"I just don't get it."

[Audley Strange]

A thread inspired by this...

http://www.edge-online.com/features/unt ... alf-life-2

In which Edge magazine decide to look at "classic" games and have a go at them.

Personally I think it's a good topic for a thread. What "Classic" or triple A epic extravaganza didn't do it for you, despite the ravings of the press and fans. What was wrong with it?

I'd have to go with Red Dead Redemption because I have never been so disappointed by a game, especially since the first third is so utterly excellent in both design and execution. I loved the small scale Marston, roughing up local hoods for poker money, or helping out on the farm. The mission with the cattle being loose in the thunderstorm was evocative in both how important such a trivial thing (in game terms) actually was while showing the scale of the game and how something as simple as weather makes an effective antagonist. I was hoping for much much more of that. A slow burn where Marston earns the respect of all his peers or becomes a pariah, dependent on the play style. A game with real characters. Still that was pretty much abandoned in favour of flower picking and degenerate mexican stereotypes, increasingly stupid missions until by the end I simply played it to finish it.

I never did. I've got a save on the last mission but I couldn't be arsed with it. It was buggy, clichéd and pissed on it's own bleak elegance. It could have been magical but ended up totally mundane fare.

(Bioshock anyone?)

[tattuchu]

Don't you dare say a bad word about Bioshock

Although I fucking hated Red Dead Redemption, and didn't even make it as far in as you before sending the game back to amazon for trade.

[Audley Strange]

I could say several about Bioshock, but I won't.

[tattuchu]

I could say several about Bioshock, but I won't.

Naw, it's okay. No game is perfect. As much as I loved Shadow of the Colossus, for instance, I thought there was quite a lot of room for improvement. I'm going to bed now, but I'll elaborate tomorrow.
I actually wouldn't mind hearing your criticisms of Bioshock.

[Audley Strange]

Well since you asked nicely. Conceptually it's quite striking, but when it gets down to the actual gameplay aspect I think it suffers from a lack of imagination, gives its hand away far too early and ends up with a final boss fight which really cheapens the whole thing.

That's the short version.

[tattuchu]

Well since you asked nicely. Conceptually it's quite striking, but when it gets down to the actual gameplay aspect I think it suffers from a lack of imagination, gives its hand away far too early and ends up with a final boss fight which really cheapens the whole thing.

That's the short version.

Yes, take away the admittedly gorgeous trappings and it's just yer standard shooter. It was inventive enough within that genre to leave me very satisfied. Still, I really wish game developers would break free of the current paradigm. Pretty much every single game you play is...enter area>encounter enemies>kill enemies>advance to next area>repeat a number of times>boss battle>go to next level. Rinse, repeat.
I'd really like to see something quite different.

Shadow of the Colossus was a masterpiece, a true work of art, just like its predecessor Ico. I couldn't help being somewhat disappointed, however. Besides killing the colossi and riding around on your horse, there was nothing to do, absolutely nothing. I could have done with some environmental challenges between battles, make it more difficult to reach each colossus. The possibilities are endless: climb a tree, climb a mountain, cross a raging river, sail or raft or paddle a boat or whatever around the ocean coast, just anything to make it more difficult or a challenge or a puzzle to get from point A to point B. You could encounter different animals and either be obstructed by their presence and have to fight them or find your way around them, or they might help you along. Say, hitching a ride on a bird to make it up an otherwise inaccessible area, or grab onto a dolphin to pull you along against a heavy river current. That sort of thing.
Also I would like to have able to interact more with the horse, since that was the only other character in the game. It was just you and your horse. But unlike Yorda in the previous game, I didn't find myself really forming a bond with the horse. It would have been nice if I had to look after her more, if she got tired or thirsty or hungry, and I had to attend to her needs. There were apples in the game, for instance. It would have been cool if you could feed Agro apples, hold the up to her mouth, and she'd take them from your hand, that sort of thing. I also had another idea that you could have Agro eat certain magic apples that had special properties. Like there were regular salamanders, and then special white-tailed salanders that improved your stamina in the game. So, same kinda thing. Say, golden apples were special and improved Agro's stamina. Or even more fun, add some extra steps. The magic apples gave her poop special properties. You'd have to come back to the same spot where she pooped later on, and then you'd find a special flower blossoming there from the, ah, fertilizer. And you could pick that special flower and it'd do something or other. Whatever. Just...something. Anything to make things more interesting.

[dj357]

Absolutely LOVE Red Dead Redemption. To bits. Awesome game. And Undead Nightmare. Actually played that before the original game.

[Azathoth]

Any FPS. Other than flashier graphics there has been zero innovation in the genre since doom and quake.

[Badger3k]

I loved Red Dead myself, agree with you on the ending of Bioshock, but for me it's the whole Call of Duty franchise. I liked the WW2 stuff. I liked the first Modern Warfare. Interesting story. MP was fun. Then I got into Battlefield 2 Bad Company. The destruction! Whee! Getting Modern Warfare 2 - yeach. Hated the story (never finished more than halfway), hated the blood splatter that meant as soon as I got hit I couldn't see anything and so I died, and MP got way out of hand with the super powers. Black Ops - story was stupid. MP was a bit better, but once I hit 50 (in a few days) I didn't see much point in continuing. Why give up everything I had earned, just to do it all over again? That's like making my first million, donating it to someone else, then starting out living out of a cardboard box. Never got MW3, not going to get Black Ops 2 - too arcadey. Not my cup of tea. I still prefer BF3, despite the problems we PS3 owners have with voice chat, which turned off a lot of my friends - that's how we normally met and played.

FFVII - I still prefer VIII. Cloud and Tifa...meh.

Resident Evil series - I tried 6. You mean I can't run and fire? I'm a highly trained officer, deadly, yet I can't even aim in the general direction of something while I run? What kind of handicap do I have? Not sure of the one to come out.

Dead Space 2. Liked it, although the first was more atmospheric. But the invulnerable creature at the end made me stop playing it. I have no ammo, so all I can do is run until it catches me, or I get cornered by the other necromorphs. Not cool.

Last, not a surprise really, Deus Ex. I loved the atmosphere, and the story, but the idiotic boss fights made me put it down. I am at the third I think. The first I finally beat it by injuring the guy, running to a corner, saving it, then starting from there when I died. Finally got him. I could try to reduce the difficulty, but I hate going that route.

[Seabass]

I loved Red Dead Redemption. I almost broke down and bought a console for that one. I think I'd rank it in my top five.

Definitely could have done without the flower picking...



Most disappointing? Gears of War. That fuckin' game has got to be the most overrated, over hyped video game ever created.