Games that evoke

So I was walking around downtown San Francisco today when I was struck how it reminded me of Liberty City. Not the specifics, of course, seeing how Liberty City is modeled on New York and not San Francisco, but in the general feel of the place. I was enjoying the spring sunshine and lacework of shadows cast by local buildings and other structures, and it was very similar to the feeling I have in Grand Theft Auto IV when I just cruise around admiring the handiwork of the creators.

That led to the realization that this was just the latest example of game experiences closely paralleling real-world ones. Here are two other examples:

Game: Oblivion. One of my favorite things to do in Oblivion was just to head off into the wilderness and wander around the empire, exploring for ruins, castles and temples marked on no map. I particularly liked the glow of the early evening sun on the forests and foliage.

Real world: I live in Albany, a little burb just north of Berkeley whose main geographic feature is a hill called, appropriately enough, Albany Hill. The southern and eastern flanks of Albany Hill were built up many years ago, but at some point the city turned the rest of the hill into a park. Our apartment building is at the western foot of Albany Hill, and after a solid session with Oblivion, I would emerge, blinking, into the sun, which turned the hill’s blanket of eucalyptus trees into the exact same shade of greenish-gold seen throughout the game. I almost felt that if I charged into the brush, I would be sure to stumble across some ancient ruins and perhaps a dungeon to explore. Alas, the closest thing I have to a broadsword is a decent set of four steakknives I bought at Target a while back.

Game: Crackdown. Like everyone else, I loved how this crime-fighting game took an open-world setting and went vertical. I thrilled with vertiginous wonder as my genetically enhanced character put Spider-man to shame with his gravity-defying climbing and Matrix-style rooftop leaps.

Real world: I vividly recall going into work the day after playing the game for the first time. Downtown San Francisco looked totally different, the buildings imbued with new significance. I now found myself automatically picking out handholds and ledges that would allow me to ascend to the ceiling of the city. It really was a powerful sensation and had become second nature overnight.

My initial thought is that this sense of changing or enhancing perception of the real world is something that is seen more in games than movies. It’s not exclusive: The Matrixbascially altered my perception of the world for three or four days, a sensation that was only enhanced by listening to the soundtrack as I wandered around downtown Los Angeles. I’m trying to think of other movie examples but can’t. Certainly movies can leave deep impressions. There Will Be Blood and The Darjeeling Limited are two films I saw recently whose imagery and atmosphere lingered with me for days.

I’m guessing that any special evocativeness that games possess would stem from the fact that games (the good ones anyway) tend to engage you for longer and require conscious effort to carry out tasks. After all, you play games, whereas you watch movies.