I recently had this debate with a good friend of mine of how games seem to be turning 1 shade of gray now and days. Yet he thought the opposite so hopefully ill hear more input on the topic from other gamers but in an overall sense games have lost their charm or just dont seem to peak my interest. Now im not referring to every game thats been out or will come out in the future of this gen its just an overall feeling i get. Its more commonplace than i would like so let me give you my perspective.
First off, what happened to creativity and content? They seemed, at one point, to go hand in hand. The days of unlockables, long single player adventures, and loads of content have all but vanished. Now replaced with DLC, map packs, and multiplayer being the standard if you want any sort of longevity. Have shooters become the quick cash in that developers can no longer bring something fresh and inventive to the table? I hate to say it, but yes seems to be the answer. Now granted, games on the nes and genesis were short and often cost 60-80 dollars a game. I understand that, but from there we started to progress forward where games were cheaper, a whole lot longer, and came with tons of extras, unlocks and replayablity. Now we are in the process of going back down that slope again. Shorter games, less content and the only thing that seems to be increasing is how much we have to pay, which just doesn't sit right with me. Is it so wrong to ask for more for a fair price? If the games pack less than the standard they should be priced accordingly and i have seen a few such as sengoku basara and majin and the forsaken kingdom, both of which came out at 40 dollars. That is how a feel most shooters should be priced now and days but thats just my opinion.
Now im not trying to pick on fps games or bash them in any way, but the market is extremely over saturated with more shooters than i can handle. I like the fps genre, its not my favorite, but its just as enjoyable is any other genre out there. My complaint is not with the fps genre itself but how the games are presented. The standard is a 4-5 hour campaign, some multiplayer and you have a winning formula to sell millions. Now see, why cant those types of games be priced cheaper, especially since the content is, for the most part, underwhelming in favor of DLC. There are fps games on last gen systems that have double the maps, double the modes and even map creators right on the disk. Not to mention full campaigns with 10 or more hours. My point is that its far to easy for the developers to squeeze every nickel and dime out of us and it pushes me away from certain games.
Sadly though, i have to turn to last gen games to play anything different or out of the ordinary. Heck, even the wii packs more interesting games than what i have been seeing as of late and people refuse to acknowledge it half the time and merely dismiss it as a "casual only" kind of system. Im not the kind of person who will list endless amounts of games but a few that come to mind are games like rez, ape escape, tomba, psychonauts, katamari damacy, and okami. I can keep going on and on but im sure you get the point so ill only list a few. I mean look at seaman on the dreamcast, that game was ridiculous. Its wasent the best game and was kind of just mediocre but it was creative, inventive and outside the box. You talked to a fish who whittedly remarked back, where are the games that take that sort of inventive approach? You just wont see those sorts of things now and days since its not considered a money maker which is disheartening.
Overall, last gen and even the gen before had a general quality much higher than just about anything you'll see today. There will be exceptions to that statement but thats all they are, exceptions instead of the rule. I think some gamers have lost sight of what makes a great game. You dont necessarily have to have 1080p graphics, more pixels than the competition and online play to enjoy something outstanding. The industry seems to be taking note and following along one path and to be honest i just dont want to be apart of that. You cant really blame them though. Game developers and publishers are a business just like any other business and the number 1 goal is to make money. I wish that more unique, niche games sold better cause 9 out of 10 times they flop making it harder and harder for developers to risk trying something new and in turn resorting back to what works. Which is, as of now, just one endless cycle. THQ comes to mind as of late. They didnt always make or publish the best games but what they had was fun and entertaining. Yet now that homefront is out and their pre order sales are through the roof i expect them to follow suit and continue along the fps path.
Hopefully i didnt ramble on to much but maybe im not the only one who feels this way. Or maybe im just missing the point entirely. Id like to hear feedback on how others take this situation.
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