IT'S A SMALL WORLD 25/9/98

IT'S A SMALL WORLD - by Paul Rose 25/9/98

It's a funny thing, but the global games design community is spread across a mere four countries: Japan, America, France and the UK. Admittedly, there are developers working in places as diverse as Germany, Australia and Poland, but the bulk of the world's development studios are confined within the aforementioned quartet.

We don't know why this should be: perhaps other countries are just plain stupid. The funny thing is the games developed by these countries are usually rather different to one another and a keen-eyed gaming expert can instantly make the distinction between a French game and a Japanese game. Here we present four games typical of the countries they were developed in.

FRANCE: HEART OF DARKNESS (PC, PlayStation)
Typically, French games have an epic storyline - there's no random alien-killing for le pompt du grande gamer - with a cohesive narrative. The French like their side-on platformers, especially when those platformers feature gloriously motion-captured, or rotoscoped characters. The French also enjoy a good adventure game. In Heart Of Darkness - five years in the making - you get all of this.

USA: UNREAL (PC)
The Americans have always put visual excess over depth of gameplay - just look what happened when development of the Sonic The Hedgehog series switched from Japan to the US. Unreal is undoubtably one of the most graphically stunning games ever seen, but the gameplay is little more than a straightforward extrapolation of other first-person shoot-'em-ups. The few gameplay innovations we do get seem more an excuse to showcase the graphics engine. Admittedly, it's completely playable, but ultimately a trifle shallow.

JAPAN: SUPER MARIO 64 (Nintendo 64)
Japanese developers place innovation in gameplay above anything else. The 3D graphics in Mario 64 aren't particularly flashy, and there's more a sense that we're only in 3D due to the new gameplay opportunities it offers. The complete opposite of most American games, when something happens visually which makes your jaw drop it's probably only occurred because you just pulled off an amazing move.

UK: BLAST CORPS (Nintendo 64)
UK games developers are the solid all-rounders and refuse to bow down to convention. Solid, innovative gameplay and great graphics go hand in hand to ensure a satisfying experience every time. Blast Corps is typical of this: the game's concept is new, it plays perfectly, and the graphics are spot on. We're so great.

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