Poll: Is Gaming Going Downhill

[Imat]

For me, gaming has been going downhill for awhile now. Every popular game is either a sequel or a game that is exactly like another game that was popular. I don't remember the last time I saw a game that looked original to me (other than Brutal Legend) and was selling well. Whenever a game becomes popular we get a ton of clones, and I am tired of being the same buff space marine killing the same fucking aliens. Unless people stop buying these games that take no thought to produce gaming will be all average WW2 games, Space marine games, and World of Warcraft clones. What is your opinion on what is happening with games, do you think they have a bright future, or do you think they will continue to get worse of we don't stop buying the same game.

So you mean that the MMORPG and FPS genres are heading downhill? Genres which do not comprise the entirety of gaming? What happened to RTS, Racing, and Sport games (Though the last one is darn near impossible to be creative with and racing games are unlikely to be innovated upon). What happened to RPGs? Is Oblivion a WoW clone?

Short answer is no, gaming is not going downhill. Perhaps they all have a similar starting point but most games have plenty of innovations to make them unique and interesting. You clearly aren't playing these games and are simply judging them by their cover.

 

[Lenny Magic]

You have to go down hill to make the very large jumps...

 

[Marcus Dubious]

Are fanboy expectations becoming unrealistic?

 

[farmerboy219]

I think gaming is at it's best it's ever been with more and more innovative changes every time a new game is realeased, its great

 

[Terramax]

Games today are just remakes and sequels to games of yesteryear, so in that respect yes they are going downhill.

I've no problem with that though. Because I don't have the money to buy lots of fantastic, original titles, and in any case I will always have the Dreamcast with Soul Calibur, Sega Rally and Under Defeat. Nothing else matters

By original, I mean games like Tim Schaefer makes, he doesn't necisarily create a new genre, but he puts an individual story with a somewhat individual gamestyle into each game.

I don't buy into that. The story is different, as is the visual style, but that doesn't make it worth playing.

I've been watching Brutal Legend on youtube and, as funny as the story is, the game doesn't look like fun to play. The gameplay seems typical and uninspired. There's no reason not to just keep playing it then returning to another game of Sword of Berserk when I want to play a violent hack n slash, etc.

 

[C117]

Yes. Gaming is going downhill, fast. At least at the moment. Hopefully, some kind wave of Indie-games with color (I mean, christ, every game nowadays seem to be in grayscale) and new ideas (or at least some old ideas that are really good) will sweep in and put a stop to the declining market.

 

[BaldursBananaSoap]

Look harder. There's Assassins Creed 2, there's no other games like that, apart from the first game, and it looks to be a dramatic improvement. There's Demons Souls, Brutal Legend, Borderlands and more.

Stop looking at casual hyped up games like Modern Warfare 1.3.

 

[Jamienra]

I've been watching Brutal Legend on youtube and, as funny as the story is, the game doesn't look like fun to play. The gameplay seems typical and uninspired. There's no reason not to just keep playing it then returning to another game of Sword of Berserk when I want to play a violent hack n slash, etc.

the best thing about brutal legend is that it tried something new. the gameplay mechanics worked, but not very well. it shouldnt have been an rts. but the idea of creating something origina, like an rts with hack and slash elements (even if this game is basically kessen 2 with metal). games arent really declining, there just cloning. this is ok really as long as it doesnt become repetitive. LIKE A SANDBOX IN NEW YORK!

 

[Wintermoot]

yea sometimes it like finding a gem in a pile of shit but there are some realy good games liek the Half-Life series and TF2

 

[Chesterfield Snapdragon McFisticuffs]

Sequels are an opportunity for developers to work on a game, refine it and make it alot better than the first, while keeping the original ideas from the first. Looking at Assassin's Creed it had alot of potential but fell a little bit in terms of gameplay and AC2 is looking to be alot better.

 

[Sneaklemming]

Well, everything is getting consolized... Also I just watch the gametrailers review of Dragon Age; and apparently having 60hours of gameplay is a bad thing now....

 

[Terramax]

I've been watching Brutal Legend on youtube and, as funny as the story is, the game doesn't look like fun to play. The gameplay seems typical and uninspired. There's no reason not to just keep playing it then returning to another game of Sword of Berserk when I want to play a violent hack n slash, etc.

the best thing about brutal legend is that it tried something new. the gameplay mechanics worked, but not very well. it shouldnt have been an rts. but the idea of creating something origina, like an rts with hack and slash elements (even if this game is basically kessen 2 with metal). games arent really declining, there just cloning. this is ok really as long as it doesnt become repetitive. LIKE A SANDBOX IN NEW YORK!

Yeah, but clones to the same standard doesn't prove games aren't going downhill. Even games with original presentation like Brutal Legend aren't fun enough to be worth playing, only watching.

Genuine improvement would be a game that's so much better than previous in it's field that there's no worth playing older, obsolete titles. I don't play many Sega Saturn titles anymore because most of the games have been surpassed by Dreamcast games so games went uphill during that console's lifetime. But since then, it's gone downhill because games haven't taken it to the next level since.

The example I used was that there have been fighting games since Soul Calibur with better graphics, but none of them are any more fun than play, not even the sequels, so there's no point buying them.

 

[Little Duck]

The average quality of every game has decreased every year for a while now, favouoring the all American action hero over any deapth or plot, focusing mainly on the gameplay which has been played out many times before, marketing to the popular audience over creating something everyone would to some degree enjoy.

 

[IamQ]

Heavy Rain
God of War 3
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in time
Uncharted 2


These games say different.

You forgot Demon's Souls. F*ck, that game is intense.

OT: Games are getting more and more expensive and originality doesn't pay. Do the math. Though I'll be to busy enjoying the tsunami of great games that are coming out these months.

Shit, your right. I better edit it before the game comes and kicks me arse :<

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Sequels aren't bad. people. You've just been listening to Yahtzee to much.

As for lack of originality, there's only so many mechanics you can get out of the control schemes available to us today.

Every game in its esscence is 'pass this challenge to get this or go here'.

Or, if its an RPG:'go get this and bring it back to me for more stuff to go get'

 

[Jamienra]

Yeah, but clones to the same standard doesn't prove games aren't going downhill. Even games with original presentation like Brutal Legend aren't fun enough to be worth playing, only watching.

i understand. but games like brutal legend needed to do what they did, which was try to make something different. Even if it failed, its proof that someones trying to make something different and thus change things from clones into something more fun. im not saying clones are a bad thing. but when there churned out constanly whats the point in spending money?? ill go out after playing spiderman and get prototype and be soo disapointed. the worst thing about games is that they try to sell on their originality but end up being a clone. thats why games are going downhill. developers like tim schafer and peter molenyeux are needed to spice up the variety of gaming. just coz the game didnt work at least theyre constantly trying to push the boundries of games. sorry for the reaally long post :S

 

[p3t3r]

ya i also find myself becoming less interested in games but i also spend more time with friends plus 70$ for a new game is more money then i usually want to pay

 

[Terramax]

Yeah, but clones to the same standard doesn't prove games aren't going downhill. Even games with original presentation like Brutal Legend aren't fun enough to be worth playing, only watching.

i understand. but games like brutal legend needed to do what they did, which was try to make something different. Even if it failed, its proof that someones trying to make something different and thus change things from clones into something more fun. im not saying clones are a bad thing. but when there churned out constanly whats the point in spending money?? ill go out after playing spiderman and get prototype and be soo disapointed. the worst thing about games is that they try to sell on their originality but end up being a clone. thats why games are going downhill. developers like tim schafer and peter molenyeux are needed to spice up the variety of gaming. just coz the game didnt work at least theyre constantly trying to push the boundries of games. sorry for the reaally long post :S

Nothing to be sorry about. It's a valid point. I guess it's up to opinions again. Despite Schafer's best efforts, I'm not willing to pay out for the game because he tried to make something different. I'll only buy a game if I'll enjoy playing it. If not then it's onto youtube. Psychonauts was worth playing because the extra skills Raz learnt added extra dimension to the gameplay where other platformers hadn't done before, as well as using them to tell the story.

I'm not aruging all original games are 'bad'. Just not going 'uphill'.

 

[badgersprite]

Gaming isn't going downhill. Games are getting progressively better, and more interesting. It's really just that our standards are changing. There are still plenty of interesting, obscure, original games coming out, it's just that they don't get the marketing space that a franchise does.

I generally take the view that sequels aren't sequels. It's just that they have to divide up a game that would have been sold in one box a few years ago into three games to get the equivalent amount of play time. Plus, sequels have the opportunity to make genuine improvements on a style of gameplay and revolutionise the genre. The most obvious example is that they're evidently eager to fix what was broken in Assassin's Creed in the new game.

Video game design is still growing. Developers are learning how to use the tools at their disposal to make better, newer types of games. There are going to be some missteps along the way, but, ultimately, it's all part of the journey the industry is on as a whole.