Narrative, FMV and Cutscenes

A Narrative in a video game usually in video format, tell us the story line of the game. Normally found at the start of the game campaign but also can be embedded throughout the campaign. Video game designers use narrative in video games to interest and engage the gamer, as games with story lines that have no thought behind may bore the gamer and not carry on further within the game. An advantage of using narratives within game, give the game a more in-depth look on the game, making it more interesting. Although weaknesses of this is that some narratives within the game take up gaming time which can be a burden on some people as they may have a restricted playing time, or just really eager to go on to the next part of the game. A video game that has a really interesting story line is The Last of Us: Remastered.

A Full-Motion Video (FMV) is a video footage within a game that supplies you with information, usually during or after a mission has been completed. They are usually triggered when a certain objective or action has been made, so they can help you advance further within the game. Some video games use interactive FMV, which requires the gamer to make certain decisions during the cut scene, more modern games use a more detailed animation to enhance the games visual style of the game. An advantage is that it looks really impressive compared to a normal cut scene found within a game a game as they may last for a few seconds, whereas the FMV is a more detailed short video which may last for a few minutes. A weakness is that it may cost quite a bit of time and money for the developers to create as a lot of in-depth detail is required. Also the fact that it may take a few minutes until the game is loaded may also deter the gamers involvement in the game, although developers has combat this by allowing the gamer to skip the FMV if a certain button is pressed.

A Cutscene are non-interactive sequence(s) used by many games to show that advancement of the plot. They are usually found at the beginning of a mission or halfway through the storyline to give a twist and introduce new elements in the game whilst the protagonist is idle. Developers have done this to give depth in the game and making it more interactive even though the character is non-playable for a short while. The use of cut scenes also gives the game a smoother transition giving it a more professional look, although it can be annoying for some users as it limits certain aspects of the game such as a special move may be triggered and can’t be undone until the action is done which can make the user exposed to enemy attacks a good example is Street Fighter where you may trigger a special move that includes a small cut scene within it but the enemy has blocked the move and can go in for an attack as you are left exposed.