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COVER feature Alyx Vance when they are beside you; you notice when they are not. A similar relationship also forms between Shadow Of The Colossus’s Wanda and his trusty horse, Agro. Just like in ICO, the player can call to Agro and he will come running, but he will wander off freely otherwise. Agro is a well-behaved steed, and the game can get away with making him more obedient as he is a tamed animal and not a free-willed human. But he still behaves convincingly, rearing when a colossus stomps nearby or refusing to leap over certain crevasses until pushed. The times that you must leave Agro behind, you really feel his absence. For me, it is in the echoing tap-tap of my feet compared to Agro’s hearty gallop that really rubs it in. A companion can still be convincing and meaningful without such detailed free-will, however. Alyx Vance in Half- Life 2 accompanies the player for much of the game. In Episodes One and Two, you could even argue that she is the main character and the player’s character, Gordon Freeman, is the companion. Alyx’s actions are more scripted than either Yorda or Agro. On every playthrough she will follow a practically identical path through the levels and will say the same things at the same times. Nonetheless, she is animated and written in a way that is both convincing and human. Instead of just following the player, Alyx has her own paths through the level, which means she will often be leading—a rare feat among gaming companions. That these paths are scripted hardly matter. Instead, they add to the game. Alyx can be shown to engage with her environment in a more convincing style. Instead of awkwardly running through a level like any old NPC, she will jump over guardrails and climb fences like a human being, making both her and the world more believable. Once the player cares for Alyx, her most important role is in justifying Gordon Freeman’s existence, and by extension the player’s. As Gordon is a silent protagonist, one of the main criticisms levelled at Half-Life was that he was practically a non-character—just a gun floating on the monitor. Alyx Vance changed this. By constantly acknowledging Gordon, making eyecontact, having discussions, remarking on his actions, Alyx makes Gordon more real. We still never see Gordon ourselves, but we see that Alyx sees him. The actions are miniscule, but they add a significant level of detail that makes Half-Life 2’s story and world more accessible that Half-Life’s ever was. Sadly, though, there are occasions where Alyx tips the wrong way and becomes a frustrating NPC instead of a friendly companion. One particular stage in Episode One frustrated me immensely and shows how even the best implemented companions can go wrong and nearly break a game. You are underground and trying to get to the surface. In a pitch-black room, you must fight swarms of zombies while you wait for an elevator to arrive. The player has no weapons save a torch and the gravity gun, but Alyx has her pistol. However, she will only shoot at zombies that the player is pointing the torch at or has lit flares nearby. I couldn’t help but feel Alyx wasn’t pulling her weight. Why couldn’t she pick up a flare herself Why did I have to stand dumbly with my torch pointed at a zombie for her to shoot it Clearly, Valve were trying to strengthen the relationship between Alyx and Gordon by forcing you to cooperate to survive, but the result was the opposite. Alyx couldn’t look after herself and she was holding me back. Instead of being a companion I could work with, she became a bit of programming that I had to second guess and exploit. While her actions in the rest of the game added so much, it was almost all destroyed for me in this one stage. Using companions truly is a precarious, dangerous thing. There are more interesting companions—both good and bad—than could be covered in any one article. The more-or-less invisible companions 10 www.pixelhunt.com.au JANUARY 2011
like Cortana in Halo, the dependable, self-sacrificing buddies of Far Cry 2, the bromance of Delta Squad in Gears of War. But where would a discussion of gaming companions be without a mention of Portal’s weighted companion cube Quite justifiably, many of you will be sick of hearing about Portal by now, but the amount of stuff that it just got so right can’t be denied. The weighted companion cube, while only a minor part of the entire game, works as the ultimate meta gaming companion. It does everything all good gaming companions must do. Firstly, the weighted companion cube’s abilities complement the player’s abilities, they don’t overlap and conflict. Just as Ico and Yorda rely on the other’s abilities, so do the player’s and the weighted companion cube. The weighted companion cube relies on the player’s portal gun, legs, and strong hands, and the player relies on the weighted companion cube’s stability as a stool, sturdiness to sit on buttons without flinching, and strength to withstand loose balls of energy that could vaporise the player on impact. Without the other, neither will get to the end of the level. Secondly, and more importantly, the weighted companion cube is a non-living object that the player knows is not alive yet is still able to have feelings for. Just like Yorda, Alyx, Agro, and all other companions, the weighted companion cube is just a bunch of 0s and 1s somewhere inside the game. But unlike these other companions, on the outside, too, the weighted companion cube is just an inanimate object. Yet, largely through the words of GLaDOS, the player still cares about the weighted companion cube. When GLaDOS congratulates you for destroying the weighted companion cube in the emergency intelligence incinerator faster than any other test subject, it is darkly funny, but some of the guilt you feel is legitimate and taps into the same part of your mind as all gaming companions. And that is the ultimate contribution all gaming companions make: a legitimate reason to care about the world. The player’s reward for helping Yorda is not ten achievement points, but helping Yorda. When Yorda holds your hand, she pulls you deep down into the game’s world where your actions are their own reward. But if they don’t act the way the player expects, any immersion in the game world could be ruined as the player is forced to double guess what they must do in order to tempt the companion to action how they want. Just as your companions can pull you in to the game, they can just as easily push you out. BRENDAN KEOGH ...where would a discussion of gaming companions be without a mention of Portal’s weighted companion cube COMPANION CUBE Australia’s best gaming -zine www.PIXELHUNT.com.AU 11
Page 1 and 2: PS3 360 Wii PC MOBILE OPINIONS FEAT
Page 3 and 4: contents ISSUE 13 JANUARY 2011 Publ
Page 5 and 6: Garbage Tips Around the World Appea
Page 7 and 8: NIER Developer Cavia Publisher Squa
Page 9: YORDA If the player is to care abou
Page 13 and 14: TRANSFORMERS: WAR FOR CYBERTRON STE
Page 15 and 16: STEAM Report Card Paradox Interacti
Page 17 and 18: Always call ‘shotgun’ in MAFIA
Page 19 and 20: Only Nintendo got it right, offerin
Page 21 and 22: For our money, this console generat
Page 23 and 24: ASSASSIN’S CREED BROTHERHOOD Deve
Page 25 and 26: QUESTIONS & ANSWERS PROFESSOR PIXEL
Page 27 and 28: ON THE HUNT PATRICK LANG Deadly Pre
Page 29 and 30: it was enough to make me fling a hi
Page 31 and 32: ASSASSIN’S CREED BROTHERHOOD MEDA
Page 33 and 34: When I say that games are getting l

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