With innovation even in its early stages, the original DOOM video game is one of the most renowned video games of all times for being the first to implement one of if not the most popular video game styles, the first person shooter. This style has become a staple, but not a requirement, in the genre of dystopian science fiction in video games many gamers know and love today.(DOOM, 1993) Franchises that followed in DOOM’s footsteps include the Half Life series, which follows a scientist named Gordon Freeman as he fights to save the world even after the destruction of an entire city.(Half Life) (Half Life 2: Episode 1) Common motifs found in this popular genre are one man to defeat all, revolution and revival, and unexpected events each form
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One man to defeat all refers to the fact that others in the story typically don’t make as much of an effect as the main character does even with the help of their side kick or assistant in saving and rebuilding the world and/or oneself. Games such as Half Life 2, DOOM (2016), and Portal 2 typically show this motif to a great extent. A great example out of these three would be Half Life 2 where one plays as Gordon Freeman who wakes from hypostasis on a train that is heading toward City 17. In order to stop the Combine, an interuniversal government, Gordon must make it to Dr. Kleiner’s lab with the occasional help of Alyx Vance. Even though she assists Gordon throughout the game, it is ordinarily through smaller things such as opening doors and activating elevators. However, whenever major points of action happen, she seems to disappear or lay low. (Half Life 2) This motif and similar character styles finds itself in both Portal 2 where robot named Wheatley assists the mute Chell in escaping the facility from time to time(Portal 2), and DOOM (2016) where the Praetor suit assists the unnamed UAC Marine in upgrading his abilities to slightly assist him in stopping the demon invasion(DOOM, 2016). From this, one can gather that, in this genre, the protagonist is receiving help from others on occasion but for the most part, they work by themselves. When the …show more content…
Unexpected events refer to the common use of plot twists, deaths, and coincidences within the genre. The video games which really shine in showing this motif in this genre are Half Life 2: Episode 2, Portal 2, and Portal. In Portal 2, after setting Wheatley as the facility administrator, he quickly becomes overwhelmed with power, plunging him into insanity. This prompted him to believe that he did all of the work, prompting him to put Chell, the player, into a pit which seems to have no end, causing a feeling of surprise to the player. After a while of venturing the depths the player finds GladOS who has been put into a potato. Following soon after, GladOS realizes that she, the AI, is the mind of Cave Johnson’s, the founder of Aperture, wife Caroline after hearing her voice. Eventually the player makes it up to Wheatley’s lair where Chell is about to press the button to replace him with GladOS when it explodes. Chell swiftly grabs the portal gun, spotting the moon, and shoots a portal onto it. With a portal underneath Wheatley, he shoots into the vacuum of space with Chell following soon him. With GladOS in control, she grabs him and throws him into the distance to essentially kill him and saves Chel, granting her freedom. (Portal 2) Like their universal companion, the original Portal, which also follows Chell when she later discovers that
One man to defeat all refers to the fact that others in the story typically don’t make as much of an effect as the main character does even with the help of their side kick or assistant in saving and rebuilding the world and/or oneself. Games such as Half Life 2, DOOM (2016), and Portal 2 typically show this motif to a great extent. A great example out of these three would be Half Life 2 where one plays as Gordon Freeman who wakes from hypostasis on a train that is heading toward City 17. In order to stop the Combine, an interuniversal government, Gordon must make it to Dr. Kleiner’s lab with the occasional help of Alyx Vance. Even though she assists Gordon throughout the game, it is ordinarily through smaller things such as opening doors and activating elevators. However, whenever major points of action happen, she seems to disappear or lay low. (Half Life 2) This motif and similar character styles finds itself in both Portal 2 where robot named Wheatley assists the mute Chell in escaping the facility from time to time(Portal 2), and DOOM (2016) where the Praetor suit assists the unnamed UAC Marine in upgrading his abilities to slightly assist him in stopping the demon invasion(DOOM, 2016). From this, one can gather that, in this genre, the protagonist is receiving help from others on occasion but for the most part, they work by themselves. When the …show more content…
Unexpected events refer to the common use of plot twists, deaths, and coincidences within the genre. The video games which really shine in showing this motif in this genre are Half Life 2: Episode 2, Portal 2, and Portal. In Portal 2, after setting Wheatley as the facility administrator, he quickly becomes overwhelmed with power, plunging him into insanity. This prompted him to believe that he did all of the work, prompting him to put Chell, the player, into a pit which seems to have no end, causing a feeling of surprise to the player. After a while of venturing the depths the player finds GladOS who has been put into a potato. Following soon after, GladOS realizes that she, the AI, is the mind of Cave Johnson’s, the founder of Aperture, wife Caroline after hearing her voice. Eventually the player makes it up to Wheatley’s lair where Chell is about to press the button to replace him with GladOS when it explodes. Chell swiftly grabs the portal gun, spotting the moon, and shoots a portal onto it. With a portal underneath Wheatley, he shoots into the vacuum of space with Chell following soon him. With GladOS in control, she grabs him and throws him into the distance to essentially kill him and saves Chel, granting her freedom. (Portal 2) Like their universal companion, the original Portal, which also follows Chell when she later discovers that