Xenojay's Blogs

It’s funny for me to wonder where I go next with my gaming blog, having relegated myself to a tale of discovery, of first sight romanticism with a new console. Do I speak more of its technical merits or do I speak of the little things that may either be reverting my mentality back to that of a Sony fanboy or may be my finally finding that middle ground as I watch the “Flame War” continue.

For some reason, I find myself wanting to speak of platform gaming instead.  Having just experienced the fun adventure that is “Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction” I had never noticed a simple change in the life system of platforming games…the fact that there is no longer a life system. I may be incorrect in saying so, there may a game out there amongst the sea of them that still relies on a life system, but for me, I find no issue with this.

The days of your Contras, your Probotectors, your Turricans and of course the big platform adventures, your Marios, your Sonics and your Megamans may no longer apply with an infinite amount of lives at our fingertips. Is it a loss though? Frustrations are now averted; no pressure to win as you slowly drop into a chasm to your demise noting that you’ll be fine and that all you have lost is time as you respawn at a point roughly 5 minutes from where you were previously up too. Does this lessen the challenge placed before you as you run through the land laid out before you in the game?

Those were the days of seeing the Mario sprite bounce up on the screen when he unwillingly died at our hands. That all too familiar midi sound, and then the screen advising you of the world you were exploring, a quick glance at your remaining lives, and then you respawn at the last checkpoint. Of course, being so young you never questioned why you had lives, where as now I would try to apply logic, something like some powerful god throwing you out the door to that exact point you died, you having paid him some currency to give you another whirl, or possibly it was something like a clone being respawned at the point you died, you having left some residual DNA that would rebirth upon death. Or it could simply be that when you fell down that deep crevice; you merely climbed out, the lives representing energy for having done so.

How testing it was to lose a life though, especially if you had just started your adventure with the mere 3 lives. A bead of sweat trickling down your brow as you realise your adventure has all of a sudden met a brick wall already. You gulp, and cautiously press in the direction that will send you hurtling down the path of adventure once again.

I found myself questioning the life rule for the reason that when I…I will say “blacked out” that first time in Ratchet & Clank ,my brain went back to the immediacy of having lost a life. My eyes surveyed the screen, a hint of fear for having lost a life, scared that I may have shortened my journey and then…

Relief. No life lost…in fact, nothing lost at all! I actually gained all the bolts I had earned before I died so in someway I had doubled my earnings in the game! And I didn’t mind. At all. And so did I miss gaming lives? No. For some reason I don’t mind that in a sense it’s become simpler to complete a platform game. That you are never worried about how many lives you have left. That the story would never be staggered because you would never have to return to the start of it.

There’s not much more I could say, feeling that input would greatly assist in arguing the points of the gaming life. And so, check the forum for the topic “How do you feel about lives in your games?” and let’s discuss whether this thing of yesteryear is one to be missed, or one to be left as a memory.