So I DIDN’T play Far Cry 3…
It seems really fun, though. I don’t have any beef with Far Cry 3.
But I hate this guy.
Long story short, the head writer of Far Cry 3 says that Far Cry 3 seems like a gratuitously racist and violent video game power fantasy because it’s a satire of gratuitously racist and violent video game power fantasies.
Saying Far Cry 3 is a satire of violent video game power fantasies is like saying ketchup is a satire of the color red.
Putting a quote from Alice in Wonderland on the label of the bottle doesn’t stop the bottle from containing ketchup.
Let’s talk about Bayonetta.
Bayonetta is a game where you play as a tall, leggy witch who summons demons to defeat her foes by getting naked, routinely runs directly up the sides of buildings, shoots bullets out of her shoes as a regular thing she does, and rides a missile into a holy city to defeat the leader of the religious sect that resides there.
Did Hideki Kamiya make Bayonetta to comment on the sexualization of women in video games and the sinister policies of institutionalized religions?
… Maybe.
Mostly, Kamiya thought Bayonneta was really sexy and cool, and Vatican-esque architecture and biblical imagery make for really cool environments. He likes those things.
Bayonetta is as ridiculous and over-the-top as action games with nonsensical stories come, because Kamiya likes ridiculous over-the-top action games.
I think I’m in a unique position, reading what this Yohalem guy has to say and how he talks about his own work, as I have listened to Uwe Boll talk about his work in exactly the same way.
“This was dumb.”
“Exactly! And how did that make you feeeeeeel?”
Far Cry 3 has the opposite problem of No More Heroes.
No More Heroes is not a very fun video game, but it is a broader and more successful commentary on video games, their industry, and the people who play them, because literally every single portion of the game – from aesthetics to writing to gameplay mechanics to the very final moments – is devoted to this commentary.
Far Cry 3 seems to have nothing to say, but it’s still really fun.
Why can’t this guy just be proud of his fun, stupid game?