Deadly Creatures: An Exercise in Point of View

Look long and hard, little scorpion... They're HUMANS. Credit: 411Mania.com

Deadly Creatures for Wii is a stunningly original title that puts players in the alternating roles of a tarantula and a scorpion. The former is an adept assassin specialized for agility and long-distance strikes, whereas the latter is a straightforward brawler skilled at powerful attacks and brutal finishing moves. The two of them each go their own way through the desert, hunting for food and killing off rival predators.

Intertwined with their individual stories, however, is the quest of two men searching for gold (played exceptionally well by Dennis Hopper and Billy Bob Thornton). The arachnids have a truly unique perspective on this tale for two reasons.

Firstly, their tiny size allows them to see what the humans can't - an especially cool sequence has the player crawling through the bones of a dead prospector, even as the ground shudders from the men's shovels hitting the soil above.

I"m too busy dodging horned lizard claws to care about the parallel human storyline! Credit: Destructoid

Secondly, they are totally disinterested in what's happening. Tiny arachnid brains care little for human affairs; even as the two men come closer to their goal, the tarantula remains fixed on settling a score with a certain rattlesnake, and the scorpion continues to look for a way to the surface. It's an interesting deviation from the typical first- or third-person narration techniques, in which the narrator (or player) has some clear connection to the story at hand, or is at least interested enough to document it.

However, like all good stories with parallel plotlines, the characters' tales eventually intersect, leading to an epic conclusion. Why it's epic, however, is completely different for the humans and arachnids - and while the humans may dwell on these events for the rest of their lives, the arachnids dismiss them as momentary complications, and simply return to their savage, deadly world.

Nazism in The Last Story

    

Not so different, you and I. Zangurak picture: Behind the Voice Actors Hitler picture: BBC

The relatively harsh Treaty of Versailles forced post-World War I Germany to pay enormous reparations, cede much of its territory, and drastically decrease the size of its army. These terms, combined with all the normal costs of post-war reconstruction, left the German people eager for someone who would fix their problems, regardless of the morality of the solutions. In came Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party (Nazi Party), who were all too willing to give the people what they wanted.

The story of Nazi Germany is not altogether different from the story of the Gurak in The Last Story. After losing a war with the humans, the Gurak were forced onto a harsh continent of lava and stone, a shadow of their former power. Then, Zangurak appeared, and united all the Gurak for the first time in history with his power and charisma.

Just as Hitler blamed the Jews and other groups for all of Germany's problems, Zangurak fostered hatred for the humans among his people. Hitler had his concentration camps full of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and others, and Zangurak had his mines full of human slave workers.

This might be a bit of a stretch, but the idea of Nazi mysticism also has parallels with Zangurak's obsession with the power of the Outsider.

The banter between Zangurak and player character Zael during their final battle (Credit: YouTube user omegaevolution) sums up Zangurak's moving rhetoric and his semi-justified quest for power after years of oppression by the humans (start video around 2:30). Just as the Allies might have prevented World War II had they adopted Woodrow Wilson's policy of forgiveness, the humans might have spared many lives from both species had they worked harder to repair relations with the Gurak.

The Sympathetic Usurper: Zant from Twilight Princess

(Credit: DeviantART user StellaB)

Yes, yes, Zant did some evil things. He usurped Princess Midna and turned her into an imp, transformed his own people into an army of vicious monsters, invaded Hyrule, and shaped it into a nether realm full of scared, lost spirits.

But can you blame him?

"The people of our tribe...were locked away in this world like insects in a cage."

The Twilight Realm was created to be a prison. Much of the Twili, including the royal family, simply didn't care about their situation anymore. Not Zant. He was a man who longed for the world of light and all its desires, excitement, and impermanence. In the constant, unchanging Twilight Realm, the only opportunity for someone like this was power.

It may be pretty, but there ain't much to do around the Twilight Realm.

Zant states that he sought power legitimately at first, and he "endured in that depraved household" for that chance. The Twili, however, were not the sort to give power lightly, and Zant's ambition scared them. Thus, his only option left was the pact he made with his "god", the Demon Thief Ganondorf.

The best comparison I can could up with was an outgoing, inquisitive child growing up in an enclosed Amish or Mennonite community. The kid longs for something he can't quite identify (Internet, fame, etc.), but his aspirations are quelled by his conservative family and friends.

Ultimately, Zant was a suppressed visionary who seized upon the first possibility of success he could find.

Lanayru Sand Sea from Skyward Sword: Bittersweet Echoes from the Past

Start from 2:54 to see the Lanayru Sand Sea in all its glory. Credit: Youtube user SasukeIII

While both Wii Zelda games were excellent in their own right, ultimately, I felt that Twilight Princess's world was built with a complexity and care that wasn't always present in Skyward Sword.

An exception, of course, is the Lanayru Sand Sea. The desert area in general had already impressed me with the Timeshift Stones - an ingenious twist to time travel mechanics - and Lanayru Mining Facility, probably the most atmospheric and unique dungeon encountered up to that point in the game. The Sand Sea, however, is in another category entirely.

When I first boarded the ship equipped with the Timeshift Stone, I was amused that the sand around it had turned to water, as it would have been in the past. As I motored along, the motion was so smooth that I didn't realize what was actually happening: the consistent radius of the Timeshift Stone allowed the boat to sail, even as the water it had passed over seconds ago caught up with time and reverted to sand.

I swore in amazement as small islands and atolls popped up all around me, and the sand dispersed to reveal bright coral and limestone rock. I was creating beauty in a desolate world, only for it to disappear moments later.

As tantalizing as Knights in the Nightmare's themes of decay and restoration are, Skyward Sword adds a melancholy slant with the fact that the restoration is only temporary. This creates a great appreciation for the splendour of the Sand Sea's harbour past, and a sadness for its loss that surpasses a standard time travel approach.