What's the most unique game to come out in the last... oh... eight years?
I can't think of one off the top of my head and I blame gamers in general for that.
When video games were few and far between, in the late 1980's and 90's every release was something new and unique made by a bunch of people who just liked to make games. There was innovation and originality in those years when games like Ultima (destined to be one of the most ripped off games of all time, beginning with Diablo), Bards Tale, Kings Quest, Fantasy General, Crystal Caliburn, Dragon Lore, Blood and Fire, Eye of the Beholder and dozens and dozens of other games pushed the medium and turned it in new directions. Some of the directions were not so good, some were horrible even (play Dragon Lore now to see how painful that type of adventure game could be) but at least they were trying something new.
Now, we have Halo3 (a Wolfenstein clone) and, frankly, it's sad. I haven't seen a unique game in a long time, most of them are various combat simulators or puzzle games, and when someone comes out with something that's even a little different (like Psychonauts) it's ignored by most people in favor of Metal Gear Solid Whatever and .
It boils down to this, we all like a the thrill of a new gaming experience. When I played Doom for the first time I broke three mice and numerous keyboards due to the pacing, tension and just plain joy of the damned thing and while I would love to feel that way about a game again I don't think re-releasing it with top of the range graphics and calling it HALO is the way to do it.
Obviously I'm wrong, at least as far as the sales figures go, because people can't seem to get enough of the same game with different graphics. And this isn't even a "bad" thing because without remakes and re-imaginings we would never have Diablo, Fallout, Painkiller, Psychonauts or Sacred. These are all fun games that I have enjoyed tremendously, unfortunately for every unique vision that makes it to the shelves there's a hundred flashy, samey games that sell like hotcakes because their just like the one before it, and the one before it and the one before it... all the way back to the original game that started it all.
FANBOY WARNING: If I see a reply about how HALO has nothing to do with DOOM and is a unique game I want you to know that I know you haven't been playing video games long enough to know what it is I'm talking about.
By the way... I cut my teeth on Pong and Zork.
I really want to hear other opinions on this, because I think its interesting and a good topic for discussion.
I can't think of one off the top of my head and I blame gamers in general for that.
When video games were few and far between, in the late 1980's and 90's every release was something new and unique made by a bunch of people who just liked to make games. There was innovation and originality in those years when games like Ultima (destined to be one of the most ripped off games of all time, beginning with Diablo), Bards Tale, Kings Quest, Fantasy General, Crystal Caliburn, Dragon Lore, Blood and Fire, Eye of the Beholder and dozens and dozens of other games pushed the medium and turned it in new directions. Some of the directions were not so good, some were horrible even (play Dragon Lore now to see how painful that type of adventure game could be) but at least they were trying something new.
Now, we have Halo3 (a Wolfenstein clone) and, frankly, it's sad. I haven't seen a unique game in a long time, most of them are various combat simulators or puzzle games, and when someone comes out with something that's even a little different (like Psychonauts) it's ignored by most people in favor of Metal Gear Solid Whatever and .
It boils down to this, we all like a the thrill of a new gaming experience. When I played Doom for the first time I broke three mice and numerous keyboards due to the pacing, tension and just plain joy of the damned thing and while I would love to feel that way about a game again I don't think re-releasing it with top of the range graphics and calling it HALO is the way to do it.
Obviously I'm wrong, at least as far as the sales figures go, because people can't seem to get enough of the same game with different graphics. And this isn't even a "bad" thing because without remakes and re-imaginings we would never have Diablo, Fallout, Painkiller, Psychonauts or Sacred. These are all fun games that I have enjoyed tremendously, unfortunately for every unique vision that makes it to the shelves there's a hundred flashy, samey games that sell like hotcakes because their just like the one before it, and the one before it and the one before it... all the way back to the original game that started it all.
FANBOY WARNING: If I see a reply about how HALO has nothing to do with DOOM and is a unique game I want you to know that I know you haven't been playing video games long enough to know what it is I'm talking about.
By the way... I cut my teeth on Pong and Zork.
I really want to hear other opinions on this, because I think its interesting and a good topic for discussion.