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| Editorials - The Camera man
is drunk again |
In the quest to make the perfect
first-person 3D action game, game designers generally employ two perspectives of vision:
the first perspective (a la QUAKE) or third perspective with a "camera" behind
your character (as in Ocarina of Time). But sometimes that camera doesn't work. And I would think
that the designers would learn from their mistake. That mistake is this: Instead of making
the game fit the camera, they try to fit the camera to the game. Why not have the camera
automatically switch to a side view when you are about to jump from ledge to ledge, and
then snap back to normal when you are done? But NOOO, they make it so that YOU control the
damn thing if the camera just so happens to burrow itself into a wall, or into the
character. And it sure isn't easy to do when enemies are chasing after you like mad while
you are hopping over lava pits.
I don't know HOW Mr. Miyamoto missed this. He DID make Mario 64, didn't he? And the camera
in that game was just plain LOUSY. You'll be trying to hop across platforms 100 feet in
the air, but then the camera switches to a close up of Mario's head, supposedly trying to
give you a better view of things. You can't see a THING unless you use that handy-dandy
manual control thingie, which requires your total attention and leaves you vulnerable to
attack, so when some bird comes swooping down you can't do anything about it until you're
left falling to the ground, or worse yet, off the entire level into oblivion. And then
it’s time to start over and meet with the same frustrations you dealt with, and all
because of the programmer neglecting to add a little more code to the camera’s AI.
Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time has the same problem. Case in point: that electric anemone boss thingie in Jabu
Jabu's belly. The guy expects me to Z-target targets WAY out of my field of vision with
some dumbass fairy with a spotting range of, oh, about 10 feet while it shoots electricity
and whirls around like mad. Yeah, and those fancy black bars on the top and bottom of the
screen REALLY help with giving you more viewing space. How’s about a little
"zoom-out" feature so you can see more? So I'm left running up to the monster
like I'm having some sort of death wish, until that fairy finally gets the point and
allows me to lock on, but by then I'm flat on my back hearing myself scream from an
electrical bolt. Why not an aerial shot instead, Mr. Miyamoto? Why not have the camera
BENEFIT the player, rather than constrict him? And what's up with those black bars? And
why is Navi so stupid?
But Mr. Miyamoto deserves credit for his ingenious Z-targeting system. But why does it
work only when the enemy is practically breathing on you? Why isn’t there some way to
"scope" enemies, instead of waiting for Navi to get close enough to fly over and
give you the lock you needed 20 feet away?
But while we're waiting for answers, I'm going to remind Mr. Miyamoto of this ONE SIMPLE
FACT: N64 games are CARTRIDGE BASED, which means NO PATCHES, NO UPGRADES, and NO MISTAKES,
even if it means delaying shipping. If an epic like Z64 is going to be made into 3D, the
camera and all the other 3D immersing essentials had better be damn-near perfect.
Which they aren't.
Am I ranting? Of course I am. I'm ranting because Miyamoto didn't learn from his mistakes
from Mario 64. Hey, I have the guts to go against a gaming deity like Miyamoto. The guy
did something wrong. And it spoiled what could have been the best game in the world for
all time. And that, my friend, is just plain unexcusable.
And if you believe that I don’t have the right to criticize him for mistakes that
should have been corrected, well, keep the faith. And have fun dealing with drunk cameras.
-PuKeWeEd |
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