Games are different from each other.
Now,i know this is hard to read. But this isn't to be read.
It is to be comprehended.
Games are different from each other. And people are different from each other.
Why do we expect,or even want to expect. Every game will be fun for every person?
I know i have enjoyed some titles far,far more than the general media has. Or had.
Titles like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl. Descent,or Sauerbraten. (don't be surprised if you haven't heard of the last two,one's over a decade old,the other was developed open source.)
What do we consider fun?
For me,
elements of these are gold to me. And i will explain why.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl. Is a game that seemed simple on the surface. Shooting,looting,and quick saving all were things that i had done in other games. but not necessarily in the same title.
This game had immersion. So much immersion it had it coming out of every orifice it had. It simply oozed immersion.
The fighting was dynamic,and just like in real life,you couldn't always see everything in front of you. There were mutant monsters that growled in the dark,sometimes whole packs of them. And when they leaped into your flashlight beam they scared you. bad.
They always scared you. period. I played that game for 6 months straight. and they scared me right up to the end. You know how you wish FEAR was scary? well stalker was what FEAR wasn't.
Descent was my first PC title. One of the first fathers of 3D games,almost as much a pioneer as Doom,or Quake. Yet nobody remembers it. Shame too,it had both a simply stunning single player and amazing multi player. The game sported 6DOF fights in zero gravity. Although i know this didn't sound very impressive,it was one
hell of a game back in 1995.
(if you happen to have a PC that supports MS-DOS or has dos box,i highly recommend looking into this title. even today the Single player's quite a campaign. Though sadly multi player's dead. nobody plays it anymore. ;.( )
And i found sauerbraten fairly recently in a Open source games website. (i won't advertise,but if you want to know PM me.) What did Sauerbraten have other than an awesome name? One of the most accessible and intuitive world editors i have ever seen in my life.
It's the evolution of the Cube engine. You simply add and remove cubes of differing sizes to make an environment you can share with friends and fight in. It also supports slants,texturing etc. however it does not in any way get in the way for a beginner. And one of the other cool features it has is a built in map optimizer.
If you've ever tried to build a decent map in Hammer or any map making program,you'd know how hard it is to keep everything optimized. in fact it becomes neigh impossible if you don't do extensive calculations and use special extensively time consuming techniques.
I believe i find "different" and "intuitive" fun. But for some,death matches will always be king. the adrenaline is simply the most powerful and compelling force we will ever feel. (at least as gamers
)
And finding something as easy to operate as a shooter and yet so highly addicting is an impossible task.
Sometimes even years later we can come back and find an entirely fresh game. If you can pull yourself away from the flashy graphics of next-gen.
I think it isn't the games. games are plenty fun. the real problem resides in making a game fun for everyone,and compelling enough to keep everyone playing.
There are alot of people that would enjoy more than plain shooters but have never played anything better suited to them,and so they drone on. Living on hype and broken dreams.
And we are the elite,who have seen enough to be unhappy with what we can find.
It's sort of a curse and a blessing. Being one compelled to go where nobody has gone before,and pushing the boundaries.
Only we can't do anything...yet.
Just pray when the current group of games Dev's die of old age we get hired.
Keep your hopes high and your expectations low,cheers.
