Games That Have Aged Well (For You)

[Twintix]

Remember that thread about games that haven't aged well in your opinion? This is kinda the reply to that.

I've been playing Wario Land 4 lately to use as material for a gameplay analysis. This is a game that my brother and I played a lot when we were kids, and it was the first GameBoy Advance game we owned. Booting it back up and playing it again...

It still feels like a solid and fun game to me. It might be because of my nostalgia, but I find that many of the gameplay mechanics still work in this day and age. It never really feels stale to me. The gameplay is engaging, the music is great, the presentation is cartoony and colorful, the worlds are memorable (If a bit on the easy side, but that's not really a minus for me) and the bosses can be a bit tricky if you don't know what you're doing. The only levels that weren't that memorable to me is the industrial-themed ones, and I think that's only because those were the levels I played the least as a child.

Also, on a slightly unrelated note, the Hurry Up! theme is quite possibly the most hectic piece of video game music I've ever heard:


So, how about you? Which game has aged well for you?

 

[Muspelheim]

Dear old Operation Flashpoint. I got back into it recently and I didn't think I'd still like it as much as I did.

The graphics weren't even very good back in 2001, and it shows. But at this point, it's more endearing than distracting. They remind me of Thunderbirds puppets. You can see what things are supposed to be, at least, and I think that's enough sometimes.

http://www.bistudio.com/assets/games/arma-cold-war-assault/screenshots/arma_cwa-screenshot_4.jpg

Charge of the Cardboard Men.

The gameplay is the thing that holds up the best. It's still fun and tactical, even if it does make you miss the additional bells and tools the sequels brought along. I still can't think of a game that has done tank fighting as well, barring the sequels and proper tank sims.

I like the campaigns, and the emphasis on good old gruntwork. The series got a bit carried away with highly trained and well equipped commandos after a while, and it feels a bit refreshing coming back to something more simple now and then. While the stories aren't very novel, they keep you interested enough to keep going. There's no doubt some nostalgia at work, but I honestly think the game still holds up on its own.

Mind you, I managed to get the CSLA mod working, and the updated character models and textures was all the graphical improvement I needed. Even if it did make the mission texts look like they were written by Polandball.

 

[Lilikins]

Hmm to this day I still love firing up Heroes of Might and Magic 3.
Its graphics are outdated, but they have a specific charm.
Matches can last forever if you want them to.
Theres soooooooooooo much to do with so many different builds/artifacts/heroes etc.
It has multiplayer, so you can easily grab a few friends, have a drink or two and have a mega LAN session at it all night (with the exception of the rule...No Necropolis, we had one match before were 3 of us were Necro's...needless to say when we finally got to the second month one friend had already passed out from playing drinking games...ah-hem...)

I just find it all in all a great game if your into that stuff hehe and as spoken, to this day when I know Im not going to be doing anything that day, and trying to be as unproductive as possible...with my cat.. Ill fire it up and finally look at the clock at 5:00 in the morning, noticing Id better get to bed.

(Its getting an HD remake thats being released on Steam I saw...Im tempted but..not completely sure at the moment seeing as I have the 'Complete' Edition along with WoG....time will tell.)

 

[Story]

Okami.
Okami has aged really nicely like a fine wine.

I think the Spyro series still plays well and looks good to this day.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Quite a few RPGs from my early times. Curse of the Azure Bonds is still my favorite Gold Box game and worth getting into. Castle of the Winds was just as fun as ever, the last time I actually got it to work. Hell, by this point, even Wizardry 8 and Soulbringer are old enough to be considered to have "aged well." Does 2000 count?

And I still pull up my old Genesis-era platformers every so often. Maybe someday I'll actually beat Dynamite Headdy...but until that day comes, I'll always have Ristar.

 

[Mangod]

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Sure, the graphics aren't exactly king of the hill anymore, and the UI hasn't aged too well, but it is all the same one of the best 4X games in the world. Hell, the game is 15 years old, and it still steals Civilization: Beyond Earth's clothes, boots and car, and leaves its spiritual successor standing by the roadside, happy that it got to keep its f-ing life.

 

[laggyteabag]

A launch title for the good old original Xbox. I am of course talking about the Shrek Halo: Combat Evolved, and its eventual sequel, Halo 2.

For games that came out in 2001 and 2004 respectively, they still play remarkably well, and their aesthetic design holds up today, even if their graphics did not. It is nice to see that some games are still just fun to play, even if they are over 10 years old now. They revolutionised shooters on a console, and the sequel spearheaded online gaming too. They are proof that you don't need mechanics like sprint or ADS to make a successful shooter, but sadly this seems like something that 343 forgot.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Max Payne 2, MGS3, Devil May Cry 3. Those three are the first that come to mind. Graphically they're just fine. More than fine even, as far as I'm concerned. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the gameplay mechanics in these games. They are still relevant. There are some bizarre gameplay choices in MGS3 but nothing too serious to hamper the overall enjoyment. And there is still nothing else quite like it. Not even Ground Zeroes because it replaced the survival elements with health regeneration.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

To me, it's mostly the games with a really good story and/or a unique setup. And puzzle games. Puzzlers rarely age.

Top of my head:

Rez
Who would've thought you could reinvent something as straight forward as a rail shooter? The music, the graphics, the flow - even the story and its presentation is a joy to experience. Abstract, yet clear in its message, it remains a marvel of synesthesia. Child of Eden (its spiritual successor) is good as well, but it was a tad too bombastic in my opinion. Where Child of Eden was a full-on celebration of life, Rez was the journey of one lone hacker to soothe what can only be described as the self-manifested soul of an AI that had shut itself away from the world after accessing the net and experiencing the madness we wreck upon one another. Do robots dream of electric sheep? Can artificial life become depressed?

Final Fantasy IX
The story, the atmosphere, the world, the characters, the ability system, Everything except the graphics has aged beautifully - and even then, the designs of the pre-rendered backgrounds remain amazing. Also, I haven't played a game since this that had so many strong, well developed female characters (without laying it on thick or using it as some underground marketing ploy). I mean, it was never without its flaws (the card game is pointless, loading times for battles take a while and I have huge problems with the ending), but everything that was good then is still good today.

Bombastic
Probably one of my favorite puzzle games - though I hesitate to call it 'just a puzzle game', because my mind can't except that a puzzler would be this freakin' hectic. Seriously though, when it comes to local multiplayer fun, this game is up there with TimeSplitters and Amplitude.

 

[Frankster]

Pharaoh and the rest of the sierra city builder series.

If one were to remake any game of the series, what is there to improve besides some slight tinkering? Both gameplay and visuals still hold up.

 

[Augustine]

I'd say HoMM3 is definitely up there with the best of them...

Though after I discovered Dominions 4, I have a hard time coming back to it.

 

[-LiQUiDPoWEr-]

Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, and it's sequel, Heroes. Of all the original Xbox games, these games I still keep in my collection of pop 'n plays. Those two games had such a perfect balance of Dynasty Warriors style commander action, real-time strategy combat, and RPG-lite troop development, no single game to date has taken over their spot in my heart. It really hurt my soul when Circle of Flame came out for the 360 and it was just a giant pile of crap, with NONE of what made those games so great.

Oh well, Kingdom Under Fire 2 is gonna hit beta soon. Let's roll the dice once more, yeah?

 

[Nazulu]

Also, on a slightly unrelated note, the Hurry Up! theme is quite possibly the most hectic piece of video game music I've ever heard:


So, how about you? Which game has aged well for you?

Holy Shit! That really is something. This all reminds me that I need to get a lot more Advanced games, cause there were so many! Heaps I still haven't played!

On Topic: Most of them are fine to me really. I've gone back to plenty of classic games, and while I notice that the graphics are out-dated and certain mechanics aren't perfect, I will slowly sink into it if it has style and functions well enough.

Before I played Half Life for the first time in July 2014, I noticed the game received a lot of praise and a lot of flak. Criticisms about how the textures are crummy, the 3D is blocky, the movement is like ice-skating, certain weapons felt like they weren't functioning well enough, how the ladders are dangers on their own, AI doesn't always seem to have a proper directive, common bugs that can screw your game, etc.

These are all true, and yet, it's one of the best damn games I've ever played. Easily.

- The textures do look unappealing at times but some of it has a very original feel to it too. And they never mentioned how clever the lighting was to disguise a lot of it.

- The 3D is definitely out-dated, but it all fits in with the concept and none of it was blaring (unless you saw that screwed up face model).

- The movement is very zippy and loose, but the speed really gives it it's own unique feel. I really can't think of many other games that feel this quick, plus you can just walk in the dangerous bits with Shift.

- The shot gun and machine gun did feel very off, but I managed to find times where they were useful, and the double fire of the shot gun was effective against most things.

- I did get killed by the ladders, especially where the pipes were, but I practiced and adjusted and now I don't even care.

- The AI did some weird things every now and again, all of them were funny though.

- And I can acknowledge there are some very well known bugs in the game, and I found them all, making me have to load from a previous save. Good part was they were all just before a save point (except one) so it was never the end of the world.

All in all, some of these flaws really felt like it added to the game for me, and it was just such a nice change. Including the game is so intense and mixes up things so often in such a clever way that I started to ignore all of these early on. And no, I actually don't think much of the Black Mesa remake as it has it's own flaws that detract from the experience.

 

[kickyourass]

I'd say Morrowind has aged pretty well, I mean it has a few foibles that can be attributed to it's aging, a few mechanics like bartering don't work as well as they do in later games for instance. But most are things I have to imagine were issues at launch and even then they add a charm to the game that you don't often get in more recent RPGs.

 

[The Jovian]

Oddworld: Abe's Exodus for sure, when I was 8 years old I thought this game was the bomb, it looked great, it played great, it sounded great and it even smelled great (oh wait that was my ancient, Pentium II processored, gaming rig). Nowadays it's just as awesome as I remember, the graphics hold up amazingly well the gamepay is just is engaging as before (if infinitely easier as a consequence of me playing the game so much I can recite it entirely from memory) and Abe is still the likable goofball I remembered from my childhood. It's on Steam for 5$ so if you haven't had a chance to play this timeless classic yet I suggest you play it now.

 

[w23eer]

Most CRPGs that I used to play, especially Icewind Dale (never played the sequel though). In terms of graphics, I don't think LoZ: The Wind Waker is ever going to look old.

 

[SoreWristed]

I still like loading up the original Jak and Daxter. One of the only two games to date i've ever 100%ed because i wanted/needed to. I could even do a decent speedrun of 2 h because i just knew it so well.
Somehow the graphics still don't feel too dated, probably because of the cartoony style. In comparison, Jak 2 has aged terribly and i couldn't bear playing through it until they released the remastered collection.

Other game is Beyond good & evil, but that's because nostalgia just carries me through to the end.

Most CRPGs that I used to play, especially Icewind Dale (never played the sequel though). In terms of graphics, I don't think LoZ: The Wind Waker is ever going to look old.

The remastered version is going to stand the test of time, it just looks so good.

 

[tilmoph]

Final Fantasy Tactics. The Job system is still infinitely fun to play with and adds tremendous replayability. The story is deep, multilayered, but never really loses you; for all the plots within plots, you can always follow along. It wasn't a graphical beast when it came out, but it looked good, and it still does.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I love the artwork for this game. The enemies are interesting to see (despite the bouts of palette swapitis), the gameplay is straightforward but flexible, sequence breaking and exploration is still fun, and there's enough variety in weapons and tactics to keep a player amused for a while.

 

[Jandau]

The old Infinity Engine games (Baldur's Gate series, Icewind Dale series, Planescape: Torment). The basis of their visuals are the beautiful painted backdrops which give the graphics a timeless quality. The sprites for characters and creatures are also quite detailed and well done, fitting with the background seamlessly. The game mechanics merge turn-based and real time fairly elegantly, and the controls are based on standard RTS layouts. All in all, very few things about these games would need modernizing and they are still perfectly playable, especially if you get a mod for higher resolutions (a problem with the earlier IE games). Some of the best RPG games ever made and they hold up amazingly well even today.