Bromance-ing the Stone

We all love buddy movies; from the comedic coupling of Riggs and Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon, Neal and Del in the hilarious Planes, Trains & Automobiles , the “too weird to live, too rare to die” Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and of course, Oscar and Felix in The Odd Couple. Watching their relationships develop over the course of these films provides all sorts of amusement. But the transition of the bromance from movie to video game and subsequently the shift in our role from voyeur to participant is even more intriguing. 

Playing an active part in the bromance unfolding on the screen lends a certain je ne sais quoi to a game; it can elevate your experience and transform you from a jittery loner with an itchy trigger finger to a rump slapping, chest bumping, testosterone fuelled, adrenaline-junkie-bad-ass with bigger balls than Randy Marsh… provided it’s done properly.

 As a general rule, the bromantic relationship is cultivated over time, like tending a sapling bonsai tree. But the intimacy can spring up like a redwood in dinosaur manure when a catalyst is present; such as impending doom for the protagonist’s girlfriend/ family/ mankind. The symbiotic bond can be misconstrued for homosexuality; either genuinely or in jest and Epic humorously plays on this with the homoerotic themed achievements in the Gears of War franchise. The ambiguity surrounding the bromance can be traced back as far as Ancient Greece with Plutarch’s Sacred Theban Band. This is in essence an army comprised of homosexual male couples…Marcus and Dom, Cole and Baird ...good to see Epic is sticking to the theme! The thinking behind this was that “a band cemented by friendship grounded upon love, is never to be broken, and invincible” and that when faced with the perils and ravages of war, one will go on a crazy rampage the likes of which has never been seen, in order to avoid looking like a pansy in front of their significant other. This is very much my own mentality when I’m playing co-op anything with my gentleman friend so I think he was definitely onto something!

Bromantic games usually depict a pair of muscle bound behemoths, which was particularly prevalent in the 1980’s, as the action movies of the era set the trend; think Conan the Barbarian, Rambo: First Blood, Predator and Masters of the Universe. Contra (also known as Gryzor) which Konami released in 1987 is a perfect example of this. So perfect in fact, that the game characters are interchangeable with the most iconic action movie stars of all time… 

We first became acquainted with Bill and Lance in the arcades of 1987. The two military commandos were tasked with saving the Earth from the maniacal plot being put into action by a terrorist cell called Red Falcon…depending on which version you were playing. The Japanese story was altered for the American NES version, in which Bill and Lance faced an alien threat. And whilst aliens can still be terrorists, imagine what a different story it would’ve been if Bill and Lance had tracked them down for a final face-off in a farmhouse cellar somewhere in the Middle East. Contra was made so hugely popular due to the co-op gameplay, which was a novelty at the time of release. Its popularity continued when it was introduced to the NES with Nintendo Power ranking it the seventh best NES video game and one of the best games for multiplayer on the console.


 1989 saw Capcom release Final Fight in the arcades. The game was initially intended as the sequel to Street Fighter and was dubbed Street Fighter ’89. But with the change in game play from a competitive fighting game to side-scrolling action, the title changed accordingly. Final Fight introduced us to Cody and Guy, who did eventually make their way into the Street Fighter series. The two are best friends and rivals so the relationship is very similar to that of Ken and Ryu. 

Cody’s girlfriend Jessica is kidnapped by The Mad Gear Gang and her father enlists the help of the two, who are conveniently trained in Martial Arts, to track down and save Jessica. The player can choose to fight as either Guy, Cody or Jessica’s father Mike Haggar, a former professional wrestler, with Guy’s attacks focusing on speed, Mike’s on strength and Cody lying somewhere in between. In true bromance style, once Jessica is rescued, Cody decides he can’t rest whilst evil still lurks in the world and after a parting kiss, disappears…although surprisingly, without his soul mate Guy in tow.

Final Fight served as the Japanese launch title for the SNES in 1990 but sadly the 2 player co-op was discarded, along with Guy. The 1991 February edition of the Japanese arcade game magazine Gamest, bestowed poll position to Final Fight as their number 1 game of 1990, with Mike Haggar taking the number 1 spot on their list of top 50 characters of the year and gracing the cover of the issue. Guy came in a close second and Cody was relegated to number 7.

Our next bromance blossomed in 1992 with the debut of Miles “Tails” Prower to the Sonic series. Tails first appeared in Sonic 2 on the Sega Master System in which he was kidnapped by Dr Robotnik for a ransom. It was in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Genesis that he became a playable character. 

Tails was conceived by Yasushi Yamaguchi for an internal competition to create a sidekick for the famous Sega-blue hedgehog. The character was designed to be a simpering Sonic groupie or as Yamaguchi phrased it, he was meant to hold “a deep admiration for Sonic”. Even Tails’ name is testament to his passive role in the duo; Miles Prower being a pun on “miles per hour”, referencing Sonic’s super speed. Whilst Tails does contribute with the addition of his flight and the ability to carry Sonic to otherwise inaccessible areas, he occasionally poses as a hindrance by getting himself kidnapped by Robotnik.

Like all bromances, the dynamic of the relationship between our two protagonists is vulnerable to that age old evil...women. Amy Rose’s stalker-like chase of Sonic ruffles Tails’ tails along with her smart mouth. But that’s nothing compared to Sonic’s ultimate betrayal when he pairs up with Fiona Fox; the object of the young cur’s affections. Following a confrontation, Sonic apologises and explains the incident as an attempt to help Tails get over his feelings for her. No, I didn’t make any of that up. The fact that Sonic is 15 years old and Tails is only 8 years old seems to have had no bearing on this madness. 


Whilst Sonic’s reception was positive and culminated in the hedgehog being inducted into the Walk of Game, having a class of genes named after him and featuring in the 1993 Formula One championship (as a mascot only otherwise no one would’ve stood a chance), Tails didn’t do quite so well after his initially successful debut. Tails made GameDaily’s list of “annoying sidekicks”, Cracked.com ranked his appearance in Sonic 2 as number 14 on their “most annoying video game characters in otherwise great games” list and GamesRadar commented on the decline of his popularity and his transformation into a lame sidekick who “choked the life out of the franchise”. Tough break.

Our next pair are decidedly more dastardly; Adam ‘Kane’ Marcus and James Seth Lynch. IO Interactive unleashed them upon the world in 2007 in Kane& Lynch: Dead Men and although they received lukewarm reviews, they were once again inflicted upon the world in 2010 in the sequel Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. 

The first game is played from Kane’s perspective. His wife and daughter are taken hostage and Kane and Lynch are on their way to death row. They breakout and make an attempt to steal the ransom money needed to rescue Kane’s family. During the bank robbery to retrieve the cash that Kane was accused of stealing, Lynch has a bit of an episode and slaughters the hostages.  This is all by the by as they elude capture and head to Tokyo to get their paws on the other half of the stolen cash.

However, the terrible twosome is in for a world of trouble as after they kidnap a Japanese crime lord’s daughter to use as bait to obtain the last of the loot, Lynch has yet another boo boo and kills the girl. Kane is pissed to say the least but the love for his brother from another mother compels him to stay with Lynch (love veiling insanity. Cut him loose Kane, he done you wrong!) and they relegate themselves to returning to the gang holding his wife and daughter with only half of the ransom. The gang is not pleased and poor Mrs. Marcus is killed. Lynch goes on another rampage and Kane manages to protect his daughter Jenny until she escapes.     

The ensuing action sees the two men break out a handful of comrades from prison and with these ‘dead men’, embark on another violent binge during which Kane discovers that his daughter has been kidnapped again. All’s well that ends well though, as the two survive to star in the sequel.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days gives the player the opportunity to play through the single player campaign as Lynch. We are drawn into another convoluted story during which Lynch’s girlfriend is raped and killed and Lynch has his throat slit. He miraculously survives and true to his bro, saves Kane but is of course too late to save his lover and the two men escape Shanghai on a plane destined for Ecuador.

Whilst the games received mixed reviews, no one can deny the chemistry between the two anti-heroes. Barry White of resolution-magazine.co.uk is of opinion that Kane and Lynch are “how Lethal Weapon’s Riggs and Murtagh would’ve turned out if writer Shane Black had made those characters criminals instead of cops and Smokin’ Aces’ Joe Carnahan had been around to direct.” He draws parallels between the relationships; the men are constantly trying to keep their unwanted, unruly partners in line, are overly concerned with the welfare of their kids and are getting a tad too old and crusty for the shenanigans they find themselves in. Lynch and Riggs are the nut jobs who take it upon themselves to go crazy and by doing so, push the story to places it would otherwise never have gone; as Barry puts it “if Riggs and Murtagh are the kings of the buddy movie, Kane and Lynch are their twisted counterparts.” The only difference being that Kane & Lynch are utter bastards that no one likes. Could this be the reason for the mixed bag of reviews? If you can’t connect with the characters you’re playing, it’s impossible to enjoy the game. But on the other hand, this very fact could be a stroke of genius; a fresh, unexpected twist on the cookie cutter heroes resulting in a ‘bad bromance’... and equally bad pun on my part.

Our last, but by no means least bromance is truly one of my favourites. Harking back to the good old days when game protagonists looked like they were abusing steroids and with a lick of pea green paint and skimpy ripped trousers, wouldn’t look out of place in a Marvel comic; bringing back the look and rocking it with a vengeance, we have Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago.

Marcus and Dom met through Carlos; Dom’s brother. The chums grew up together and Marcus took refuge in the Santiago home when his home life got rough. Carlos and Marcus eventually enlisted in the COG army and Dom followed suit as he’d just knocked up his girlfriend and future wife Maria, at the tender age of 16. Marcus and Carlos’ bromance is cut short when Carlos is shot in the legs and stomach. Marcus, with no regard for his own safety, attempts to save his buddy but Carlos puts an abrupt end to that plan by blowing himself up with a grenade...sad times. Marcus had promised Carlos he’d take care of Dom but sometimes it seems that Dom is the one looking after Marcus.

The game play itself plays a big part in the relationship as the entire campaign is pretty much designed for co-op with each character trying to banish their personal demons. The fact that the players aren’t competitively ranked on their individual performances after each act compliments the co-operative element, as the emphasis is on experiencing the story as a part of a unit and not one-upmanship. The chemistry between the two is what makes the Gears of War franchise unique in the marketplace.

The couple have been through some hard times together, the most harrowing of which is Dom’s reunion with Maria. His emotional journey ends at this point in some ways. Marcus steps up to the plate and shatters Dom’s illusion as he holds Maria in his arms with one word “Dom...” The scene widens to depict the look of horror on Dom’s face as he realises the woman he loves is now no more than a husk. The cinematography is simply excellent as the scene vacillates between Dom trying to come to terms with the horror before him and Marcus’ own reaction. As he touches Dom’s shoulder to break the heartbroken pleading, Dom turns to his bro for help and the animation of the emotion on Marcus’ face; as it softens as he tells Dom that its ok is quite frankly genius. If that moment doesn’t convince you of the boundless love and purity to be found in a true bromance, then you’re a heartless robot. 

The dynamic of the relationship seems to have been irreparably changed after this incident. Looking at the trailers for Gear of War 3, we can see Dom is now sporting a full on grief beard. GamesRadar analyse the trailer in full in their article “things you may have missed in the gears of war 3”. Aforementioned analysis shows the full extent of Dom’s emotional scarring by highlighting his reaction (or lack thereof) at the moment the locust is about to paint the floor a new shade of grey...and the ashen figures of a woman and her child his eyes are drawn to, in what are potentially the last fleeting moments of his time on earth.

Marcus comes to the rescue but there is a noticeable tension between them. GamesRadar cites Marcus’ reaction as being “pissed off, both at the lack of discipline and the loss of his best friend”. As they point out, he doesn’t even help him up. It is in fact Anya Stroud that steps in and hands Dom his gun.

 

Whilst my two favourite protagonists have an ordeal ahead of them, there is no doubt in my mind that they are and will remain, brothers to the end.

Enter the World of Survival Horror

When most people think of survival horror, the Resident Evil franchise will almost undoubtedly spring to mind; like a licker pouncing through a police station window, but without the girlish screams. Indeed, it was Capcom that first coined the phrase in 1996 to market the release of Resident Evil. Whilst the iconic series has become synonymous with the genre, it was heavily influenced by its predecessors, such as Sweet Home and Alone in the Dark. But the very first and oft forgotten 3D survival horror game dates back to 1982 with 3D Monster Maze on the Sinclair ZX81; the first 3D game for a home computer.

 

The premise the game is built on forms the basic fundamentals of the survival horror genre. The player is dropped into a randomly generated maze, inside which a T. Rex is on the prowl. The beast is lying in wait somewhere in the maze and the objective is to escape. The T. Rex anxiety level communicates the monsters location in relation to the player in a menacing barrage of statements such as: REX LIES IN WAIT and HE IS HUNTING FOR YOU, progressing to the alarming FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING, the heart stopping REX HAS SEEN YOU and the terrifying RUN! HE IS BEHIND YOU. Not exactly underwear soiling by todays standards but nevertheless, all of the ingredients that make up a survival horror game are present, though in a very primitive form. 

Firstly we have our vulnerable protagonist, isolated in an environment which is essentially puzzle-orientated. Second, we have our monster, which the player must avoid whilst traversing the maze. A confrontation results in death or running away; albeit in a very manly fashion I’m sure. And there we have the bare bones of what constitutes a survival horror game. This has evolved over time; the player, whilst still underpowered, is given skills, weapons and items. Although the latter are always in limited supply and the player must manage their inventory to ensure their survival.

 Both Haunted House, released in 1981 on the Atari 2600 and Sweet Home released in 1989 for the NES incorporated all of these additional features. Sweet Home was related to a Japanese horror movie of the same name but was never released outside of Japan. The player controls a party of characters, each with their own unique abilities. The game is set in a haunted mansion and the player has a limited inventory of items to utilise as they try to escape. And have I mentioned the loading screen that depicts an image of a door opening? Sound familiar? Yes, we’ve all seen it before (or should that be after) in Resident Evil. Sweet Home was the inspiration for the Resident Evil series and as Capcom was the developer and publisher, it’s no surprise that they borrowed heavily from it. As a quick aside, one of the characters wields a camera that can be used to inflict damage on some enemies. Could this have been the conception of the idea for Temco’s Project Zero, quietly gestating for 12 years...well it’s no Duke Nukem so it probably wasn’t picked up instantaneously, waiting over a decade for its moment to shine but it certainly could’ve provided the inspiration! 

 Alone in the Dark, released in 1992, was the next milestone in terms of its contribution to the genre. In addition to the already established staples, Alone in the Dark used pre-rendered 2D backgrounds overlaid with 3D graphics to create tense cinematic camera angles, heavy with suspense.  Resident Evil 2 was the first survival horror game I played and the use of the horror movie style camera angles to reveal the first licker in the game was genius. I was terrified. The suspense of knowing that something was lying in wait that I couldn’t avoid was oddly overwhelming. Alone in the Dark also implemented the mechanic of storytelling through notes and books littered throughout the game, which is a feature now commonly seen today in the likes of Bioshock, Alan Wake and of course the Resident Evil franchise.

Konami’s Silent Hill released in 1999 revamped the survival horror genre by adopting a more psychological approach than its visceral predecessors. Temco’s Fatal Frame (Project Zero in Europe and Australia) released in 2001 and Sony’s Forbidden Siren released in 2003 followed suit, with a style that had more in common with Japanese horror films than the Western gore fest. 

However, the winds of change once more breathed a new lease of life into the survival horror formula with The Thing in 2002 and Doom 3 in 2004. Western Developers put more emphasis on action in these titles and the player was given an armoury with which to stave off the horrors that go bump in the night. 2005’s Resident Evil 4 confirmed the trend and the clunky controls and vulnerable protagonist that defined the genre became a thing of the past.

 

This begs the question as to whether survival horror can be classified as such anymore. Has the Western approach killed off all that made the genre what it was? Or have the games simply had to adapt to today’s audience in order to survive in the market? Whilst the clunky controls, limited inventory and cinematic camera angles had their uses, perhaps gamers today have become impatient and dissatisfied with what could be considered severely stunted game play; especially when compared to the more popular titles to be found on our shelves, such as Call of Duty, Bioshock and other more action orientated titles. 

With that in mind, we’re once again witnessing unique offerings to the genre in the form of Alan Wake and Dead Space.  Both titles incorporated action but it can’t be denied that both created tense, suspenseful atmospheres that got our hearts racing. It must be love! They both received great critical acclaim but experienced disappointing sales. However, I believe that titles like this are the future of survival horror. Game play has to be revolutionised in order to avoid becoming dated. Whilst Resident Evil has pretty much abandoned the genre in its entirety, we can at least be comforted by the fact that we can still have the bejesus scared out of us with newer titles.

 If however, you're yearning for a taste of the past, you may be interested to know that Atari’s Haunted House made its debut on XBLA this week. If on the other hand, you’re craving something new and refreshing, why not give Deadly Premonition a whirl. The game is a mixture of survival horror and detective story and was released in the first quarter of this year in North America and Japan and was released this week in Europe. Whilst not graphically magnificent, the story sounds intriguing and most definitely new! This has provoked mixed reviews, with IGN bestowing a lowly 2/10 and Eurogamer a slightly more lofty 7/10. 

With the death of traditional survival horror, the field is open to new interpretation and that’s certainly what we’re getting with Twin Peaks inspired, super natural Alan Wake, Sci-fi Dead Space and now detective gone crazy Deadly Premonition. It’s no surprise that the market is slow to embrace change but change is sorely needed.