There are many ways to
tell a good story. You can do it through books, poetry, television
even song. A modern medium is to tell them through computer game
cinematics and cut-scenes.
One of the masters of
this art is Blizzard Entertainment. They practised this with the
cinematics for their Warcraft franchise. They were pretty good for
Warcraft 3 and really progressed through World of Warcraft,
especially the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Few people would
question the quality of the Wrathgate cinematic, or the Fall of the
Lich King trailer. These are great pieces that tell a story in an
interesting and engaging way.
It was, in my opinion,
with Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty that they really started to
excel. This is where the whole story was interwoven fully into the
cut-scenes between the played missions and the missions themselves.
One particular one from near the end of the game really stands out.
Called “Fire and Fury”, is probably the best cinematic I've seen
in a game. Heck it's better than some films and TV shows and it's
only about three and half minutes long. There is something about the
writing, visuals, music and performance by the voice actors that just
makes it shine. It's so emotive and powerful that it still sends
shivers down my spine.
This only comes to mind
because Blizzard released the trailer for the new Starcraft II
expansion, Heart of the Swarm, today. Unsurprisingly it tells a story
and helps to set up the whole new expansion. I wasn't that fussed
about Heart of the Swarm before, I am now though.
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