On Generic Games

[Craemmir]

Chasm: The Rift!!! Can't believe someone else remembers this. I've never played it but it has, for years, been my whipping boy on the subject of stupid game naming.

It achieves a rare double lameness:

1) it uses a colon and a subtitle. Anyone remember when EVERY new game had a fugging colon in it?
2) the words on either side of the colon are sodding synonyms!!! They're the same damn word!

Thanks for reminding me of this great comic whipping boy.

 

[inhuMANATEE]

Good point about Space-sims. I'm a huge fan of that genre and have been wondering where those have gone. I find myself looking at older games like Star Fleet Command to get a glimpse of what it's like to actually take command of a spaceship and blow the hell outta bad aliens. Hopefully, Star Trek Online will revive interest in that area.

 

[Mike Fang]

Ahhh yes, the "generic" game. Ones that re-use elements that we've seen over and over. True enough this is an irritating problem, but I don't think the problem is re-used game mechanics, which Yahtzee seems to focus on in this review. Instead, I think the problem is re-used storylines, which is something he's talked about before, but not in this particular review. Yes, it's irritating as hell to have to hear about yet another brooding military type in the middle of some God damn warzone or on a secret mission where his superiors hid the truth from him and he's the last member of his team not to get turned into sausage filling. Yahtzee's also right about some of the characters, like the guy you thought was your friend that stabs you in the back, or the only woman in the game is destined to be your shipoopi.

For me re-using certain types of mechanics isn't that big a deal. Sure I like to see new mechanics (who doesn't?), but just because a lot of games have you hiding behind cover doesn't mean it's a bad idea. It's a GREAT one, if you were actually getting shot at in real life, would you really be running from size to side while waving an assault rifle around like an epileptic? NO, you'd get your ass behind the nearest solid object and wait for the best time to shoot back! Limited number of guns to carry? That's not bad either, when properly used. It requires an extra element of thought to gameplay, requiring you to try and think ahead about what situations you're likely to wind up in and what weapons would be the most effective.

Now I will say this much about "generic" gameplay features; not all of them go together. Cover-taking, for example, is rendered pointless with regenerating health. Iron sight aiming is fun, but only if the enemies don't have instant 100 percent accuracy for any player not running around like he's got ants in his jock strap.

In closing, I personally think the generic plot devices are the bigger problem than the generic game mechanics. The sooner game developers realize that a lot of people not in the military know the right end of a gun and how to not get their asses turned into lunch meat at the first sign of a terrorist attack, zombie apocalypse or alien invasion, the better.

 

[ToenailCar]

Now I will say this much about "generic" gameplay features; not all of them go together. Cover-taking, for example, is rendered pointless with regenerating health.

Really?

I'd say that a cover system combined with regenerating health are some of the most complimentary mechanics out there. In fact most of the time simply having regenerating health will create game-play at least partially based around taking cover even if there's no cover mechanic.
Look at halo for example, taking cover is a big part of the game-play _because_ your health regenerates despite the lack of any cover system, if you couldn't recover by shielding yourself from fire there would be little reason not to finish off the fight then and there even if you were going to lose, and almost no value in fighting from positions of cover when facing off with anyone who's a decent shot.
An implemented cover system simply complements the type of game-play that comes naturally with a regenerating health system.

See gears of war for example, that combines the two systems perfectly, in multi-player at least.

 

[Mike Fang]

Now I will say this much about "generic" gameplay features; not all of them go together. Cover-taking, for example, is rendered pointless with regenerating health.

Really?

I'd say that a cover system combined with regenerating health are some of the most complimentary mechanics out there. In fact most of the time simply having regenerating health will create game-play at least partially based around taking cover even if there's no cover mechanic.
Look at halo for example, taking cover is a big part of the game-play _because_ your health regenerates despite the lack of any cover system, if you couldn't recover by shielding yourself from fire there would be little reason not to finish off the fight then and there even if you were going to lose, and almost no value in fighting from positions of cover when facing off with anyone who's a decent shot.
An implemented cover system simply complements the type of game-play that comes naturally with a regenerating health system.

See gears of war for example, that combines the two systems perfectly, in multi-player at least.

What I meant was if you're going to have a standalone health recovery system, there's little point to have a standalone covering system. If its a recover health BY taking cover system, then that's different.

 

[Jhales]

That would be an awesome game, but maybe something better than zombies or aliens. Maybe large Teddy Bears given life by a money loving toy company who were too cheap to put in a morality chip.

 

[camazotz]

Isn't L4D one of these classic shooters, but just cool enough?

 

[tobyornottoby]

Is it possible that a genre could die out just because it's too easy to make?

No a genre probably dies out because it doesn't sell enough

That developers would want to make use of all the money and advanced rendering technology at their disposal and classic-style shooters just don't excite the designer's imagination anymore?

"...and classic-style shooters just don't excite the player's taste anymore" I bet

 

[aspasticninja]

Everchron Legends is a pretty decent space-based flight sim.

http://starwraith3dgames.home.att.net/evochronlegends/index.htm

 

[CopperKat]

Some others have mentioned this, but Left 4 Dead sounds like a monster spam game, whose level design only serves to contain tons of baddies. Proven further by the fact that L4D2's new AI director will actually change map layout for better gameplay. You could say that now any monster spam game without co-op, an AI director, and survival elements will be considered lacking. And so starts the cycle to generic town.

If Valve is designing a monster spam game, what the hell do we have to complain about?

 

[Cowabungaa]

EVE a flight sim?! Sure I'm not the first one to point it out, but réally now, it's anything but a space flight sim. If you want a new space-flight sim, check out Jumpgate Evolution [http://www.jumpgateevolution.com/] for some good ol' space combat with Newtonian physics and the likes.

 

[beema]

games do seem to be becoming overtly generic but I gotta say, I really don't think replacing them with insane enemy-spammers is a good solution. That would get boring really goddamn fast.
Anyways, doesn't Left 4 Dead sort of fulfill that need? Oh wait, you can't get it cause you live in **** land.

 

[dubious_wolf]

See I'm tired of regen health too. That's why I play a man's game, Rainbow six vegas 2 were a bullet will game over your ass. No regen health.
but being serious there is something cathartic about murdering a truck load of dudes. A truck load of not stupid guards, which is why the zombie/ daemon template could work well but it doesn't. I'm sick of RPG leveling elements in my FPSes it's like when syrup gets on my bacon or in my eggs. I like syrup and I like eggs but I don't like syrup covered bacon, I like RPGs and I like FPSes but having to play multiplayer for a month before you get the "good" guns is bullshit. I think that soon we will see the different genres get more defined in the near future but unfortunately not for a few more years.

 

[Faladorian]

Hmm. The game that you mentioned, a game where you just walk through a city full of enemies blasting away without a care is a game ive been dreaming of for a while. Now, there's a very large window for absolute failure. Think of a game that is just endless hordes of enemies in a big open space.... Left 4 Dead, right? Okay, now think of a game that is just endless hordes of enemies in a big open space, that isn't a complete, steaming pile of shit.... don't think on that one too long.

 

[juy56]

i dissagree, i think thet games like edf2017 are really fun simpily because it mindless explosions, and 2017 takes the route of if you cant make a good story dont make one. i like games that seem stupid until you play them and then hours later you friends are trying to pry you away from the screen to see what you looking at and the cycle repeats. download the indi game solar from the xbla and you might see what i mean