Crossovers [reblog]
Lara Croft in MW 2.
The latest crossover event from Modern Warfare II has been done with Amazon Prime's The Boys Homelander and Starlight, but the next crossover's already leaked, and it's gaming's feminine icon, Lara Croft.
The brief period of IP purgatory for Tomb Raider was rectified very quickly if her first appearance after the soap opera between Crystal and Square Enix, is in the world's biggest FPS franchise. Assuming Crossfire isn't still holding its 1 Billion Player numbers…
However, it's not that surprising Lara ended up in Call of Duty having already showed up for Brawlhalla, Final Fantasy, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Rainbow Six Siege, and the biggest TPS franchise, Fortnite…
That's not even all of them.
Lara's been completely Sam Fishered. Cursed for god knows how many years to only surface for live-service events and cosmetic skins. Just like the aging Third Echelon agent, the name is considered valuable enough to pluck from the shelf during a negotiation round-table with publishers releasing bigger games than the ones they featured in.
Protagonists turned into guest stars…
But there's multiple topics to go from here.
I'll save points about specifically Lara Croft and Sam Fisher for later. Right now, I want to go down the road of these crossovers themselves, mainly…
They're beyond lame.
Think about it.
I'm participating in a fight to the death on an island with Lara Croft, Johh Wick, Chun Li Deadpool, Jill Valentine, Master Chief, Ellen Riply, Kratos, Catwoman, Indiana Jones, Jinx, Predator, Ciri, and John Cena…
That sounds awesome?
It's a bunch of awesome iconic characters in the same place at the same time.
What do they do?
Nothing.
They don't say anything, they don't do anything, they don't interac-
Actually, that's not true.
There is this.
The disappointment isn't against Fortnite though, it's that this seems to be the only style of crossover that exists in gaming beyond Smash clones.
These are characters.
They're iconic not just because of their outfits, but their voice, mannerisms, actions, rebuttals, fears, rivalries, etc. I'd have more fun listening to John Wick and Judge Dredd try to out "yeah" each other than paying $5 for Chun Li to floss.
It occurred to me after finishing Uncharted 4 and its character of Cassie is revealed, that unironically, a really compelling premise for an action-adventure game would be Cassie running into and teaming up with Lara Croft. Not just because it's cool (which it is), but because there's a compelling premise for that crossover.
A young explorer in the shadow of her adventurous family teaming up with an older woman who has already overcome that part of her life, and can help develop Cassie.
It almost writes itself.
Originally, I thought, maybe it's because games are so intrinsically attached to game mechanics, that its the reason most crossovers start and end in-gameplay, but most of the time, even that's not the case. Sam Fisher in Siege just shoots a camera at a wall, it isn't exactly split-jumping onto ceiling pipes.
The main complaint I heard about the Warzone crossover with The Boys is that given the show's mockery of trite one-note company product greed, it's quite hypocritical to feature it on Call of Duty for a live-service event.
Personally, I don't really care about that, after all, the show itself is funded by Amazon. I doubt this is a decision anybody in-charge of the show's themes and topics had any say on. What I think is at the heart of that comment though is the crossover doesn't make sense, and that's what I don't like about it, and 95% crossovers in gaming today.
Lara Croft is going to feature in a game?
Awesome.
Which game?
Call of Duty.
…
Huh?
The most overlap those two franchises ever had were perks in multiplayer, and most people don't even remember 2013's multiplayer ever existed.
I would love for Crossovers to do more, have unique character interactions, tell actual stories, build entire games, but that is a big commitment for something that's usually supposed to be a quick and easy pay cheque.
Instead, I'll just wish that crossovers could make sense.
Example?
Don't put John Wick in Fortnite.
An R-Rated globe-trotting action-franchise of brutal weapons, room-clearing headshots, and slow-motion gunfights… doesn't fit the E-Rated cartoony bright vibrant large map aesthetics of Fortnite.
Don't put John Wick in Fortnite.
Put John Wick in…
That makes way more sense.
You know, come to think of it…
There's a series of Mods for Half Life Alyx called "Gunman Contracts" which is mostly likened to a John Wick VR game. Having played them, I'm not the biggest fan personally, but I can't deny having a completely different atmosphere and vibe in Half Life Alyx is really cool, and it got me thinking…
Why can't crossovers just be done in a game that already exists?
We're already kinda doing it.
I remember hunting down The Predator in Ghost Recon Wildlands, as well as fighting alongside Caveria and Twitch from Siege, and obviously watching Sam Fisher in Cutscenes. Most of these crossovers weren't fun to play, but that's not the point. The point is, crossovers are currently all or nothing.
It's either a Fortnite Skin, or a full-fledged game like Smash Brothers, and if it fails, its instantly thrown aside never to be seen again.
What I propose is neither of those things.
I'm basically asking for a really polished total conversion mod, and you know what?
Total Conversion Mods are fucking awesome!
They're like, half of all the most iconic mods made!Team Fortress, Counter Strike, Stanley Parable, Cry of Fear, hell, even as far back as Aliens TC for the original DOOM. You can't tell me it's impossible to have a John Wick Level Pack for the Max Payne Remake, and that it wouldn't be well received.
Especially not if you end it with John and Max sharing a drink.
