Days before the release of the game and following on from some very mixed reviews, Vivendi has been showing off about the, 'epic opening title sequence' to its movie tie-in, Scarface: the World is Yours. In a press release sent out yesterday the company revealed that it called in the services of Prologue Films and its founder, Kyle Cooper, previously responsible for some of the most important, artful movie title sequences since Saul Bass (Se7en, Spider-Man, Dawn of the Dead, etc).
From the Hollywood-hugging release:
"With a franchise as revered as Scarface, every element in the game must meet only the highest standards while creating the feel of viewing a Hollywood-produced sequel. By partnering with Prologue Films, Sierra Entertainment has ensured that the game's commitment to quality will be evident from the first moments of the game..."
There are some fundamentally disturbing insinuations in this typically soulless piece of PR double speak...
Notice the conspicuous use of the word viewing. No, playing a game shouldn't be like viewing a Hollywood film. It should - if you absolutely must use this example - be like being in a Hollywood film. Playing, interacting... not viewing.
And come to think of it, should we really be holding Hollywood up as a paragon of creative brilliance? It's just another example of the videogame industry desperately trying to win itself some cache by cosying up to the film business. Very similar in fact to all the hoo-ha surrounding Peter Jackson's move into videogame production. So, he's made a few successful films - does that automatically make him a wonderful game designer? No one, as far as I know, suspects that Peter Molyneux's success in gaming marks him out as the next Spieberg.
As for the concept of a videogame actually needing a title sequence... Nonsense. Okay, Half-Life did this brilliantly, and Medal of Honor's Normandy beach landing opener was clever, but videogames are about immediacy and interactivity. They are not, despite the sometimes essential presence of the prerendered sequence, about viewing.
Appropriating the conventions of the movie industry really does nothing to improve a game. This is lazy thinking - but then, you can't blame them. It's easier to buy in movie actors, movie soundtracks and movie opening sequences than it is to get 70 incredibly talented people into an office for two years to build a game that actually does the job of conveying a film, just through the gameplay itself. And with the money and graphical technology available to purloin Hollywood talent for some cheap PR, who cares? There may never be another GoldenEye.
