Previously On ...

[This is a report from my original gameranting article]

 I have been on holiday the past couple of weeks.  One great advantage of holidays is that I have plenty of uninterrupted time to play games.  Since the average game only lasts 10 to 12 hours I managed to finish 3 games: mirror's edge, call to juarez and Kane and Lynch.

What struck me while playing these games, was how good I could follow the story line through the cut scenes.  Normally I only have one hour of play per day with often days without playing any game, so now I could really see how the story worked.

Most players have only a limited time to play and with long pauses between game sessions its sometimes hard to pick up the storyline.  As a result some dramatic punches might get lost on the player.  Televisions shows with weekly broadcast solved this by airing short "previously on ..." segments.  Perhaps a similar approach for games could be applied just for each level.  If the player wants it, he then can watch a short clip on the previous cut scenes to bring him back up on speed with the story.