The Point of View Shot

The point of view shot, a filmmaking technique, have been used for video games for years especially in the first-person shooters. The shot puts the audience or player into the eyes of a character. For the audience, it makes them see what the character is seeing in the scene. In video games, it does that as well but the player plays through the game whole time. Plus, the player is essentially the character for the entire time spent playing. The point of view shot puts the players within the game as opposed to other camera angles like the third person or the “god” view. In the beginning of Medal of Honor: Frontline, it somewhat reenacted the storming of the beach on D-Day from Saving Private Ryan. It was truly a surreal moment in the game.





The first person perspective is best used in games like that and Call of Duty. However, I know there are some games that use the point of view but it just does not fit the game. I remember when 2K Sports tried to bring gamers to the athletes’ experiences on the field. It began with ESPN NFL 2K5. First-person football was a very interesting idea but it worked for certain positions it did work well. On defense, the only easy position to play was anywhere on the d-line as you did not have to cover anyone. I remember on offense I just ran the ball almost all the time because passing was really difficult. Also, when the player switched to a different person, the game would temporary slow down until the switch was made. 2K Sports did not stop there as they brought it to their MLB series for awhile. Yes…first-person baseball. One of the shows on G4 reviewed that baseball game and they found that the first-person mode was really annoying. Is there any other game that use the point of view shot but failed?




-Vircell