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FMVs are pre-rendered videos used in place of real-time graphics. Using FMV was an attempt to make videogames look "more like movies", sometimes with CGI animation and others with live-action actors speaking directly to players. The downside is that FMV requires a lot of disk space, and live-action FMV in particular can look terrible by comparison.
Sure, these days have almost every game sporting the newfangled 3D, but way back when, everyone had to live with plain old 2D. 2D, or two dimensions, limit the game to scrolling backgrounds, but some games even now make use of this basic concept.
A two-dimensional image or animation overlaid into a scene. The foundation of early 2D games, making up everything from props to the player-controlled character.
This concept is for games in which at least one of the main characters is male.
First-Person is a vantage point that attempts to simulate looking through a game character's eyes. It is most commonly found in first-person shooters, racing games, and visual novels, and to a lesser extent in other genres, such as RPGs, 3D platformers, and adventure games.
Cutscenes involving real actors on a set or in front of a chroma key screen.
It's arguably the one move that symbolizes the medium to those outside it. The ability to jump, be it onto a building, a platform, or a skull, is one of the all time most important abilities ever put in a video game.
These games are based off of established licenses, such as movies, comics, or TV shows. Examples are the James Bond 007 and Spider-Man franchises.
A non-interactive sequence within a game most often used for plot advancement.
Games that include real photography on the game's cover.
A boss fight is a culminating challenge that pits the player against one or more enemies representing a greater threat and/or difficulty than those previously faced. These scenarios typically feature unique antagonists.
Side-scrolling games present the world as viewed perpendicular to the direction the characters are facing on screen. With a heavy focus on lateral movement, objectives are often met by moving from one end of a stage to the other.
The main line of distinction between victory or failure in video games, death is the process of a biological being ceasing to be alive.
Games whose titles consist of a single word.
Health is a value that gauges how much damage players can take in a game before they die or pass out. Also known as life in some games. Health is usually represented by a bar or a percentage instead of an exact amount. Found in most non sport games
Games that are little more than extensive cinematic sequences in which the player has little interaction with what is happening onscreen. This notion of a cinematic game is epitomized by laserdisc arcade classics such as Astron Belt, Dragon's Lair and Bega's Battle.
Game Over originally appeared in pinball machines, and later, arcade machines. When players lose at a game, it is game over.
Voice Acting is the art of providing voices for characters in games, television shows, films, radio programs, and other forms of media.
A mode in the game, often an unlockable, allowing players to listen to individual music tracks, voice clips and/or sound effects.
In many games there is a ranking system, the players with the highest point value are listed in a "high score" table.
The concept of purchasing media and having it delivered over the internet. No physical representation of this content is given, and although the content resides on the user's hard drive they are typically granted a license to the product, rather than ownership of it.
In games, fire can be an obstacle, a tool, a weapon, or a solution. Just don't play with it...unless you really want to.
Pixel art refers to digital images composed of visible pixels, drawn with individual pixel-level intent and precision.
The player character is seen at a distance from a number of different possible perspective angles. There is generally a movable camera but it can also be in a fixed position. It most commonly refers to a viewpoint behind the player character.
The first subscription based video game serviced offered through your cable company.
Hand-drawn or computer-generated animation.
Video games that, for better or for worse, are based on an existing non-video game franchise. Usually drawn from movies, tie-in games have also been made about TV shows, novels, and even one-hit wonder pop bands.
Games released coinciding with new hardware.
A digital distribution platform that focuses on providing DRM-free computer games, both old and new.
Characters controlled by the game for players to interact with, as opposed to player characters which are controlled by whomever is playing the game.
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