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REBOOT

My friends, I’d like to talk to you about the wonders of series reboots. They’re all the rage and very popular with the kids, though reboots have been part of videogames since the very beginning. I will say it started with Donkey Kong being constantly alternating between protagonist and antagonist in his early incarnations.

I mean, is each new console Legend of Zelda game a remake or a reboot. They are essentially telling the same story each time a different way with mostly the same characters. A few variations here and there but essentially the same. Perhaps its more of a remake.

Tomb Raider has been rebooted a few times but each time, its more of a technical and design reboot rather that reinventing Lara herself. The latest leaked shots of a new Tomb Raider, with a smaller bosomed Lara have hit the net. In reality it’s likely to be more of the same but it counts as a reboot. Even if it is the same, calling it a reboot  with words like survival horror and open world bandied about like common gutter trash, gets those who claim to be jaded by the series more interested in the new game. By “jaded” I mean “run out of tissues.”

People cite Resident Evil 4 as a reboot even though it’s the same storyline. It just has a more modernised control system than the original’s tank controls. Resident Evil is less about survival horror and more about horror at how many buttons you have to press to change ammo.

Prince of Persia is one of the most recent Reboots of  a franchise that has already been rebooted several times. The most recent Prince of Persia from 2008, itself a reboot of the series from 2003 which was a reboot of the 2001 Prince of Persia 3D which was a reboot of, well, you get the point. To be fair the 2008 prince is Persia is more reborn. And then when you play it you realise it is actually an abortion of a game.

Is Call of Duty 4 a reboot? The gameplay is very little changed from the original Call of Duty but the change of setting was enough for people to think of it as new. A lot of people who would describe themselves as hardcore shied away form the early CoD games. They were popular with the casual gamers but the edgier setting of Modern Warfare has attracted guys who live for the bleeding edge. “I cut myself on the CoD!” The fact that World at War, a return to WWII, has sold very well in its own right shows that a well made game is a well made game, regardless of when it is set. But the guys who love their CoD4 won’t even consider World at War. So CoD4 is not a reboot, just more of the same. They’re in the same universe (or at least, no reason to assume they’re not in the same continuum)

But maybe the gaming reboot is a myth. All it is is a retooling of the games, keeping what works whilst jettisoning the material that doesn’t. Perhaps adding a few new gameplay elements but compared to a Batman Begins or JJ Abrams Star Trek, Games just play with superfluous things. Occasionally, such as a certain kids game that was a cheesy platformer being rebooted into a serious LOTR style epic would count as a reboot, since it changes the origins and the style of characters and gets rid of platforming in place of combat. But nothing on the level of Casino Royale, which took Bond from bloated over-indulgence of Die Another Day and brought the series down to earth, but conversely took it to greater highs.

I don’t see Fallout 4 being a prequel. You want a Fallout game in a post-apocalyptic world. Mirror’s Edge with no Parkour or Medal of Honor set in WWI.

Red Faction: Guerilla, my current gaming fancy, is half and half. It completely changes the gamplay from the first two Red Factions, going from a first person shooter to a third person blow the crap out of everything. Linear maps to open world. Its still set in the same universe by having this be a later Red Faction uprising. So is it a reboot or does beating the game mean you’re going to fail anyway since the next game is going to be another uprising? Like the feeling of elation at the end of Terminator 2 only to have Terminator 3 come and undo the good work.