 10th 2009 6:47AM
Andy Serkis should keep working on video games. I absolutely loved his work on Heavenly Sword. If people with good movie backgrounds get involved with game projects, that can only be good.
Please let there be a Heavenly Sword sequel! That had so much potential!
JoeTheBlow @ Feb 10th 2009 6:57AM
He was certainly the highlight of Heavenly Sword.... well that and the bit where the Goddess of War slaughters about 2500 guys in the final battle, still impressive.
That game came out too early, certainly worth a shot at the prices you can find it now.
JRM @ Feb 10th 2009 7:07AM
From that picture, it looks like...
Gollum doesn't have a dick.
xenocidic @ Feb 10th 2009 10:08AM
yea, where the fuck is his loincloth?
koehler83 @ Feb 10th 2009 7:12AM
Although I think theatrically Ninja Theory did a great job with Heavenly Sword, we could get alot more from the IP if Sony handed it off to another dev. I don't know who though.
G$ @ Feb 10th 2009 7:32AM
I'd love to see more attention paid to narrative. I'm currently playing through Gears of War 2 and the dialogue is just terrible. I love the game, but the cut scenes really take me out of the solo/coop experience.
I don't expect the script to be as strong as the content within "The Wire" (HBO), but GOW2 causes me to roll my eyes during every single cut scene. PAINFUL!
Cornelius @ Feb 10th 2009 7:49AM
I have a lot of respect for Mr. Serkis, but I think he missed out on the Half-Life series...
Evan @ Feb 10th 2009 8:41AM
The most significant step for storytelling in games was the move from cartridge to disk in the original PlayStation generation. It allowed for full voice acting and full motion cut scenes. This generation's improved "cinematics" is a minor step compared to that leap, more evolutionary than revolutionary.
Worst, I think the shift from RPGs to shooters as the most popular console genre, and the demise of Grim Fandango style point-and-click adventures on the PC, is a step backwards in the evolution of storytelling.
Evan @ Feb 10th 2009 9:08AM
I want to also add, reasons why this generation is retarding storytelling...
- More and more games are trying to cast the player in the lead role. This goes deeper than customizable character graphics, the stories avoid the lead character's backstory and inner thoughts, and become a shallow series of events that happen to you, instead of a potentially deep story unveiling who the main character is.
- More and more games are sandboxes. This removes the ability of the writer to control the pacing. It removes any sense of urgency when bad guys will wait around for you while you dick around stealing cabs and beating up pedestrians.
François @ Feb 10th 2009 9:58AM
I agree, developers went a little overboard with bells and whistles of simulation tech. I'm sure that greater realism and scale has made design and storytelling harder. But I don't think more power can ultimately be bad. Hopefully in time more developers will scale back their simulation to meet their design, or push their design to use the tech well.
WiNG [XBL&Steam: WiNGSPANTT] from lifeinagame.com @ Feb 10th 2009 9:22AM
Two words: Mass Effect
Amazing storytelling, and they even managed to make dialog fun! Any game where dialog can end in either getting it on or putting a gun to someone's face is all right in my book.
Markez @ Feb 10th 2009 12:07PM
Yeah, telling your fan to chill the F out was a great moment. My brother back in MN had recently bought a 360, so I sent him a handful of games I don't play anymore. One of the 'em was ME. Not typically his kind of game, at all, but damn if he didn't burn through it in record time. Got a text message from him a few days ago saying "Humanity is safe from the Reapers... For now."
Giroro @ Feb 10th 2009 11:03AM
Only Joystiq can manage to make 3 references to PS3 games in a post that has absolutely nothing to do with any specific console.
Where's the love for Mass Effect and Bioshock? (Except for WiNG, He's a cool guy)
Hashbrown Hunter @ Feb 10th 2009 12:07PM
They're not being biased. And they're talking about Andy Serkis, who did motion capture and dialogue work for the PS3-exclusive Heavenly Sword.
Plus, the writer is Jem Alexander who is one of the main writers for J[PS].
littleboot @ Feb 10th 2009 11:17AM
I wonder if narrative will move forward in games until we let go of the idea games will deliver "cinematic" storytelling. Games like Fable 2 and Braid show the possibilities implicit in simply giving someone interesting things to do in a compelling setting. When narrative is used as a backdrop to the smaller "tale" of your little character and what you do, it becomes more like life. It's there games have something different to offer from other storytelling forms. When developers finally arrive at the "promised land" where player action really has deep and subtle effects throughout the game world, I think people will be hard-pressed to deny games are another art-form in which unique stories can be told. We've already had a number of leaps forward the last two generations, and they were anything but "cinematic". They were stories which could only have been told as games.
ZeroCorpse @ Feb 10th 2009 11:20AM
The problem with developing a huge, deep story for a game is that often, the developer turns his "game" into a "barely interactive movie", such as in the Final Fantasy or Metal Gear Solid games. You watch a lot of really great cinemas, and then you get control for however long it takes to get to the next cinema, which is usually much longer than the time you just spent in control.
Guys like Hideo Kokima REALLY want to make a movie, but instead give us games that barely count as games. Hideo Kojima's creations are the video game equivalent of a Todd McFarlane action figure; Looks great, but there are no points of articulation to provide the player with any "action" at all. It's made to look at it, talk about it, and collect it, but not really to play with it.
Mass Effect told a great story without making us watch too many cinemas (although there were still plenty). GTA IV did a better job of keeping the player in the rather deep story without taking us out of the experience- Everything was rendered with the in-game engine, too.
However, the original Deus Ex still stands head & shoulders above most other games as having the best, most in-depth, entertaining story without EVER taking us out of the action. There are no length cinemas in Deus Ex, save for the beginning and end. The player is always in control, and the story can go several different directions based on the player's actions (unlike other deep storytelling games that FORCE the player to finish the single story told by the developer, in the way the developed wants it told.)
Make more games with that sort of interactivity and depth, and you'll see the audience arrive ready to play.
Some of you saying that moving away from RPGs is stopping story development, but I think that a lot of RPGs (which I love) are actually guilty of forcing a story, and a single conclusion, on the player. A lot of JRPGs are on a "track" and you cannot deviate from the story no matter what.
Giroro @ Feb 10th 2009 11:28AM
Half-life 2: Great story, no cinematics. (except for the intro & outro)
Hashbrown Hunter @ Feb 10th 2009 11:31AM
Game narrative has a gigantic amount of untapped potential just waiting to burst in awesomeness.
Portal is the perfect example of how story and gameplay should be intertwined with one another. Portal is an almost entirely first-person story (save for the last cutscene) and as more and more elements are introduced into the gameplay, the story deepens further and further until they both hit their climax.
Another game I'd like to point out for story is one many probably won't understand as of now: Patapon. Sure, the game has no voiceovers (thank God) and is a mostly dialogue-box affair during cutscenes. But what I found to be a nice touch from the developer to also shed a little bit of light on the other side of the front. As you proceeded into a battle, many of the "enemies" would say similar things as the Patapons, such as "Long live the [insert tribe name here]!" and "Do not let the Patapon filth get past!" and other things like that. I just found it to be a nice touch for a game that is not trying to sell its narrative aspect.
The real challenge for developers is to find a Portal-esque harmony between gameplay and story where one affects the other and vice-versa. Mass Effect also did a good job of this, but I am reserving hope that Heavy Rain will be one of the big name games to achieve the lofty goal.
Hashbrown Hunter @ Feb 10th 2009 12:02PM
"Some of you saying that moving away from RPGs is stopping story development, but I think that a lot of RPGs (which I love) are actually guilty of forcing a story, and a single conclusion, on the player. A lot of JRPGs are on a "track" and you cannot deviate from the story no matter what."
Nailed it man. RPGs are in a serious need of narrative innovation. Most RPGs stay stagnant and are extremely linear and they also suffer from the whole "watching a movie, not playing a game" issue. For RPGs to mature and hit this narrative/gameplay relationship, it needs to somehow incorporate story into its battle system. Persona 3 and 4 were great at this.
Actually Crisis Core: FFVII incorporated some bite-sized cutscenes into its Digital Mind Wave battle system. They were not very substantial, but proved itself as a great tool to help expand upon character development. Another great thing the game did was the whole idea of the Digital Mind Wave system. All of the emotions Zack would go through throughout the story would affect his DMW, and therefore the gameplay. Small things like this are needed to help inspire change in the very generic RPG genre.
Hashbrown Hunter @ Feb 10th 2009 12:03PM
Whoops, this was supposed to be a reply to ZeroCorpse
RageOverdose @ Feb 10th 2009 1:12PM
When it comes to lack of story, I think it is more of an issue dealing with audience. Sure, Half-Life 2 did very well and had a great storyline. But, remember the idea behind correlations. Just because two things are related doesn't mean one caused the other. Half-Life 2 is one of those uncommon games that come in with great gameplay but also great storytelling. The great gameplay alone can draw in an audience that doesn't care about story. I've seen games like Half-Life 2 or any Final Fantasy played by people who just don't give a rat's ass about the story, all they want to do is get to the next battle.
Games like Halo 3 have easier stories to get into, since it is an epic. I think people generally appreciate epics like Star Wars or Halo. But the game still had gameplay that appealed to people and multiplayer that tends to overshadow the rest of it.
On the other spectrum of game fans, we have the otaku, who love anything anime or Japanese (I mean otaku closer to the actual Japanese meaning). So, they're going to play games like Final Fantasy because of the content on style, and while I'm sure they appreciate the story, they appreciate it more because of where it comes from.
Killzone 2 seems to have the potential for a good story, at least from what I've seen. Sure, it's more of a war story, less of an emotional one, but the game is trying a bit on the story front. However, it will also have the gameplay to bring in others.
Metal Gear Solid has good gameplay too. The stealth aspects are simple and fun, sometimes goofy. Another game with an involved story that people overlook in lieu of gameplay, mainly because cutscenes can be skipped. Starcraft is also another game with a great story, but it strives in the competitive world.
All I'm saying is, the market for story doesn't seem to be in the main demographic of gamers, western gamers to be more specific. Games such as Gears of War, God of War, Halo, and Call of Duty paint this picture well. Sure, while some of the games mentioned have good stories, it's just a correlation. If people wanted a story and could appreciate it, they would probably overlook gameplay a bit to get it. All those games are played for gameplay, and the story just seems to be a bonus to some, a non-issue to others.
Hashbrown Hunter @ Feb 10th 2009 1:43PM
Well eventually I hope things will not stay this way. Eventually there will be a game that will be big for its story, or at least equally for story as gameplay.
Zsavior @ Feb 10th 2009 2:08PM
Gamers are the problem with the poor narratives today, all most of them want is to run in shoot everything up and keep going, so when the game stops for two seconds to create any type of plot they complain.
Honestly, the stories portrayed in many video games today wouldn't be considered good narratives for movies or books. Yes they would be created, I mean Chung-li the legend continues, and Dragonball Evolutions has been created but nobody would call the movies good or even interesting.
For the exception of Half-Life 2 most of the games here mentioned have horrible plots and stories, but one stands out. The Grand Theft auto series, is laughable, why do you say that may of you ask? Sorry for the rant but here is why.
Hopefully some of you saw Tropic Thunder and the amazing role Robert Downey Jr played, the role wasn't impressive cause he switched from a Black character to an Australian one on the fly, funny yes but not the point. Downey's portrayal was award worthy because he exposed several Hollywood stereotypes while portraying them exacty, yet on the other hand showing what good acting was and explaining why it connected.
GrandTheft auto is an example of those Horribly Laughable hollywood stereotypes. The series is like spoof movies of good films, like Colors, Godfather, and so on only with out the laugh track. The plot and character development created in these games are so bad you have to wonder if it is done on purpose. But Rock Star takes them so seriously and you wonder how can this pass as good writing. (In best Yugoslavian accent or Macedonian) Cousin Niko come from old country doesn't like violence, but doesn't try any other way to get out. From the cliched coming in on a boat scene, to the sad set up of his history, the game doesn't try to set up any sort of original story line that you couldn't pull out of a cheap Hollywood movie or dime novel.
2008 immigrants are coming in on Boats? Really because I have known several eastern European people, one came here, as a child very young, the other was here for college. Both had the same problem, they needed money for college and it wasn't easy. The girl I know bartends the boy he got his grades up to get a scholarship. My question is in 2008 why couldn't the plot surround an Eastern European man coming for an education not being able to find a job so he earns money through criminal means to pay tuition. But see that would mess up your whole MTV created Bottle visioned view of Eastern European people selling Drugs and wearing Adidas track suits with gold chains, and (in thickest Yugoslavian accent) coming in from old country on boat!
Long story short we as gamers have given studios a pass to do this, as long as we get to shoot, maim, or run over something in the first few minutes of the game. After my generation of gamers passes on I believe gaming will change for the better, because those narratives won't be accepted, and the games won't be bought.
Syke @ Feb 12th 2009 4:33PM
I empathize your point with stereotypes, but you're missing how important and symbolic the imagery of the boat is. When Niko comes to America it's on a boat -- this evokes a lot of images, especially the idea of immigrants who have come here seeking the American Dream. In the scene is the Statue of Happiness behind him.
Also, this is the GTA series. Every character is one who's born into a life surrounded by violence. Niko was by far the most interesting GTA protagonist so far because he was a child soldier in the Yugoslavian and Bosnian Wars. It's much more believable that someone who's been forced into living this kind of life would be comfortable doing wet work to make cash, rather than a student who's probably just work at a Starbucks, or at the very most hustle drugs, but certainly not ice somebody.
And lets face it, plausibility doesn't make a good game or a good movie for that matter. Would you want to play a game about a guy trying to pay off his student loans by taking a job as an usher at the movie theater on campus? I play that game five days a week already with better graphics and a sweet physics engine.
I'm just as sick of stereotypes as the next guy, but I don't mind if it's done tastefully. The only thing insulting about Niko was his terrible accent.
Now, pretty much every Asian character I've ever seen in an American video game production, on the other hand...
343 Guilty Fart @ Feb 10th 2009 2:26PM
"Dreamfall: the longest journey" had an amazing narrative with the most realistically portrayed female teenage character I've ever seen (Zoe). And it was extremely light on the combat.
CH3BURASHKA @ Feb 10th 2009 5:22PM
To quote the great Griffin McElroy, "Was his e-mail entitled 'Shit you already know'"?