Editorial Are modern games fun?

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: BioShock

<a href="http://www.hookedgamers.com/editorials/43/Are_we_still_having_fun_with_our_games">Hooked Gamers has an interesting editorial up</a> about whether or not modern games, with their glitzy graphics and monster cpu requirements, are as fun as games back in the the good old-fashioned times. They ask the question: Are we still having fun with our games?
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<blockquote>There is so much to keep track of in a modern game that the player is severely taxed trying to maintain control. Do we really want to work this hard to play our games? When does a game cross the line and change from 'a fun challenge' to 'hard work'? For me the latter group is instantly recognizable by looking at my own behavior. I usually game in sessions that last between two and five hours. A fun and entertaining game will keep me glued behind the screen for the entire session. A great game will pull me back in after I have had a break, keeping me playing for days on end. These games are, almost without fail, games from the (distant) past. Newer games tend to keep me engaged for two to three hours during the first session but the sessions shorten considerably after that. Even a superb game such as Bioshock can't hold my interest for more than two hours at a time. It is not that I am not enjoying the game, it is just that it is taxing my brain, senses and reflexes too much for it to be a relaxing game. Oddly enough, this is in stark contrast to my desire to be challenged by the game that I am playing.</blockquote>
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As someone experiencing the exact same thing with BioShock right now, I think it has more to do with the fact the game out-right sucks, than being "too challenged". Really, that pipe hacking mini-game thing is supposed to be challening? Well it's not. <i>It's annoying</i>. Taking photo's of everything before I kill it is supposed to be fun? No, <i>it's annoying</i>. Finding two or three audio casettes in every single fucking room for an entire level? <i>It's annoying</i>. Taking on more and more super Big Daddies every time? <i>It's annoying</i>. Doom only ever had one Spider Mastermind and one CyberDemon. They got it right.
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The truth is, modern games focus too much on the glitz and glammer and they forget the single most important thing a game is supposed to have: Good, solid game-play. Back when graphics were in two colours and you had to squint to tell the difference between things, it wasn't that your imagation was in overload making the game fun. It's that the game-play was solid. Why? Because if you're a developer and all you can do for the bad guy is show a blue blip, you damn well make sure your game is fun to play. You don't hire another 50 artists just so you can bump-map its nipples.
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Spotted @ <a href="http://www.bluesnews.com">BluesNews</a>

 

[SimpleComplexity]

New games have basically the same problem. In the beginning they treat you like a child and then tell you why the A button is different than the B button. When you have finally completed the dummy tutorial they start to throw boring cutscenes in or scripted sequences at you where you are only allowed to move your mouse cursor for the sake of imurshion preventing you from actually playing the damn game. In that light Serious Sam II becomes a masterpiece of game design, even though it is flawed. In comparison Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time for the SNES almost reached perfection, especially in coop mode.

 

[Texas Red]

Mandatory Bioschock mention? Check.

 

[Kingston]

DU is pretty butthurt about Bioshock.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

DU is pretty butthurt about Bioshock.

He's not the only one.

 

[Mareus]

If you ask me Bioshock is a pretty good FP shooter.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Playing games for two hours at a stretch? That's still an ostentatiously long period of time, though the man wishes that the game gripped him for longer?

I personally don't spend more than an hour at a single stretch. And I say that as a person who has a good deal of free time. Two hours, that's one-twelfth of a day. And besides that, playing any game, I start getting a little tired after more than hour.

Also, he says that his gaming sessions go upto five hours. I swear I have never spent that sort of time on any game. God, five hours is....alot.

 

[Mareus]

Playing games for two hours at a stretch? That's still an ostentatiously long period of time, though the man wishes that the game gripped him for longer?

I personally don't spend more than an hour at a single stretch. And I say that as a person who has a good deal of free time. Two hours, that's one-twelfth of a day. And besides that, playing any game, I start getting a little tired after more than hour.

Also, he says that his gaming sessions go upto five hours. I swear I have never spent that sort of time on any game. God, five hours is....alot.

Heh, 5 hours is nothing. I remember when I got my hands on Heroes of Might and Magic II, I played it for a whole day and I couldn't stop. Very hard to stop once you start. The same happened to me with those damn managers. RPGs like PST, or Fallout however require a lot more concentration and usually after 2 hours I am too exhausted to play, but not bored. But I never had a problem getting back into a good RPG after few hours of rest. With shooters it's a bit different. After 2 h I get so bored I rarely ever get back to it.

 

[Ahzaruuk]

Playing games for two hours at a stretch? That's still an ostentatiously long period of time, though the man wishes that the game gripped him for longer?

I personally don't spend more than an hour at a single stretch. And I say that as a person who has a good deal of free time. Two hours, that's one-twelfth of a day. And besides that, playing any game, I start getting a little tired after more than hour.

Also, he says that his gaming sessions go upto five hours. I swear I have never spent that sort of time on any game. God, five hours is....alot.

I've easily gone eight.


Yeah, I have no life.

 

[Trash]

I think DU is an old codger who is idealising the games from his youth.

 

[Ebonsword]

I've easily gone eight.


Yeah, I have no life.

Apparently I also have no life, because an eight hour gaming session isn't unusual for me, either.

Hell, I just got Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 FES last Friday and had almost 30 hours of playtime on it by Sunday night.

 

[Depressinator]

Five hours? So he played all the way through to completion in one sitting? That's epic.

 

[Shannow]

8 hours used to be normal when I had the time. Certain LAN sessions even went from around 15:00 to 08:00 the next morning.
Even now games like Incursion, Civ4 or Total WarE2 can make 4-6 hours melt away. I had FO2 session that went so long that I started thinking in Action Points...
It might not be healthy or even possible when you are grown up and need to work, satisfy girlfriends/wives or answer the phone but it sure was great fun
But I never thought of it as a fault in the games. If I replay BG2 or IWD2 I can seldom play for longer than 2 hours. I've been replaying Starcraft for nearly 2 months now and I'm only in the terran campeign in Broodwar. So it seems more that I changed and games (even old ones) will not grab me as they used to...

 

[Claw]

There is so much to keep track of in a modern game that the player is severely taxed trying to maintain control.

What the fuck are you moron talking about? You're retarded. I hope you don't have kids. For the love of humanity, kill yourself.

 

[ixg]

I PLAYED 4 DAYS NONSTOP NO SLEEP NO FOOD
I DRANK MY OWN PISS FOR WATER

i think i win

 

[Occasionally Fatal]

I PLAYED 4 DAYS NONSTOP NO SLEEP NO FOOD
I DRANK MY OWN PISS BECAUSE I LIKE THE TASTE

fix'd.

 

[Shannow]

I PLAYED 4 DAYS NONSTOP NO SLEEP NO FOOD
I DRANK MY OWN PISS OUT OF HABIT
i think i win

This was a drinking competition?
Ok, you win. But somehow I don't feel regret for not putting any points in my piss-drinking-skill^^

 

[Castanova]

He's right that modern games are less likely to be fun. Most games are glorified tech demos. They're certainly interesting to play from a detached standpoint but where's the rewarding gameplay? It's not just graphics either... GTA4 was a tech demo. Assassin's Creed. Spore, from what I can see.

Portal was a bit of a tech demo but also the introduction of a new gameplay mechanic so it's in a bit of a gray area. Certainly the first 9 levels or so were not terribly good.

 

[Volourn]

Modern games, for the most aprt, are VASTLY SUPERIOR to ancient games. No doubt about it.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Nothing modern is in any way superiour to something ancient. It's just different.
We are ancient ourselves as are our ''modern'' times.

 

[ghostdog]

Modern games, for the most aprt, are VASTLY SUPERIOR to ancient games. No doubt about it, I'm 15 years old and I know stuff.

 

[Volourn]

Double my age in your post, and you might be at least kinda accurate.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Your physical age doesn't matter. I'm infinitely old, but i'm still as dumb as you are. Ring a bell?

 

[Claw]

Trollourn? That's fuckin' A, man.

 

[Bucknasty]

You guys are so mean to eachother! :*(