The Failure of 90’s FMV Gaming
The compact disc was amazing for gaming. More data, cheap to manufacture with incredible sound compression. The future looked bright. For video game publishers in the early 90’s, this incredible format was the perfect vehicle to show what their cutting edge systems and games could do. This urge to be cutting edge opened the gateway to the flood of FMV games. It’s especially true when we look at systems like the Sega CD and how heavily their marketing campaigns leveraged FMV gaming to promote the capabilities of CD-based gaming.
Full motion video (FMV) games mark a point in history where developers were torn away from what made games fun with the temptation of promised realism. In terms of bragging rights, graphics carry A LOT of weight between systems and there’s a constant push to achieve a realistic experience. It’s obvious that in the 90’s, when full motion video promised gamers a ‘real’ experience, some developers were led astray into the murky territory of the early FMV game.
Elements of a fun game
There are integral elements that all games have in some capacity, whether they be explicit or not; the single most important being gameplay. Story, music and graphics all can play their part, but in varying capacities. There are plenty of examples of games throughout any point in gaming history that have no story or barely any yet they’re very highly regarded. Super Metroid, Resogun and Dark Souls are great examples (keeping in mind that the stories exist in the games, but aren’t necessary for enjoyment). Many games have ambient musical tracks that fade into the background as a result of the action or sometimes just rely on sound effects to get you by, so this isn’t a necessity either. Graphics are where we begin to lose focus.
I believe that graphics need to be utilized solely as a means of effective conveyance. What this means is that graphical prowess needs to be sufficient enough to make us feel immersed in the game and know what we’re dealing with. When looking at the previously mentioned Super Metroid and Dark Souls, they are visually different. But I feel that both are similarly effective at being able to immerse you in a game world. Both properly convey environmental changes, different enemies, types of threats and how to interact with each respective world. One is just pixelated due to graphical limitations of the 16 bit era, the other has an expansive 3D world and most importantly, both are really fun to play. Focusing heavily on the gameplay, they needed the graphics to be able to let the player know how they are interacting with their world.
This is effective conveyance; something that many full motion video games just don’t have and a key reason why FMV games failed.
The Sega CD didn’t do FMV gaming many favors
Do FMV games lack engagement?
FMV games have varying degrees of success with how they look. Most of them look pretty decent and they generally improve the newer they are. But where they are more lacking is in their means of engagement with the player. I’ve never felt particularly engaged with an FMV game because they are so heavily based in graphics and the “choose your own adventure gameplay”. Some FMV games use quick time events to remind me I’m playing a game. But most FMV titles use long-winded exposition that further detracts from any of the gameplay. It’s nice that every player will experience the game in the same way if they complete it, but there’s very little engagement or skill involved in terms of actually interacting with the game. They’ve always felt like movies with confusing interruptions. This is not an effective conveyance in my mind.
When you look at FMV games the focus seems to be centered on graphics and story, followed by gameplay. Due to the limitations of the style of game, they fundamentally can follow no other format other than some interaction after things are done in the acted out world. Graphics can be a wonderful thing to focus on, but I don’t believe FMV is the way to do it. I think the pursuit for realism always has to be grounded in a proper conveyance for the gameplay. The Last Guardian is a great example of this. The game looks unbelievable in the graphics department, but it was absolutely necessary in order for players to develop a meaningful relationship with Trico. That’s because the movements and emotions of Trico can only be accomplished with modern hardware. FMV games look better than ever, but they still suffer from less-than-engaging gameplay.
So while I appreciate where FMV games tried to go and accomplish, but I still can’t stand them. They were influential with the rise of disc-based gaming, like the controversy in a game like Night Trap, but I still found them boring and unimportant. I understand why people like the genre, it’s all a matter of perspective and what you want out of a gaming experience. Personally, I want to challenge my reflexes with shoot ’em ups, run ‘n guns and other intense genres. All of these are aspects are where FMV gaming fails. What are your thoughts?
- Chris Bruiser & Dan Laughton