Final: Fictional Worlds

Video games draw in an impressive number of people, around 70% of the world’s population, and with all the options available, it’s no wonder. There is almost nothing you cannot find in a video game. Whether you want to partake in wars, build cities, or fight monsters, there’s at least one game out there just for you. In addition, many games feature impressive fictional worlds that the viewer may have the option to explore. These worlds can range from slightly fictitious (like our own, but with different creatures or strange people) to completely fictitious (a completely new world, with almost no ties to ours). Giving players a glimpse into exciting new worlds is enough to draw in quite a crowd.

One game that is close to our own world is Left 4 Dead. In fact, aside from a bunch of angry people with the munchies running around, it is exactly like ours. It has cities, swamps, towns, subways, seemingly endless fields, and everything else. In this universe, however, a rage virus has infected a large portion of the population, leaving only a few lone survivors who must fight their way toward what they can only hope to be safety. Another small portion of the population has been turned into various Special Infected, which are stronger, smarter, and much more dangerous than common infected.

The Pokemon universe is also similar to our own, but with one very large difference; rather than animals, they have creatures called “Pokemon” (Pocket Monsters) which are used for nearly everything. They are pets, workers, fighters and food for the people that inhabit the world. In Generation 1, there were only 150 Pokemon, but ten years later, Generation 5 has brought us up to 649 different species.

With each generation comes a new region. With over five regions in total now, the Pokemon universe has successfully created its own small world. The regions can all be put together to form islands and continents with deserts, oceans, rivers, mountains, caves, ruins, etc. There are huge, bustling cities, tiny towns, vast fields, hidden trails and well-traveled roads all ready to be explored. Pokemon does an excellent job of setting up wonderful maps to travel.

The final game I’d like to take a look at is Gauntlet; Dark Legacy. Its fictional world is one of the furthest from our own. There seem to be no ordinary humans, but instead there are monsters, wizards, sorceresses, ogres, and many other creatures.

You are able to choose between large variety of characters and four different color schemes (yellow, blue, red, and green) before starting your journey. Each character has different attributes in magic, melee, attack and defense.

Once you’ve made your character, you must work through several levels of several realms to collect crystals and runestones in order to eventually defeat Garm, then Skorne, and take back control of the worlds.

Each realm has about 5 – 7 levels which must be completed in order to unlock the next level. Once all portals in a realm are open, the player must defeat the boss on the final level to beat that realm and open the next one. The realms are all unique and contain different terrains, environments, and monsters.

Fictional Worlds in video games can range heavily from only slightly varied from our own to completely new and mysterious. There is a game for everyone, which is why the video game industry is one of the most popular and wide-spread industries in the world.