Genre Fusion

Interested gamers and press have nearly exhausted coverage on the power Xbox 360™ boasts; the evident advances we've instantly seen in presentation and graphics; and the feature advances for the console and Xbox Live®. Nearly as exciting, though, are forthcoming changes in game design, as further evolution of genres blends them together to create richly layered games independent of a single core mechanic.

Platform combat personified.

Expanded Genres
Game design is an ever-evolving art. Without change, it stagnates, and we’re forced to play uninspired drivel that strives to capture one blockbuster's "magic" while forgoing design that is appropriate to itself. We saw this with some GTA clones that would have served themselves better by drawing inspiration from that design feat instead of just trying to copy it.

That said, we also were lucky enough to see a new and more exciting design trend: "genre fusion." This fantastic concept is born from a natural evolution of game design, where technology allows multiple mechanics to live in harmony. Take Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time™ for example: a game that a few years ago would have been a platformer from top to bottom now features a deep and compelling combat system. Sure, platformers had combat before, but they consisted primarily of jumping on top of the enemy's head and proceeding to the next environmental puzzle. Now, with Sands of Time, tension fills the entire experience, as the moments between frantic platforming (itself stressful) are filled with combat that require thought and precision to complete.

Another game has an equal, if opposite, take on the matter. Ninja Gaiden® splices in natural platforming elements into what would have normally been a simple hack-and-slash affair. Sure, the older NES versions did the same, but times were simpler then, with side-scrolling 2-D graphics and rudimentary one-button combat.

Another fine example.

Platforming games aren't the only beneficiaries either. Vehicle combat in Halo®: Combat Evolved largely separated it from other first-person shooters. Likewise, the balance attained between player-controlled ground soldiers and player-controlled tanks, helicopters, and armored personnel carriers in Battlefield 2: Modern Combat™ is another testament to just what genre-fusion can attain.

Inter-Company Cross Pollination
Aside from technology, it's also worth noting that publishers that reach across all genres are using the fruit of their developers' labors to help boost gameplay and design opportunities for their other titles. Take Electronic Arts' James Bond 007™: Everything or Nothing, which gave us some of the best car-chase sequences because it used the Need for Speed™ engine.

Next-Gen Fusion
We can only expect this trend to continue to grow now that next-generation gaming has arrived. Xbox 360 features a striking example of an evolving genre in the form of Condemned: Criminal Origins™. No perspective had ever been so pigeonholed as first-person games, but now it's beginning to dawn on developers and gamers alike that you don't need to be a first-person shooter to be a first-person game.

Condemned : It's brilliant. Try it.

Properly done, no other genre can compete with the first-person perspective for sheer immersion, and what better setting for a game that applies horror and tension at every shuffling step? Nothing is scarier than when you experience it from your own perspective, and combat is no more brutal than when you get smacked by a lead pipe to the face in the first person.

I'm as excited about the next-generation hardware Xbox 360 boasts as the next hardcore gamer, and I'll sit in awe as I creep through the textured grit and blood in Condemned, the clean pure beauty of Project Gotham Racing® 3, and the sensory overload Call of Duty® 2 provides, but I'm just as thrilled by the game design changes that are headed our way as well.

Article by Ryan Treit