I can't tell modern games apart anymore

[Gabriel]

Does anyone have a problem differentiating between mainstream modern games?

 

A while back I saw a video where someone was bitching about video game pre-order culture. Whether the irony was intentional or not, he framed his rant with footage from pre-order trailers. As I listened to his presentation, I only periodically checked the video portion. I soon realized that I could not tell where one game ended and another began. I couldn't tell the big, popular games apart. They all had the same art style, the same generic protagonists, the same action, the same sounds (bullets, explosions, and screaming). If you had asked me to name two of the games presented, I would have looked at you confusedly and replied, "There was more than one?"

 

I've never been much into the popular shooters and third person action games which everyone else seems to wet themselves over. And over the past few months I've slowly been distancing myself from keeping up with new games. I'm just surprised how quickly I've reached a point where it all looks completely identical to me. Is anyone else feeling the same?

[Reaperman]

It's okay, for the most part I can't tell 2600 vertical shooters apart. It's nothing new--I guess you have to be a fan of 'the one game they all copy' to tell them apart.

[cimerians]

On consoles maybe so....on PC not really, but that's just me. Depends on the game and familiarity of the games too.

 

Combat\Warfare FPS games are hard to tell apart if you have never played them.

 

Sci Fi Halo and Borderlands games I can tell apart easily because I've played them and I am familiar with them.

 

I haven't payed attention to combat FPS games since the original Modern Warfare.

[moycon]

I think it depends on what games you're comparing. If you make a list that includes Call of Duty, Battlefield and Medal of Honor and then say they all look the same, well yeah. That makes sense though doesn't it? They are all FPS war games. You could do the same thing with games like Halo, Crysis, maybe Bulletstorm, and do the same thing I suppose. Here's the thing, you could make a list of 100 other games that don't look or play like any of them. My thought is focus on those other games if you feel everything is the same ol same ol. Telltale Games Walking Dead, De Blob 2, Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, Create, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch all spring to mind. (I could go on and on)

 

I think the reason you see a lot of certain types of games is because they are popular. No maybe not popular with you, but millions of others. Should game companies stop making these games because a hand full of uncaring old folks can't tell them apart? I don't think so, how sad would that be for those millions? I can tell you this, they aren't all the same, you just have to be a fan of the genre, play the games and most of all...care, to know that. I think the reason you feel they way you do isn't because all games are the same, you've just lost interest keeping up is all, you don't care. You know what's next don't you? Tan Shorts pulled up above your waist, dark socks with those little sock garters, and a wife beater T-shirt. Oh yeah, and shuffleboard.

[Gabriel]

Should game companies stop making these games because a hand full of uncaring old folks can't tell them apart?

 

Nope. Wasn't even trying to imply that at all. I'm calm and mellow Gabriel right now. Psycho batshit fanboy Gabriel is sleeping.

 

I was just curious if anyone else has the same problem differentiating between modern popular games. I found the realization that I couldn't quite interesting, If others have the same problem, then it does raise some potential issues in the homogenization of gaming. It's not necessarily that all games are the same. It's that the only ones that seem to ever be promoted and considered popular are of the same type and style. Maybe that's just the nature of popularity, but it did seem odd to me.

[Rev]

Yes, most modern games are clones, but so are alot of games from all generations of consoles.

[moycon]

I was just curious if anyone else has the same problem differentiating between modern popular games.

 

I avoided Bulletstorm for the very reason you are bringing up. The only reason I bought it was because it was $10 at Target. I'll tell you now, I thought that game was AWESOME. The main character was hoot, and added so much to the game. The environment while linear, were gorgeous with a lot of attention paid to detail. It was a first person shooter, but you had the ability to kick HARD, and grapple items/enemies and use a whip like device to pull them. I couldn't believe how fun that mechanic was. Pulling enemies towards me and then kicking them off the side of a building, yanking or kicking enemies into electrified fences, kicking explosives near enemies and blowing them up, etc.... I had a real blast with that game, and by the time it was done could certainly pick it from a line up. In fact I found out they made one action figure based on the game, and when i was done playing, I knew I'd have to try and track it down. Maybe that cured me of the "All games are the same these days" train of thought. I honestly did almost pass on that one for the same reason.

[Austin]

You see, Bulletstorm was the one game I could tell was unique immediately from looking at it. The wild camera angles, unique gameplay gimmick, over-the-top action and the occasional bright colors mixed with the typical brown made it stand out to me.

 

I can see what Gabriel is getting at though. When you watch advertisements, everything looks the same. Same shitty alternative rock tune in the background. Same epic camera angles. Same movie-esque setup, with a mere two or three seconds of actual gameplay footage afterwards. Meh.

[onlysublime]

looks all the same to me...

 

 

 

 

[+HammR25]

At this point in the existence of humanity practically everything in life is just a copy of something that's already been done a million times over. It didn't seem that way when you were younger because everything was still new to you personally.

 

Oh and that last game shown above my post is completely different than the other three. The other three didn't have birds crapping on them.

[Reaperman]

looks all the same to me...

Nope, I can't tell which one's which--galaxian? Gorf? hell if I know. ...with the exception of 'Worm War I.'

If only modern games placed the title of the game somewhere on the screen at all times. Then we'd always know which one we were looking at.

 

This for this gen's games we've largely got:

Back of a gun

Back back of a person with a gun

Back of a person swinging melee weapons at mythical creatures

Back of a car (and optionally windscreen of a car)

Tiny men who are paid to play sport-ball

Then there are 'indie games' which are for some reason all overly pixelated because they don't think customers deserve any better.

 

but at a glance, everybody's version of any of those 6 games looks pretty much interchangeable.

Edited April 27, 2013 by Reaperman

[onlysublime]

 

Then there are 'indie games' which are for some reason all overly pixelated because they don't think customers deserve any better.

 

 

I hate how all the indie developers are going with the 8-bit/16-bit style art because retro has that chic factor. But it makes all the games start to look the same. And stop making zombie games just to have zombies! I don't get why zombies are so popular. Indie developers put the word zombie somewhere in their game title to attract people looking for zombie games.

[Reaperman]

And stop making zombie games just to have zombies! I don't get why zombies are so popular. Indie developers put the word zombie somewhere in their game title to attract people looking for zombie games.

I'll love life just a little bit more after this 'zombie fad' expires. And yes, it's a fad--doesn't matter that it's lasted over half a decade. Zombies used to be a nice surprise in movies and video games. Now half the movies are zombie related and every goddamn game needs at least a 'zombie survival mode' or it's not legit.

 

Nazis or aliens are actually way more interactive enemies and are equally generic. You can swap one for another (and many games do) without hurting much but the difficulty level.

 

Zombie saturation sucks and it will date the 201x's like shag carpeting dates the 197x's, pastel cocaine dates the 198x's, depressed flannel dates the 199x's, or stainless steel kitchens date the 200x's (the ooh'ies?).

Edited April 28, 2013 by Reaperman

[MagitekAngel]

On a side note, I've started to feel that the neo-8-bit look is starting to get kind of old. Mega Man 9 seems to have more or less popularized the trend, and in the ensuing years, things have gotten a bit crowded. Instead of the genuine artistic direction that early adopters like MM9 embraced, I'm now confronted with thousands of App Store games where the 8-bit look appears to have been selected for no other reason than the fact that it was easier to produce.

[Atarifever]

I've never been much into the popular shooters and third person action games which everyone else seems to wet themselves over. And over the past few months I've slowly been distancing myself from keeping up with new games. I'm just surprised how quickly I've reached a point where it all looks completely identical to me. Is anyone else feeling the same?

I realized this at the E3 where they showed a Splinter Cell trailer and until it was over (even after they showed his face because without the voice no one would know his face anyway) I thought Ubi was making the next COD for Activision. Then there was the Dead Space 3 trailer I thought was a Lost Planet 3 trailer.

 

Still, the jump to the next generation hopefully brings a lot of new ideas.

[Atarifever]

I hate how all the indie developers are going with the 8-bit/16-bit style art because retro has that chic factor. But it makes all the games start to look the same.

Jeff Vogel (Spiderweb software) did a blog post about how 16 bit graphics are the best a lot of indie developers can afford to do while still making the characters good enough looking to tell whatever story they want. I believe that because there is a huge inventory of sprite knowledge in the player base, you can make games that people can immediately recognize things in for a fraction of the price of making a game that looks like an early 3D game that is much uglier. We all recognize a 16 bit tree. We get it. We recognize a 16 bit wizard. We get that. That is why they use that style. Because we will get it and they can afford to make it. Your complaint is like saying indie film makers need to stop making 2D movies now that movies can have good 3D. If they could afford 3D, they wouldn't be indie film makers.

 

16 bit is cheaper than cheap 3D. If you aren't an amazing artist, 16bit sprites are a lot easier than handdrawn art. If you want to tell a story in a style most of your customers will get, 16-bit is an easily recognized style. It isn't just nostalgia. It just makes sense.

[Keatah]

This sort of thing started in the 16-bit and nintendo era.

[onlysublime]

you don't have to be an amazing artist. my friend who's still in school does far better art than the lazy art in many of those indie games. and she's uber cheap for hire. it's very easy to use an excuse of money. take the guy that did Dust: An Elysian Tail. that's one guy who did all the graphics. all the game code even though he had never programmed ever in his life. And that friend of mine still didn't like his art style.

 

 

reminds me of Scotty in Star Trek saying that he'd exaggerate how long it took to fix things so it'd seem like a miracle when it got fix. you lower expectations so you can always deliver.

Edited April 28, 2013 by onlysublime

[Reaperman]

so is this a tree or a wizard?

 

I think there's a difference between 'not being able to afford fancy graphics' and 'trying to recoup total art expenses with the sale of one copy of an $8 game.' For at least a decade now, flash games have generally managed better art than a 16-bit pixel-blobs, and not only do they not have a higher budget, but they generally don't monetize their games at all.

Edited April 28, 2013 by Reaperman

[moycon]

take the guy that did Dust: An Elysian Tail. that's one guy who did all the graphics. all the game code even though he had never programmed ever in his life.

 

Playing through this game. It's really a lot of fun, and further proof all games released aren't brown!!

[Vic George 2K3]

I think it's supposed to look like a cowboy, but I do see where using 8-bit or even 16-bit graphics can fail if one is not good at creating recognizable images from various colored pixels. Indies can't be lone wolves if they hope to bring out games that are at least functional as well as playable and potentially enjoyable.

Edited April 30, 2013 by Vic George 2K3

[Tr3vor]

would you rather have "16-bit" style graphics, or Flash based shit.... eeew.

 

Has anyone Played VVVVVV? that game is great. Looks like it's straight off the C64. I don't really blame indie developers for making their games look like that, since the whole "retro gaming" thing started. They have to get noticed somehow, and that makes them much more noticeable than shitty flash games on miniclip.com.

[Vic George 2K3]

I'd rather have games that look, sound, and play good regardless of what's being used to create it. I just don't want to see a giant mess of blobby sprites when it's supposed to be something recognizable.

[cimerians]

Has anyone Played VVVVVV?

 

Great game and so is Thirty Flights of Loving.

[BydoEmpire]

I'd rather have games that look, sound, and play good regardless of what's being used to create it. I just don't want to see a giant mess of blobby sprites when it's supposed to be something recognizable.

That's where your imagination is supposed to come in. I do agree the "retro" pixely style has been a bit overdone and isn't right for every game, but I still prefer that to the cartoony look. Hard to find iOS games that doesn't have that uber-cartoony, big-head aesthetic. Just not a fan.

 

Back OT, I could probably tell modern games apart if I cared about them enough to look.

Edited May 2, 2013 by BydoEmpire