Killzone 2 and the importance of plots

[The Seventh Taylor]

Killzone 2 is out and it's getting rave reviews everywhere. The lowest score according to Metacritic and Kotaku comes from Edge: 7/10.

In their review, they write: "without the first game’s ambiguities, a sense of humour or even an ounce of intrigue, its story stinks."

Now this reminded me of a discussion I had two years ago with Margaret Robertson, then editor in chief of Edge, when I met her at a games conference. I wondered (aloud) then, as I do now:

Do videogames need a plot anymore than 'adult' movies do, or is it in both cases really just a poor excuse for an orgy (of violence, in the case of games)?

[Brandon B]

They don't need them. But they can be a good thing.

Of my recent games played, I have spent the most time with Burnout Paradise City just racing around smashing the crap out of the cars and everything else and driving at maniacal speeds. Surprisingly. has not gotten old even after about 20 hours of play.

Conversely, the story in the first Resistance game was one of the major attractions for me. I tended to try and zip through the levels as quickly as possible, instead of my usual habit of being more thorough about accomplishing as many of the goals as possible, just because I was curious about the story progression.

So no, they don't need one if they have good to excellent gameplay, but if there is one, it is certainly appreciated icing on the cake.

[Brandon B]

duplicate post