Not many new ideas for games

[koshman]

I also don't agree with the OP. Gaming is different today, I miss some things, true, but on the other hand games have advanced soooo much. It's really difficult to compare e.g. last Metal Gear Solid game to the original Metal Gear. The presentation of the story is so dramatic, touching and plain awesome - it's more than a game and it's great.
A gamer is a gamer - I can play UFO for hours on my Amiga and then go and play God of War and enjoy both. And graphics quality matters, it really does. The aforementioned GoW is really a pretty standard game, nothing truly innovative or addictive, but the graphics are simply so beautiful that I just like playing it, I like seeing what comes next.

[Franko]

@ B00tDisk

"Oh," many of you decry, "it is another boring PC FPS." - yes, because it's on the PC. If by some miracle Valve allowed it to be ported to other systems and a build was released for the Amiga, I know the game would be embraced by the same detractors.

Never was a big fan of platform games and even more so shoot-em-ups. RPGs were my favorites, The Speris Legacy, The Faery Tale Adventure and the few others that were made for the Amiga. Hate to say it but the best RPGs ever made were for the SNES Terranigma, Chrono Trigger and a whole lot more.

Having watched and even tried some of the games my nephew plays on his various consoles and PCs, it's all about the graphics and this obsession with 3D/ first person perspective and not about the gameplay or thinking element. Hell even the adverts for them on the telly all look the same.

If by some miracle these became available on the Amiga, to say you know the game would be embraced by the detractors is 99.9% wrong, cos here's one detractor that wouldn't give them the time of day...


@ Amiga_Nut

A good game is a good game, and what is good about consoles is their games use every last ounce of mhz left in the system, witness Killzone 2 on a 12 foot screen and then go back to playing Bruce Lee on C64? I think not

True, A good game is a good game, but gimme Bruce Lee or better still Forbidden Forest on an old 14inch monitor over the mind numbing likes of Killzone anyday... (the old games may seem equally mind numbing, but there's something about them that's fun...)

[Speelgoedmannetje]

I must say gaming has become much better nowadays, better that is, better than in 1996, when you couldn't seperate one doom-clone from the other, or if you liked adventures more, there were those horrendous 'interactive movies'.
But also in the 80s not everything was good. There have been plenty of atrocities released on the Amiga and Commodore 64 as well. Though we are eager to forget that.
Thing is, 2D is not accepted as a full game since Doom came out (not saying Doom or all of its clones are bad), whether it should be.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

True, A good game is a good game, but gimme Bruce Lee or better still Forbidden Forest on an old 14inch monitor over the mind numbing likes of Killzone anyday... (the old games may seem equally mind numbing, but there's something about them that's fun...)

I love to play modern games side by side by the old classics B-)
And still think some old classics look very good.

[Franko]

I must say gaming has become much better nowadays, better that is, better than in 1996, when you couldn't seperate one doom-clone from the other, or if you liked adventures more, there were those horrendous 'interactive movies'.
But also in the 80s not everything was good. There have been plenty of atrocities released on the Amiga and Commodore 64 as well. Though we are eager to forget that.
Thing is, 2D is not accepted as a full game since Doom came out (not saying Doom or all of its clones are bad), whether it should be.

Your right about the atrocities even back then, out of over 5000+ Amiga games I have I reckon there must only be a few hundred that I still play to this day.

If 2D is not accepted as a full game anymore, it just helps to re-inforce my view about todays games being mind numbing. If you can't accept a game unless it is 3D then it only goes to show it worked, your mind has been totally numbed...

[Ilwrath]

RPGs were my favorites, The Speris Legacy, The Faery Tale Adventure and the few others that were made for the Amiga. Hate to say it but the best RPGs ever made were for the SNES Terranigma, Chrono Trigger and a whole lot more.

Well, I'll agree, it's rather a crappy time for old-school single player RPGs.  I don't think that has anything to do with dumbing down for consoles, though.  It has to do with everyone chasing after the profits of WoW, I think.  MMORPG is the buzz.  Anything with a semi-expansive world has to be a WoW clone to get published.  I hoping this trend should be wrapping up fairly soon, and we get a few good single player story RPGs.  Also, someone should get with Wizards of the Coast and do some real D&D games, like the old SSI Gold Box games were.

If 2D is not accepted as a full game anymore, it just helps to re-inforce my view about todays games being mind numbing. If you can't accept a game unless it is 3D then it only goes to show it worked, your mind has been totally numbed...

I don't really think so.  I just think the bar has been raised.  Except in rare circumstances where 2D actually IMPROVES gameplay (Worms?), you really need to be in 3D to meet expectations.  With the power of today's machines, this really isn't an out of line mark.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Your right about the atrocities even back then, out of over 5000+ Amiga games I have I reckon there must only be a few hundred that I still play to this day.

If 2D is not accepted as a full game anymore, it just helps to re-inforce my view about todays games being mind numbing. If you can't accept a game unless it is 3D then it only goes to show it worked, your mind has been totally numbed...

True. But to name one single game which really utilizes 3D is Thief, where you had to use the shadows, and also take care where you set your steps. Ergo, using 3D aspects for puzzling purposes. (plus it had a tremendous atmosphere)

Then again, one might well be able to achieve approximately the same gameplay in 2D, using an isometric pov. But one of the main charms of Thief was the feeling of being that character, being very vulnerable and alone in an environment you should not be.

[Amiga_Nut]

I like playing Lotus II AND Need for Speed:Most Wanted. A game can still be great regardless of age or hardware it runs on I agree. Super Stardust is probably the rare exception, as a shoot-em up package it still hasn't been beaten really. Awesome sound, awesome blasting/flying gameplay, awesome graphics. I do actually prefer it to PS3 Super Stardust HD. Then again I wouldn't bother loading up Gauntlet 2 on Amiga but it's there on 360 in perfect detail for a few quid too.

You have to admit, design skills aside, there is nothing you can't do on today's hardware that you could do on an Amiga or C64. Vice versa is not true and I happen to like playing Battlefield 2 with 63 other people in a photo-realistic environment with sand-box gameplay (ie playing silly buggers!)

Now if you are saying wacky surreal design skills like those of Manic Miner/Gribbly's Day Out etc are not common now as they were in the 8bit days then I totally agree Franko.

[ElPolloDiabl]

Thanks for the responses. Sorry for depressing you, but the sameness of game releases was starting to get to me and I was thinking we may see people do like they did in the 80s and abandon video games for a period of time. Doubtful considering the price of consoles to the average salary.
You put it in perspective that although there is a load of uninteresting stuff there are still some quality titles that pop up or can be found with a bit of searching.
The golden era of of pc gaming is gone and finished. I hope I can look forward to many cross-platform/cross system titles from dedicated developers.

[kedawa]

I mostly play old games and updates to old games, but I've noticed the trend of newer games being dumbed down and less interactive.  I like to actually play games, not watch them, so it's hard for me to find good single player games.  Downloadable games seem more innovative than what's on store shelves these days, though, and I've played a lot of really fun XBLA games.

[jj]

Assassins creed II is an amazing updateish to thief.
 
I think most people are missing the point.  yes there are a lot of games out there that are more or less the same.  And yes it was the same in the 8 bit and 16 bit days.
 
As to mario having child like graphics., so what really does not make it any less of a game.
 
There are still a lot of fresh ideas out there especially on abox arcade.  Things like limbo and rreally good updates like shadow complex and trails HD.

[Retro_71]

Games These days are too boring. play them for a few hours and that's it. ( i know i have dozens and dozens of STEAM games along with countless "backup" games ).
Everyone puts so much time into graphics they forget game play.
The games of the past didn't have great graphics they had to rely on game play to hook you in.

[Khephren]

Games These days are too boring. play them for a few hours and that's it.

It's the ones I can play in a few hours that I like! The enourmous sprawling games, I just don't have time for these days ;(