The Angry Young Man in All of Us
There’s an interesting article by Kieron Gillen up on The Escapist about the aesthetics of Gears of War and the game’s maturity level in general. His basic argument is that most of the people who criticize GoW for it’s ridiculous storyline and over-the-top machismo don’t rest the same harsh gaze on titles like Devil May Cry, which celebrate heroes and stories that are just as insipid. His point ends up being that there’s an important place for juvenalia in culture, but it also served to make me wonder just how low my standards are when it come to games. Personally I don’t think that Gears had the level of self-awareness that excuses something like Bad Boys II, but that’s just me. Either way, Gillen is always a good read.
Article here.
Wait, DMC isn’t being derided for its ridiculous storyline and over-the-top machismo? Am I missing something?
“Gears” is the correct abbreviation. “GoW” is God of War. That is a great article, and just reminds me how rare good critical writing about games is. Thanks for the link.
Great article!
The people who laud the story/aesthetic of DMC – whether appreciating it as the juvenalia of another culture or considering it a closely guarded literate requisite for all in-the-know-“anime is deep”-nerds – mostly hang out on message boards and may fall under the category of “THAT gamer” (in the Wilson/Travis debate sense). I agree that to be such a DMC supporter and dismiss Gears on any pseudo-intellectual level is indeed hypocritical (aesthetically speaking – the games themselves are very different of course).
I’d say that anyone who really wants good storytelling would probably pass on Gears, DMC, BadBoyzII, AND GoW!
Besides, tell it to this guy:
http://www.plasticbamboo.com/wp/wp/wp-content/uploads/tingle_man.jpg