Tension in Video games and the lack there of

What makes a game good? A good story line? Decent play controls? Tension and the threat of death? All three of these make a game good and when you have all three of these you have the perfect combination. A perfect example of this is Bioshock. I can't really call it a first person shooter. It's first person perspective but it has so much more going on for it. Great story line. Tension. Above average controls.

Now, here's where I am going to go off. Story line is always THE most important part of a video game. I am sorry but if it doesn't have a story line that I am getting into within the first half hour I am probably going to end up dropping the game and losing interest in it. Play control is also very important but some games have such a great story line that you can forgive the controls. A good example of this is the first Resident Evil games. For the most part the controls were fine but the camera angle ended up shafting you so many times that you may as well have been a whore working in the red light district yet you were able to move past that fact because the story was original and very well done. There was also one other thing that Resident Evil had going for it. An amazing feeling of tension. It was the first game where I was openly shitting my pants. It made me jump. It gave me chills. For me to say this says a lot because it takes a lot to get me. I don't think I have ever jumped because of a film. Why is this? It fully immersed me into it. This spawned a fascination with the survival horror genre for me. I will say that if you want to get the most jumps, chills, and over all creepy feelings you have to play Fatal Frame. I am so upset with myself that when I sold the PS2 and all the games that I included the Fatal Frame games with it. I wish I would have kept those.

Now, here is my current gripe with the video game industry. I am playing all of these first person shooter games like the Call of Duty games, Resistance games, and Kill Zone 2. I like first person shooter games. I like them a lot but there is one thing that is clearly missing. It took me awhile to put my finger on it too. I was playing these games and there was no sense of tension. Why was this? Here you are in a gun fight pinned down behind a wall or lurking through the water towards someone to slit their throat and there was nothing. I finally put my finger on it. The tension wasn't there. In older first person games you had a life bar and the only way to deal with your life bar was to be more careful with your movements, use a med pack, or die and start over. Newer games do not do this though. I was discussing this with a friend and he said that I can thank Halo for this. What I am talking about is this. Instead of having to use a med pack or find a medic to heal you all you have to do is duck down for a few seconds and your life replenishes. I don't know about you but if I get shot I am not going to be able to just duck down and start healing. It really takes away from the action. It removes the tension. Here I am in this gun fight and I am low on life so I duck down behind a wall for like 10 seconds and then pop back up and start firing. They have managed to dumb down the first person shooter to the point of taking something away from it. It's a lame trick to involve in any game. Bioshock doesn't do this. Bioshock you actually to press a button to use med packs or find a healing unit on the wall. It keeps the over-all tension of the game.

Here is my unheard cry to the video game industry. Quit thinking we are not capable of handling a life bar that we have to figure out a way to raise ourselves. Please, PLEASE hear my cry. I want to be challenged. I want to feel the tension. I don't want to play another game where I love the story, the play controls are good, but leaves me feeling unfulfilled.

Games with great tension that I love.

1. Fatal Frame
2. Bioshock
3. Resident Evil 2 (shoot me because I liked the second one better than the first one)
4. Silent Hill
5. Dead Space (Best Survival Horror game for the Next Gen systems so far)

Great games that missed on the tension level but are worth playing.

1. Resistance: Fall of Man (Resistance 2 totally missed the mark and didn't feel right)
2. Call of Duty 4
3. Call of Duty: World At War
4. Killzone 2
5. Fallout 3 (This didn't really miss the mark because the story was amazing)

Alright, I realize that the games with tension that I noted mostly are not first person shooters. I realize this. I am okay with this. I want my games to suck me in and most first person games don't do that. If you have a PS3 and want to actually put a bullet in me add me on the PS Network. My user name is Astral_Complex. You can take your frustrations out on me.