Have AAA games forgotten emotion?

[DaytonaUSA]

After playing some recently released games, I've realized that the games that seem to be rated the highest on review sites, seem to have absolutely NOTHING that makes you care about the game.

 

My example:

 

Killzone 2. Seriously. I was quite supportive of this game. It's very pretty, yes. The voice acting is great. However, there is no emotion in the game. I guess what I'm trying to say, there's nothing to connect me to this title. It's linear, I feel like my controls.. the power of my gun, don't react the way I want them to. I can shoot and shoot and shoot and the guy..won't ..die! And why am I there? Seriously, these poor guys live here and I'm some oppressive asswhipe that's taking over them? Why the heck am I killing these guys? And they don't really bother to tell you, and it's so.. dry.. and linear and ... heartless.

 

It feels very copy paste but with better graphics, and our industry (money paying costumers included), REWARD this action.

 

The sad thing is.. it's not a horrible game. They do what they should have done, fairly well. It's just.. there. I will never come back to this and be like "oh remember that really great moment where that one guy became your friend and then died in front of you and it made you feel so horrible." ... nothing. It's a shooter with great graphics.

 

Sure the cover system is great, but .. it feels like a upgrade on the technical and HUGE step back on the emotional front.

 

 

 

 

Now here's the fun part. You play games like Flower or Deadly Creatures... and honestly, I have a smile on my face when I play. All you do in Flower is move around a controller and fly around hitting other flowers, and Deadly Creatures has you...playing as ... bugs? And yet, there's really something there in both of these cheap titles that gets me 100% immersed. I feel tied to the game, and I can be like "omg do you remember when you're that spider and you are in the dead guy's body as their burying him after killing him?" or "man did you feel that amazing feeling in the windmill level as you were rushing through the canyon and the wind was reacting to all the things you were doing with the flowers?

 

Call my crazy, but I guess I'm just shocked .. I'm shocked that Killzone 2, arguably the most HIGHLY rated/hyped game in the last few months is totally being beaten in gameplay time by Flower and Deadly Creatures.

 

And this representing a LOT of games. There are so many games out there that are the industry's "best", and yet they honestly suck. There's no reason to go back, there's no amazing feeling of being in the world past some technical achievements that are soon replaced by another game's technical achievements... AND EVERYONE REWARDS THIS BY BUYING THESE GAMES!

 

And I wonder why my older systems get more play time.. but I honestly think it's because there was less BS. They knew how to make a game. They knew to give you new powers, and that would affect gameplay, and you'd have to go backwards after you get the new power to unlock stuff in levels you already played....

 

All that's gone in AAA titles, and I'm getting a bit tired of it. I seem to be playing more and more of the games no one cares about, and they're honestly the best of the best of the generation.

Edited March 9, 2009 by DaytonaUSA

[moycon]

All that's gone in AAA titles, and I'm getting a bit tired of it. I seem to be playing more and more of the games no one cares about, and they're honestly the best of the best of the generation.

 

To each their own I guess.

Me personally I think games like Left 4 Dead, Fallout 3, Bio Shock, Halo 3 (I could go on and on but I wont)

Offer plenty of emotion. I played Flower, if a game like that (A driving game with your car replaced by some flower petals and nothing to do but hit stuff in the road) causes your emotional gauge to go off the charts, more power to you.

Seemed pretty mundane to me.

Edited March 9, 2009 by moycon

[danwinslow]

I hear ya...Yknow, emotional backstory and so forth is harder to generate than just technical details of cool graphics. You got to actually put some heart into it and not just manipulate bitmaps.

 

I don't play a whole lot of these types of games, but I did play BioShock and I gotta say that game had TONS of emotional content and deep backstory...*AND* it was a great, great shooter.

[Mirage]

Yes, Bioshock and L4D (especially L4D if you play with real-life friends with mics).

 

I don't know if you'd consider it to be a AAA title, but it's from a AAA company: Portal. Most "emotion" in any game I've seen in a long time, on several levels.

[DaytonaUSA]

I know there are some major titles out there that do in fact have emotion ect. However, what I'm trying to say is, I feel like I'm simply playing slightly upgraded versions of the same game with different titles, and the things that tie me to a game, the story, the *single player* portion, is very bare. Most games are heavy now in multiplayer, and there's no emotional connection to anyone. I mean, Warhawk. I love that game. But none of the soldiers on the field are going to be recognizable to me. Killzone. Yes you have the guys with red eyes.. whoopidido. However, the main characters feel like a mesh of Haze and Gears of War.. IE: stuff that's already been done.

 

I guess what I'm saying is that games seemed to used to be unique. Now it's simply about boasting graphic power.

 

I'm not saying Flower is game of the year here, I'm saying it's unique, and I will always cherish and remember it over time as it touched me. Same with Katamari, ect...

 

Back when I was a kid, all the popular IPs were very different. Kirby was different than Mario. Bomberman was different than Bionic Commando. It seemed titles that were unique, and were special to you, were in more abundance. It seems with the beginning of the ps/n64/saturn era, that started to fade, and now.. especially with FPS/TPSers, it's the same dang thing over and over but slightly repackaged with better graphics, and I'm tired of it.

 

I'm sorry if you guys can't agree, but I'm trying to explain this the best I can.

 

And yes, Portal is a beautiful game. But let's face it. It's not nearly what I'd consider to be a AAA title. It didn't make tons of money. IE: it's niche, and again, those special games are so few and far between today it's not even funny.

 

Again, some of you guys are missing the point. The point being we live in a world were Deadly Creatures is more of a rewarding, and special experience than KillZone.. one of the biggest releases for this year. >_>

Edited March 9, 2009 by DaytonaUSA

[moycon]

The co-op games today especially take the emotions to another level.

There's nothing that makes the hair on your neck stand up more than being in a crap situation ( Example : Smoker has you suspended off the ground slowly choking you to death) and you know your only chance to survive is if one of your buddies decides to come to your aid. Especially when that buddy can be someone across the state...or across the world.

I'd like to see you get that kind of emotion playing Laser Blast on the Atari 2600.

 

Don't get me wrong DaytonaUSA, I do think something like Flower is a decent game. It along with something like Braid, or Afrika or Noby Noby Boy are pleasant to look at and very relaxing to play. They do indeed seem to hearken back to a simpler time with only their great graphics to set them apart. All Flower is is a game where you navigate an area. If could be a skiing game, an outer space game a driving game, the only thing that sets it apart is it's pretty graphics something you claim doesn't make a game unique (Or thats how I'm reading it). Flower is not a unique concept in the least. We've all played a game where you navigate a thing and try to hit other things probably dozens of times.

 

I guess they sell because it's like buying a new painting of a cabin when you already have one, but the new one is painted by a different artist. Same thing goes for Flower...same thing for FPS's. In the end there are some games that present themselves better than others, I guess, but if you love paintings of cabins chances are you'll be more excited to get a new one. I personally am glad not every game released is 100% to my liking. My "to play" queue is already HUGE as it is!!

[+HammR25]

Back when I was a kid, all the popular IPs were very different. Kirby was different than Mario. Bomberman was different than Bionic Commando. It seemed titles that were unique, and were special to you, were in more abundance. It seems with the beginning of the ps/n64/saturn era, that started to fade, and now.. especially with FPS/TPSers, it's the same dang thing over and over but slightly repackaged with better graphics, and I'm tired of it.

That was also back when every game in every genre hadn't been done to death yet. In Killzone 2 you're fighting the Nazis. They're not called Nazis but they wear SS logos just like the Nazis. They're pretty awful dudes.

 

The reason you have to shoot the guys so many times is they have on armor. This is a scifi game. It's much better armor than you'd find in real life. I've found that kind of annoying as well. Otherwise I've had a lot of fun with the game in singleplayer. I wouldn't be caught dead buying Flower or Deadly Creatures. If every game had "emotion" some one else would start complaining that every game was the same and had that emotional crap in a video game.

[DaytonaUSA]

Back when I was a kid, all the popular IPs were very different. Kirby was different than Mario. Bomberman was different than Bionic Commando. It seemed titles that were unique, and were special to you, were in more abundance. It seems with the beginning of the ps/n64/saturn era, that started to fade, and now.. especially with FPS/TPSers, it's the same dang thing over and over but slightly repackaged with better graphics, and I'm tired of it.

That was also back when every game in every genre hadn't been done to death yet. In Killzone 2 you're fighting the Nazis. They're not called Nazis but they wear SS logos just like the Nazis. They're pretty awful dudes.

 

The reason you have to shoot the guys so many times is they have on armor. This is a scifi game. It's much better armor than you'd find in real life. I've found that kind of annoying as well. Otherwise I've had a lot of fun with the game in singleplayer. I wouldn't be caught dead buying Flower or Deadly Creatures. If every game had "emotion" some one else would start complaining that every game was the same and had that emotional crap in a video game.

 

 

By emotion I mean something that ties the game to you in a special way. IE: unforgettable, unique, and something you'll cherish for a LONG long time. Killzone will be replaced in 2 months or w/e by the next best thing.

 

Also, that's really sad that you won't play either one of those games. Don't judge games by their names, they're both VERY good.

[AtticGamer]

I sensed the same thing when I played both Gears of War. I just don't get it. Yes they do some stuff well but they're so generic and dull that I can't play them anymore.

 

Granted, it's the videogame fashion "apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic" game with all the boring color pallette and all but I don't think those games deserve so much praise. Same thing with videogames over the years: Space shooter craze, platformer craze, beat' em up craze, TPS and FPS craze....they are going to be fillers between really great games (either of those or different genres).

 

I wouldn't be so extreme and ignore modern games like some folk do, but there are less original/creative games nowadays than back in the day in my opinion.

 

Killzone, GeoW, Crysis, Burnout etc will come and go, but games like Bioshock, Fable II, Super Mario Galaxy or Resident Evil 4 will be more memorable, at least for me.

[DaytonaUSA]

I sensed the same thing when I played both Gears of War. I just don't get it. Yes they do some stuff well but they're so generic and dull that I can't play them anymore.

 

Granted, it's the videogame fashion "apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic" game with all the boring color pallette and all but I don't think those games deserve so much praise. Same thing with videogames over the years: Space shooter craze, platformer craze, beat' em up craze, TPS and FPS craze....they are going to be fillers between really great games (either of those or different genres).

 

I wouldn't be so extreme and ignore modern games like some folk do, but there are less original/creative games nowadays than back in the day in my opinion.

 

Killzone, GeoW, Crysis, Burnout etc will come and go, but games like Bioshock, Fable II, Super Mario Galaxy or Resident Evil 4 will be more memorable, at least for me.

 

 

Thank you for understanding where I'm coming from. Like you said, I still play modern games and I'm not saying there aren't good ones, it's just the number of more original games seems to be lacking. Gears of War, Fallout, Haze, Killzone, CoD, all kind of blend in together.

 

And also, personally, I'm really sick and tired of the whole popularity of the horror genre in games and especially in movies. When I grew up, horror movies and games came out around Halloween, and that was it. Now there's a new release for both movies and games in the horror genre every month. I guess I never understood paying to get scared. So while I know everyone and their brother likes games like Bioshock and Left 4 Dead, and while I can appreciate how quality these games are in audio and graphical presentation, they simply aren't for me in the least. But that's a seperate subject.

[Red 5]

Play Lost Odyssey.

Enough emotion to require counseling on completion.

[Keatah]

Hear hear!!! Wooooooott! I think that many of the earlier atari 2600 and intellivision and colecovision titles had far more character than today's latest ps3 and wii stuff.

 

Today's games make you lazy, the graphics are so good you can't use your imagination!

[liveinabin]

I agree although I'd like to stress the difference between good graphics 'technically' and good graphics 'artistically'. The former adds nothing to the emotional impact of a game whilst the (much rarer and non-technology dependent) latter makes all the difference.

 

The only emotions that seem to be pushed in most AAA games are 'fear' and/or 'panic'. Both of which are fairly easy to do and have both been done to death. We should be getting more believable characters who can emote and illicit an emotive response these days.

 

I played the excellent Captain Blood (1990) yesterday and it's just silly that a game so old has still got the most believable conversational intelligence of any videogame.