Whatever it is I'm glad to see you, and here are some words about computer games to prove it.
I spent my Summer playing just one game. And a Triple-A game at that. Not for me the varied, peculiar pleasures of the indie market. No. I was all about the big, expensive, colourful joy of the mainstream video game, and it was glorious. That game was Horizon Zero Dawn.
I wasn't necessarily expecting to like Horizon Zero Dawn (do people call it HZD? That sound like the sort of thing cool people do. Let's do it. It will save time if nothing else. Are we still in brackets? Oops - yes, yes we are. Quick - act natural and no-one will notice).
Anyway. Wasn't expecting to like HZD that much. It was clearly expensive and massive. You can tell just by looking at the screengrabs. That kind of beautiful light and texture doesn't grow on trees, you know. It takes hundreds of people thousands of hours to make, and those people need feeding.
And the advertising was everywhere. That's another way you can tell when a game is expensive - it gets big, show-off adverts all over the place. I think I first became aware of the game from a gorgeous looking advert at the cinema. I have a feeling it was on before Suicide Squad, and it was definitely the best thing about that particular visit to the movies.
Now! Suicide Squad. There we have an example of exactly the reason that I approach games like HZD with trepidation. A big, blockbuster film, full of Hollywood stars and amazing special effects, and promoted absolutely everywhere as if it was the most important thing to ever happen to anyone ever.
And what a terrible, awful mess of a film. Gnnnn! It still makes me angry to think about the thing. All that talent - all those designers, actors, effects wranglers and craftspeople - all those professionals working so hard for so long and spending so much money. And for what? For a film that felt very much like being urinated upon by a giggling, idiot child for two depressing, awful hours.
And there's something about the mainstream experience, isn't there, that tends to go hand in hand with a bland, depressing load of rubbish? Because the more money a company spends on a thing, the more money that thing needs to make in return. And the more money it needs to make back, the less adventurous it is. Timid, idiot studio executives will shy away from genuine creativity in favour of some vague idea of 'what people want'. And since no-one knows what people want, the end results are half baked, misjudged and - worst of all - cowardly.
Suicide Squad is an awful confection of badly conceived 'moments' - snatches of music, flashy edits, quips, costumes and characters all designed to fit a market tested idea of 'rebellious' and 'cool'. Nothing in it works because it has no identity at all. It is a product designed for one thing - to be sold, and to sell other, related things.
Watching the trailer for Horizon Zero Dawn, I suspected I would be in for a very similar experience. A game priding itself on how amazing the graphics look, showing off fast moving, action-filled gameplay to appeal to the average console owner. A typical 'chosen one' quest, like every other quest in the world of games. And a big bunch of concepts familiar from other big franchises - crafting, levelling up, open world adventure etc.
As you've probably gathered, though, I liked HZD a lot more that I thought I would. The basic concept is genius - "What if you had to hunt robot dinosaurs with a variety of futuristic arrows?" - and the game has the good sense to stick closely to this premise in its core play mechanics. Play develops these mechanics in satisfying, clever directions, but never leaves behind the basic thrill of stalking the robot dinosaurs and planning their demise.
The world is believable and well constructed. There's a pretty good plot which is, for the most part, well articulated through the environment and some nicely drawn supporting characters. Sometimes it lets itself down by giving you huge info-dumps, but these moments are tolerable among all the exciting running about shooting slow motion arrows at giant terrifying - and I never get bored of typing this - ROBOT DINOSAURS.
This is a mainstream game which somehow manages to be an absolute work of art. I loved how it provided opportunities for strategy, arming the player with a bewildering combination of cool and interesting toys and letting them discover the myriad ways in which the toys could be used against the monsters. The dinosaurs themselves are beautiful creatures - varied in their temperaments and attack styles, demanding careful thought about how best to approach them. Good AI too - these things felt alive, and taking them down was immensely satisfying.
I loved being in the world. Prettiness is no guarantee of quality, but sometimes it can be a virtue all by itself. I once spent 15 minutes watching my character sit on a mountain, waiting for the sun to come up over the desert range below. When it did, I watched with joy as crimson light spread across the land.
Saying that a game is 'better than Suicide Squad' is not much of a recommendation, but there's something very pleasing about seeing a huge, expensive mainstream product which really gets it right. HZD is a beautifully crafted experience, made by people who really love the genre and it made me very happy for quite a long time.
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