The Virtual-scape

By Abdullah Ali

Assassin's Creed, Source

               This winter break, I finally got a chance to catch up with 2 new sequels of some of my all-time favorite games, after what felt like too long. I definitely used to be a hardcore video gamer, but ever since I’ve been attending university, I just couldn’t seem to fit videogames into my schedule. Eventually, I simply began to lose interest.

               However, playing DmC: Devil May Cry and Halo 4 this holiday while being a 4^th year architecture student opened my mind to things I never previously thought about when playing games; architecture in videogames. It is the true extent and capacity of our imaginative capabilities. Let me just give you a quick run through of those 2 games.

               DmC’s visuals were absolutely mind-blowing. As you traverse each stage, the city around you (dubbed Limbo City) begins to morph and shape-shift into spectacular jaw dropping environments that change according to your character’s movements. Buildings twist, crack, split and flip, and suddenly you find that the whole ground below you is a building façade.

Devil May Cry, Source

               Halo 4 on the other hand, being a first person shooter, gives the player the perspective from behind the soldier’s helmet. You experience stunning alien worlds with some incredibly impressive architecture unlike anything out there. You really have to grab the controller to understand what I mean.

Halo 4, Source

               It’s true that prolonged video gaming is unhealthy and a ‘waste of time’; however, I just cannot imagine anyone not appreciating the effort and imagination of the designers who gave all they’ve got in terms of skill, creativity and effort to create these interactive fantastical worlds and universes. You begin to see what the human mind is capable of and how far our imagination can take us. I do believe it measures the extent of our imagination.

               There are so many examples out there of remarkable virtual built environments where the player can fully interact with. Bioshock’s underwater Utopian city called Rapture is a crazy example of utopian architecture. Assassin’s Creed‘s spectacular recreation of historical cities, where you can climb to the highest point of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and gaze at the whole city, is another. Call of Duty: Black Ops even went through the effort of recreating China’s Kowloon walled city, a unique dense urban environment that can now be experienced through a game. Super Mario and Little Big Planet showcase flamboyant and colorful worlds that are visions of a child’s ultimate dreamland. And of course, Sim City, the most popular PC game of all-time, was partially inspired by Christopher Alexander’s book ‘A Pattern Language’. This just begins to show how videogames and architecture work together.

Bioshock, Source

Call of Duty: Black Ops, Source

Little Big Planet, Source

Sim City, Source

               It is true that movies or comic books have the ability to do the same in terms of visuals. However, when experiencing it as something interactive, it becomes completely different and a unique experience. Simply grab a controller and dive in!

               We could definitely learn a thing or two from the “virtual-scapes” and environments created in videogames, especially us architecture students. Imagination is our handiest and most important tool by far, which is clearly expressed in videogames. With how fast technology is progressing (Xbox Kinect and Playstation Move come to mind), I really wouldn’t be surprised if some of these virtual experiences become so much more than a game on a screen.