It's no secret that I love movies.
But some of you may not know that I've also been a lifelong gamer, my first ever video
game was the original Super Mario Bros. for the NES and I've been in love with gaming
ever since.
My whole life I always wanted to see video games reach the same level of technical presentation
that film had, and deliver the same sort of powerful and emotionally resonant experiences
that had made movies so important in my life.
There are many developers who have gotten close, many games that stand out as incredible
experiences, but none that can match the cinematic prowess of Naughty Dog, at least in my opinion.
Known in their early days for Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter, when the technology was
finally able to create believable human characters, they left behind their cartoonish roots in
favor of telling human stories, beginning with Uncharted.
Their games have been praised for many things, the beautiful graphics, the tight controls
and layered gameplay mechanics, but what always stood out to me was their sense of cinematic
literacy.
It was like playing a game designed by filmmakers as opposed to your typical video game developers.
So let's break that down.
First, it's impossible to talk about Naughty Dog and not mention the characters and the
story, it's usually the first thing someone will mention when reviewing one of their games,
and not without good reason.
Each character has a fully developed personality that separates them from the rest of the cast,
each playing an important role in the story.
In my latest video I discussed the idea of intention and obstacle.
For those who missed it, basically to create a believable character, that character has
to have goals, and they need obstacles to stand in their way, the conflict created by
the character's attempts to overcome those obstacles is where the drama comes from, and
how a character driven story is told.
In The Last of Us and the Uncharted series, the plot is mostly non-existent, relying much
more on the character building than anything else to immerse the player into that world.
One great example of character development I'd like to single out, at the start of The
Last of Us, Joel's daughter gives him a watch, which he keeps despite it no longer working.
In the beginning, Joel wants nothing to do with Ellie, most likely out of the fear of
growing attached to her, in a world like this one, no one's safe.
The more people you love, the more people you'll lose.
But there's a great scene shortly after they meet when crossing between rooftops with Tess,
you can sense Joel warming up to her and then there, a brief little glance.
No words spoken, no exposition needed, one quick look tells us exactly what he's feeling.
Joel and Ellie's relationship is the heart and soul of that game, and it's little moments
like that that are why we care so much about their story.
That level of craft in the writing is almost impossible to find in video games, and is
what I think really sets them apart from other developers.
The writing of course is powerful on its own, but you still need the right actors to bring
those characters to life.
Something that really helps their performances is the way the cutscenes are filmed.
On a stage with all of the other actors, just like a film set.
This may seem obvious to developers now, but back when they first used these techniques
on the original Uncharted, it was almost unheard of to have your actor provide both voice and
body performance capture.
There are little nuances that happen when an actor is performing, and if you split up
that performance between two people you're going to lose that nuance.
So this not only helps create a more authentic performance that's more in line with that
of film and TV, but allowing the actors to share the same space, it allows them to play
off of each other, and improvise.
A common phrase is that "acting is reacting", if the actors all record their lines separately
in a sound booth, there's no way for them to properly react to each other.
And that's how you end up with robotic NPC conversations like this.
Now compare that to a conversation like this.
I think the difference speaks for itself.
But of course, these are games, these performances have to be brought into the game world , and
that's where the real unsung heroes come in, the animators.
Look at those facial animations, this game was on the last generation and looks better
than most games coming out today.
Up until Uncharted 4, all of the facial animations were hand-keyed.
Animators had to manipulate hundreds of variables to match up with the actors performance, for
every cutscene in every game.
And the payoff is obvious, even nearly a decade later these characters still look great.
The detailed animations don't just find their way into the cutscenes, but are present in-game
as well.
A great touch in The Last of Us is with the character's body language, specifically with
Ellie.
She takes a more reserved stance early on in the story as she's still getting to know
Joel, as she becomes more comfortable around him her body language becomes more comfortable
to reflect that.
The animation, the writing, the performances all pool together to create what I believe
to be the most realistic human characters of any video game, which is crucial to keeping
players invested in such character driven stories, and as anyone who's played a Naughty
Dog game can tell you, it's those characters that make each game such a memorable experience.
But of course, as film has taught us, it doesn't stop with the characters, while working in
a medium like this, there are other tools to use to create a truly cinematic experience.
Like music.
The way the score is implemented honors the greats that have come before, using themes
to recall certain emotions just like John Williams or Howard Shore would do.
It helps that for The Last of Us, they brought on board Gustavo Santoalla, a two time Oscar
winner known for his work on the films Babel, and Brokeback Mountain.
I could easily make an entire video discussing the importance of a strong original score,
but in short, music can be one of the best tools to incite certain emotions from the
audience, and each one of Naughty Dog's games takes great care to use its score effectively.
A good example to study in film, the Harry Potter films used Hedwig's Theme as the main
musical motif, and it is recalled in the film's opening, with slight changes to reflect the
tone of each film.
This same idea was used to alter Nate's Theme for the final installment of the Uncharted
series, this is Nate's Theme from the first three games, and then here it is for Uncharted
4: A Theif's End, the changes in the theme reflect the changes in Nate, he's older, it's
a more mature story with more at stake than ever before and the alteration to the theme
reflects that.
That is just one example, but you get the idea.
And then we have to talk about the visuals.
Naughty Dog has always been known for pushing the technology past what many other developers
thought possible, but they go a step further than just crafting beautiful textures or models.
They use principles of cinematography, the same principles that guide the best in film,
things like shot composition, lighting cues, color grading, are all present in each game.
They even add little touches to create a sense of cinema verite, like missing focus pulls,
allowing camera shake, and restricting the camera to real world limitations by confining
it inside the space the characters are occupying.
Even though the camera isn't a real object and could easily be used to cheat its way
through walls or something like that, they keep it all grounded in reality which creates
a film look that helps the games feel that much more cinematic, and really just look
beautiful.
When all of these different pieces work together harmoniously, something greater than the sum
of its parts is created.
It's why I don't find myself concerned with the different criticisms that Naughty Dog
has received over the years.
The type of experience they create is plain and simple not for everyone.
And while I enjoy a simple gamer's game as much as the next guy, there's something to
be said for a game that does its best to create a cinematic experience that functions as a
playable movie.
It's not to say there aren't other developers out there who do this really well, there absolutely
are, but none that offer something quite the same way that Naughty Dog does.
While playing through Uncharted and The Last of Us, the level of immersion I felt is second
to no other game.
I've never been as invested in a video game before, I've never found myself so genuinely
moved by a story or its characters.
These are the types of games I spent my entire life waiting to play, and I'm honestly so
grateful to have had the privilege of experiencing them for myself.
The feeling I get when those credits roll is just incomparable to anything outside of
film or television.
It's why The Last of Us Part Two is easily my most anticipated game, because I know that
I'm in for an emotional rollercoaster that you just don't get with other games.
But of course, these are just opinions, and I don't get the chance to play everything
that comes out, so let me know in the comments some other games perfect for cinephiles, specifically
on the PS4 because...well, that's what I own, but I'd love to find more games that give
me that same feeling, as I've yet to find it anywhere else.