As much as gamers ask for innovation, some of the top games this holiday season have been sequels like Mario Kart seven, Halo 1, 2 (you're thinking too hard), and Bioshock 2 (which I know came out a while ago but I just bought it the other day so it's new to me). And that's not even counting Call of Duty, which could be on it's eighty-fifth edition for all we know.
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"Back in my day, Call of Duty games were numbered and they were developed by only one studio."
"Shut up grandpa and give us more wrapped caramel candy!"
This happens because it costs a lot of money to make video games and publishers are less inclined to take a risk if it's not an established property they KNOW people will buy. So what if we came to a compromise? Maybe publishers could take overlooked characters from popular games and give them their own adventure? This is such a great idea, I'm shocked nobody's thought of it before! If developers could make a new game where, like, Toad escapes into the dark recesses of his own mind to escape the day-to-day torture and ridicule that comes from being Princess Peach's servant, then the publisher can be confident it'll sell since they can slap the "Mario" name on the box.
It would be great to see Uncharted's Victor "Sully" Sullivan get his own game. After all the times we've seen him pinned down by a ton of bad guys or standing still while Nathan Drake jumps around cliffs that honestly, I'm starting to suspect the guy isn't so much into adventuring but is just looking for a place to sit down with a good paperback.
"Sully, you're just making me want to read Game of Thrones even less. Jesus."
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So what would a Sully game look like? I'd love a game where you get pinned down by bad guys and watch Nathan Drake take out the bad guys. In terms of how much the player is actually interacting with the game, it's not that far from the Uncharted games as they are today, but in this case you wouldn't have to put up those asinine shooting parts. There is nothing worse in video games today than Uncharted shooting parts.
(source) Shooting in Uncharted 3 is like throwing a handful of bees at a baby.
Making a side character the lead of their own game could shed new light on their relationships to other characters. For instance, if the orange portal from Portal got his own game, what would we learn about his relationship to the blue portal? Does he feel like he's the superior or inferior portal? Or does he want to break out and make it on his own?
How many roads must a portal walk down/ before you can call him a portal?
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Private detective Scott Shelby was a complex, layered character in Heavy Rain. He was also the only complex, layered character in Heavy Rain. Every second of that game that isn't about him is literally the most boring thing in the world. I think giving Shelby his own game would make Heavy Rain consistently interesting. As it stands, Heavy Rain found a way to make a hot chick walking around in her underwear boring.
Pictured: Action!
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But, of course, the reason these characters don't have their own games is because, ultimately, they're kind of dumb. Maybe these characters have been overlooked for a reason, much like the space between my cupboard and stove that is so filthy I'm beginning to suspect it's supporting sentient life.
My God... they're building cities.
Are there any characters you feel are being overlooked in video games these days? Make the case for their starring role in the comments!
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