BA6 Contextual Studies
On Wednesday, Sharon gave us a briefing
lecture on our new contextual studies project named Advanced Game Studies and Research. According to the
brief, for this unit we must consider the potential for “games
to be a persuasive medium beyond mere entertainment”. It will “focus
on educational, commercial and political games and their potential for
wide-scale influence in society”.
We will need to analyse and research
the various strategies that games use to retain the players focus and how they
achieve, or fail to achieve, their goals. We must consider game design and
analyse how ethical particular approaches to game design actually are. We must
research the ways in which digital games are represented within the media and
asses the potential effects of this representation on different audiences.
During her lecture, Sharon noted out
key words we would need to consider, understand and be able to use within our
analysis/research work.
Entertainment
The action of providing or being
provided with amusement of enjoyment.
Ethics
The moral principles governing or
influencing conduct.
Social Responsibility
The opportunity of being able to act
independently and take decision without authorisation, relating to society and
its organisation.
Realism
The representation in art or literature
of things in a way that is true to real life.
Social Realism
A movement in cinema which aimed to
make political comment in relation to class and society.
Games that Depart from
the Expected
• Educational games
• Games designed to
impact on health
• Games as documentary
• Social and political
games
• Games adapting
existing mechanics for new purposes
• Games as
explorations of history
These terms will prove incredibly helpful when I am researching for, and writing, my final piece of written work for BA6 which must be presented in the form of a series of in-depth research blog posts and a 2000 word essay. However, for now we have been tasked with an Easter project which I actually think will be pretty fun. We must research and analyse 3 different games and give answers appropriate to the areas of study that Sharon gave us in her lecture. We must also look at these game examples from the perspective of “what potentials do they point to?”.
These terms will prove incredibly helpful when I am researching for, and writing, my final piece of written work for BA6 which must be presented in the form of a series of in-depth research blog posts and a 2000 word essay. However, for now we have been tasked with an Easter project which I actually think will be pretty fun. We must research and analyse 3 different games and give answers appropriate to the areas of study that Sharon gave us in her lecture. We must also look at these game examples from the perspective of “what potentials do they point to?”.
Sharon gave us the correct meaning of
“analyse” which was…
Analyse
To separate something into its
constituent parts; examine it methodically and in detail for the purposes of
exploration and interpretation.
With this in mind, Sharon gave us a
list of constituent elements found within a game. They come under 3 separate
headings; Structural, Aesthetic &
Contextual. These 3 separate headings all contain
elements which I must consider when doing my analysis and they will be revealed
when I begin the project.
Game Analysis #1 - L.A.
Noire
So, game number 1. L.A.
Noire. I absolutely adore L.A. Noire, I thought it was a
fantastic game so I thought this would be the best game to start with. L.A.
Noire is the critically acclaimed game by Team Bondi and
Rockstar Leeds. Released in Europe on the 20th May 2011, L.A. Noire saw players take
control of officer Cole Phelps; a man who wants nothing more than to climb the
corporate ladder and move higher in the law enforcement ranks.
The games follows Phelps’ progression
through various desks on different departments such as homicide, vice and
arson. The narrative leads onto informing the player, and
Phelps, that a former U.S. marine soldier from Phelps former unit has been
brutally murdered. Phelps goes on to
discover that many of his former squad members are being assassinated.
Following a meeting with his old comrade Jack Kelso he learns that the men are
dealing surplus morphine after stealing it from the USS Coolidge which was the
ship that carried the unit back to LA at the end of World War II.
Phelps dives headfirst into the
investigation, with the aid of Kelso, and learns that the profit made from
selling the morphine is funding “The Suburban Redevelopment Fund”. They learn that while
at first glance the development fund has good intentions, it is actually a
guise for an insurance fraud scam run by Leland Monroe. The rest of the game
follows Phelps and Kelso’s struggle to solve the mystery of the suburban
development fund and morphine sales whilst Phelps’ life, reputation, career and
love life all seem to become spontaneously ruined.
Structural Framework
Analysis
How do the rules and
conditions of the game create conflict?
In L.A. Noire the player is forced to play as main protagonist Cole Phelps, a righteous character who only ever tries to do his best within his career. Although Team Bondi were behind this, the game was also developed by Rockstar Leeds. Rockstar have a history creating games where the protagonist has villain like qualities such as infamous series GTA, where players play as criminals, or Red Dead Redemption where the lead character is a former outlaw. This could cause conflict for some players who might want to play as a rouge police officer, a dirty cop.
Cole is everything but a dirty cop. The
rules and conditions of the game force the player to take on his role as being
a good, hardworking police officer who wants to do well in his career. This
could possibly cause conflict with the player who might have wanted to play the
game differently.
L.A. Noire gameplay is focussed around
investigation and interrogation. It is a condition of the game, the player must
thoroughly investigate crime scenes for clues. The rules of the game are that
if a player hasn’t found specific evidence/clues then particular
questions/answers are locked off when interrogating a suspect. This can lead to
the player not making the correct arrest or falsely accusing people which can
cause conflict both to the player but also to protagonist Phelps as he must
make the correct arrests to progress through his career.
>> image reference, credit goes to Fábio Tavares <<
Similarly, a rule of the game is that only once a player has found specific evidence on a crime scene can the game progress, this can cause conflict if the player just wants to speed through the game and not bother with evidence.
Are players struggling against each other or the game or both?
L.A. Noire is a single player experience therefore players can not struggle against each other during play (unless friends who also own the game compare statistics but that’s not really “struggling against each other”).
Players have a struggle against the game, they must attempt to solve crimes and find as much evidence as possible to become a good officer in order to progress through the ranks and beat the game.
What are the interactive experiences provided for the players in the game?
L.A. Noire is incredibly interactive. Firstly there is the interactive narrative whereby it can lead the player down different paths depending on their play through. This excerpt from writer Keith Stuart at the Guardian explains is beautifully.
Similarly, a rule of the game is that only once a player has found specific evidence on a crime scene can the game progress, this can cause conflict if the player just wants to speed through the game and not bother with evidence.
Are players struggling against each other or the game or both?
L.A. Noire is a single player experience therefore players can not struggle against each other during play (unless friends who also own the game compare statistics but that’s not really “struggling against each other”).
Players have a struggle against the game, they must attempt to solve crimes and find as much evidence as possible to become a good officer in order to progress through the ranks and beat the game.
What are the interactive experiences provided for the players in the game?
L.A. Noire is incredibly interactive. Firstly there is the interactive narrative whereby it can lead the player down different paths depending on their play through. This excerpt from writer Keith Stuart at the Guardian explains is beautifully.
“What LA
Noire represents is a new era for interactive entertainment. Over the past 30
years, games have been based around challenging the player's hand-eye
co-ordination – the ability to react quickly with a controller. But in LA
Noire, the main skill is emotional perception, being able to judge body
language and facial "tells" – the little nervous tics that betray
liars. These are the same skills we use in real life and that allow us to
engage with characters in TV and movie dramas. Suddenly then, games are a
universal medium.”
One of the first interactive
experiences you get playing L.A. Noire are the crime scene
investigations. Here the player can freely interact
with the crime scene area to find clues associated with the crime. These are
interactive for the player because they get to move around and search freely
without the game really telling them where to go (unless the player has “clues
hints” turned on, in which case the clues are a bit more obvious to find). In
this video you can see how the player has free rein to investigate the
interactive crime scene (skip to 2:05 for the crime scene).
Another interactive part of L.A. Noire
comes in the form of investigating the dead bodies. Whilst on the homicide desk
Phelps must investigate a number of murder cases. When investigating crime
scenes, the player can also interact with the murder victims for extra clues.
This is purely interactive gameplay.
Another form of interactive gameplay is
seen between the player and the suspects when performing an interrogation. Once
the player has found as many clues as possible on the crime scene they can
continue to interrogate the suspect in the hope that they can make an arrest.
This is interactive because there is no set path the player must take. There
are a series of variables that can effect the outcome of the interrogations
such as how many clues the player found, what evidence they have and which
witness’ they spoke to prior to the interrogation. All this information gives
the player different options/questions to ask the suspect in order to get a
confession and make an arrest.
>> video reference, credit goes to CruelTroopOfDoomTV <<
L.A. Noire used Depth Analysis’s newly developed technology MotionScan. Real actors portraying the games characters were recorded by 32 cameras in order to capture the complex facial expressions from every angle. This was so that players could interact with the game and base their accusations on realistic responses from witness’s and suspects. Once the player asks a character in game a question, the character would appear to produce highly realistic facial expressions of which the player would have to judges whether the character is lying or telling the truth. Players would have to use their real life experience to gauge this decision if they had no evidence to back it up. For example when people cant keep eye contact with you when talking this is often a sign of lying. This is the kind of interactivity players could have with L.A. Noire.
>> video reference, credit goes to IGN <<
Does interaction make meaningful play?
I believe that L.A. Noire is one of the most interactive games of this console generation that I have played. When players are given the choice to interact with important parts of the environments and characters it makes the narrative and experience far richer than being drip fed story and given constant direction with no choice or moral dilemmas.
Aesthetic
Framework
What does the game
look like?
L.A. Noire is set in a perfectly recreated Los Angeles in 1947 with a clear and heavy influence from film noir. The sandbox style lets players explore the world and appreciate its beauty. Obvious film noir influences here with the harsh shutter/blind lighting as well as the black and white cut scene and chapter title.
L.A. Noire is set in a perfectly recreated Los Angeles in 1947 with a clear and heavy influence from film noir. The sandbox style lets players explore the world and appreciate its beauty. Obvious film noir influences here with the harsh shutter/blind lighting as well as the black and white cut scene and chapter title.
Sharply dressed officers at the scene of a murder.
The game can be quite brutal and
violent visually especially when on the homicide desk.
The fashion/physical attire of the
characters is very appropriate to the time period of the game. Smoking was, of course, also allowed in doors
back then too.
Example screen shot of the beautiful
sandbox city.
Cars are also appropriate to the time
period of the game.
What are the possible
visual influences?
I found this really interesting article (http://uk.gamespot.com/features/the-influences-of-la-noire-6313180/) on Gamespot which discusses the influences of L.A. Noire, from the movies which inspired it to the music, television shows, authors and locations.
Movie Influences
According to the Gamespot article, movies which influenced L.A. Noire were as follows…
I found this really interesting article (http://uk.gamespot.com/features/the-influences-of-la-noire-6313180/) on Gamespot which discusses the influences of L.A. Noire, from the movies which inspired it to the music, television shows, authors and locations.
Movie Influences
According to the Gamespot article, movies which influenced L.A. Noire were as follows…
"The Sweet Smell of Success"
>> video reference, credit goes to oldhollywoodtrailers <<
Apparently it was the “stunning views of a city at night” within this film that inspired L.A. Noire. As you can see here I have used one of the previous screen shots to emphasise how the Sweet Smell of Success influenced L.A. Noire’s chapter titles.
"The
Asphalt Jungle"
>> video reference, credit goes to agelesstrailers <<
This film shows clear influence upon how L.A. Noire designed it’s characters. Their styles and costumes in both the males and females are similar. The way the narrator speaks over the trailer is similar to that of the game where characters and narrative are told to the player. This also ties in with how some characters are introduced to the player, they are described with a short tag line description.
Interestingly there is also a trophy/achievement in L.A. Noire which is a throw back to the film The Asphalt Jungle which has the same title.
>> video reference, credit goes to PowerPyx <<
TV Show Influences - "Naked City"
The Gamespot article also states that L.A. Noire was influenced by TV shows too, one of which was Naked City, a police drama series released in 1958.
>> video reference, credit goes to fwohhp <<
There was even a DLC chapter named The Naked City released for L.A. Noire further proving the visual influence.
Location Influences
The articles suggests that L.A. Noire
had some genuine location influences.
The Egyptian Theatre LA
The Egyptian Theatre LA
The Egyptian Theatre was built by a man
named Sid Grauman in 1922 and serves as one of the locations that influenced
L.A. Noire, so much so that players can actually visit it in the game. On the left is the actual Egyptian Theatre, the shot on the right shows how it looks in game.
L.A. Noire has a vast array of visual
influences, most coming from pre existing media such as films and TV series.
The most notable form of visual influence L.A. Noire displays are taken from
the early 1940’s to late 1950’s film noir’s. Film noir is a cinematic term used
to describe classy, chic Hollywood crime dramas.
Film Noir tends to be presented with low key black and white visuals, this technique is also used in L.A. Noire when new cases in game are displayed to the player with a cinematic trailer. This trailer is always in black and white and shows the title in a similar fashion to many of the film noir crime drama films (refer back to The Smell of Sweet Success). The use of black and white visual influences are so strong in L.A. Noire that the player is even given the option to play the entire game in black and white. Playing the game this way looks like it has been ripped straight from the film noir Hollywood drama era and it works so well.
Film Noir tends to be presented with low key black and white visuals, this technique is also used in L.A. Noire when new cases in game are displayed to the player with a cinematic trailer. This trailer is always in black and white and shows the title in a similar fashion to many of the film noir crime drama films (refer back to The Smell of Sweet Success). The use of black and white visual influences are so strong in L.A. Noire that the player is even given the option to play the entire game in black and white. Playing the game this way looks like it has been ripped straight from the film noir Hollywood drama era and it works so well.
>> video reference, credit goes to FullCodedAlchemist <<
What other aesthetic
qualities does the game present - movement, sound?
To move around the beautiful open world of L.A. Noire players are given the option to drive 95 different vehicles designed appropriately to 1947 Los Angeles.
To move around the beautiful open world of L.A. Noire players are given the option to drive 95 different vehicles designed appropriately to 1947 Los Angeles.
Referring back to the Gamespot article
where musical influences are mentioned, it’s obvious that L.A. Noire is trying
to recreate the classy, smooth music of the 1940’s to truly enhance the
ambiance and tone of the game. One of the major music influences comes from
jazz, or more specifically, Miles Davis: Kind of Blue.
>> video reference, credit goes to Lênin Bastos <<
Contextual Framework
Consider the game in
terms of context…origin, year of manufacture, company “house style”, target
audience, any persuasive purpose?, how could the game be more effective?, what
potentials does that game point too?
L.A. Noire’s origin lies in the beautifully recreated 1947 Los Angeles with subtle hints of detail linking it back to its film nor roots; it’s hard to miss the Hollywood crime drama influences.
Released in 2011, this is one of Rockstar’s newer titles but in many ways it’s not a typical Rockstar game. You don’t play as a crazed sociopath criminal out for revenge. No, you play the good guy trying to eliminate evil. This is different to previous Rockstar flagship titles such as the Grand Theft Auto series, Bully and Manhunt where violence seems to be the answer, L.A. Noire offers a different approach. In terms of narrative, gameplay and game visuals L.A. Noire does show flares of “house style”. For example, the game is presented to the player from a third person perspective, similar to that of the newer Grand Theft Autos and Red Dead Redemption. Another common element these games share are the style of mini map. A small circle displayed in the bottom left corner of the user interface is very common in Rockstar games. (Top left is from GTA4, top right is from RDR and the bottom is from L.A. Noire)
L.A. Noire’s origin lies in the beautifully recreated 1947 Los Angeles with subtle hints of detail linking it back to its film nor roots; it’s hard to miss the Hollywood crime drama influences.
Released in 2011, this is one of Rockstar’s newer titles but in many ways it’s not a typical Rockstar game. You don’t play as a crazed sociopath criminal out for revenge. No, you play the good guy trying to eliminate evil. This is different to previous Rockstar flagship titles such as the Grand Theft Auto series, Bully and Manhunt where violence seems to be the answer, L.A. Noire offers a different approach. In terms of narrative, gameplay and game visuals L.A. Noire does show flares of “house style”. For example, the game is presented to the player from a third person perspective, similar to that of the newer Grand Theft Autos and Red Dead Redemption. Another common element these games share are the style of mini map. A small circle displayed in the bottom left corner of the user interface is very common in Rockstar games. (Top left is from GTA4, top right is from RDR and the bottom is from L.A. Noire)
>> top left image reference, GTA4 << >> top right image reference, RDR, (edited) << >> bottom image reference, L.A. Noire, (edited) <<
L.A. Noire shipped with a mature/18
certificate meaning it was supposed to be played by adults only. The game
contains violence, crime and adult themes so it was only right to give it this
age rating. Realistically, L.A. Noire’s target audience could have been
incredibly varied, from those who are fans of previous Rockstar titles, have
interest in film noir, 1940’s-50’s culture and lived in that era, interest in Hollywood crime dramas
to those genuinely just interested in taking on a role within law
enforcement.
L.A. Noire persuades a percentage of
gamers to consider a completely different time period and culture to embrace it, learn
about it and respect it. The game was so historically accurate and cleverly built
that there isn’t really anyway this game could have been more effective in
conveying the culture behind it.
Potentially this game could teach those
who aren’t knowledgeable of popular culture in the 1940’s era of LA. Accurate
landmarks, vehicles, streets, maps, clothing, weaponry, language and other
miscellaneous areas of the game help built the coherent world of a 1947 Los
Angeles.
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