Gripes about modern games.

o1s1n

Kevster wrote: »

Are you talking about modern 'war' shooters?; or old classics like BioMenace, Duke Nukem I and II, etc.?

No, I meant shmups. Gradius, R Type, Thunderforce, Blazing Star etc.
Ships/planes avoiding bullets and firing back.

That's what I'd refer to as shooters. I guess the term means different things to different people!

CiDeRmAn

Well, shooters mechanics were laid down by Space Invaders and refined by the genius that is Galaga, the side scroller was defined by Scamble, and more of the things we see as basic mow were fixed by Gradius, power ups etc.
Now we are blessed with, as you say, expansions on those ideas, Pulstar, R-Type Final, Gradius V, Dodonpachi, Rise of the Robots, no wait not that one, its just sh1t

Xluna

Kevster wrote: »

Xluna, I am also dismayed by modern games, but are you sure that you aren't just getting old (just as i am!)? :rolleyes: The memories from our youth will always be the most enjoyable, and it's hard for anything we do in adulthood to compare to the joys we had as kids.

There probably is some truth in that but at the same time I think there is also substance in the claim that things have gone worse in many ways. I remember feeling hugely dissapointed with the N64 and PS1 due to the shift to 3-D. At the end of the Snes' lifespan I was expecting to see beautifully detailed 2-D games,but I was dissapointed. I'm one of the few people who gave a big "meh" when I played Mario 64. The Zelda N64 games were great but I still would have preferred them in 2-D.

Sony had a lot to do with it. They made gaming "cool" and marketable to the mainstream public so games had to (de)evolve. Almost arcade perfect conversions of Tekken,Ridge racer ect started the death of the arcades in the west. I thought the early 3-D games looked shocking and I've been proved right as virtually everyone will admit these games hav'nt aged well compared to the 2-D Snes and Megadrive games. IMO, it's only now that 3-D games are beginning to look decent. But I still think Chrono Trigger looks better than Spirit tracks,both on DS.

Retr0gamer

I don't think anyone will argue that there aren't any 3D games that come close to looking as good as Chrono Trigger with the exception of hyper stylised offerings like Jet Set Radio and Okami.

The obsession with making games realisitc is silly to me. Why strive for realism when games offer a means of creating fantastic and beautiful new worlds and universe's.

I always like to see games **** with convention as well. Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifiers Call is a great one. It seems like another save the world storyline except within the first 30 minutes the world ends and you are left dealing with the aftermath.

Xluna

Exactly, I don't play video games to experience reality,quite the opposiate. If I wanted reality I'd watch Eastenders,the news or a DVD.
Urgghh...another gripe...Why do so many modern games have to look so dull,devoid of colour and generally depressing? Gears of War springs to mind along with two colours-grey and wine red. Seriously, I need prozac every time I see that game. I miss more colourful and creative games,such as Mystical Ninja and Super Paradious. And if some adolescent says G.T.A. is the best game ever one more time...

BLITZ_Molloy

Syferus wrote: »

Not in the least. Perhaps five years ago the analogy would have been sound, but with the advent of Xbox Live Arcade and the XNA initiative, PlayStation Network, the rise of Steam as a congreation point for the pernially strong indie developer community on PC, the App Store, the sucess of the Wii for more casual players and the immense success of the DS - full of sprite-based shooters, RPGs and so on - the gaming industry is now more diverse than ever before, with a place for games of all sizes, types and price points.

Don't like what you're playing? Make the effort to take these other options seriously rather than applying the logic of the past (subconsciously or otherwise), that what's on the shelves and magazine front-pages today are the be-all and end-all of games.

This is true alright. I was more making a statement about mainstream games.

I've been meaning to get a DS for a while. Really must pull my thumb out because there are a good 10 or 15 games I know I'd love on it. The iPod Touch/iPhone seems to be brimming with interesting indie content as well. Definitely the most surprising platform of 09.

I haven't got a 360 or PS3 yet (I know, I know, I'm skint) so I'm not as up on that stuff as I should be. I find it hard to justify spending hundreds of euro when I'll probably play nothing but SF2 HD Remix all day.

A relatively modern PC is the only thing I have going for me but I haven't exactly seen a glut of amazing pick up and play indie stuff on that. I suppose I should do more digging. Played a couple of the Introversion games and while I loved how they looked the gameplay didn't set my world on fire. Interesting games though. The new Gridrunner is delicious looking as well, shame it's so ridiculously easy.

Retr0gamer

BLITZ_Molloy wrote: »

I haven't got a 360 or PS3 yet (I know, I know, I'm skint) so I'm not as up on that stuff as I should be. I find it hard to justify spending hundreds of euro when I'll probably play nothing but SF2 HD Remix all day.

There's also Marvel vs. Capcom and Street Fighter 4 will keep you going forever if you get in with the fighting games forum crowd

Syferus

Xluna wrote: »

Exactly, I don't play video games to experience reality,quite the opposiate. If I wanted reality I'd watch Eastenders,the news or a DVD.
Urgghh...another gripe...Why do so many modern games have to look so dull,devoid of colour and generally depressing? Gears of War springs to mind along with two colours-grey and wine red. Seriously, I need prozac every time I see that game. I miss more colourful and creative games,such as Mystical Ninja and Super Paradious. And if some adolescent says G.T.A. is the best game ever one more time...

To be fair, Gears of War is probably the least realistic looking of the three!

It specifically has always been ridiculed for its spectrum of brown to grey. In reality most titles that aren't shooters have less of a problem with this - even Halo for all of its problems looks more like a carnival ride than a military shooter.

CiDeRmAn

There's plenty of great looking 3D games, Jet Set Radio Future, Madworld, XIII, Rez, Panzer Dragoon, Nights, Donkey Kong Country (ha ha), Okami, Quake, Tempest 2000, Wipeout HD/Fury, Eternal Sonata, Zelda OoT, Star Wars (early 80's arcade), PGR4 and that's just the one's that spring to mind, loads more, plenty of great looking games that are also lucky enough to be great games as well.

BLITZ_Molloy

Retr0gamer wrote: »

There's also Marvel vs. Capcom and Street Fighter 4 will keep you going forever if you get in with the fighting games forum crowd

Never been a big fan of Marvel Vs. Capcom at all. From what I've read on fighting forums SF4 is a bit broken from a competitive point of view. Maybe they patched it since it came out I don't know.

Retr0gamer

There's 52 characters so of course it's broken. But just like smash bros which is broken and unbalanced it's still a load of fun to play. And for 800 points it's a steal.

Syferus

Retr0gamer wrote: »

There's 52 characters so of course it's broken. But just like smash bros which is broken and unbalanced it's still a load of fun to play. And for 800 points it's a steal.

Ahem.