Nothing particularly thought-provoking tonight - well, maybe. Who knows, maybe you'll find something of interest at the end of this post? I have no idea. It's 1:00 AM at the beginning of typing this so it's probably going to be a bit of a rambling recap of my absence, heh. Haven't exactly done a 'proper' entry since the music lyrics one, so let's see what happens.
Main reason for my lack of updates, obviously, is HSC Trial Exams, as I'm sure you've all struggled through (or are still struggling through, like myself). Problem is, due to my uber-sexy exam timetable, giving me almost a week's break between the first half and second half of my exams, I'm starting to fall into holiday mode despite still having two more exams PLUS two major works to do. 'Tis not good.
Due to this aura of the holidays engulfing me, I've recently become reacquainted with an old friend - Team Fortress 2. I suppose this post may deteriorate into a bit of a gaming-related ramble but bear with me.
One of the things that always appealed to me about Team Fortress 2 was that, despite mindlessly shooting at each other with no storyline or true purpose, like a lot of shooters on the market, the game actually had a great sense of humour and art style about it. Speaking of the art style in particular, compare it to the following:
Present-Day/Futuristic Industrial Wasteland Vs. Original Eras & Stylised Constructions.
Grizzled Macho-Man Archetype Vs. Characters With *Personality* & Distinct Aesthetics.
Grey scale & Craptastically Brown Surroundings Vs. *Gasp* Colour!Essentially, rather than trying to project an overly 'mature' look about the game, which at this point most end up almost satirising themselves due to the saturation of the market, Valve dared to be a bit different with Team Fortress 2 and achieved this unique, aesthetically pleasing, charming, and humorous atmosphere about the game. The cartoon-ish motif mixed with the altogether insane violence, bodies literally scattering into a collection of bloody-yet-colourful limbs after exploding... It just stands out against this ridiculously over-the-top 'mature' market that most gaming seems to be geared toward at the moment. Though admittedly I've played my fair share of Halo, Call of Duty, and Gears of War, none of them held me, simply because they're all so generic at this point. Team Fortress 2 however, even if I take a break, keeps me coming back, simply because it dared to be different in its art style and characterisation - even if the gameplay is still reasonably similar to the common shooter (not completely, but it doesn't completely shatter the genre in any way).
Essentially, I guess I just wanted to get this point across that 'mature' games don't have to be ridiculously 'serious' in their tone, because it just ends up ridiculously bland and generic. Hell, this expands beyond games, really. It's often those multimedia works that develop their own style, rather than just emulating what they think they *should* portray, that appeal to me. Take Tim Burton for example - each of his films have this absolute distinct motif and feel to them that's incomparable, no matter how hard others may try. I'd much rather have things visually interesting than having the developer focus on creating five hundred levels of realism. If I wanted realism I'd just walk outside or turn on the news.
There's no need to completely throw out the rulebook and be different for the sake of different, but I'm glad they didn't fall into stereotypes - things are more interesting if you're a tad original.
Adios.
