Continuing to develop my understanding and research of interactivity in computer and video games, it became apparent I had missed a very important area of interactivity within many genres that I have not yet mentioned - puzzles. Puzzles have been a great feature in computer and video games both modern and old, in which interactivity takes many shapes and forms. To promote this research I have chosen Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009). As Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter and descendant of historical explorer Sir Francis Drake, the players goal is to uncover the path into Shambhala before Serbian war criminal Lazarevic in order to prevent him from reaching the 'Tree of life' and drinking from its waters of eternal life. Throughout game-play the player must solve puzzles in order to progress forward in the story.
During game-play, the player will eventually find their way to this temple in which they must manipulate the arms of a statue to progress. This highlights a unique feature of puzzle solving in which the player must use Drake's journal, full of historic findings and clues relevant to solving the puzzle at hand. I think this a great interactive feature because it makes the player use their head instead of just handing them answers. With the journal at hand, flicking the pages based on the players commands adds a realistic human touch to the experience, making the player feel more involved in what they are doing. Using both intuition and clues provided by Drake's journal, the player must navigate around the surrounding environment and when prompted, enter the necessary on-screen commands to interact and/or manipulate the statues arms in order to solve the puzzle.
This example is relevant to the develop a greater understanding of interactive features in computer and video games because it challenges me to think outside the norm and try to link realism to any interactive features that are implemented.
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