Many pop-culture references to photography tend to get it wrong, and this 30-second video perfectly encapsulates how silly video game photography missions can be.
While funny, there seems to be a real disconnect with how game designers view photography. With older games like Metal Gear Solid, the scenes can feel tedious and unrealistic:
It’s not even older games that struggle with photography, though. Modern games like the newly-released Call of Duty: Cold War use photography as a trope that mainly serves as mission filler and takes away from the main reason someone would play the game.
But for every stack of games that get it wrong, some games do a very good job integrating photography into the base of a game. The obvious first example would be Pokemon Snap. The upcoming sequel to the extremely popular Nintendo 64 game may not give players all the options real photographers would expect to find in a camera, but it does put significant emphasis on understanding subject placement and visual interest.
One final older game that integrated photography extremely well into an action-adventure game was Beyond Good and Evil. The platformer expertly combined other gameplay elements with photography-based gameplay that was neither a distraction nor filler. Few games balance its integration as well as Beyond Good and Evil did.
What video games do you think hilariously get photography wrong? What about your favorites that get it right? Let us know what you think in the comments.
(via Reddit Videos)
