Name one game that you think has aged well and one that hasn't - CHAT WITH THE STAFF!
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Aged well: Super Mario 1-3, any of the early Metroid games, Sonic the Hedgehog 1&2, and many other classic old school games.
Aged as well as a 12 month old loaf of bread: Soul Edge, Final Fantasy VII (the visuals at least), the Metal Gear Solid series, and the first two GTA games.
Aged as well as a 12 month old loaf of bread: Soul Edge, Final Fantasy VII (the visuals at least), the Metal Gear Solid series, and the first two GTA games.
I think you'll find that well-aged games are well-aged because they consist of a very stylised aesthetic or adeptly balanced//engineered gameplay.
Games like Grim Fandango, American McGees Alice and Yoshi's Island appeal to me because they incorporate such a rich sense of style and freshness.
Games like Scorched Earth, Mario 64 and Half-Life appeal to me with their incredibly engineered gameplay (well Scorched Earth was about as engineered as it got in the 80's)
Games that age badly are a dime a dozen, there are literally hundreds of thousands out there, that to me that epitomise the 'mass-produced-shiny-new-game-for-the-genre' category. These are games that I find lacklustre and would be a blatant chore to play today.
For example -
Need For Speed, Medal Of Honour, Crash Bandicoot and Most Flight sims. The list goes on but those are just some broad examples.
Games like Grim Fandango, American McGees Alice and Yoshi's Island appeal to me because they incorporate such a rich sense of style and freshness.
Games like Scorched Earth, Mario 64 and Half-Life appeal to me with their incredibly engineered gameplay (well Scorched Earth was about as engineered as it got in the 80's)
Games that age badly are a dime a dozen, there are literally hundreds of thousands out there, that to me that epitomise the 'mass-produced-shiny-new-game-for-the-genre' category. These are games that I find lacklustre and would be a blatant chore to play today.
For example -
Need For Speed, Medal Of Honour, Crash Bandicoot and Most Flight sims. The list goes on but those are just some broad examples.
Aged Well - Metal Gear Solid series, the game was popular when it came out and is still incredibly popular in most regions. New additions to each game also help make each version different from the others.
Aged Badly - The Pokemon series, after the 2nd generation, Gold and Silver, the series just got worse and worse, especially if you played the 1st generation. They just added too many Pokemon, and it just stopped being fun.
Aged Badly - The Pokemon series, after the 2nd generation, Gold and Silver, the series just got worse and worse, especially if you played the 1st generation. They just added too many Pokemon, and it just stopped being fun.
The original Mega Man games have aged well. Tight controls and fiendishly difficult jumping puzzles never go out of style.
Wolfenstein 3D however has not aged well. No strafe, no AI, no map (so you had to track you progress by the Hansel and Gretel-style trail of bodies you left). It's pretty much unplayable by today's standards.
Wolfenstein 3D however has not aged well. No strafe, no AI, no map (so you had to track you progress by the Hansel and Gretel-style trail of bodies you left). It's pretty much unplayable by today's standards.
Can't agree more with Halo - I honestly can't even bring myself to finish the first level anymore.Sewblon said:
the original 6 megaman games
megaman x and x3
super mario world and yoshi's island
donkey kong country 2
super mario RPG
final fantasy III/VI
have aged well IMO
not aged well??
any need for speed game
or halo
or a newer game
star wars TFU= i didnt even play through it twice
megaman x and x3
super mario world and yoshi's island
donkey kong country 2
super mario RPG
final fantasy III/VI
have aged well IMO
not aged well??
any need for speed game
or halo
or a newer game
star wars TFU= i didnt even play through it twice
It's a tie between Commander Keen (IV and V) and, lo and behold, Riven! Both entertain me no end.
Not so well? Phantasmagoria. Or Ripper. Or any FMV non-Myst game.
Not so well? Phantasmagoria. Or Ripper. Or any FMV non-Myst game.
Aged well: Super Mario Brothers. Graphics that aren't eyesores, fun to play, a classic and probably always will be.
Star Fox 64/Lylat Wars. This game holds its own to this very day with some still very top-quality gameplay, replayability, crisp visuals and memorable music.
Quake III Arena. Still an absolute blast to play, low system requirements means it's very accessible, and with Quake Live coming soon, the Quake III experience will be around for a long time.
Need for Speed 3: Hot Pursuit. May seem like a weird choice, but this game is still awesome arcade driving fun in its purest of forms. Why can't they make NFS games like this anymore?
Death Rally. Another game that needs more attention. For the uneducated, it's a top-down racer with weapons, where you have to work your way up through the ranks of the competition (not to mention Duke Nukem) to defeat the Adversary. It's such a blast to play, just a bit of a pity it's marred by compatibility issues with XP.
Aged badly: Star Fox/Starwing. Revolutionary for its time, sure, but with SF64 around it just doesn't stick out anymore. (nice music though)
Duke Nukem 3D. It's still fun to play, but after a while you kinda tire of the dated feel of it all. Which makes Duke Nukem Forever all the more necessary.
Donkey Kong. Meh, it just seems somewhat unsubstantial now.
Star Fox 64/Lylat Wars. This game holds its own to this very day with some still very top-quality gameplay, replayability, crisp visuals and memorable music.
Quake III Arena. Still an absolute blast to play, low system requirements means it's very accessible, and with Quake Live coming soon, the Quake III experience will be around for a long time.
Need for Speed 3: Hot Pursuit. May seem like a weird choice, but this game is still awesome arcade driving fun in its purest of forms. Why can't they make NFS games like this anymore?
Death Rally. Another game that needs more attention. For the uneducated, it's a top-down racer with weapons, where you have to work your way up through the ranks of the competition (not to mention Duke Nukem) to defeat the Adversary. It's such a blast to play, just a bit of a pity it's marred by compatibility issues with XP.
Aged badly: Star Fox/Starwing. Revolutionary for its time, sure, but with SF64 around it just doesn't stick out anymore. (nice music though)
Duke Nukem 3D. It's still fun to play, but after a while you kinda tire of the dated feel of it all. Which makes Duke Nukem Forever all the more necessary.
Donkey Kong. Meh, it just seems somewhat unsubstantial now.
Aged Well: Final Fantasy 6
Aged Terribly: Final Fantasy 7
Why? Because FF6 was released at a point when sprite graphics were getting close to as good as could be done, meanwhile FF7 was at the beginning of 3d modelling, so the models look god awful today, not to mention there are points where the field screens pan out so far you need to use that select toggle just to tell you what things are because they get so small. It's pretty bad that they had to include that to begin with. FF6 is 2d, sprite based, and you can tell what everything is supposed to be. The story is also great and it's funny the more you play the both of them the more you realize how much FF7 is just a rewrite of 6, but not as good.
Some other series had 2d->3d jumps that still managed to age well, by the time Zelda made the jump, it'd been a few years, so the graphics don't look so bad.
Unfortunately.. while FF7 looked amazing at it's time.. it's one of those that just, looks horrible to pick up today, I tried getting a friend who'd never played either to try them out, he determined that FF7 was nearly unplayable because it looked so bad.. but enjoyed FF6 because the art could still be appreciated for its "retro" style.
Aged Terribly: Final Fantasy 7
Why? Because FF6 was released at a point when sprite graphics were getting close to as good as could be done, meanwhile FF7 was at the beginning of 3d modelling, so the models look god awful today, not to mention there are points where the field screens pan out so far you need to use that select toggle just to tell you what things are because they get so small. It's pretty bad that they had to include that to begin with. FF6 is 2d, sprite based, and you can tell what everything is supposed to be. The story is also great and it's funny the more you play the both of them the more you realize how much FF7 is just a rewrite of 6, but not as good.
Some other series had 2d->3d jumps that still managed to age well, by the time Zelda made the jump, it'd been a few years, so the graphics don't look so bad.
Unfortunately.. while FF7 looked amazing at it's time.. it's one of those that just, looks horrible to pick up today, I tried getting a friend who'd never played either to try them out, he determined that FF7 was nearly unplayable because it looked so bad.. but enjoyed FF6 because the art could still be appreciated for its "retro" style.
Aged well: Command and Conquer Red Alert 2, Stronghold, Halo, GTA Vice City
Aged badly: Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six 3, Command and Conquer Generals, Fallout 1&2
Aged badly: Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six 3, Command and Conquer Generals, Fallout 1&2
Most SNES hold up well, as do most lucasarts point-and-click games.
A few that stands out are Donkey Kong Country (and the equally strong sequels) for snes, and Monkey Island 3 which looked crazy good when it came out, and thanks to its highly stylized cartoony design still looks awesome.
I would probably get lynched for this in some circles but I can't say Baldurs Gate 2 aged that well, but that is from a guy that came to the party late. I just can't get into the DnD based gameplay, with constant resting and the awful magic system.
A few that stands out are Donkey Kong Country (and the equally strong sequels) for snes, and Monkey Island 3 which looked crazy good when it came out, and thanks to its highly stylized cartoony design still looks awesome.
I would probably get lynched for this in some circles but I can't say Baldurs Gate 2 aged that well, but that is from a guy that came to the party late. I just can't get into the DnD based gameplay, with constant resting and the awful magic system.
The Shining force series aged really well. I still have my genesis so I can break out SF or SF II every now and again. The charecters seem more blocky now but the whole game just bleeds charm. Even the music holds up surprisingly well. Streets of rage/SoR II is still amazing to play through with a friend. Great sound track too.
A game thats aged badly, I found this one much harder. Any game that was meant to be a tech demo first and a game second. Things like Ridge racer or early Virtual fighter. Play them again and you cant figure out what the big deal was.
Also fatal fury. That 2 plain arena just feels aukward.
A game thats aged badly, I found this one much harder. Any game that was meant to be a tech demo first and a game second. Things like Ridge racer or early Virtual fighter. Play them again and you cant figure out what the big deal was.
Also fatal fury. That 2 plain arena just feels aukward.
