drakesfortune | Is It Time for the Academy to Consider Video Games?

Last week was a pretty big week for gamers. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 had record opening sales. It made $310 million in one day. I'll repeat that. It made $310 million in one day. Activision, the maker of Call of Duty franchise, attributes the success to the CoD brands uniquely engaging experience-a combination of compelling story line and rich cinematic feel.

That was the second time last week that I heard "cinematic" being used to reference a video game. The other being PS3s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. I've been hearing a lot about this game over the past few months. It's won 15 gaming awards. IGN.com rated Uncharted 2 at 9.5 (it's also an editors choice). And I also read one article where the writer bought a new TV just so he could enjoy the full visual splendor that Uncharted 2 unleashes.

So how amazing is Uncharted 2? Well, after playing for two hours and switching back to television (in HD no less) I thought my cable was broke because the picture looked so bad. Now, I'm not trying to compare the look of Uncharted 2 to Iron Chef, that's not fair to the production team behind kitchen stadium. I guess I'm just saying Uncharted 2 is gorgeous and one of the best looking video games I've ever seen. Oh, and it's fun as hell to play too.

The opening scene of Uncharted 2 hooks you into both the visuals and the story. The main character you are playing is named Nathan Drake. The scene opens looking through Nathan's eyes as he wakes up. You first see blood all over your hands and clothes. The camera then pulls out of Nathan's POV to show that you are sitting inside a smashed up train. The camera then pivots and you realize the train is actually vertical. It's dangling high off a snow-covered ledge and you're inside swaying in the wind. It's an awesome start.

The camera angles, lensing and lighting of this opening scene are purely cinematic--tracking camera shots, interesting camera positions, sense of scale, long lenses, shallow depth of field, deep rich shadows, vibrant color and magic hour lighting. You don't feel like you're about playing a video game when Uncharted 2 starts, you feel like you're about to play a movie.

A cinematic feel also comes from the cutscenes, the scenes in between game play that move the story and character development along. The cutscenes are seamlessly integrated into the game play. When finished with a episode (or level), your character, Nathan Drake, smoothly walks into the cutscene. There is no awkward cut or jump. It just happens naturally AND it looks the same too. It's not like the cutscenes are lit better or are produced better than the parts you play. It's all the same. If anything, the parts you play are sometimes better.

Another element that adds to the cinematic feel of Uncharted 2 is the on-screen interface or I should say lack there of. Unless you're shooting a gun (and even that interface is brutally simple) there is no interface on-screen. There's no health bar or damage indicator or point counter cluttering up the screen. The movie-like quality of the game remains constant because you're not endlessly being reminded of stats and progress, you can focus on the story and stunning visuals that reinforce it.

Naughty Dog, the maker of the Uncharted franchise, have truly made playing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves a cinematic experience. It would be interesting to know if they consulted any directors of photography or if any of the creators or animators have filmmaking backgrounds. Either way I'm not sure it matters because like the Call of Duty brand, the Uncharted brand has successfully established its own unique experience of compelling story and gorgeous cinematography.

NOTE: I was digging around the playstation.blog and it looks like Nathan Drake will be coming to a bigger screen. Sony Computer Entertainment signed a deal with Colombia Pictures for a movie adaptation of the first Uncharted game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. IMBD has a release date of 2011. I just wonder who will be consulting who?

Brad Mancuso

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