« Vote For Your Favorite Video Game Record In The Guiness World Records 2011 Gamers Edition
Ubisoft Responds to DRM Outcry, Says Words »

In all types of media, originating with theater, there has been times where the actors or characters step out from their world and enter ours. If you think about it, on a stage there are three walls; the left and right curtains, and the back curtain, which separates the actors from the backstage. It allows immersion and bringing the viewer into the world that the actors or characters are creating. But there is another. The invisible barrier between the actors and the audience acts as the fourth wall, separating us from them, making us viewers from an outside perspective peeking in.

Therefore, when either of the two parties enter into each other’s world, it is called breaking the fourth wall. With video games, this is done by acknowledging the player directly and involving the physical person playing the game with the story or gameplay, breaking the fourth wall that is the TV screen. Let us look at some of the best instances of this within gaming history.


5. Majestic - It’s Like doing a Job through a Game

  • You ever want to be an agent in the X-files, then this is your game. The whole experience is centered around made up characters sending you real faxes, emails, phone calls and chatting with you online, telling you secrets to solve mysteries at any time during the day, even when you are least expecting it. The game is broken down into episodes, with each one acting as its own story that consistently evolves over time. Though this concept was awesome, its execution was quite poor, falling into a formulaic path through each episode which leaves you knowing exactly what is going to happen next. Though a great initial example of fourth wall breaking, once you figure out the formula you are very much reminded your playing a game. Still, getting phone calls from mysterious people at 2am all because your playing a game is an amazingly awesome concept.

    • 4. Paper Mario - Simply For Comedic Value

  • There are many reasons why breaking the fourth wall is useful, and one of them is simply for comedic value. In Paper Mario and it’s sequel, there are so many instances where the characters will talk directly to the player, lacking any shame, in order to get a laugh or two. At One point in time, a villain in a disguise turns to the camera and tells the player to excuse his bad costume because “thats all he could come up with.” There are also instances of characters explaining directions to the player directly, and then having Mario comment, asking who the character is talking too. This adds a funny moment and makes the fourth wall break even more exaggerated.

    • 3. In Memoriam - Be the Detective, Find The Killer!

  • If you want to get your ultimate fourth wall breaking experience, this is where you need to go. The entire concept of this game is based on breaking the fourth wall, where you are the main character. In Memoriam takes you on a journey to find the killer of a journalist while you are actually taunted by the killer. Here is the snippet form the website:

    In Memoriam is played using a CD-Rom but to make progress in the adventure, the player also connects to the Internet to find information that’s essential to accomplish some of the missions. At certain key moments, he receives snippets of film that the serial killer stole from the journalist. Use those extracts to reconstruct the events that led Jack and Karen into the clutches of the serial killer and save them from death.

    Many of the story details are based on true facts, reality and fiction are being superimposed on one another: real and fake Internet sites, virtual characters who send you e-mail messages, … Follow the steps of a real serial killer.

    Pretty cool right?

    • 2. Metal Gear Solid - The Battle With Pyscho Mantis

  • Almost everyone who has played the Metal Gear Solid series knows that it is famous for breaking the fourth wall many times over the course of its life. This all started in the very first Solid game when you battle Psycho Mantis, the physic boss you fight halfway through the game. Upon contact, and within the cutscene, Psycho reads your memory card, telling you what you have been paying and what games your a fan of. This hammers home his shtick of being a physic and instead of reading Snake’s mind, he is reading and addressing the player’s.

    Konami takes it even further by making you plug in your controller into the player 2 slot in order to defeat him. If you don’t, he will read your movements and you will never get a hit in. He comments throughout the battle on how he can no longer sense your thoughts after you make the switch, again addressing you, not Snake. This is probably the most famous use of the fourth wall in the history of modern gaming.

    • 1. Eternal Darkness - Insanity Effect

  • If you never played Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube, you are missing out. Unlike other survival horror games of its generation, Eternal Darkness not only messed with your characters head, it messed with yours as well. As you encounter enemies in the game, your sanity level would go down. When it reached really low amounts, your character would start to “hallucinate”. What would actually happen though, is the game would start messing with you, the player. Sometimes it would do this by showing you monsters that don’t really exist, or cutting off your arms. Sometimes it would be extremely subtle, where a painting’s eyes would start following you, or a a statue would start moving really slowly. It doesn’t do much justice talking about it, but when you play this in the middle of the night in darkness, alone, the game starts to really become terrifying.

    Some other effects include walls bleeding, mysterious sound effects like whispers and children cries coming from nowhere, and even simulated errors and anomalies of the TV or GameCube that make you think the game is messing up. You never know what is real and whats not, and effectively breaks that wall between you and the game in the most frightening way possible. This is by far the best effect of fourth wall breaking in any video game ever made, and I have no idea why there was never a sequel.

    • What games do you remember that break the fourth wall effectively?


    Rating:
    (Avg: Need 5 votes)
     

     

    « Vote For Your Favorite Video Game Record In The Guiness World Records 2011 Gamers Edition
    Ubisoft Responds to DRM Outcry, Says Words »

    This blog post is popular on:

    yahoo.com

    google.com

    www.bing.com

    twitter.com

     

    1 Comments »

    Dear Guest, please login to comment

    Login

    You can use your Mixr, Facebook, Twitter, Google, or Yahoo account to comment

    Create New Account | Forgot password?


    Please keep the comments clean by not posting advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks. Terms of Use.

    Having trouble registering? Try our non-javascript registration page.

     

    I really want eternal darkness now.



    Follow Us


    Newsletter

    suggest a link Wirebot Voices

    Tips

    We love to hear from our users, so if you have anything you would like us to write about let us know by emailing us at tips@wirebot.com.

    MustRead


    Popular Blog Posts

    Categories


    Archives


    About Wirebot

    Wirebot is not only a source for gaming news, reviews, and updates on the industry, but also your entrance into a community of gamers who care about frags and experience points just as much as you do. It is a place to talk, grow, learn, laugh and breathe games. Wirebot hardwires you directly into a system that tears down the wall between writer and reader where your input is just as important as ours. Welcome, stay, contribute, game.