Look back at the current gen.
Discussion
So this current generation is beginning to wind down, PS4 is coming and the NextBox will be announced this month. There have been good and bad points in this current gen.
EA - Urgh. Where to begin ? Online DRM. SimCity. Killing the Dead Space franchise by turning it into an action series from survival horror. Overloading their games with DLC. I hope EA drastically change their ideas next gen. NBA Live (yes, exactly..)
Console Fanboys - Some people like Playsation, some people like Xbox. Get over it.
Too many shooters - This has definitely been the dudebro shooter generation, hasn't it ? Every dev wants their game to be the Call of Duty of the genre and this has led to more and more games, even RPGs, being dumbed down to appeal to the CoD audience. Dragon Age 2 was a good example of this, it was quicker, more button mashy and the devs even mentioned they wanted to appeal to a wider audience. As a result the game was crap, such a pity as DA:O was brilliant. A few formally excellent franchises were brough back and turned into shooters as well. e.g. the X-Com shooter that is coming (although we did the excellent X-Com strategy game!) and Syndicate.
Death of skill based multiplayer - See CoD. The entire idea of perks needs to die. So does auto-aiming in online multiplayer shooters (although that maybe just a side effect of a broken control system. Perhaps stick to PC for skill based multiplayer?)
Game Design Stagnated - Aside from a few indie games it just seems like their was hardly any creativity this gen. Everyone tried to follow the same design. Incredibly linear, with big explosions and set pieces, and limited actual gameplay. Boring.
QTE's - I'm amazed this is still a thing.
Studio Liverpool - No more wipeout
THQ - Also dead
Spectacle over gameplay - At some point game developers decided the best use of polygons was creating animated films. They need to go back to making games. Forget this highly linear interactive film model. Make games! GAMES! Less cut scenes also, I want to play not watch.
Still awful storytelling - Story, narratives and characters in games are still mostly terrible cliche ridden messes. See the entire Uncharted series.
Bugs - It's great that devs can patch their games now with online consoles, it does seem like games are getting buggier though. I expect this to be the case as games get more complicated but games just seem so buggy nowadays. Just look at the mess that Skyrim was on the PS3.
Spectacularly misguided publishers - It's amazing that a game needs to sell six million copies nowadays to warrant a sequel or for it to even be called a success. Developers and publishers need to realise that you don't need a crazy budget to make a great game (see Thomas was Alone).
Multiplayer - Mainly it being tacked on to everything.
Alien Colonial Marines - Still no good alien games.
Bloom - Bloom != good graphics. This comes back to my point earlier about spectacle, stop trying to be Michael Bay!
Terrible Sonic Games - Just let the franchise die already.
Final Fantasy - See Sonic.
Gran Turismo 5 - Was terrible.
Good RTS on consoles - Where are they ?
Playstation Plus - It was a bit crap to begin with, but for the last year or so it has been outstanding. MS are going to have change how they charge for online IMO.
Demon / Dark Souls - Wonderful games and it was great to see the success they had despite their difficulty levels.
Indie Games - Journey, Flower, Braid, Limbo, Thomas was Alone. There have been some incredible indie games this gen.
HD Remakes - Some of the HD remakes have been really good. (e.g. Okami HD, Sly Cooper, Ducktales is coming, as is Kingdom Hearts)
The Lego Games - Are oustanding
My favourite games this gen:
Braid
Journey
Limbo
Thomas was Alone
Demon Souls
Dark Souls
Catherine
Vanquish
Ni No Kuni
Dragon Age Origins
Arkham Asylum
The Walking Dead
What did you like / not like / looking forward to next gen ?
The bad
EA - Urgh. Where to begin ? Online DRM. SimCity. Killing the Dead Space franchise by turning it into an action series from survival horror. Overloading their games with DLC. I hope EA drastically change their ideas next gen. NBA Live (yes, exactly..)
Console Fanboys - Some people like Playsation, some people like Xbox. Get over it.
Too many shooters - This has definitely been the dudebro shooter generation, hasn't it ? Every dev wants their game to be the Call of Duty of the genre and this has led to more and more games, even RPGs, being dumbed down to appeal to the CoD audience. Dragon Age 2 was a good example of this, it was quicker, more button mashy and the devs even mentioned they wanted to appeal to a wider audience. As a result the game was crap, such a pity as DA:O was brilliant. A few formally excellent franchises were brough back and turned into shooters as well. e.g. the X-Com shooter that is coming (although we did the excellent X-Com strategy game!) and Syndicate.
Death of skill based multiplayer - See CoD. The entire idea of perks needs to die. So does auto-aiming in online multiplayer shooters (although that maybe just a side effect of a broken control system. Perhaps stick to PC for skill based multiplayer?)
Game Design Stagnated - Aside from a few indie games it just seems like their was hardly any creativity this gen. Everyone tried to follow the same design. Incredibly linear, with big explosions and set pieces, and limited actual gameplay. Boring.
QTE's - I'm amazed this is still a thing.
Studio Liverpool - No more wipeout
THQ - Also dead
Spectacle over gameplay - At some point game developers decided the best use of polygons was creating animated films. They need to go back to making games. Forget this highly linear interactive film model. Make games! GAMES! Less cut scenes also, I want to play not watch.
Still awful storytelling - Story, narratives and characters in games are still mostly terrible cliche ridden messes. See the entire Uncharted series.
Bugs - It's great that devs can patch their games now with online consoles, it does seem like games are getting buggier though. I expect this to be the case as games get more complicated but games just seem so buggy nowadays. Just look at the mess that Skyrim was on the PS3.
Spectacularly misguided publishers - It's amazing that a game needs to sell six million copies nowadays to warrant a sequel or for it to even be called a success. Developers and publishers need to realise that you don't need a crazy budget to make a great game (see Thomas was Alone).
Multiplayer - Mainly it being tacked on to everything.
Alien Colonial Marines - Still no good alien games.
Bloom - Bloom != good graphics. This comes back to my point earlier about spectacle, stop trying to be Michael Bay!
Terrible Sonic Games - Just let the franchise die already.
Final Fantasy - See Sonic.
Gran Turismo 5 - Was terrible.
Good RTS on consoles - Where are they ?
The Good
Playstation Plus - It was a bit crap to begin with, but for the last year or so it has been outstanding. MS are going to have change how they charge for online IMO.
Demon / Dark Souls - Wonderful games and it was great to see the success they had despite their difficulty levels.
Indie Games - Journey, Flower, Braid, Limbo, Thomas was Alone. There have been some incredible indie games this gen.
HD Remakes - Some of the HD remakes have been really good. (e.g. Okami HD, Sly Cooper, Ducktales is coming, as is Kingdom Hearts)
The Lego Games - Are oustanding
My favourite games this gen:
Braid
Journey
Limbo
Thomas was Alone
Demon Souls
Dark Souls
Catherine
Vanquish
Ni No Kuni
Dragon Age Origins
Arkham Asylum
The Walking Dead
What did you like / not like / looking forward to next gen ?
Edited by LandR on Sunday 19th May 20:03
Achievements - worked well and prolonged some games.
Dashboard - early Xbox ones worked, latest 'tile' version is dire due to it being overloaded with adverts.
Installing games to hard drive - I don't have to listen to a disc whirring away!
Xbox Arcade - plenty of good games that provided many hours of entertainment.
360 controller - they got this perfect, just hope the next generation doesn't ruin it!
Kinect - undecided on this one, only used mine a few times and whilst it works well technically it just needs too much floor space for some games.
Games - Mass Effect, Skyrim (didn't have any major bugs), PES 2012, Forza 4, Borderlands, LA Noire, Tiger Woods and Sims 3.
Dashboard - early Xbox ones worked, latest 'tile' version is dire due to it being overloaded with adverts.
Installing games to hard drive - I don't have to listen to a disc whirring away!
Xbox Arcade - plenty of good games that provided many hours of entertainment.
360 controller - they got this perfect, just hope the next generation doesn't ruin it!
Kinect - undecided on this one, only used mine a few times and whilst it works well technically it just needs too much floor space for some games.
Games - Mass Effect, Skyrim (didn't have any major bugs), PES 2012, Forza 4, Borderlands, LA Noire, Tiger Woods and Sims 3.
Edited by StevoCally on Sunday 19th May 17:23
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