Heh. I used to have this PC Gamer article on Age of Empires 2. Just a preview, about six or seven pages with loads of pictures.
I took it with me everywhere. Read it nonstop. Talked about it with friends, etc. etc.
Yeah, that doesn't happen much anymore
Coincidentally though I did play Earth Defense Force a fucking ton with my roommate in college. It's rare to find games that fun now that I'm all cynical and grouchy.
Yeah, that genuine hype feeling. I remember reading about X-com TFTD in a tech-magazine, so the article was just a tiny thing. But the pictures, and my own imagination, well it was magical. And I remember it like yesterday. Not only that game. It repeated itself several times. Reading about stuff, and thinking about it for weeks. Talking about it. Now I can finish a game I have been waiting for some time and a month later I'm having trouble remembering what the game was even about. Games feels more temporary now, something you consume for an hour, and this shit burns you out. It makes you jaded as fuck. Well at least me. But lately I have played some nice games that have been giving me that old-school fun (Battle Brothers, Metal Gear Ground Zeroes, Rogue Warrior, Outcast and Terraria).
Cynicism begins to set in - or at least it did for me - when a pattern begins to develop. The mechanics of gameplay are too readily obvious to me that it's like spotting tropes in a horror movie. This move does this, this move does that, this enemy behaves in this manner, this mechanic behaves in that one. I don't need to get into details as I'm sure most know exactly what I'm talking about. Fond remembrance isn't reserved for that which you are seeing for the tenth time over. In a way, this is why open-world games are so enjoyable: you know what you get, but you get enough diversity to kinda wash out the lack of originality. Fast feedback and quick rewards are a staple of game design today for a reason.
But there's something else that's always bothering me. It's the fact that gaming is nowhere near where I thought it would be. I mentioned in another thread that Silent Storm felt like the future of strategy games to me. Large maps, destructible buildings, cool physics, etc. If I throw a grenade it might bounce off a wall or hit a guy and spin into another room. An explosion might throw a guy through a window or drop someone through the floor. Traps could blow the face off a building or even bring the whole thing down. I could shoot through walls at enemies I 'heard.' It was an immense experience for the time period. Fast-forward a decade and where are we? Not only does none of that exist, we've actually
reversed in many ways. I do think this is why I have had a growing affinity for what I deem simple-shit like Broforce or even HuniePop. I know it's dumb as hell, but side-scrolling shoot 'em up and match-three gameplay is what it is. There's little hint of lost potential there, so I can just sit back and enjoy them for what they are. When I play something like XCOM I spend a lot of time trying to shove away the thought that this game is nowhere near where it should be a decade after I experienced something like Silent Storm. I have to think, "Alright, the game mechanics work on their own merit. The fact those very mechanics are a decade behind should not be held against it... the fact those mechanics are a decade behind should not be held against it... the fact..."
One much darker aspect of it is this: life in my teens was simply easier to escape. The tendrils of things to think about were thin and easily snapped. Life after my teens is obviously much harder. Escapism is always a phonecall away from being shattered, a I-gotta-get-up-to-work-in-X-hours thought away from being neutralized. How can you fully immerse yourself into an experience when there are a 100-different things flying around your head of various import? Shit, there's little wonder adults become alcoholics or drug addicts or self-deluding liars: the single best way to escape is to just blur reality so much you can't even see it anymore. Witcher 3's pretty good, but it ain't
that good if you catch my drift.
That's not to say it's all bad, though. Games are still inherently fun, they're more prolific and diverse than ever as far as how many there are, and as I've gotten older I've taken to enjoying just thinking about what they are from the viewpoint of mechanics and what drives them, the same way I watch old movies and now notice little tricks and camera shots that I used to take for advantage. I just don't buy into hype anymore. Maybe it's Spore's fault
