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Hey guys--
A few of you know that I've spent the last few weeks slaving away at a project that was very important to me. That project was a media essay I'd based around video games, specifically a comparison of Resistance: Fall of Man to Valkyria Chronicles. Anyway, I slaved away at this project, and came out pretty pleased with the results, and hoping you guys might like to read it too. So without further ado, here it is.
With specific reference to Valkyria Chronicles and Resistance: Fall of Man, examine how generic conventions can differ between Western and Japanese war games
The video game market is one that is constantly evolving. The success of products such as the Nintendo Wii and DS has meant that video games have a mainstream appeal now more than ever owing to their wider audience. Most developers for these games are situated both in Western territories and Japan. The three home games consoles on the market all feature games from these developers, and the Sony Playstation 3 provides the two texts used in this essay. Japans most recognisable genre of video games are Role Playing Games (RPGs), and when these are released in other territories, they are labelled specifically as Japanese RPGs, the most successful series in this genre being the Final Fantasy series (Square Enix). In the west, First Person Shooters (FPS) are the most popular type of game, with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007, Infinity Ward, Activision), a military shooter proving to be the most successful game of the past few years.
Cultural differences can mean that games developed by Western and Japanese teams are very different in terms of generic conventions. Valkyria Chronicles (2008, Sega WOW, Sega) and Resistance: Fall of Man (2006, Insomniac Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment) are two games with similar contexts in terms of narrative. Both have their own take on the WW2 era, Valkyria offering a complete reimagining of the period set in Europa, a fictional version of Europe, following Welkin Gunther as he fights the Imperial Army in a struggle to defend his country of Gallia. Resistance shows an alternate history where WW2 never took place, instead an alien virus known as the Chimera starts spawning in Russia and soon takes over Europe. The player assumes the role of Nathan Hale as he fights these Chimera to free England from their grasp. The Chimera here replace the position of the Nazis in real history, making the plot somewhat allegoric as they seize Europe in a way the Nazis wanted to, the first scene showing this as countries that are overtaken are swarmed by a sinister black to represent the evil outbreak.
Before the differences are discussed the success of each game in different territories should be considered. Valkyria sold 78,038 copies in its first week in Japan, and then 25,322 in the US, and only 6,980 in other territories. Currently, it has sold around 0.34 million copies worldwide, clearly most popular in Japan. This is because when you look at Valkyria and see its anime art style that is directly associated with Japan, its clear to see that the primary target audience is a Japanese one, which can be seen in the games art style which matches traditional Japanese anime and manga. Resistance saw 14,955 copies sold in Japan on the first week, 42,483 copies in the US, and 184,820 in other territories, with 3.51 million copies sold worldwide. Again, the game is more popular where it was developed, in the US due to the game appealing to American and European audiences more with its promise of immediate action and context.
The most striking difference about the two games when first looked at is their visual styles, which can affect the generic conventions. Generic conventions are the expected and assumed characteristics and iconography of a genre, such as explosions in an action film. Resistance shows realistic graphics that try to be as life like as possible, while Valkyria uses a CANVAS graphics engine which makes the game look like a watercolour painting in motion. This tells the audience straight away what theyre in for, Resistance giving a grim and gritty picture that tries to portray real life, Valkyria showing a happier, lighter image that gives it an animated and friendlier look. This can be reflected in the games certificate ratings from PEGI, the European games certification board. Resistance was rated an 18+ because of its violence, while Valkyria has a 16+ rating. Valkyria has no blood or swearing throughout the game, but does feature shooting and killing other people, so is still rated with a high certificate.
The ratings of these games ties into the sales too because violence can attract audiences. Video games are however often a much discussed moral panic in the media due to the nature of games encouraging players to be violent and ruthless. The actions players perform arent even for the greater good in a lot of cases, such as the much discussed and controversial Grand Theft Auto series (Rockstar Studios), where the aim of the game is to work your way through the crime world, earning money from killing people and escaping the police. Resistance itself was once a topic for this debate, when the Church of England threatened to sue Sony for using Manchester Cathedral in one level of the game (2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6736809.stm) The church wanted the game to be taken out of shops or edited to remove the level, but dropped the case after Sony paid a contribution to the church, and agreed to get involved in policies against gun crime.
This panic was fuelled by the media, BBC news using the subheading The Church is considering action against Sony for featuring Manchester Cathedral in a violent video game. This is obviously opting to state the game as violent instead of calling the game by its name. Dean of Manchester Cathedral, Rogers Govener stated We are shocked to see a place of learning, prayer and heritage being presented to the youth market as a location where guns can be fired. This is a comment that almost directly defines this moral panic as it the negative view of video games as, glamorising guns to children.
One of the main concerns of panics such as this is a copy cat theory (date) being taken on board. The most concerning panic was raised with Manhunt (2003, Rockstar Games) when parents of Steefan Pakeerah, who was murdered by Warren LeBlanc claimed that the video game was to blame.
In contrast, Valkyria has never fuelled a moral panic, and in fact addressed such issues in the game. For example, after the first level where a group of enemy scouts are defeated, one character, Alicia makes sure the men are properly buried and states that she wants to remember the war wasnt just about killing.
In terms of narrative, Valkyria Chronicles seems to stick closer to classic conventions, due to the less realistic story that encompasses more characters and tells the whole story in just one game. Both games follow a linear narrative, but the narratives are presented in separate ways, with the same intentions. Both try to give the feeling of learning about the history the events are situated in. For Resistance this means that the story narrated in the past tense by Captain Rachel Parker, and a lot of the cut scenes use battered black and white photos to make the events seem long ago. This technique reinforces the idea of realism in the game, as if the events have really happened. For Valkyria, the player follows the story as if reading a history book entitled On the Gallian Front by Irene Koller. The story progresses through chapters consisting of films and game play that make it feel like the player is being taught the history of the war, using a combination of both cut-scenes and text from the book. Using the book helps the player keep separated from both this history and real life, helping to cut off the sense of realism more as youre not always engulfed in the past. After every film or level, the player returns to the book, giving an almost drip drip effect (1927 Lasswell) of the player constantly being reminded this is history. Both games give the feeling of a history lesson as such, but both are presented in their own unique styles.
Interestingly, the approach to the story in the original Resistance was not received well. A review on www.playstationlifestyle.net from user Zankantou states The storytelling perspective greatly disappointed me I felt quite detached from the person I was controlling thoughts were never emotionally hampered his character development. It was reviews like this that drove Insomniac to use a more traditional style of story telling in Resistance 2 (2008, Insomniac Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment).
These styles of storytelling can be tied into the Uses and Gratifications theory (1974 Blulmer and Katz). Both texts are for entertainment purposes and their supernatural elements and settings mean that they offer escapism more than anything else. This is something all video games offer, cutting the audience off from everyday problems and routine. Valkyria does feature other aspects of this theory also. With its wider concerns and values, addressing issues such as racism, the game can also be linked with aspects of personal identity, players having their views reflected in some of the characters. Additionally one could argue that despite the obvious use of escapism for the audience, and the fictional elements of both stories, the way both games seemingly teach the player about history could be a form of surveillance. Surveillance can be defined as Information that could be useful for living, and while neither game offers much realism, they are still being presented the story more as information than the fiction that it really is.
By adopting these styles of presentation, the games start off after the disruption of the equilibrium (Todorov 1977), when war has broken out. Where the games differ here is that Valkyria restores its equilibrium by the end with the war coming to a close, while Resistance takes a different approach, by defeating the Chimera in England, but leaving the player with the knowledge that they are still in Europe, and that Nathan Hale has been taken hold of by an unidentified group of soldiers, ending on more of an enigma (Barthes 1963) than anything else. The story of Resistance is continued in its sequel Resistance 2, but still not concluded, making both games in the series more of a subverted text than having a Todorovian structure. This shows for one thing that certain aspects of these games differ as Valkyria was designed for just the one game, while Resistance was made with a franchise in mind.
When it comes to Propps character types (1928) and functions, and overall character representations the games also differ a great deal. When thinking about soldiers and battles in real wars, certain stereotypes apply. We imagine a lot of angry, demanding characters that are constantly shouting and swearing, barking orders as bullets whizz past their heads, much like in the opening scene of war films like Saving Private Ryan (1998, Stephen Spielberg). These stereotypes can be as evident as games as much as they are in films which playing real WW2 games such as Call of Duty: World at War (2008, Treyarch, Activision) will show. The American soldiers in the games are much like that of Stephen Spielbergs war drama, angry as one soldier proclaims Were going to tear this place to shreds! in the first level, and scared as they see threats etc, which at the same time is meant to shock audiences. It is a very typical representation of soldiers in these wars. Some aspects of more traditional war texts like these are kept though, like the binary oppositions (Strauss, 1949) of life against death, war and peace, and most importantly, your side against theirs.
Figure 1
Both texts have their heroes, Nathan and Welkin. Nathan can be seen as a somewhat stereotypical character of this genre. This is perhaps where the two games differ most. Resistance sticks to these stereotypes for the most part. The soldiers around you act much like the audience would expect them to, but there are three main characters in the game where representation is important to consider, with; Nathan Hale, Lieutenant Cartwright, and Captain Parker. Hale, for a main character, does not meet some of the stereotypes one would perhaps assume of him. He actually says very little throughout the game, only having one or two lines of dialogue. He does however fulfil other stereotypes assumed of his character, as seen with (Fig 1). There are certain appearance and personality expectations in these roles that make him appear as more of a masculine action hero. His head is shaved for example, which can connote a tough feeling towards the character and can be linked to the audiences assumption of skin heads being thugs. This is fuelled in the NVC of the shot, with the expression on his face that shows a rough, angry Hale, and his stiff, alert form showing him ready for action. He wears a standard green army uniform and holds his gun close towards him, making it an important part of the frame. In this medium-close shot, the pose hes striking points the gun toward the screen which gives the feeling of immediate danger surrounding him, and the low camera angle makes him look dangerous and powerful, ready to fight whats to come. The low key lighting that dimly brightens only a small section of Hales head adds further to a dark and almost sinister feel to the character.
Figure 2
Welkin in Valkyria however, contrasts this look quite dramatically (Fig 2). Here is a character that takes a less masculine and more feminised approach. The shot is similar to the one of Hale, but there are clear differences between the two. Firstly is Welkins hair, which instead of being military style shaved, is actually quite long and ruffled, giving him a more casual and feminine look as opposed to Hales tough one. His uniform does not match the standard green, and instead uses blues, reds, whites and blacks to create a more unique and colourful uniform to set it in place with the games water colour look. To go with this, the lighting is a higher key than the picture showing Hale, showing the less realistic and gritty style. He also strikes an action pose similar to Hale, but doesnt hold a gun, making him appear as less of a threat than Resistances main character.
The focus on action should mean that both texts have the Proppian villain to overcome, but the villain to contrast these characters is only seen in Valkyria, in the form of the Imperial Leader, Maxamillian. The villain in Resistance is the Chimeran threat, more of the race as a whole, than signing the role to one specific character. There are types of chimera that are more dangerous which serves as boss fights, but no one type of the race ever stands out to be recognized as the villain over the others. Interestingly, in Resistance 2, the game establishes a villain called Daledrus, but he is not present in the first game.
With the focus on war, and a soldiers struggle through that war, Resistance also doesnt employ characters such as the princess and her father, with only one woman in the game and no romantic plot between the two. This is because a romantic plot is not something target audiences will want out of a FPS, and wont sell a game. The helper comes in the form of Lieutenant Stephen Cartwright, a British soldier that helps Nathan through some levels, but other character types cannot be seen in the game. Valkyria provides all types, and in most cases with more than one role. Welkins mother and sister for example, entrust him with his Fathers old tank used during the first war, making them the donors, and there are many characters that aid Welkin in his quest in the form of other soldiers in his squad, most notably Alicia Melichott, Largo Potter, and Brigitte Rosie Stark. Welkin falls in love with Alicia, making her the princess, and the character Eleanor Varrot is the dispatcher that assigns missions to Welkins squad. These wider roles offer audiences a range of perspectives that reinforce the Uses and Gratifications aspects discussed earlier.
Figure 3
Figure 4
So with the genre of both of these video games firmly centred on war, there are specific similarities they share. For example, they both use the same techniques for signifying genre. The box art for both games picture battlefields and military uniforms that display the war genre, Resistance (Fig 3) showing the skull of a chimera, and Valkyria (Fig 4) showing Welkin giving demands and fellow soldier Alicia sitting on the tank, armed with a rifle, one of the main villains in the game, Selvaria is shown at the top of the box. The battlefield in the background features a tank and explosions, which tell the audience what to expect from the game.
While both covers use similar genre signifiers, there are differences within the mise-en-scene of the two. In terms of production design, they are largely similar and both use nautral lighting, but when it comes to colour, Valkyria reflects its water colour style using colour coding with brighter, more varied colours than Resistance. Blues, red and whites can be seen on the uniforms of the characters, and the battlefield is orange with fire, which can connote the intensity of war, and grey with smoke. Again, Resistance reflects its content, using only grey on the cover to reflect the grim, dry outcome of the battle and show people that they are in for a gritty war game.
There are no characters to be seen in the cover for Resistance, but the two main characters in Valkyria both communicate a lot through their NVC. Welkins expression shows he his shouting, and with his arm outstretched and the other holding onto his headphones, it looks like he is ordering soldiers around, caught up in the heat of battle. Alicia is sitting up right, rifle in hands and ready to fire, her face showing a look of concern. These positions are used to reflect the games action and its intensity. In terms of proxemics, Welkin and Alicia are positioned next to each other to show that they are on the same side, and displaying women being equal to men in this war, while Selvaria sits above them, showing a contrast and hinting that she is the enemy. She is also larger than Welkin and Alicia, giving her an overpowering sense, and her red eyes connote the threat that she poses in the game.
A few of you know that I've spent the last few weeks slaving away at a project that was very important to me. That project was a media essay I'd based around video games, specifically a comparison of Resistance: Fall of Man to Valkyria Chronicles. Anyway, I slaved away at this project, and came out pretty pleased with the results, and hoping you guys might like to read it too. So without further ado, here it is.
With specific reference to Valkyria Chronicles and Resistance: Fall of Man, examine how generic conventions can differ between Western and Japanese war games
The video game market is one that is constantly evolving. The success of products such as the Nintendo Wii and DS has meant that video games have a mainstream appeal now more than ever owing to their wider audience. Most developers for these games are situated both in Western territories and Japan. The three home games consoles on the market all feature games from these developers, and the Sony Playstation 3 provides the two texts used in this essay. Japans most recognisable genre of video games are Role Playing Games (RPGs), and when these are released in other territories, they are labelled specifically as Japanese RPGs, the most successful series in this genre being the Final Fantasy series (Square Enix). In the west, First Person Shooters (FPS) are the most popular type of game, with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007, Infinity Ward, Activision), a military shooter proving to be the most successful game of the past few years.
Cultural differences can mean that games developed by Western and Japanese teams are very different in terms of generic conventions. Valkyria Chronicles (2008, Sega WOW, Sega) and Resistance: Fall of Man (2006, Insomniac Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment) are two games with similar contexts in terms of narrative. Both have their own take on the WW2 era, Valkyria offering a complete reimagining of the period set in Europa, a fictional version of Europe, following Welkin Gunther as he fights the Imperial Army in a struggle to defend his country of Gallia. Resistance shows an alternate history where WW2 never took place, instead an alien virus known as the Chimera starts spawning in Russia and soon takes over Europe. The player assumes the role of Nathan Hale as he fights these Chimera to free England from their grasp. The Chimera here replace the position of the Nazis in real history, making the plot somewhat allegoric as they seize Europe in a way the Nazis wanted to, the first scene showing this as countries that are overtaken are swarmed by a sinister black to represent the evil outbreak.
Before the differences are discussed the success of each game in different territories should be considered. Valkyria sold 78,038 copies in its first week in Japan, and then 25,322 in the US, and only 6,980 in other territories. Currently, it has sold around 0.34 million copies worldwide, clearly most popular in Japan. This is because when you look at Valkyria and see its anime art style that is directly associated with Japan, its clear to see that the primary target audience is a Japanese one, which can be seen in the games art style which matches traditional Japanese anime and manga. Resistance saw 14,955 copies sold in Japan on the first week, 42,483 copies in the US, and 184,820 in other territories, with 3.51 million copies sold worldwide. Again, the game is more popular where it was developed, in the US due to the game appealing to American and European audiences more with its promise of immediate action and context.
The most striking difference about the two games when first looked at is their visual styles, which can affect the generic conventions. Generic conventions are the expected and assumed characteristics and iconography of a genre, such as explosions in an action film. Resistance shows realistic graphics that try to be as life like as possible, while Valkyria uses a CANVAS graphics engine which makes the game look like a watercolour painting in motion. This tells the audience straight away what theyre in for, Resistance giving a grim and gritty picture that tries to portray real life, Valkyria showing a happier, lighter image that gives it an animated and friendlier look. This can be reflected in the games certificate ratings from PEGI, the European games certification board. Resistance was rated an 18+ because of its violence, while Valkyria has a 16+ rating. Valkyria has no blood or swearing throughout the game, but does feature shooting and killing other people, so is still rated with a high certificate.
The ratings of these games ties into the sales too because violence can attract audiences. Video games are however often a much discussed moral panic in the media due to the nature of games encouraging players to be violent and ruthless. The actions players perform arent even for the greater good in a lot of cases, such as the much discussed and controversial Grand Theft Auto series (Rockstar Studios), where the aim of the game is to work your way through the crime world, earning money from killing people and escaping the police. Resistance itself was once a topic for this debate, when the Church of England threatened to sue Sony for using Manchester Cathedral in one level of the game (2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6736809.stm) The church wanted the game to be taken out of shops or edited to remove the level, but dropped the case after Sony paid a contribution to the church, and agreed to get involved in policies against gun crime.
This panic was fuelled by the media, BBC news using the subheading The Church is considering action against Sony for featuring Manchester Cathedral in a violent video game. This is obviously opting to state the game as violent instead of calling the game by its name. Dean of Manchester Cathedral, Rogers Govener stated We are shocked to see a place of learning, prayer and heritage being presented to the youth market as a location where guns can be fired. This is a comment that almost directly defines this moral panic as it the negative view of video games as, glamorising guns to children.
One of the main concerns of panics such as this is a copy cat theory (date) being taken on board. The most concerning panic was raised with Manhunt (2003, Rockstar Games) when parents of Steefan Pakeerah, who was murdered by Warren LeBlanc claimed that the video game was to blame.
In contrast, Valkyria has never fuelled a moral panic, and in fact addressed such issues in the game. For example, after the first level where a group of enemy scouts are defeated, one character, Alicia makes sure the men are properly buried and states that she wants to remember the war wasnt just about killing.
In terms of narrative, Valkyria Chronicles seems to stick closer to classic conventions, due to the less realistic story that encompasses more characters and tells the whole story in just one game. Both games follow a linear narrative, but the narratives are presented in separate ways, with the same intentions. Both try to give the feeling of learning about the history the events are situated in. For Resistance this means that the story narrated in the past tense by Captain Rachel Parker, and a lot of the cut scenes use battered black and white photos to make the events seem long ago. This technique reinforces the idea of realism in the game, as if the events have really happened. For Valkyria, the player follows the story as if reading a history book entitled On the Gallian Front by Irene Koller. The story progresses through chapters consisting of films and game play that make it feel like the player is being taught the history of the war, using a combination of both cut-scenes and text from the book. Using the book helps the player keep separated from both this history and real life, helping to cut off the sense of realism more as youre not always engulfed in the past. After every film or level, the player returns to the book, giving an almost drip drip effect (1927 Lasswell) of the player constantly being reminded this is history. Both games give the feeling of a history lesson as such, but both are presented in their own unique styles.
Interestingly, the approach to the story in the original Resistance was not received well. A review on www.playstationlifestyle.net from user Zankantou states The storytelling perspective greatly disappointed me I felt quite detached from the person I was controlling thoughts were never emotionally hampered his character development. It was reviews like this that drove Insomniac to use a more traditional style of story telling in Resistance 2 (2008, Insomniac Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment).
These styles of storytelling can be tied into the Uses and Gratifications theory (1974 Blulmer and Katz). Both texts are for entertainment purposes and their supernatural elements and settings mean that they offer escapism more than anything else. This is something all video games offer, cutting the audience off from everyday problems and routine. Valkyria does feature other aspects of this theory also. With its wider concerns and values, addressing issues such as racism, the game can also be linked with aspects of personal identity, players having their views reflected in some of the characters. Additionally one could argue that despite the obvious use of escapism for the audience, and the fictional elements of both stories, the way both games seemingly teach the player about history could be a form of surveillance. Surveillance can be defined as Information that could be useful for living, and while neither game offers much realism, they are still being presented the story more as information than the fiction that it really is.
By adopting these styles of presentation, the games start off after the disruption of the equilibrium (Todorov 1977), when war has broken out. Where the games differ here is that Valkyria restores its equilibrium by the end with the war coming to a close, while Resistance takes a different approach, by defeating the Chimera in England, but leaving the player with the knowledge that they are still in Europe, and that Nathan Hale has been taken hold of by an unidentified group of soldiers, ending on more of an enigma (Barthes 1963) than anything else. The story of Resistance is continued in its sequel Resistance 2, but still not concluded, making both games in the series more of a subverted text than having a Todorovian structure. This shows for one thing that certain aspects of these games differ as Valkyria was designed for just the one game, while Resistance was made with a franchise in mind.
When it comes to Propps character types (1928) and functions, and overall character representations the games also differ a great deal. When thinking about soldiers and battles in real wars, certain stereotypes apply. We imagine a lot of angry, demanding characters that are constantly shouting and swearing, barking orders as bullets whizz past their heads, much like in the opening scene of war films like Saving Private Ryan (1998, Stephen Spielberg). These stereotypes can be as evident as games as much as they are in films which playing real WW2 games such as Call of Duty: World at War (2008, Treyarch, Activision) will show. The American soldiers in the games are much like that of Stephen Spielbergs war drama, angry as one soldier proclaims Were going to tear this place to shreds! in the first level, and scared as they see threats etc, which at the same time is meant to shock audiences. It is a very typical representation of soldiers in these wars. Some aspects of more traditional war texts like these are kept though, like the binary oppositions (Strauss, 1949) of life against death, war and peace, and most importantly, your side against theirs.
Figure 1
Both texts have their heroes, Nathan and Welkin. Nathan can be seen as a somewhat stereotypical character of this genre. This is perhaps where the two games differ most. Resistance sticks to these stereotypes for the most part. The soldiers around you act much like the audience would expect them to, but there are three main characters in the game where representation is important to consider, with; Nathan Hale, Lieutenant Cartwright, and Captain Parker. Hale, for a main character, does not meet some of the stereotypes one would perhaps assume of him. He actually says very little throughout the game, only having one or two lines of dialogue. He does however fulfil other stereotypes assumed of his character, as seen with (Fig 1). There are certain appearance and personality expectations in these roles that make him appear as more of a masculine action hero. His head is shaved for example, which can connote a tough feeling towards the character and can be linked to the audiences assumption of skin heads being thugs. This is fuelled in the NVC of the shot, with the expression on his face that shows a rough, angry Hale, and his stiff, alert form showing him ready for action. He wears a standard green army uniform and holds his gun close towards him, making it an important part of the frame. In this medium-close shot, the pose hes striking points the gun toward the screen which gives the feeling of immediate danger surrounding him, and the low camera angle makes him look dangerous and powerful, ready to fight whats to come. The low key lighting that dimly brightens only a small section of Hales head adds further to a dark and almost sinister feel to the character.
Figure 2
Welkin in Valkyria however, contrasts this look quite dramatically (Fig 2). Here is a character that takes a less masculine and more feminised approach. The shot is similar to the one of Hale, but there are clear differences between the two. Firstly is Welkins hair, which instead of being military style shaved, is actually quite long and ruffled, giving him a more casual and feminine look as opposed to Hales tough one. His uniform does not match the standard green, and instead uses blues, reds, whites and blacks to create a more unique and colourful uniform to set it in place with the games water colour look. To go with this, the lighting is a higher key than the picture showing Hale, showing the less realistic and gritty style. He also strikes an action pose similar to Hale, but doesnt hold a gun, making him appear as less of a threat than Resistances main character.
The focus on action should mean that both texts have the Proppian villain to overcome, but the villain to contrast these characters is only seen in Valkyria, in the form of the Imperial Leader, Maxamillian. The villain in Resistance is the Chimeran threat, more of the race as a whole, than signing the role to one specific character. There are types of chimera that are more dangerous which serves as boss fights, but no one type of the race ever stands out to be recognized as the villain over the others. Interestingly, in Resistance 2, the game establishes a villain called Daledrus, but he is not present in the first game.
With the focus on war, and a soldiers struggle through that war, Resistance also doesnt employ characters such as the princess and her father, with only one woman in the game and no romantic plot between the two. This is because a romantic plot is not something target audiences will want out of a FPS, and wont sell a game. The helper comes in the form of Lieutenant Stephen Cartwright, a British soldier that helps Nathan through some levels, but other character types cannot be seen in the game. Valkyria provides all types, and in most cases with more than one role. Welkins mother and sister for example, entrust him with his Fathers old tank used during the first war, making them the donors, and there are many characters that aid Welkin in his quest in the form of other soldiers in his squad, most notably Alicia Melichott, Largo Potter, and Brigitte Rosie Stark. Welkin falls in love with Alicia, making her the princess, and the character Eleanor Varrot is the dispatcher that assigns missions to Welkins squad. These wider roles offer audiences a range of perspectives that reinforce the Uses and Gratifications aspects discussed earlier.
Figure 3
Figure 4
So with the genre of both of these video games firmly centred on war, there are specific similarities they share. For example, they both use the same techniques for signifying genre. The box art for both games picture battlefields and military uniforms that display the war genre, Resistance (Fig 3) showing the skull of a chimera, and Valkyria (Fig 4) showing Welkin giving demands and fellow soldier Alicia sitting on the tank, armed with a rifle, one of the main villains in the game, Selvaria is shown at the top of the box. The battlefield in the background features a tank and explosions, which tell the audience what to expect from the game.
While both covers use similar genre signifiers, there are differences within the mise-en-scene of the two. In terms of production design, they are largely similar and both use nautral lighting, but when it comes to colour, Valkyria reflects its water colour style using colour coding with brighter, more varied colours than Resistance. Blues, red and whites can be seen on the uniforms of the characters, and the battlefield is orange with fire, which can connote the intensity of war, and grey with smoke. Again, Resistance reflects its content, using only grey on the cover to reflect the grim, dry outcome of the battle and show people that they are in for a gritty war game.
There are no characters to be seen in the cover for Resistance, but the two main characters in Valkyria both communicate a lot through their NVC. Welkins expression shows he his shouting, and with his arm outstretched and the other holding onto his headphones, it looks like he is ordering soldiers around, caught up in the heat of battle. Alicia is sitting up right, rifle in hands and ready to fire, her face showing a look of concern. These positions are used to reflect the games action and its intensity. In terms of proxemics, Welkin and Alicia are positioned next to each other to show that they are on the same side, and displaying women being equal to men in this war, while Selvaria sits above them, showing a contrast and hinting that she is the enemy. She is also larger than Welkin and Alicia, giving her an overpowering sense, and her red eyes connote the threat that she poses in the game.