So it's been about 3-4 years since the new generation of consoles. What have been some of your favorite stories this generation? Since I haven't played too many titles this gen, I don't have much of a reference point for favorite stories but I'll show the few I've enjoyed.
There will be some SPOILERS!!
Call of Duty 4: The game itself is an above-average arcadey shooter with a few impressive set pieces and somewhat false pretensions toward realism. It's not bad. However, CoD4 still stands out to me as one of the finer examples of the FPS genre because of a surprisingly good story. The advantage that a video game has in storytelling is interactivity and this is fully realized in CoD4. After the deaths of the President and the Marine in the Nuke scene, I spent the rest of the game terrified that the narrative would kill off my SAS team. I've never felt this in any game and it's what makes the end of CoD4 so wonderfully devastating. I might even go as far as to say that it's one of my favorite endings to a storyline of all time, despite its abruptness.
Okay, it does have its problems. The characterization is a bit thin and the game is completely Black and White in its morality - the story itself is quite "standard" in its "Good guy vs. Terrorist" mentality. These things CoD4's story from being great instead of just good.
Also, this: http://www.destructoid.com/narrative-brilliance-and-social-irrelevance-in-call-of-duty-4-55128.phtml
Bioshock: The game is a wonderful romp through a creepy dystopia with varied combat and beautiful level design. The storyline has beautifully written dialogue and masterfully deals with deep themes. Bioshock, like CoD4, takes advantage of interactivity and does a better job of it. The problems with Bioshock's story are the gameplay demands that the plot points be stretched apart, creating pacing issues, and that the game loses steam after the revelation with Ryan and just sort of dawdles about for 2 hours before ending flatly. Despite that, Bioshock still has a wonderful little story.
Portal: Engaging puzzles and masterful game design aside, Portal doesn't really have too much of a story. It's Chell, chambers, evil robot, end. What little story there is, however, is wrapped up in hilarious writing and a surprisingly sympathetic, if sinister, Glados character. Despite being unsubstantial, the story is funny, engaging, surprising and its only let down is that it ends with no closure or explanation as to what the hell happened.
Super Paper Mario: While the game itself is fun if a bit stale, what with having a weird difficulty curve and bland, flat platforming, I can truly appreciate the storyline. If nothing else, SPM manages to do something I don't see in games very often: romance. Despite the fact that the romance is sometimes "narmy" and melodramatic, it's done well enough to make it believable and it even borders on touching at times, especially with that final scene. Add this to some hilarious dialogue, and you've got yourself a pretty good storyline.
Okay. I've just realized that I need to stop playing so many FPS's.
What are other good storylines?
