As I look through my Steam library, I begin to see that a large portion of the games I've played that were truly great were made before the year 2000. Maybe it's the complexity and depth of retro games that makes them so memorable, or maybe it's just the imagination required to be immersed in early graphics.
Developers these days don't seem to see the benefits of making games the way they used to be made, and things are taking a turn for the worse. Look at all the series being killed of by money-hungry studios-- how did always-online SimCity come from amazing sandbox Sim City 2000? How did amazingly immersive Morrowind get dumbed down to easily-accessible Skyrim?
The real problem with game makers today is creativity. While better companies such as Nintendo keep on making the same great Mario game every other year, many other studios are journeying into lame new territory. Original IP is good for stuff like books, maybe, but video game clunkers like The Last of Us and DayZ show that, when it comes to gaming, it's best to just stick to sequels.
The one ray of hope in today's gaming society is the multitude of indie developers making traditional point-and-click adventure games and old-school platformers, complete with retro graphics. Some developers have lost sight of how good video games can really be, and while these traitors to art work on triple-A sellout projects, retro developers haven't forgotten the fact that video gaming reached its peak long ago, and re-creating the experiences of the 80s and 90s is the only way gaming culture will ever move forward.
I don't know. It seems like the problem is likely one of execution. Although those old games are great, MOST of those older games were awful and maddening. I mean, We only remember, what....30 games made before 1995?
ReplyDeleteIn 20 years, we'll have forgotten all the crappy games of this era as well, and say things like "Why can't games be more like Half-life 2, Borderlands, or Dragon Age?
Time heals all wounds.
Good point. I probably went a bit overboard in this post.
Deletehey, that's what blogs are for. I like your writings dude, and look forward to future posts.
DeleteThanks for reading.
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