Games that Oppose Realism

[Daniel Primed]

Hey guys, I'm currently in the process of writing a new article that might go up on the Retro Gaming blog about the games which have pioneered against realism in the gaming industry. So far I'm going pretty well but there are a few holes in the article. Thats where you guys come in.

I need a few ideas to get my brain juices flowing. So what do you guys think are the best games that fit into this category? Be sure to strongly justify your answers as well.

Heres a few ideas that might get you started: PaRappa the Rapper, Jet Grind Radio, Zelda Wind Waker and Geometry Wars.

[Perseid]

Stretch Panic (PS2): http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/stre ... lt;title;0
Trippy art direction and the ability to pull on impossibly large breasts makes this the first game I think of when I hear 'weird'.

Captain Blood (Amiga):
You land a ship through a strange, monochrome almost-but-not-quite-vector world and speak to strange aliens using a point and click pictograph interface.

Sentinel (C64) or Sentinel Returns (PC/PS1): http://www.gamespot.com/pc/puzzle/senti ... bs;summary
You're a thing on a planet. You make blocks. You absorb blocks. When you absorb a block you take its place. Your goal is to get hiher in the mountains than the sentinel so you can absorb him.

One Man and His Droid (C64):
Your goal is to herd a group of aliens onto a platform in the correct order. These aliens are all following a particular path and a partcular simple AI path. You need to use your various tools(such s burrowing though walls) to steer them towards the platform.

EDIT: Since games were cheaper to make and publishers could therefore take more risks on fringe ideas, games were much weirder on older systems, particularly the C64.

[durkada]

Hey guys, I'm currently in the process of writing a new article that might go up on the Retro Gaming blog about the games which have pioneered against realism in the gaming industry. So far I'm going pretty well but there are a few holes in the article. Thats where you guys come in.

I need a few ideas to get my brain juices flowing. So what do you guys think are the best games that fit into this category? Be sure to strongly justify your answers as well.

Heres a few ideas that might get you started: PaRappa the Rapper, Jet Grind Radio, Zelda Wind Waker and Geometry Wars.

The more I think about it, the more I'm certain you must be referencing an artistic style rather than -- say -- realistic gameplay. And looking at the list, I almost would have presumed that you would be limiting yourself to games that worked with semi-realistic gameplay (re: recreating the real spatial world in which we all live), but then you include Geometry Wars and Parappa, which causes my brain to spasm.

Who is to say Geometry Wars is not realistic? In fact, it may be the single most realistic example of mere shapes getting blown up.

And again, taking a jump of logic, Parappa may very well be a realistic portrayal of paper thin weirdness. Its fantasy, but there is a difference -- even then -- between realism as a theme and realism as a portrayal.

These two titles seemingly go against Jet Grind Radio and Wind Walker. Jet Grind Radio, is an unrealistic style of a spatial reality -- the reality, more-or-less, similar to the one we have difficulty navigating with simple shoes, much less rocket skates. Wind Walker, again, is a three dimension reality but with (if memory serves -- hate Zelda) cel shaded elf-like midgets.

By my understanding, if we take your list as it stands, any game which -- in any way -- which does not vividly mirror reality in some manner would be suitable. This will then include every abstract game: Space Invaders, Pac Man, etc. This list will include any cartoonish game: Alley Cat, Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, Gunstar Heroes. It seems to me, the only games which would not be on this list are certain simulation games with realisticly portrayed buildings and peoples, and the usual slew of FPS games which aim for grittiness.

[turkey]

I think realism is the strive to create as realistic game likeness at that time, so for example JSR the art direction deliberatly went cell shaded when a much more realsitic approach could be used... thats what I took it as, howerver Geo wars the objects are never more than that so in reality there is no realism or devience as there is no real world comparison to be seen or mentioned, plus the gravitational effects seen are very real, so I suppose that counters the art work?

my head hurts just trying to think about the question,

so games that choose to look wierd but also differ from the norm in my opinion in one or more other aspects,

vib ribbon (psx)
rez (dc)
space giraffe (360)
joust (arcade) (hard tyo say with old games, did the hardware allow for more realism or are they surreal because of limitations?)
roll away (psx) (puzzle game, but do puzzles need to be realistic to be fun? so do these count)


tbh most xbox arcade live titles are against the current uber realistic trend of next gen, but thats prolly due to the 50meg cap.

[wyatt]

The first thing that pops to mind are the TF2 devs talking about the advantages to making their sequal less realistic. The cartoonish body shapes make it faster to discern what class someone is from a distance, I saw one say. Also he remarked how there is no need to be realistic when you have things like healing lazer guns. May have been other discussion, I can't recall, but the interviews are still up on IGN.

[Daniel Primed]

Towards durkada

What you are talking about is a dilema which I faced when researching and writing the article. I reallly wasn't sure on how I should approach this article. Because "non realistic" can be looked at in several ways.

So I wanted to choose a list of titles that were benchmarks for the different facets of anti realism. I've also included titles for the effect that they have had on the industry. Each title represents a certain area of the 'antirealism' genre.

For example: non realistic/abstract imagery(JSR, Zelda), games that have pushed against a more modern, gritty and realistic storyline(Final Fantasy IX), games that have not conformed to 3D(well theres plenty of them), games that deal with realistic themes in an abstract way(Killer 7) and games that have few similarities with the real world(Geometry Wars).

Please note that I have chosen these titles not only based on their attributes but also for their industry impact. So I hope that this clarifies my idea(I probably should have done this to start).

Who is to say Geometry Wars is not realistic? In fact, it may be the single most realistic example of mere shapes getting blown up.

So where do you draw the line here? You've stated that:

-shapes blowing up
-3 dimensions
-games that draw parralels to the real world

Can be classed as realistic. So then what makes an unrealistic game? From what you have said I get the impression that this isn't possible because developers cannot think past anything that does not in someway ressemle the real world.

[Majors]

Cho Aniki and the Parodius series are out there.

Are you wanting games that would counter the sales of games like Madden, GTA and GT? Because a lot of 8/16-bit games were un-real because of limits of the hardware, and it was the buying public that demanded, "I want realism" to bring us where we are now.

At least we have Nintendo and their Wii and GBA keeping the "real" far from us.

[durkada]

Towards durkada

What you are talking about is a dilema which I faced when researching and writing the article. I reallly wasn't sure on how I should approach this article. Because "non realistic" can be looked at in several ways.

So I wanted to choose a list of titles that were benchmarks for the different facets of anti realism. I've also included titles for the effect that they have had on the industry. Each title represents a certain area of the 'antirealism' genre.

For example: non realistic/abstract imagery(JSR, Zelda), games that have pushed against a more modern, gritty and realistic storyline(Final Fantasy IX), games that have not conformed to 3D(well theres plenty of them), games that deal with realistic themes in an abstract way(Killer 7) and games that have few similarities with the real world(Geometry Wars).

Please note that I have chosen these titles not only based on their attributes but also for their industry impact. So I hope that this clarifies my idea(I probably should have done this to start).

Who is to say Geometry Wars is not realistic? In fact, it may be the single most realistic example of mere shapes getting blown up.

So where do you draw the line here? You've stated that:

-shapes blowing up
-3 dimensions
-games that draw parralels to the real world

Can be classed as realistic. So then what makes an unrealistic game? From what you have said I get the impression that this isn't possible because developers cannot think past anything that does not in someway ressemle the real world.

I think you get my point. My point wasn't to pontificate upon the limitation of a developers imagination, but rather, what is the criteria of an unrealistic game. Even when you consider games which attempt to portray the real world -- such as your Grand Theft Autos -- they are still incredibly divested from reality. I had hoped that you would provide a rationale as to what made those games on your list unrealistic. I could see how they are all unrealistic -- even Geometry Wars -- but the classification is stil so broad that it demands a complete flood of titles. Virtually every title, of every system, is unrealistic and revels in it. Lets just take a look at some Wii games -- since its a new system and easy to rattle off a bunch of popular games.

Excite Truck
Paper Mario
Mario Strikers
Metroid Corruption
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Marble Blast
Zelda
Super Monkey Ball
Trauma Center
Elebits

Its not the full list -- but not a single game is realistic.

Even when you take a look at XBOX360, which, one would think would have a more thorough stable of realistic games, you'll find that they are in a very distinct minority -- and are generally confined to Sports and Racing games.

And I suppose that is where I would draw the line. To me, Gears of War, John Woo's Stranglehold, et al -- they are not realistic. While they attempt to be immersive, they are not realistic, and make no genuine attempts at being so. Faces may be gritty, buildings may have detailed textures, but that doesn't make it realism, does it? They may mimic aspects of reality, as all games do to one degree or another, but they are all unrealistic fantasy. And when your criteria is that wide, whats the point of writing about an overwhelming majority of games. I suspect, even if you narrow your definition more than I do, as to what is unrealistic, you will have titles which are in a vast majority. Which, to my shock, would make writing about realistic games more interesting.

And yeah, thats it for me. Sorry to be disruptive to your thread.

[Daniel Primed]

Na, its cool man, you can wreck my thread. What your talking about is very important as it needs to be strongly clarified. Which is what I will do.

So the titles that I'll be focusing on are the titles that have pioneered this genre in their own way. Hence refer to my examples.

So any other ideas? I thought that Vib Ribbon was a good title.

[racketboy]

This is turning into a pretty deep discussion.
I like it