And it's not even made for the current consoles. This is more of an attack on the general laziness of today's developers who strive to go for graphics over substance. The example on this thread being that I've spent more hours on Castlevania than all the 360 and PS3 games I have, combined. I have seen far too much emphasis placed on shininess, and it doesn't appear to be turning around any time soon. Of course developers aren't going to turn towards different directions, when all the talk and criticism being levelled at the consoles are almost entirely around the graphics. It's a vicious self-fulfilling prophecy, where gamers are being prepared to accept mediocre gameplay for prettier graphics, even more so than any other generation before. Buzzwords such as 'HDR' 'High Definition Graphics' 'Cell Processer' '4D' and so on are all catered towards the visual 'experience' and not actual gameplay. Only Nintendo has made some sort of attempt to address this issue, and while the Wii is selling by the bucketload, it's on the recieving end of the vast majority of 'where are the AAA games?' complaints.
Look at Gears of War. It got game of the year over Twilight Princess despite being very simplistic in gameplay, backed up with a hideous excuse for a story - you don't even see any indication of any interaction between Marcus' conscious and his household for example -, and I am more than willing to bet that it only recieved its various accolades simply because of the graphics. Twilight Princess, while I have only played on Gamecube for a scant few hours, contained far more depth and gameplay, and rivals its illustrious predeccesor, Ocarina of Time. Granted, the leap in graphics technology is argubly the biggest games have seen since the leap from 2d to 3d, but it is giving far too much ammunition for developers that the way forward is through shinier, prettier graphics and no substance plotwise or gameplay-wise. Very few are willing to take risks now.
When leaks and previews of the much anticipated game Halo 3 was shown to the public, any appreciation for the way Bungie is trying to return the series to its roots was drowned in a vast ocean of minor and increasingly petty bleatings about not the gameplay side of the game, but the visual element. We have all seen countless people dismiss the game, and to a lesser extent, even the console it's on, simply because it 'doesn't look as good as gears of war' - despite the fact that the first two games in the series weren't exactly lookers either, but defined the first person shooter genre on console platforms to such a massive extent not seen since the likes of Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64. People are so willing to throw away all shreds of any recognition of games' true qualities in their ever-marching crusade for graphical fidelity. It is a shocking facet to the games industry, and it is killing quality everywhere because of developers pushing more and more into the graphics department, while not recognizing the true core of why we enjoy our pasttime so much.
Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to play on more Castlevania.
Look at Gears of War. It got game of the year over Twilight Princess despite being very simplistic in gameplay, backed up with a hideous excuse for a story - you don't even see any indication of any interaction between Marcus' conscious and his household for example -, and I am more than willing to bet that it only recieved its various accolades simply because of the graphics. Twilight Princess, while I have only played on Gamecube for a scant few hours, contained far more depth and gameplay, and rivals its illustrious predeccesor, Ocarina of Time. Granted, the leap in graphics technology is argubly the biggest games have seen since the leap from 2d to 3d, but it is giving far too much ammunition for developers that the way forward is through shinier, prettier graphics and no substance plotwise or gameplay-wise. Very few are willing to take risks now.
When leaks and previews of the much anticipated game Halo 3 was shown to the public, any appreciation for the way Bungie is trying to return the series to its roots was drowned in a vast ocean of minor and increasingly petty bleatings about not the gameplay side of the game, but the visual element. We have all seen countless people dismiss the game, and to a lesser extent, even the console it's on, simply because it 'doesn't look as good as gears of war' - despite the fact that the first two games in the series weren't exactly lookers either, but defined the first person shooter genre on console platforms to such a massive extent not seen since the likes of Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64. People are so willing to throw away all shreds of any recognition of games' true qualities in their ever-marching crusade for graphical fidelity. It is a shocking facet to the games industry, and it is killing quality everywhere because of developers pushing more and more into the graphics department, while not recognizing the true core of why we enjoy our pasttime so much.
Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to play on more Castlevania.
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