I’d like some substance with my style, please.
Games sure do look pretty these days. It’s just too bad there’s rarely anything to back up those good looks.I just got my hands on Doom 3 for Xbox today, and the hype machine was right about one thing. It’s damned good looking. The bar for the visuals expected out of a console just keeps getting raised higher and higher.
Now if we can just do something about the gameplay.
Seriously. Graphics could’ve peaked at SNES levels for all I care. Yeah, pretty graphics are nice, but if there’s nothing to back them up, what’s the point? What does Doom 3 offer me, gameplay-wise, that Doom didn’t have? I’m still just running around shooting stuff. Yeah, the audio’s better too, and it could be argued that improved video and sound make the whole experience more immersive – a point I’ll grant you.
But so what?
Does any of that make it more fun? I don’t play games to be wowed by the graphics. In all honesty, I shouldn’t even give two shits about the graphics. I should be having so much fun playing that the visuals don’t make that big an impression on me.Here’s a perfect example – Ridge Racers on PSP. If you watch somebody playing it, it’s a damned gorgeous game. No handheld game oughta look that good, but it does. Now, if you take hold of the unit and play it yourself, you won’t notice how good it looks. You’re too busy drifting and powersliding and popping off turbos to take notice of the scenery. All you care about is the road and passing whoever’s in front of you.
And that’s how it should be.
I expect similar things out of Wipeout Pure. (On sale in Japan on April 7.)
But what about the shooters? Is there any hope for them? Yeah, I think there is. An example of somebody doing an inventive take on the whole FPS thing is Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath. What makes it different? Well, you don’t just get your ammo of out crates or find it laying around.
You have to hunt it down.
Yup, your ammunition is live animals. Several different kinds, each of which serves a different function. The chipmunk-looking ones draw out enemies (who try to stomp them to death) and the spider-looking ones bind them up. There’s also one that just a ball of fur with teeth and eyes. These can be placed as traps and will attack any enemy that walks by, or they can be fired directly at somebody.
Now, that’s not 100% revolutionary, but it’s a great start. And of course, the game – as fun as it is – won’t sell nearly as many copies as Doom 3.
Because it’s not as pretty.
I guess gamers (speaking of the guys in that category here) go for the best looking games because they know they’ll be guaranteed something gorgeous. They can’t have the same luck with women, so their games may as well look good. But not me. You see that moderately attractive game with the good ideas, sharp wit, and wicked personality?
That’s the game I want to fuck.
(Okay, maybe that metaphor didn’t hold up too well, but you get the idea, right? ^.^)