When Games Matter: Controlling Horror in the Rise of Nightmares

Last updated on: October 11, 2011 at 12:59 pm by Drew Dixon

When Games Matter: Controlling Horror in the Rise of Nightmares 2011-10-11T12:59:01-06:00 Drew Dixon

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

When Games Matter is a weekly exploration by Drew Dixon of meaningful moments in games. Operating under the assumption that games do in fact matter, Drew seeks to highlight those moments that have much to say about who we are and the world we live in.

Control is often something we take for granted in games. We expect it to be fluid and when its not, we feel cheated. I find this intriguing because in actuality there is very little in our lives that we have complete control over and yet the consensus on control in games is that the gamer should always be in charge.

Tight-controls are generally key to a successful game. The typical high-powered action game plays best when it gives as much control as possible to players. It should make them feel like they have command over their environment and the tasks at hand. Developers want players to feel a sense of accomplishment when they wield such games’ controls successfully. And when gamers fail, developers want them to sense that their failure is correctable by more precise control.

For these reasons, if a game feels unnatural to control, it will be quickly dismissed by gamers. This is largely the case with Sega’s Rise of Nightmares for the Xbox 360 Kinect and in some ways I think that is unfortunate. As the name suggests, the game is very dark and not to be played by the squeamish.

Don’t get me wrong, the control scheme for Rise of Nightmares is largely awful. At times, I would chock it up with one of the most frustrating uses of the Kinect. The main problem is that Rise of Nightmares is primarily a First Person game–meaning you walk, move, and fight in the first person. In fact, the most difficult action in the game is also its most fundamental–walking. You take a step forward or backward to walk in that direction and lean from side to side to turn. The appeal of the Kinect is its ability to make control intuitive–this simply doesn’t work in the first person. The developers even seem to be aware of this as you can raise your arm and the game will take over movement for you in many instances. Because of these problems, most people will not make it very far in RoN.

I do think this is unfortunate though because RoN‘s horrendous controls actually work with its basic narrative. The story of the game isn’t all that interesting but running from its monsters and zombies is actually appropriately uncomfortable. Whether intentionally or not, this is where RoN succeeds. Too many games seek to empower players by making them king over their environment. However when you are fighting and/or running from horrifying creatures from another world it only makes sense that the player’s control over his character and his environment would be less than perfect.

The best example I have seen of this in a game comes from Amnesia: The Dark Decent. In Amnesia, the more the player is exposed to the game’s horrors the more difficult it becomes to control. To be fair, RoN is difficult to control all the time, but I did find its particular control scheme to make me frantic and uncomfortable and honestly that is what a horror game is supposed to do.

Despite its many problems, RoN recognizes a fundamental reality of life that few games acknowledge. RoN reminds us that much in life is outside our control and we are not nearly as tough as we think we are.

Previous Post

October 11, 2011

Watching Politics From the Pew: Who Cares if He Is Mormon?

Next Post

October 12, 2011 Reading Through "Half the Church," Part 2: Image Bearing Basics

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Asides Elsewhere Featured Film Games General Culture Headline Literature Music Of the Moment Podcast Politics RetroPost Sports Technology Television Uncategorized Viral

Select a Month February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz