The prevalence of heist games makes me wonder if we need
some sort of heist subgenre, a category that permits us to discuss how theft
simulation functions, how the efficiencies of particular kinds of robberies
exceed those of others. Since Thief,
people have been trying to eke out a foothold in the overcrowded games marketplace
by allowing players to simulate theft, novel idea of novel ideas, something
they often simulate while acquiring the very games in question.
There's been an explosion of conceptually divergent heist
games over the last three years, ranging in efficiency from PAYDAY to Monaco. Even the upcoming Thief reboot represents this sensibility
of "stealing shit is fun," to some degree, though its purportedly
running the entire thing through an action movie filter. But that's not aberrant, or at least it isn't
exceptionally aberrant in the heist subgenre that doesn't really exist
yet. Sure, Monaco and the original Thief
games strongly encourage players to avoid confrontation, but even then there
was a framework for violence, a well developed and critical framework for
violence that comes into play when shit goes tits up.
Perhaps the distinction then lies between games that treat
violence as something that happens when shit goes very, very wrong, and
violence as something that simply occurs as a part of every heist. That's where PAYDAY is comfortably situated: violence is inevitable in PAYDAY, and the mechanics don't center
as much around how to avoid violence so much as how to shape its unveiling. PAYDAY
2, the sequel, does some work to alloy that issue, but not much. Sure, you can creep and shuffle about and
carefully case places, but so far, despite my best efforts, I haven't found a
way to actually complete objectives without resorting to a pretty hard core
gunfight.
PAYDAY 2 is less a
heist game for me, then, and more a game about long drawn out gunfights
followed by brief runs to vans (or sometimes helicopters!) while the police
scream at us. This isn't a bad thing:
while PAYDAY 2 isn't terribly fun to
place alone, it's a great game to play with friends (in fact, the only reason I
bought it was because of the prompting of an old friend from Oregon). But there's something off about the gameplay,
just slightly off about how heists actually unfold within the game, that
doesn't quite work for me.
Consider PAYDAY 2's
puzzly heists, with multiple approaches and means of success, and Monaco's puzzly heists with multiple
approaches and means of success. If we
separate ourselves from the fundamental genre gap (not too challenging a feat,
given the parallels between the two games) we're left with very similar
systems, one of which wants things to go wrong in interesting ways and then
reset, one of which wants things to become increasingly fucked up as game play
continues. PAYDAY 2 separates itself from Monaco
not just in the raw mechanics and perception of players, but in the overall
philosophy it takes to crime. Monaco is about stealth, reasoning, and
execution of a carefully considered plan with a collection of known assets and
hazards you'll engage with during a mission.
PAYDAY 2 randomizes assets in
each mission, gates many of its solutions behind long, grinding skill trees,
and generally punishes you for not noticing things and rewards you for changing
into situations headlong.
With a group of friends, managing the chaos of a heist is
actually a lot of fun. With people
standing near drills and covering each other, PAYDAY 2 is a great game, but as a game you play alone, or a game
where you stealthily steal things, PAYDAY
2 leaves quite a bit to be desired: violence, is so prevalent, its
application less an option and more a foregone conclusion, that it's less a
game about stealing things and more a game about shooting police officers. It's no mistake that many of the game's
mechanics center not around avoiding conflict, but around managing it: tie up
hostages, and the police won't want to run into the bank. Trip mines can potentially keep certain entrances
clear as well. But the stealth game
mostly involves pressing the G key and hoping no one sees you. Even the Stealth skill tree, called the Ghost
class, is lacking: most of the skills orient themselves not around making you
less noticeable, but around making your application of violence more targeted
(and in one case, allowing you to manipulate corpses like movable objects). The end result is game that makes every heist
into a horde mode shoot 'em up more than a cerebral funtime extravaganza.
I'm being a little harsh here: PAYDAY 2 is a fun game, and it's fun to play, particularly with
friends. But it represents a trend
towards a focus on action in heist games, and I'm not terribly interested in
where that leads, and I'm more than a little uneasy at the prospect of heist
games like PAYDAY 2 becoming more
prevalent while games like Monaco become less prevalent. This is, in a sense, a response to some of
the marketing for the Thief reboot, wherein our taciturn, once frumpy thief,
Garret, now does parkour and beats people up like some sort of super agile cat
man. This isn't my thief This isn't my Garret. These heists aren't the heists I'm looking
for. Sure, they're a decent enough way
to pass the time with friends, and they're tied to a neat little progression
system with some relatively serious issues with balance and user friendliness,
but there's something determinedly unsubtle about the direction heisty games
are moving.
Is there a potential solution? The increased prevalence of small,
independently produced stealth games, the laudable Shadowrun and its wonderful system for heist simulation, that's all
movement in the right direction. I
suppose I'd just like to see big studios take some of the lessons those games
are showing us (make every approach valid, make sure it's apparent how each
approach can be executed, be as transparent as possible about how the game
works) and apply them to their big budget, high octane fuckfests. A well funded cerebral fuckfest can be a real
good time.
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