Do gamers misunderstand the action adventure genre?

According to the all knowing Wikipedia, the action adventure genre is defined as:

An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements from anaction gameand anadventure game,^[1]especially crucial elements like puzzles.^[2]Action-adventures require many of the same physical skills as action games, but also offer a storyline, numerous characters, an inventory system, dialogue, and other features of adventure games.^[3]They are faster-paced than pure adventure games, because they include both physical and conceptual challenges.^[3]Action-adventure games normally include a combination of complex story elements, which are displayed for players using audio and video. The story is heavily reliant upon theplayer character's movement, which triggers story events and thus affects the flow of the game.^[4]Some examples of action-adventure games includeThe Legend of Zelda,God of War,^[3]andTomb Raiderseries.^[5]

Games like God of War and Uncharted fall under this genre. Critics of these games label them as “movie games”, but in reality, they’re action adventure games. Having a story with dialogue and developed characters is part of the genre. You’re meant to have a mix of experiences; story, puzzle, combat. Another analogy would be horror games. People buy horror games because they want spookiness, atmosphere, scares, and other elements of that genre. Same concept follows with other mediums like movies and music. Each have their own genre that people have preferences for.

So what do you think, SW? Are gamers misunderstanding the action adventure genre?

lol :P

What? 😐

Playstation 2 style God of War games and Zelda games are my go-to games when someone tells me to think of action-adventure games.

Uncharted 4 plays nothing like those. It's a character driven story game.

Uncharted 4 has something like one puzzle in the 12 hours I've played.

Of course they get added to other genres when movie game isn't an official genre. They have to be categorized as something. I just don't like movie games, I am sorry.

Movie games don't even allow the player to go on an adventure really, they just tell a story, in a very linear way and try to take control away from the player as much as possible.

Damn dude, you did it to me again. I added something to my post and you responded before I could update my edit. You did this yesterday too. LOL

If people want to know what an action-adventure game actually looks like, just look at the one in your sig. Games like Okami are action-adventure, not filthy movie games.

You can only go by official definitions as much as you can but when games start putting in so many different things in them they have resulted in hybrids. It can be the case where you will have different genres mixed in, like horror and puzzles (Resident Evil), horror and shooter (F.E.A.R.), RPG and FPS (Fallout 3, 4, NV), etc.

But the movie game title is unfortunately something that kinda makes sense. As much as I like the Uncharted games, if the game is forcing me to constantly walk and talk, have many hours of cutscenes, and not as much gameplay being prioritized, I'm sorry but "movie game" is a deserved title. I want to play my games. Cutscenes are fine, but keep them concise. And get rid of the walking and talking. I do not like being forced down to a slow crawl just so the game can tell me even more exposition or whatnot that it decided to leave out of the previous cutscene.

The latest GoW Ragnarok is especially egregious with the walking and talking and cutscenes and so yes, it will get the "movie game" title from me. I got so bored and frustrated being taken out of the actual gameplay that I wasn't even having fun anymore. I was watching a game.

But honestly, more to the point, action adventure games can also be movie games as I would classify the new God of War games, The Last of Us series, and the Uncharted series as both (at the very least Uncharted 4). That doesn't mean that all action adventure games are this way (thank God). It just seems to be more and more the popular trend lately for this genre to really hammer these elements in and result in more movie games, especially from Sony it seems.

Ahaha, I'm driving you insane :p

God of War on the PS2 was a poor hack and slash game (compared to Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry which STILL hold up today).

But Zelda is action adventure. In my opinion OoT did a wonderful job of telling the story through more emotional means of visual and audio without being in your face. And it was charming for it.

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The way Sony does this is new and others are trying to copy it. If you stop a game to shove video clips down peoples throats or the gameplay is slowed down so you feel like you're moving between set pieces, you are watching your character walk about about... Well that's a movie game and it sucks for traditional gamers.

The Last of Us, God of War, Senua's Sacrifice, Jedi Fallen Order, Quantum Break. All start with slow ass walking and cutscenes which go on for half and hour, and the feeling of moving between set pieces. Bloody tragic abominations.

I have no idea how these games do well on the PC. They must feel like tech demos to the PC gamer. PC games used to be about huge depth and an exhaustive amounts of gameplay. These are the most console centric games ever.

I've tried, I have really tried, I don't have the patience for these games. For me, when I play a new game, you got about half an hour to get my attention and it has to be by gameplay. I don't want to "watch" a game. It's an oxymoron to me.

A lot of video game terms are wishy-washy.

They are movie games market as action adventure games.

old school GOW fans reject it because old GOW were hack n slash games while newer ones are movie games.

I told you which third person action/adventure are not movie games

Batman Arkham, Marvels Spiderman, Hitman series, Max Payne, Splinter cell series, Assassins creed series (bad but not movie games), Resident evil, etc.

while uncharted, last of us, plague tale, God of war, are slow walking simualtor with occassional gameplay. they are incredibly scripted, avoid of any depth. "but but but they are so emotional. I almost Criad at end""!!! LOL!!

Tomb raider and plague tale are also movie games.

both are multiplat version of uncharted and last of us.

Lems and hermits do misunderstand the genre. Why? Because they've never had a proper one made for their system. Its completely alien to them, which is pathetic.

Jedi Fallen Order, Senua's Sacrifice, Quantum Break... The whole genre Sony started STINKS.

This is true.

I don't think so. But it seems like Sony fans have a hard time understanding or accepting what people mean with "movie games".

Also, there's way better action/adventure games than those movie games you mentioned.

jedi fallen order is hardly movie game. maybe first hour but then it become a pure game. doesnot have any scripted or cinematic segments that interrupt gameplay.

nope. still best third person action game of all time.

better than uncharted/last of us/GOW or any other movie game shit to comes out in year.

Even Sony categorizes these as movie games. Why is this so difficult to understand to cows?

If cows just stop being in denial all the time, perhaps the movie game genre would have been accepted a long time ago.

@ghosts4ever said:

@hardwenzen said:

Lems and hermits do misunderstand the genre. Why? Because they've never had a proper one made for their system. Its completely alien to them, which is pathetic.

nope. still best third person action game of all time.

better than uncharted/last of us/GOW or any other movie game shit to comes out in year.

You're wrong, and that's fine.

Because there’s no such thing. It’s like calling Nintendo games, kiddy games. Is kiddy games a genre? Nope.

No, they're movie games.

Action Adventure games don't have 10 minute sequences where you simply press the square button, followed by 10 minutes of CGI movies.

GOW:R is far to linear to be an adventure game.

Never understood the insecurity around the "movie game" tag, 90% of this forum love them when it suits them. Fan of MGS? RDR/GTA? Hellblade? Max Payne 3? Halo Infinite campaign, Sony games, That shitty new Plague Tale game? You like movie games, just accept it.

If only Sony fans were less insecure over their preferences to movie games, we wouldn't be making fun of them so much.

Movie games exist on all platforms, but reason why you don't hear those ones ridiculed so much is because everyone else accepts them for what they are, movie games, and there's nothing to debate there.

C'mon Sony fans, quit being afraid of your own shadow.

Well to be fair, a game has a short time to grab me and the movie game crap during the beginning lost my interest. Maybe I'll give it another go at some point.

If it's not a "movie game" it's a "walking simulator".

Then don't think of "movie games" as a genre because it isn't. It's just what is designated to fit any genre of video game that constantly forces control away from the player and prioritizes cutscenes/walking and talking more than the gameplay for much of the time.

Heavy Rain, Detroit: Become Human, Beyond Two Souls, Telltale Walking Dead series are also movie games but I wouldn't call them action adventure either. Movie games can be any genre, just like kiddy games can be different genres. It just so happens that a lot of what someone would call a kiddy game happen to also be platformers. There are probably puzzle games out there that I could see as being a kiddy game.

You're overthinking this. "Movie game" isn't a genre, it's a slur.

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Metroid and Zelda are like some of the earliest examples of what action/adventure games were. They don't exactly have any more of a story than an action game. Debatable on whether or not they better.

But yeah otherwise I always liked calling action/adventure games just action games with bad gameplay.

Cows on here starting a Movie Game Defemation League?

I don't think gamers have a disconnection to what the Action Adventure games are supposed to be. Adventure games on other hand, like those older LucasArts-like point-n-click titles and such, seems like a lost cause with people who've grown up with no exposure to them. We live in a generation though where people would rather spend hours upon hours watching someone stream a game than to play it themselves.

The games you listed are considered Adventure games. There's no action to them. See how easy it is when you think of it from a genre perspective instead of just labeling games with terms that don't really make sense.

That's where I'm at, I finally gave 2018 a chance a week ago and was really let down, I didn't expect that much narrative at the start of the game. The first GOW war was so awesome that I got woken up by an earthquake and thought the monsters I'd killed that night were out to get me. The combat was crisp and Kratos was brutal.

Not a fan of movie games unless your gameplay is air tight, Uncharted suffered from weak gameplay as well, still haven't bothered to play 4.

@SolidGame_basicagreed. gamers def did misunderstand. and i'm definitely referencing myself when I say that.

I figured that this was already adequately discussed in the recent “Define Movie Game” thread.

The term “movie game” sure drives Cows mad. Need to change that Game Pass meme to Movie Game meme. I envision Cows stewing about it 24/7. 😅

Awww poor cows still jelly that their exclusives are 'movie games'.

@SolidGame_basic: But you missed my point. "Movie games" isn't a genre term. It's like what judaspete posted right after my post above. "Movie games" is a slur. Your opening post completely overthinks this. Movie games can literally be any genre. Perhaps what you define as not that much cinematics/walking and talking would be way too much for someone else and they would instantly go "Ugh, I'm sick of this damn movie game".

That's all there is to it.

I think you're missing my point. Dismissing a game by calling it a "movie game" is not understanding the genre of game you're playing.

@SolidGame_basic: Okay buddy. I've said before I enjoy games that I could understand most would say are movie games like Uncharted, Telltale's Walking Dead's, Heavy Rain. If you get offended by the term, you do you. People are going to keep using it. But it's not a genre term. And it doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Yes, I'm very offended, please apologize!! 🤪

Just saying, people complaining about "movie games" is no different than someone buying a game like Pentiment and getting annoyed that it features so much dialogue and reading and nothing else that they call it a "book game" in response 😄

@SolidGame_basic: I mean, yeah. I don't understand the problem with that. I normally see "visual novel" over "book game" but yes, that's how this works. Too much reading in a game = visual novel, book game, interactive book, etc. Too much cinematics = movie game.

It's hard for me to find that annoying, dismissive, or negative in some way when there is a lot of truth to it, just shrunk down to a small insult. Disco Elysium is one of the best games I have ever played, but you could easily call it a visual novel because of extraordinary amount of reading. It doesn't make it officially a visual novel but I can see what you mean if you say that.

It's official, Disco Elysium is a book game 😜 I've had that game for a while and always wanted to play it, but it ends up being on the back burner. It does seem really interesting though. According to wiki, it's considered a role playing game. I guess that makes sense.

@SolidGame_basic: Yep, Disco Elysium is officially an RPG but I've definitely seen people say "ugh I don't want to play that visual novel. I like to play my games not read them" and some such.

But yes, it is fantastic. Crazy dialogue in that one where different traits of your personality take on sentient beings pretty much and argue or talk with each other. Comes across pretty intriguing and funny sometimes. Great soundtrack too.

Anyone who has played God of War or Uncharted 4 would not call them movie games unless they were trying to be incredibly biased or just hate on them

"Movie" games would be Heavy Rain, Detroit Become Human, Beyond Two Souls, Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Quarry. Uncharted 4 and GOW2018 are nothing like those.

Who is saying movie games is a genre? And even if someone does, why would such a person not understand what an action adventure game is?

Critics of those games call them movie games because they're annoyed by the amount of non-interactive content in them. Really isn't rocket science dude.

Do you get it now? Or do we need yet another thread on the matter?

@SolidGame_basic:

Nah man, there's a clear line in the sand between games like Zelda/Okami and things like Uncharted/Tlou and new Raider.

I was watching the entry into Asgard for Ragnarok and my goodness the characters just WON'T. STOP.TALKING.INCESSANTLY.

Just nonstop stream of conscious rambling.

For those of you who enjoy these games, have at it but my goodness they're basura to me.

And then the actual gameplay... Atreus climbing a huge wall but it was automated.

No actual pathfinding done by the player, just a guided experience.

Where the hell is the accomplishment in that?

Remember in Shadow of the Colossus, how you had to jump on the titans and hold onto their fur while a grip gauge timed out?

Remember how good it felt to actually make your way over the beast, with your finger work actually carrying you?

There is absolutely NOTHING like that in these games, so where the hell is the action?

You like it I love it but man, these games are definitely a cut below in my book.

God of War games have always been big on story. But they also feature tons of combat and challenge. Okami was a linear experience, who are you kidding? Lol. Story was the weakest part about Breath of the Wild. Shadow of the Colossus had a poignant story, the game was hardly known for that.

We need more words to describe games in a sensible manner without cutting their features short just because we want them to fit in a label. Example: Jet Set Radio is radical sports platformer with tagging action. People could look up the words "tagging", "platforming" or "radical sports" that this game would show up among others by matching these terms. It doesn't matter whether Tony Hawk's Pro Skater appears to the side of it or not. Reading the game's description would make people realize their differences. Psychonauts alongside Jet Set Radio as a platformer is of no harm to either one as well.

Wikipedia is not a reliable source for any information. Anyone can edit the pages and insert whatever it is that they want on it. Now I'm not sure if any revision goes through a process where the people running the site double check the sources and information, so I could be wrong. But I know from past experience that it does have misinformation and people pass it off as a authority.

What have developers labeled their game? I think that's a better place to start. I'm not sure where you could find this information though. I believe David Jaffee at one point talked about what God of War was called genre wise during an interview with Greg Miller from Kinda Funny.