Monday 13 June 2016

Video Games Day 3: Blockbusters

A
     Franchises and sequels is a growing staple in game development and video gaming in general, as to whether or not it is a good thing remains to be seen. Many games these days that see a noticeable amount of success 9 times out of 10 end up with a sequel. Bayonetta, for example, was a game that garnered quite a bit of success for it's original and before long had a sequel that ultimately ended up feeling unnecessary. By far one of the biggest issues with this is franchising. There are companies (*cough cough* EA, Activision, Ubisoft) that form franchises and pump out a new installment every year. They expand on concepts within their game on occasion, but otherwise often change or innovate very little. Most notably of these are series like Call of Duty, or Battlefield, or FIFA. We can always count on another every year, the only question that remains is whether or not it'll be fresh enough to be worth buying.

B
     The value of music and atmosphere in blockbuster varies greatly depending the game in question. Blockbusters differ greatly in content and that change can effect the importance of music and atmosphere. Older blockbuster games like Doom, focused a great deal on action and explosions. This requires less of a need for impressive atmosphere and music so long as the gameplay is exciting and bombastic. Many of today's modern blockbusters, The Last of Us for instance, like to show off the impressive graphics of their systems and focus a lot more on story and world-building. This places a lot more importance on music and atmosphere as they're key elements to effectively conveying a compelling and vibrant world to an audience.

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