Controversy Clocking Episode 12: Chasing the biggest trends and losing identities

What is the easiest way to beat or match the competition? Copy them; every entertainment medium has this problem at some point or another which sees artists taking inspiration from, modelling their own work on another’s previous contribution, or at other points looking to capitalise on the most popular trends in their genre or medium. Recently, games have been in the spotlight for the latter but not in a good way. In pursuit of the highest profits for the least amount of effort, new titles have been making concessions or worse, chopping features completely in favour of what makes more money.

With developers being so obsessed with “live service” games (which offer consistent ways to snag more of your hard-earned money after purchase) these days, it’s hardly surprising that they would go in this direction. You can’t monetise a straightforward single-player campaign nearly as well you can with online multiplayer; that’s something that companies know and will exploit to their advantage. The more modes in a new release that require an online connection, the more ad-hoc links to in-game stores, microtransactions and other schemes designed to keep players paying even after they already paid full price for a new release. Trends play a key role in making these regressions happen and the latest of these to rock the gaming industry is the Battle Royale genre, stamped onto the scene by PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (Or PUBG for short) in 2017 which ranked up as the highest played game on Steam and PC for months after its release; this would be followed up by the free-to-play Fortnite from Epic Games. Both titles took their inspiration from 2012’s The Hunger Games and its formula of putting characters into a changing arena environment and pitting them against each other until only one is left standing. This genre has proven surprisingly addictive for video games, but it has also given way to some unsavoury behaviour. PUBG Corporation, the developer behind PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, has been called out for its nasty behavior, refusing to update and polish the bugs in the game and also demanding a full claim over the use of Battle Royale genre via abuse of copyright laws. 

However, this pandering to trends is hardly new in the recent generations of gaming; 2013’s The Last of Us drew widespread critical acclaim and soon others wanted to make their own story-driven third-person adventure games, to limited success. The Order 1886 is a prime example of how taking inspiration from previous successes can fail. A similar thing also happened with the release of Overwatch in 2016, which saw other shooter studios move to inject more colour into their shooters, though often at the expense of tone and authenticity, as 2017’s Call of Duty WW2 and the recently revealed Battlefield 5 show. This causes once consistent franchises to lose their identity and eventually their impact on the gaming landscape as well as they start to blend together in a bid to capture as wide an audience as possible. As for the battle royale genre, it is only set to grow bigger as it inches closer and closer to eSports territory; recently I checked out the gaming arena in Las Vegas and the game placed on the big screen in the centre was Fortnite, showing its massive influence in recent times.

What happened next was other studios seeing the gigantic success of Battle Royale games and working to get a piece of the pie for themselves; these changes were minor at first, with titles such as DOTA 2 and Grand Theft Auto Online adding new modes designed to tide over fans of Battlegrounds and Fortnite. The genre soon fell in line with more unscrupulous gaming practices including microtransaction based cosmetic items, many of which customers will often pay through the nose for. From here though, things have been regressing in the industry; rather than adding their own spin to existing ideas (As Naughty Dog did with the Uncharted series for example), developers are now cutting features in favour of chasing trends and by far the biggest example of this is Activision and Call of Duty Black Ops 4. Set to release later this year, it was recently announced that the game would forgo a single-player campaign completely in favour of Battle Royale style mode named “Blackout”. Fans weren’t happy, but then the framing of the announcement only made things worse. With nowhere else to go, the Call of Duty franchise proudly boasted that “Blackout” would bring new innovations after years of stagnation but most viewers saw right through this rhetoric and called them out for being regressive and not bothering to make a fully-featured game to release to consumers. To take away features that have been common-place in gaming for years can hardly be considered innovation and the way multiplayer is being placed at a higher priority speaks to a more sinister corporate procedure when making games. The higher the player base who are connected to the internet, the more players who will go to the store and keep spending real money; gradually taking away the offline features of a title, ensures this number and the potential for money-making both increase. It leaves the door wide open for microtransactions and (god forbid) randomised loot-boxes to sneak their way into online modes over time.

Overall, this idea of pandering to trends and other gaming audiences will only stifle creativity in the long run, while also opening the gates for more horrible consumer practices in some of the biggest games. Why should developers get creative and attempt to move design and gameplay forward when they can look towards the worst money-making practices instead? This regression in games due to chasing trends will only result in more exploitative practices; instead developers should work to stand out from the crowd, or at the very least bring their own style or improvements to existing sub-genres. Only then can the industry move forward.

(Images used for the purposes of review and criticism under fair use)

Deadpool 2 Movie Review

Released: 18th May 2018 (United States)

Length: 119 Minutes

Certificate: 15

Director: David Leitch

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Josh Brolin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, TJ Miller, Brianna Hildebrand and Stefan Kapicic

The original Deadpool released to a smash success in 2016, singlehandedly proving that not all superhero flicks had to appeal to as wide an audience as possible; its raunchy humour and self-contained nature swayed thousands of audiences everywhere, putting it on the top of the X-Men series in terms of profitability. Two years on and the sequel is hoping to repeat that success; with a few drawbacks, things still work surprisingly well.

Picking up two years after the first film, the mutant Deadpool/Wade Watts (Ryan Reynolds) continues his one-man fight against crime, while looking to start a family with his girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). But things soon get complicated with the arrival of time-travelling cyborg Cable (Josh Brolin), who has a personal interest in eliminating a young mutant named Firefist (played by Julian Dennison). What follows is a crazy mix of action, drama and a barrel full of laughs, with some of the funniest moments including Deadpool’s recruiting of the X-Force with a few select cameos, and a hilarious scene involving the antihero’s regeneration of a few limbs (though that I’ll leave you to discover on your own). The action is blistering and brutal, with an enthusiastic sense of variety, transferring from a prison escape one minute and a truck chase the next. Outside of these components, Deadpool 2 attempts to deepen the central character with some extra emotion, beginning with a heart-wrenching moment that fuels his push to do better as a person. It’s a welcome direction to go in for the sequel, though at points it does lessen the pacing of the jokes; in the original, the humour was rapid, energetic and always hitting the right spot, which added to its charm. Here, things slow down a little and not always for the best. Be that as it may, the jokes, fourth-wall breaks and references more than rise to the occasion.

And this is thanks to another excellent performance by Ryan Reynolds, who channels the character better than just about any of his other roles; the comedic timing, the cheeky winks to the camera, he keeps up the already superb representation of the character effortlessly. Josh Brolin (who is sure to make a killing this year with this film, Infinity War and the upcoming Sicario 2) debuts Cable onto the big screen and it’s another brilliant performance; the way his serious, vengeful personality clashes with Deadpool provides plenty of laughs throughout the film. The newcomers are equally strong with Zazie Beetz’s Domino adding some extra spice to the action and Firefist’s attempts to big himself up rarely resulting in success. The returning Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) has plenty of screen time with humour and action aplenty, especially in the film’s last third. Despite this though, there are some characters here who do get put aside for a while, most notably Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brienne Hildebrand) who only really gets her time to shine in the film’s last moments. Things never become too unbalanced between the characters, but it is a shame to see some of them taken down a notch after the first film.

Deadpool’s technical details are more than a match for the first film; the action on display is fuelled by carnage, with destruction effects, bloody injuries and stunts all coming together to make another entertaining package. Costume work for the newcomers in Deadpool 2 is authentic to the comics, particularly for Cable and Domino. The collection of shots, which often make use of slow-motion for extra satirical effect, all look brilliant and the soundtrack is just as mad as the rest of the proceedings, with pounding rap music, profane choirs and a truly insane use of dubstep that also lends itself to the action well. With a larger scale to the action to match the more wider perspective of the story, Deadpool 2 continues to impress with its presentation.

A reduced level of laughs and some side-lined characters put Deadpool 2 below the brilliant original, but that shouldn’t stop you from seeing it; this is another wild, funny, no-holds barred parody that delivers more of the same wacky action you loved in the first while simultaneously linking up with the X-Men and exploring more of Wade’s inner character.

Rating: 4/5 Stars (Great)

Be More Kind Album Review

Released: 4th May 2018

Published by: Xtra Mile and Polydor

Following “Positive Songs for Negative People” and compilation album Songbook, popular British singer Frank Turner has had his seventh release which marks itself as more thoughtful and reflective while still maintaining his classical flair.

Turner has had a massive cult following in the UK over the past decade by offering simple yet incredibly charismatic acoustic pieces and on top of that, he’s also a very down to earth chap with quite a bit to say about the world we live in.

While the album opens with the uplifting “Don’t Worry”, there’s no doubt that Be More Kind is a commentary on the difficult politics and conflicts we’re dealing with today (Make America Great Again being the most straightforward of the bunch) and it’s all a very passionate lyrical plea for people to come together and build bridges. When you home in on the lyrics, this theme shines through; for example, “They’ve started raising walls around the world now” and “Last night I had a vision of people asking questions instead of talking without listening”. For the most part, the album keeps this tone up consistently, with a couple of deviations. Blackout is fast-paced and energised, taking its inspiration from the geo-magnetic storm of 1989, and The Lifeboat hammers home the plight of refugees and migration. Each track features its fair share of acoustic guitar and on the whole the album swaps effortlessly from lively beats to more emotive numbers while also delivering excellent flow through the lyrics; Of the thirteen tracks, the titular “Be More Kind” succeeds the most at the latter. The only odd track in the album, “There She Is” is a carryover from Songbook, despite it still succeeding at pulling the heartstrings, it does lessen the album’s impact a bit.

With wide variety and a strong thematic pull, Frank Turner’s latest album is another brilliant effort that compels you to share both his concerns for the world and his hope that people will do better. Both regular fans and newcomers to his music will easily latch on.

Rating: B

See more from Frank Turner on his Facebook page.