My all time favourite game is The Legend of Zelda, a Link to the Past. I adore everything about this game, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I have played it through well over a dozen times, maybe 15 or 16. I stay play it today, on my SNES, which is now nearly 20 years old. There is a trend for saying that old games aren’t really good, that we just mis-remember them favourably, and sometimes that is true, but not always. One cannot simply dismiss 30 odd years of gaming development.
So what stands out for me about Link to the Past? Firstly, even though it is near 20 years old, the graphics have aged exceptionally well. Why is this? Because the sprites are clear and crisp, the colours sharp. Everything is stylised, and easy to see. As such it doesn’t matter how many years pass, the graphics look good. Contrast this to something like Final Fantasy VII. Link to the Past was at the height of sprite graphics, games like Mario World fall under this category too, they were the culmination of years of development. Final Fantasy VII though was pushing boundaries, 3D character models and environments, new graphical techniques, but what that means, is that looking back, we have ugly textureless figures in undefined hazy environments Perfect Dark is a good example too. So some games stand the test of times, others do not. I must point out that I didn’t play FF7 at the time, I started playing it two years back when I got my PS3, and simply couldn’t get into it. Perhaps others have an emotional attachment to the game from their childhood and view it differently. Link to the Past has a fantastic story, it set the benchmark for all future Zelda games. It also defined the gameplay ever since. The items you collect, the world exploration, the enemies. Sure, the first two Zeldas incorporated these elements too, but it was Link to the Past that put the shine on them and really perfected the method.
Some old games are just great regardless of time. Super Mario World is a great example. No matter where games progress to, the platforming in that is compelling and compulsive. Gameplay like that doesn’t age, and inspires games even today. Platformers continue to be popular, see for example the recent, and superb, Limbo, a 2D platformer. XBLA and Playstation Network has given developers a chance to sidestep many of the very costly requirements of today’s gaming industry, and simply focus on making amazing games. I love the arcade games available on the PS3 and Xbox, and two of my favourite games are Shadow Complex, and Limbo. Both hark back to early nineties gameplay elements, and don’t rely on massive budgets for making top notch 3d graphics and so forth. What we then get is creative freedom that allows us to return to simpler days of gaming, and play games that are no less brilliant for it. As such, many retro games now are not simply cash ins, not corner cutting, and we should not be dismissive of older games either. I find it interesting that XBLA/Network games, less limited by constraints of modern mainstream release development, are going back to old fashioned gaming styles.
The future of gaming. I am a fan of Yahtzee, over at Zero Punctuation, and I would be surprised if there were many people on IGN unfamiliar with his work. I agree with most points he makes, but in one he is very very wrong. That point is motion controls. He may dismiss them as a fad, something to tide people over in lieu of real development, but he is mistaken. The reason he is wrong, goes back to old games (see, there was a point in there somewhere). Some old games are brilliant, they are immersive, emotional, and involving. For me, Link to the Past is the highlight. What did that game not have that now comes as standard? A vibration/force feedback setting. Yahtzee argues that vibration is essential for immersion, that you cannot get into a game without it, yet I was playing games long before Nintendo released the rumble pack for the N64. As I still play SNES games now, I can tell you that the argument ‘well you didn’t know about it to miss it’ doesn’t hold up either. The lack of rumble on the Wii does not in any way diminish your immersion into the world. As a long time Nintendo fangirl, I snapped up the Wii immediately upon release. I loved Twilight Princess, which, going back to the first point, hasn’t aged terribly well, and also loved Red Steel. Yes it was a launch title and was more about showing off the potential than being an amazing game. But I loved doing all the aiming myself. I am a big fan of shooters and light gun games, so found Red Steel incredibly satisfying, beyond anything a mouse or analogue stick could achieve. I was looking forward to a glorious era for Nintendo gaming when they captured the hardcore gaming audience. What a let down.
After a long string of party games and shallow rubbish with motion controls shoe horned in, I finally traded in my Wii with a sigh. It was a hard thing to do, even knowing I never ever used it. So it is with hope that I look forward to the Playstation Move.
Usually I would scoff at such an obvious rip off and cash in of another company’s idea, but this time I am hopeful, maybe Sony will do what Nintendo failed so spectacularly at, and make games with depth and story, shooters and point and click adventure games, RTS’ and rail shooters, and not just Wii Sports and its’ ill gotten ilk.
Kinect I am also intrigued by, I think as a game interface it looks doomed to failure, it lacks the necessary input. Controllers still have a place, even if it is just a few buttons and an analogue stick on a glowing lolly pop. With Kinect there simply isn’t enough depth of gameplay available. What I do hope they do with it however, is use it to supplement traditional gaming. Forget jumping up and down trying to steer an uncaring raft down a rive,r that will get old within an hour. Imagine playing a horror game with a normal pad, Kinect runs in the background, it takes note, transferring your reactions into an on screen effect. You jump, your character jumps, shaking aim and vision momentarily. That is the kind of immersion that a vibrating pad could never hope to deliver.
I greatly look forward to the release both of Move, and of Kinect, and I love what they represent. The future of gaming, not a fad or a gimmick, but a real evolution of the medium. And whilst I enjoy that, I will take Link out for one more tour of Hyrule…
Bright, sharp and fun
not so clear, what happened to his arms?
retro awesomeness
Old School awesomeness
the future?
Usually I would scoff at such an obvious rip off and cash in of another company’s idea, but this time I am hopeful, maybe Sony will do what Nintendo failed so spectacularly at, and make games with depth and story, shooters and point and click adventure games, RTS’ and rail shooters, and not just Wii Sports and its’ ill gotten ilk.
Kinect I am also intrigued by, I think as a game interface it looks doomed to failure, it lacks the necessary input. Controllers still have a place, even if it is just a few buttons and an analogue stick on a glowing lolly pop. With Kinect there simply isn’t enough depth of gameplay available. What I do hope they do with it however, is use it to supplement traditional gaming. Forget jumping up and down trying to steer an uncaring raft down a rive,r that will get old within an hour. Imagine playing a horror game with a normal pad, Kinect runs in the background, it takes note, transferring your reactions into an on screen effect. You jump, your character jumps, shaking aim and vision momentarily. That is the kind of immersion that a vibrating pad could never hope to deliver.
not the future...
best game ever?
No comments:
Post a Comment