Do you remember the first video game you every played? How about the first console you ever owned? Maybe you’re primarily a PC gamer and always have been? Whatever your preference I am sure you can remember plenty of times throughout your gaming career where you have fell head over heels for a specific game. I know I can remember those specific times — Super Mario Bros. 3, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy VI, Goldeneye 007, Starcraft — the list could go on. All of these games contributed to their genre and/or the video game design in general in a very profound way. I’m sure most of you have your own list with little gems here and there that other people wouldn’t necessarily agree with you on, but that’s what makes games so great… they can appeal to so many people in so many different ways.
Unfortunately, lately I have been noticing that I no longer am looking forward to new games. I constantly find myself searching through my old video game collection to play through the classics again. Even today, I had a discussion with a co-worker about a little shop down the street that still sells the old cartridges for NES/SNES/Genesis/etc.. We reminisced about games like Chrono Trigger, Super Castlevania, and more. Now, I am not going to sit here and bash all new games, there are still a good amount coming out that I look forward to. However, for the most part, they are made solely by 1-2 developers and I will talk about them here in a second (i.e. Blizzard and SquareEnix).
I admit, I am an avid collector of classic video game series. I own all of the Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil series. I have a lust for Squaresoft/SquareEnix and Blizzard games. I recently went through Final Fantasy 3 again and am about to go through Final Fantasy IV and V again in preparation for Final Fantasy XIII (hey, what do you know, another SquareEnix game). I’m doing the same with Starcraft and Diablo as their new games get closer and closer to release date (more Blizzard games!).
My questions is, what is it nowadays that makes the majority of new games coming out non-enjoyable? Is it the price? Maybe sub-par gameplay? Maybe it’s the lackluster stories? Are most games too easy today? Any of these questions could be the answer to any number of new games coming out on the market. Every single one of those reasons has been a reason why I have not picked up a game at some point or another over the past 5 years or so. The only two games I can honestly say that I have bought and enjoyed over the past 5 years have been FFXII and Demon’s Souls. Demon’s Souls is a game that is very challenging and allows me to reminisce about old, hard, games like Ninja Gaiden and others. It’s the best game on the PS3 in my opinion, simply because it’s the only game that actually brought me back for more.
So, by now maybe there are many who would venture to disagree with me on this topic. Maybe you think there are plenty of great games out there that have come out in the past 5 years. I am ready to hear about them. Write me comments about games you think contradict my view. Please, help me see the light in this abyss of sub-par video games over the past few years. But please do one thing before doing so. Think about those games that I talked about before. Those games that you fell head over heels for when you first unwrapped it and plugged/slid it in to play. If you don’t get that same feeling from any of these new games out, then why bother? Why bother playing them when you can get a better feeling by playing the oldies?
