In Radical Entertainment’s new title, Prototype, New York, a city that has suffered from among the greatest real and imaginary tragedies the world can deliver, takes it on the chin once again. In the light of this most recent in a long line of opportunities to wreck sandbox-style havoc on Manhattan and its environs, and for the open world genre as a whole, its time to give The City That Never Sleeps a break.
Going back nearly to the beginning, New York was the product of careful engineering. Long straight streets meeting at ninety-degree angles, with ease of movement in the plan, if not in practice. A virtual version of this borough is a boon to developers. Straight paths are easier for AI to navigate, and since no city has been more carefully looked over and documented, there is a wealth of ready research. Both allows significant savings for cost conscious developers.
New York also features a wealth of landmarks: historic bridges, statues, parks and buildings, all of which resonate strongly with the gaming public. Virtual versions of these structures give a powerful feeling to a gamer who is able to stand atop them, save them or even tear them down.
It is also a common fantasy for a layer of supernatural to exist along side reality. Stan Lee knew it; the idea that where you live now is just a random spider bite away from being amazing. A minute from Harlem to Battery Park by hijacked helicopter in Prototype, cars clogging Columbus Circle swatted away like plastic toys in The Incrediable Hulk, or Times Square de-Disneyfied by an alien symbiote in Spiderman: Web of Shadows.
These factors; the simple, iconic city plan, the historic landmarks and the fantasy of ultimate control over your environment are attractive elements that can boost sales by making a game more accessible to gamers, but it’s at the cost of vital originality that can dampen the experience.
A key factor to the success of the open-world genre of games is the feeling that one is entering a living world. In a virtual New York, you know you’re going to see the Brooklyn Bridge and Belvedere Castle yet again, but in an original cityscape, like the three burgs of GTA: San Andreas or InFAMOUS' Empire City, there’s always going to be something new to discover.
Like moving to a new city, you start out by exploring the immediate neighborhood, and then the town at large. Soon your figuring out shortcuts and the kind of tricks to getting around that only locals know. Landmarks you may have just breezed by while staring at the mini-map become signposts, priceless reminders in a virtual world if you are in the middle of a high-speed chase, or searching for a save point. You can even begin to feel at home as you develop a pre-mission routine, or try out a new car on a familiar stretch of road.
It is this learning process, one lost in the repetition of virtual downtown New Yorks, that enhances the gaming experience. The Big Apple might be the greatest city in real world, but an original gaming metropolis is tuned to deliver the best gaming environment for that individual title. It can be shaped to provide just the right amount of challenge and ascetics without a compromise to authenticity.
Barring catastrophe, New York will always be with us as a unique artifact of civilization. Sacrificing gaming’s power to create new worlds for the sake of familiarity should be a disaster easily and perpetually avoided.
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