The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Last night my brother was looking in a magazine, wanting to buy a game for his new console, the Playstation 2 to be exact. Then he brought up GTA3, which is highly acclaimed and said to be one of the best thief games money can buy at the moment. But then my brother blurted out "No, I’m not gonna get that, the graphics are rubbish." That’s when it hit me, the nightmare of gaming I feared has become a reality.
I have brought this up in many a topic, but i hoped it wouldn't come true. Next Generation consoles aren't about reaching new gaming limitations, but graphical limitations. I think games developers are seeing this too, people want graphics, they get graphics. Take GT3 for instance. Personally i think it's a bad game. Why? Because it's too much like GT2. With GT2, you got something different to the first Gran Turismo. But with GT3, it's like a copy with of GT2, but with huge graphical enhancements and a couple of new cups. No new driving style. Just GT2 all over, which find very boring and disappointing.
I just hope to god, X-Box and GameCube don't go power crazy on the graphics and leave out what’s most important to a good, classic game, gameplay, originality, lastability and others. All we can do now is hope.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Thanks for reading
RiCkOsS
If gameplay was all the mattered, I could make a bedroom coded game that was absolutely fantastic in the gameplay section and poor in the sound and graphics... would it be good overall?
I don't think so. The fact is that Rez's graphics are "cack" in the sense they don't go for realism, but I'm sure the game still cost loads to make. And clearly the sound, a big part of the game, is just as important as the gameplay in this game.
If Rez didn't have the sound it'd be slatted. The whole point of the game is that the sound plays an integral part of it.
Sonic
The graphics are pretty cack, if I'm honest. Pretty much just wirframe with a few textures chucked around now and again.
But it doesn't matter.
The game itself is fantastic. Sod the different looking graphics. Except most people won't. They will have played the demos of Rez and MGS2, and will go out and buy MGS2, which is a shame, as Rez is a classic little title, that will not sell as well as it should, and one of the reasons is the graphics.
Graphics and
> sound doesn't actually effect the gameplay. Camera angles may effect the way you
> play a game, but graphics are just what the game looks like. Also sounds
> sometimes sets the scene of a game but isn't always vital. No sound at all is
> better for consentrating sometimes.
RiCkOsS
imagine a game without graphics or sound, no game basically. Both of these add to the gameplay experience.
> Gameplay is made up of a few things, graphics being one and others such as sound
> and controls. All are important but if your brother is looking at nothing but
> graphics tell him to buy a DVD.
Graphics and sound doesn't actually effect the gameplay. Camera angles may effect the way you play a game, but graphics are just what the game looks like. Also sounds sometimes sets the scene of a game but isn't always vital. No sound at all is better for consentrating sometimes.
RiCkOsS
You see, whereas every console known to man has been based on PC architecture, the PS2 decided to drop this idea, and go for a revolutionary set up which would benefit games a lot.
However, although you can squeeze lots of juice out of the processor on the console, it is much harder to do than when using PC architecture- simply because developers have never used anything like it before.
So, Sony come up with a great solution: Middleware.
Basically, this is pre-made code for game engines, physics, and AI that developers can buy off-th-shelf to incorporate into games easily. Although the cost of middleware is as high as developeing your own code, it is easily available, so shortens game development times.
There is one catch though... while Sony THOUGHT that the middleware would act as a step between PSX development and PS2 development, developers got complacent- using middleware for all their titles in some cases, and showing no signs of stoppping.
Not only does this mean that games are becoming similar- after all, they're all using the same premade engines- but it also means that no one will ever squeeze the juice out of Sony's hardware; to do so would require making engine specific for the game at hand... something that only big developers can afford to do (like MGS2 with Konami).
Sonic