Time to Visit Yokosuka - Game Invaders: The Theory and Understanding of Computer Games - page 123

often the time of day, for instance. We are switched into and out of the movie genre
as we are the other genres that make up the game.
It is not surprising given the mix of activities in its profi le and the importance
of the switching in and out of the movie genre that Shenmue has a twitch factor of
0.8, which means its gameplay is quite measured even though the player is switched
into very twitchy fi ght modes from time to time.
So Shenmue is an action adventure- beat - ' em - up - driver -RPG- movie ; that ' s
pretty clear, isn't it? In fact, that is pretty clear. Shenmue combines a whole set of
traditional, game-based activities in a classic quest using genre-switching. That
makes for a very interesting package.
AESTHETICS
In Shenmue we, the player, direct the principal protagonist, Ryo Hazuki, in his
endeavors to fi nd his father's murderers. Shenmue is a vast, interactive 3D virtual
environment within which we have to search out clues that help Ryo in his amateur
detective work. Aesthetically it is a very rich environment indeed so we will have
much to discuss. There are also going to be some surprises; there have already been
two: genre switching and movie watching.
First, of course, we consider agency and in particular intentions and perceivable
consequences. We already noted in the section on genre that Shenmue employs genre
switching which means that the nature of agency will depend on the genre or mode
we are currently switched to. Our inclusion of the movie genre is also going to be
substantiated as we study agency in Shenmue.
Imagine for a moment that we are in the main adventure genre, which offers us
exploring, examining and purchasing inanimate objects, interacting with active
objects such as doors, talking to people, and training. In the latter we practice moves
for the times we are switched to beat -' em - up . The majority of agency in Shenmue
is concerned with the fi rst four. Despite the slight differences in their means of
interaction, these four share a very interesting characteristic; they all reward our
exercising agency with a prescripted action sequence (PSAS) which effectively,
temporarily, removes the user's ability to exercise agency.
For instance, in the basic act of opening a door we have the following sequence
of events:
1. We perceive an attractor , the door, within the fi eld of view,
2. We form an intention to fi nd out what is behind the door,
3. As we come within close proximity to the door the icon representing the red
A button on the controller appears close to or over the door,
4. We press the actual red A button on the hand controller,
5. The game engine instigates a PSAS of Ryo positioning himself in front of
the door, turning the door handle and opening the door, walking through the
door, and then closing it behind him— the perceivable consequence ,