Summary

• Too many photo modes are satifisfied with being fairly rubbish.
• Civil War doesn't try to be about politics, it is a photography movie set inside the world of politics.
• Every game should be more like Umurangi Generation.

Photo modes are, on average, getting worse. In a way, this was inevitable. Photo modes used to only exist in games that suited them, in games where the devs had the time or the interest in order to make them worthwhile. They had depth and purpose, and felt like the developers showing off their work to be appreciated in a new light. Now they're more common, often included in the games as a default option and they feel less bespoke. The 168澳洲幸𝔍运5开奖网:most basic po🦩ssible version of photo mode is often 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:slap🧔ped into꧂ a game without much thought (like in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dragon's Dogma 2) and that brings the average quality ♛down, even as the best get even better.

Photo modes used to excite me, mostly because of how deliberate they were. I knew that I'd be getting a selection of tools designed to highlight the craft that went into these games, and would allow me to take unique shots that felt as though they belonged to me as much as to the game. But these days, a photo mode is often 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:just a glorified screenshot machine. I can snap some pictures of how good the game looks, but it's got nothing to do with me or my artistry. And after watching Civil War, it has revived my interest in a game that doesn’t just feature a photo mode, but is about photography.

The Politics Of Civil War Are Present But Unexpected

Civil War is an odd movie. It sees California and Texas unite against a Constitution-breaking third term President who bombed his own citizens, told entirely through the lens (often literally) of war photographers. It is about the dangers of war photography and the unique role that observers play in shaping our understanding o🔜f historical events. It♔ is also being derided for being apolitical, but I think some of this is projection.

It is true that there is little time dedicated to why California and Texas, shorthands for blue states and red states, unite against the President. It also draws no parallels to modern day American politics in the explicit sense, with no stand-ins for Trump, Biden, or any other recognisable figure. However, it does highlight the selfish wilderness of society, with some towns ignoring the war completely and others using it as a chance to inflict abject cruelty on their neighbours. While it's not very political in the sense of Democrats and Republicans, it does not avoid the politics of photography.

The༺ driving plot of the movie is that our two heroes want to interview the President, but they (particularly the written journalist, less so the increasingly jaded photographer) do not disguise their disdain for the man. They must balance this with constantly having to choose a military force to ally with in order to get access to and be protected within warzones, sometimes even getting close and personal with active shootouts.

It is reasonable to expect a movie set in modern day USA, called Civil War, and featuring a united front of California and Texas, to comment on modern-day politics. It does not, and it is also therefore reasonable to be𒈔 disappointed by this. It could have been a very different movie, perhaps even a deeper movie, if it had something to say on these issues. But there are other ways to be political, and in these ways, in asking what war does to people and how our understanding is shaped by witnesses who can never be entirely impartial, Civil War is a political movie.

Photo Modes Allow You Create Your Own Works Of Art

This is where the role of the photographer comes into play. Civil War is also a road trip movie in which a young photographer learns how to better her craft from her hero. It reminded me of Umurangi Generation, one of my favourite indie games. On the surface, it 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:acts as a photography lesson by gradually giving you new tools and showing you how to use them, while it 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:subtextually inspires radical politicaꦡl thinking as it depicts the UN overthrown by a fascist government who grow increasingly focused on persecu༒ting doubters and defectors 𓆉instead of fighting the invading alien forces.

Umurangi Generation is the rare photography game that is about photography rather than just taking pictures, and it does this by encouraging you to consider what your photographs say. The checklist of objectives still includes items to photograph, but these push you to look deeply at the dystopia of this world, taking you to military bases, underground communes, and vigils for civilian victims. Compared with Toem, another indie photography game, we see the stark difference in the cosiness of playing Where's Wally (that's what we call Waldo) compared to actually being a photographer.

The best photo modes may not have the stark political viewpoint of Umurangi Generation, but they challenge you to be an observer rather than just to look. It's fun and all to land a cool attack in Final Fantasy and take a picture of Aerith surrounded by glowing moonbeams, but all you're really doing is snapping a moment in time when the game did something. When I think of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Cyberpunk 2077, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Spider-Man, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Last of Us, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:God of War, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ghost of Tsushima, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Red Dead Redemption 2, you're not just taking a picture of a moment the game offers your way. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:You are finding moments, and that encourages you to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:play as a photographer.

I'm not sure how a game could take this to the next level and make it the central focus. I've written about , and struggled to put the mechanics into words then too. Maybe if you move too far into the game being 'about' photography, you lose the creativity that games with excellent photo modes but other objectives manage to capture.

Civil War is a movie about photography more than it is a movie about politics, and that specific focus on life behind the lens, and where that lens should point, reminded me of my favourite photography modes. Though I am obviously in less danger sitting on the couch than a photographer in a war zone, games often ask us to snap moments of violence and find a viewpoint within them. A game about photography could inspire deeper creꦍative thoughts, but maybe we could start with games not phoning their photo modes in.