Back in the late eighties and early nineties, platformers
dominated the cultural landscape. Atari’s blunders with the Atari 5200 and the
disastrous failure of E.T appeared to be sending the entire video gaming
industry to its deathbed. Then out of the ashes, Nintendo arose and birthed the
Super Mario Bros franchise, turning the Nintendo Entertainment System into a
worldwide sensation. The platformer became dominant, and every gaming company
in America began desperately trying to grab onto Nintendo’s dominance within
the industry by crafting a competitor to Super Mario, but none could succeed.
Until the year 1990 when Sega threw its hat into the gaming
arena ring with the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and its infamous
“Blast-Processing” advertising. Suddenly, every single video game company had
to have a successful platforming adventure. Bubsy, Gex, Glover and other reject
mascots came and went, all delivering style over substance because they all
forget the central tenant of great platformers… ACTUAL PLATFORMING!!!
What made great platformers great was a combination of
correct jumping techniques and well-developed characters that made the world’s
fun to explore. This genre had all but died out, because the game designers
cared more about making the character appealing to younger and younger
audiences. News flash, Conker’s Bad Fur Day was a great platformer not just
because of its edgy and sophisticated darker theme, but the adult themes
combined with excellent gameplay. No hardcore gamer cares one bit how shiny
your graphics on your game are. If the game plays like garbage, you have failed
as a game developer, end of story. Conker worked as a platformer and as a
mature title, because it seamlessly blended story and platforming together in a
manner unlike any platformer before it, and wasn’t afraid to get as raunchy as
possible in the process. The operatic Great Mighty Poo while a disgusting
character, may also have been one of the most original and brilliant villains
in history!
Graphics cannot trump the value of solid gameplay, as great
Indie developer released Shovel Knight undeniably set in stone forever. This
game has 8-bit graphics in the modern era of flashy graphics and anisotropic
filtering. Yet tight, nail-biting gameplay with excellent platforming and
addictive combat, making the graphics meaningless in context. I cannot stress
this undeniable fact enough, modern game developers now care more about
graphics than good story or gameplay, to the detriment of everyone involved.
Mass Effect Andromeda (or in my eyes a Mass Effect Abomination which I will
certainly cover) has shiny graphics, a nice coat of paint. But the story is
awful, the characters forgettable, and the gameplay so buggy and glitch-ridden,
it is an absolute disgrace. You can spend all the millions of dollars in the
world, but without proper QA testing of your product, you are only deluding
yourself as to the nature of the final product. It’s as if we have come to celebrate
mediocrity in all forms as long as its tied neatly together in a bow and
presented within a pretty package.
Graphics are NEVER more important in great video games than
gameplay. What made the old school platformers fun and satisfying video games was
the game developers commitment to making a game that is, at bottom, fun and
satisfying to play for the consumer. Now its all about DLC bullshit,
microtransactions for every cosmetic piece, and silly, superficial content that
strips away a fun experience at every turn. The modern gaming industry needs a
fundamental change in how games are designed, starting with a back to basics
empasis on catering to the hardcore gamer, by delivering solid, tight,
addictive, and endlessly replayable and customizable gaming experiences. You
limit our options to save on budget or make the game look better at the expense
of substance, your product is already an absolute failure.
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