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Developers need to stop recycling game experiences

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Sunday, February 26, 2012
EDITOR'S NOTEfrom Eduardo Moutinho

Winson has an interesting point, but I think the root of his concerns lie with the abundance of gaming options we have to choose from. Wading through all the cookie-cutter releases to find truly inspired gems can be difficult.

I remembered in middle school, I would try my hardest to save my allowance just so I can buy a $29.99 cartridge to feed my Nintendo Gameboy. In high school, when I was working part-time as a web designer, I would do the same thing and buy not some, but all Squaresoft (now Square Enix) releases on the original PlayStation. Final Fantasy VII, Parasite Eve, Bushido Blade, Brave Fencer Musashi, Xenogears, you name it, I have it. Everything was so exciting for me, and the creativity I found in video games seemed limitless.

Fast forward to today when games are more accessible and affordable than ever, and I find myself lacking the motivation to even pick up a controller. From Zelda: Skyward Sword to Dark Souls to Rayman Origins, I've bought my fair share of games in the past 12 months. Yet the only game I have actually finished was Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception back in December of last year.

Part of that reason is the overall direction of gaming. A medium that used to transport me to another world has become something recycled. A new title is now often indicated by the edition or version printed on the cover. Slowly but surely, I find myself turning on my PlayStation 3 at the end of the work day only for Netflix and nothing else -- not even for a quick round of Street Fighter IV.

 

Games are now created with increasing production value. They are also taking less risk to ensure profitability. Assassin's Creed II was amazing, but in what way were the next two follow ups original? Resident Evil 4 was a complete turnaround for the series, but how successful was Capcom in taking Resident Evil 5 to the next level?

Walt Disney didn't build his empire by creating Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and then follow up with Snow White 2, Snow White 3, or even Snow White 3: Ultimate Remix Edition. So how can video games possibly be mainstream (or otherwise be taken seriously by critics) when most games out there just look like a ripped-off Michael Bay movie? First-person shooters in a post-apocalyptic setting, really?

That's why I'm honestly more interested in an offbeat game like Rhythm Heaven Fever than Skyrim or Syndicate, just as I'm more interested in risk-taking releases like Bastion than generic modern-war shooters. Games are created to introduce people to new experiences, so perhaps ideas should come from organic inspirations instead of market-research data.

I'd happily play an original game with a distinctive message instead of a rinse-and-repeat title that offers little more than an upgraded weapon. Until then, I don't mind using my PS3 as a glorified Netflix player.

 
Tags: Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter 4, Assassin's Creed 2, Final Fantasy 7, Parasite Eve, Resident Evil 4, Xenogears, Syndicate, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Rayman Origins, Bastion, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Dark Souls, Bushido Blade, Rhythm Heaven Fever, Brave Fencer Musashi
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Fox Mulder
February 26, 2012

Have you tried Dwarf Fortress?

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Ed Grabowski
February 26, 2012

It's our fault really, not theirs. And throughout this entire comment I want to make it clear that I am talking about retail only. Just retail.

When I think back the the PS1/N64 days all I can see was the variety. I've been gaming for 24 years, and we went from having nearly every game playing exactly the same in the NES/SNES era, to an explosion of creativity in the PS1/N64 era. Then things started to quite down a bit, but not all together in the PS2/Xbox era. Now we are in the PS3/Xbox 360 era, and originality has fallen to the bottom of the pit, and cookie cutter experiences are being shot onto store shelves at alarming speeds. At retail, anyway...Digital/indie games are a whole different beast.

I think back to the PS1/N64 era and I remember there being AAA 2D platformers, 3D platformers, third person shooters, first person shooters, adventure games, puzzle games, JRPG's, racing sims, arcade racing games, truly unique games like Blast Corps that don't really fit into a genre, etc, etc, etc. I could go on and on and on. And these were all AAA (for the time) retail experiences and everyone loved them. We weren't married to just one or wo genres. We would be just as likely to stand in line at a midnight opening for Banjo Kazooie as we were for Final Fantasy 7. Publishers weren't afraid to take a chance, because gamers were much, much more liberal in their buying habits.

It was truly a glorious time to be a gamer. Fast forward to today, and what do we have on retail shelves? Shooters and action games. That's it. Well, that's all that sells anyway. It isn't like developers haven't tried. Sony was keeping the action platformers alive with the incredibly amazing Ratchet & Clank PS3 games, but their sales quickly declined with each one. A few developers here and there were releasing some truly spectacular racing games, but their success was modest.

Adventure games are non-existant on store shelves (again, digital is a different story). JRPG's have fallen off dramatically. The last 2D platformer relased on store shelves in a long, long time was Rayman Origins, and I believe it only sold 50,000 copies? And that leads me to my next point. It is our fault. Publishers and developers are only going to put the big bucks into experiences that we want to play. That is why all we are getting on store shelves is action games of some kind. That is all we really buy.

We did this to ourselves. If people went out and bought the amazing Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, we would be getting more AAA 3D platformers. If people went out and bought Split Second or Blur, we'd be getting more AAA arcade racers. If people wen't out and bought Rayman Origins, we'd be getting more AAA 2D platformers. However, people aren't buying those games. People are buying Call of Duty. People are buying Skyrim. People are buying anything that has shooting, blood and gore and action, while leaving most everything else to rot.

Of course anyone can say "Well that's not true, what about this game...". There are always exceptions to the rule. However, when you look at retail shelves today and compare them to retail shelves 10 or 15 years ago, the amount of AAA variety we used to have has been cut by 70%, and all we have left is action, action, action. I think Gears of War really did it in. Before that, the Xbox 360 was still seeing some great variety. You sure as hell won't see Microsoft make anything like Kameo again after Gears of War blew up.

People always scream they want more variety and originality on store shelves. Everytime I hear them say it, I always ask them the same thing. "Where were you when EA took a big gamble on Mirrors Edge? Where were you when, against all odds, Rare got to make Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts? Where were you when Sony was pushing out games like Heavy Rain & Ratchet & Clank Future? Where were you when Double Fine released Brutal Legend?"

I think people say they want originality and more uniqe titles with more variety, but they don't mean it. Whenever a developer gives them just what they want, the let it rot on store shelves while helping make Call of Duty the greatest selling entertainment franchise in history. How could these people say they want originality and unique games, but leave them to rot while gobbling up one of the most repetitive and cookie cutter gaming experiences money can buy?

Heck, what gets me the most is when a completely original shooter actually makes its way to store shelves, and absoluely nobody buys it. That always cracked me up. Look at Metro 2033, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood or Singularity. I mean, they can't even be botherd to buy unique games in the genre they want the most! It's like all they want is cookie cutter, generic experiences that do absolutely nothing to further the genre or the industry. You can't help but laugh. It's so absurd, I just can't help but laugh at it all.

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H Ra
February 28, 2012

You seem to be ignoring the Wii the home of AAA platformers from 2D games like New Super Mario Bros Wii and Donkey Kong Country Returns to 3D ones like Maro Galaxy and Epic Micky, on the HD consoles there are the recent Sonic games and Little Big Planet the upcoming Sly game etc so it's not like they don't exist and many of them sell quite well especially the Nintendo ones.

There are more Sim racers than ever before and arcade races haven't died off yet, there should be another Burnout game soon for example and there have even been a few Mario Kart knockoffs. And there are genres that you almost never saw in previous generations like WRPGs and online multiplayer and genres like fighting games that are back with a vengance. Even during the PSX/N64 era most games were of a few genres anyway there were Platformers, JRPGs and Action adventures and everything else was small exept for a few exeptions like Goldeneye or Resident Evil. 

I guess what I am saying is there are tones of new experiances out today even if there is a new genre king in town. There are games of every genre available (even if some are less common these days) and there are genres that never made it on consoles before. There are still lots of unique experiances out there for those that look. And ignoring the online space is obviusly ignoring a large chunk of games many of which you would never see  at retail in any generation.

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