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"Evolution of Games"

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Fri 07/12/01 at 19:24
Regular
Posts: 787
Games

The way games evolve must be in favour of getting the gameplay right. If a game is so good in terms of the way it plays, it doesn't really matter what it looks like!

Slightly strange topic here, but I thought I'd share with you my views on how games should evolve! Gameplay enhancing improvements are the way forward, let me give you some examples. In a 128bit world, how can such a graphics light game like Snake manage to compete with the latest games on the newest games consoles?! I mean, is Snake and the other mobile phone games anything more than 2bit? 4bit perhaps? Well, I just have to say that graphics mean absolutely nothing if a game is a dog to play. You know it's true really...

When I bought the visually stunning Ecco the Dolphin, I was pretty impressed, but I gave up trying to get anywhere because it just didn't play to my liking - aside from the fact that it was one of the most incredible looking and sounding games, where the word "ambience" fits like a glove, it was and is incredibly difficult, frustrating and just not something you need when you're trying to progress! So where am I going with this? Who knows, but as most will tell you, "graphics maketh not a great game!" and it's true. Look at the current crop of PS2 titles. I don't see an awful lot of cream from the odd 70 games available for it!

So Ecco may suit some, but can you imagine a game with such amazing, mind boggling, jaw dropping and palm sweatingtly good looking with sound and everything presented in the best way, only for you to find that the control system may as well have been designed by Mike Tyson, and that it's practically unplayable?! That'd suck, that'd hurt big time, because a game that looks great deserves to be good to play too. So, what's all this about Snake? Well...

I've got a mobile phone (oh dear), and Snake 2 is one of the mini games available to play on it - one of the only things you can do without spending 40p a minute, or something similar, and so I've ended up playing this far more than anything out of my real games collection, and why? Ok, so I was bored, but the simple things in life do entertain, they are addictive and the original concepts are the best. Tetris, Packman, even ChuChu Rocket - aren't they all just great! So anywho, I have been playing Snake, it's a cracking game that I recommend you all have a go should for some reason you haven't played it yet, and forget graphics - this is pure addiction from a 2D (if that), with one line that gets bigger every time you eat a little dot, with the occasional bonus points from larger funny shaped creatures, and it really is a very good game. Free with most mobiles!

So whilst games like SSX are also good fun, and offering up to date graphics, it just goes to show, you don't need a £300 PS2, just get into Snake. Anyway, forget Snake for the moment. I doubt we’ll see future Snakes appearing on the future games machines, but the point I’m trying to stress is that I want to see good games with good gameplay continuing to be at the forefront of gaming and of sales as these deserve to sell well. It’s good at the moment, there are some games that refuse to be playable, let’s make things better though!

PS. I'm not endorsing excessive use of mobile phones!

Thanks for reading.
Firebalt.
Fri 07/12/01 at 23:44
Regular
Posts: 3,182
I suspect I am one of the few people who actually completed Ecco The Dolphin (on the DC) without the aid of cheats or a walkthrough, and yes, it was flippin' hard! - It was also beautiful and (as you say) "ambient".

But regardless of how difficult and nauseating it was, I would much rather play games of this ilk than horrible and poxey 2D pixelated shrapnel.
Ecco was a great challenge, and when I finished it, I felt both elated and relieved: it took to my gaming limits, and I like that. I felt emotion.

Simplistic playability is nice and sweet for about two minutes, but it quickly becomes tiresome and boring.
Fri 07/12/01 at 19:24
Regular
"Fat Red-Capped Vale"
Posts: 427
Games

The way games evolve must be in favour of getting the gameplay right. If a game is so good in terms of the way it plays, it doesn't really matter what it looks like!

Slightly strange topic here, but I thought I'd share with you my views on how games should evolve! Gameplay enhancing improvements are the way forward, let me give you some examples. In a 128bit world, how can such a graphics light game like Snake manage to compete with the latest games on the newest games consoles?! I mean, is Snake and the other mobile phone games anything more than 2bit? 4bit perhaps? Well, I just have to say that graphics mean absolutely nothing if a game is a dog to play. You know it's true really...

When I bought the visually stunning Ecco the Dolphin, I was pretty impressed, but I gave up trying to get anywhere because it just didn't play to my liking - aside from the fact that it was one of the most incredible looking and sounding games, where the word "ambience" fits like a glove, it was and is incredibly difficult, frustrating and just not something you need when you're trying to progress! So where am I going with this? Who knows, but as most will tell you, "graphics maketh not a great game!" and it's true. Look at the current crop of PS2 titles. I don't see an awful lot of cream from the odd 70 games available for it!

So Ecco may suit some, but can you imagine a game with such amazing, mind boggling, jaw dropping and palm sweatingtly good looking with sound and everything presented in the best way, only for you to find that the control system may as well have been designed by Mike Tyson, and that it's practically unplayable?! That'd suck, that'd hurt big time, because a game that looks great deserves to be good to play too. So, what's all this about Snake? Well...

I've got a mobile phone (oh dear), and Snake 2 is one of the mini games available to play on it - one of the only things you can do without spending 40p a minute, or something similar, and so I've ended up playing this far more than anything out of my real games collection, and why? Ok, so I was bored, but the simple things in life do entertain, they are addictive and the original concepts are the best. Tetris, Packman, even ChuChu Rocket - aren't they all just great! So anywho, I have been playing Snake, it's a cracking game that I recommend you all have a go should for some reason you haven't played it yet, and forget graphics - this is pure addiction from a 2D (if that), with one line that gets bigger every time you eat a little dot, with the occasional bonus points from larger funny shaped creatures, and it really is a very good game. Free with most mobiles!

So whilst games like SSX are also good fun, and offering up to date graphics, it just goes to show, you don't need a £300 PS2, just get into Snake. Anyway, forget Snake for the moment. I doubt we’ll see future Snakes appearing on the future games machines, but the point I’m trying to stress is that I want to see good games with good gameplay continuing to be at the forefront of gaming and of sales as these deserve to sell well. It’s good at the moment, there are some games that refuse to be playable, let’s make things better though!

PS. I'm not endorsing excessive use of mobile phones!

Thanks for reading.
Firebalt.

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