Games As Trailers: Why We Don't Care About The Games We Play

Having just finished watching a great deal of impressively rendered and emotive trailers from this past E3, I found myself thinking about which stood out. Moreover, I began to wonder why so many trailers evoke feelings of excitement that often differ from the feelings I get when actually playing games.

The Division…Between Feeling and Acting

In an opinion piece written last week over at Polygon, the author explored several ideas linked to his love of video game trailers, and concluded by relating them to what video games themselves often aspire to be: beautiful, succinctly meaningful, and leaving lasting impressions on us by providing players with motif for their action.  

 

Much of his core argument I feel is especially relevant in light of E3 this year, which was mostly just an enormous teaser for fans in the way of cinematic trailers. Among them, I found myself particularly drawn to The Division 2014 Official Story trailer.  

The trailer itself is likely what the developers are hoping players will do in-game: mainly to band together to fend off against other human and AI-controlled gangs, and to be conscious of the game’s environment(s) while emotionally investing yourself in its world. More importantly though, the trailer managed to convey sympathy towards its characters, and helped me to gain a better perspective on what the game itself may eventually feel like when being played.

More likely, the game itself will never come close to capturing this sense of purpose quite as much as the trailer has already accomplished. And this thought can be depressing. But I take solace in acknowledging that other games have managed to blend trailer and gameplay effectively. One particular example is Asura’s Wrath.

You Mad Bro?

Asura’s Wrath is eccentric and Japanese, as well as uncompromising in all the right ways. The game’s story focuses on Asura, a Buddhist demigod who seeks revenge on the other pantheon of Buddhist demigods who betrayed him.

The core experience centers on essentially watching a six-hour story unfold, while occasionally fighting waves of enemies in a mindless brawler fashion and, more frequently, performing quick time events to progress cutscenes. And while most explanations of the game do it no justice, Asura’s Wrath itself succeeds at combining action and motive, similarly to how many other games and their cinematic trailer counterparts succeed in doing so separately.

Asura Wrath’s holistic approach is more successful, in large part because of how often it relinquishes control away from the player. Much of the game is watched rather than played, with player input serving to accentuate periods of particular anger or frustration. It works quite well, and I’m happy to say that developers CyberConnect2 managed to construct a largely novel experience that manages to convey anger and hate without compromising their vision.

Final Thoughts

I recognize that most games could simply not exist in the same state that Asura’s Wrath has managed to, and I am glad for it: being actively in control of a game’s character(s) is often more satisfying than passively flicking left on the d-pad to have Asura do something.

At the same time, however, there is something to be said about how video games often fail to convey emotional motivations for acting in-game. Maybe this current generation of games will help bridge the gap created more effectively than previous console generations have. Until then however, I will gladly go back to watching the Division trailer.