Name one game that you think has aged well and one that hasn't - CHAT WITH THE STAFF!
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Games that have aged well: Dawn of War (its still one of the best RTSs ever), Supreme Commander (Now that PCs are powerful enough to play it well, it is awesome), Dungeon Keeper 2 (still a funny and different dungeon sim)
Games that haven't aged well: Fallout 1/2, Doom 3, Settlers and Duke nukem 3D
Games that haven't aged well: Fallout 1/2, Doom 3, Settlers and Duke nukem 3D
aged well? hmmmm... oldest game i have that i can break out and have a balls load of fun with God of War.
and on the flip side... E. T. i hope i gave someone else a flashback /rummages for Jager
and on the flip side... E. T. i hope i gave someone else a flashback /rummages for Jager
As for a game that has aged well, I would nominate Tetris. Every version of it I have played (which has been most of them, including one that came out for the PC back in the days of the IBM 486 machines) has been timeless. Even the NES and Game Boy versions still hold up in terms of graphics, game play and for the most part, even music.
The list of games that have not aged well is very, very long. The first one that comes to mind is Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64. That game was pretty cool back in the day, but it makes my eyes bleed when I play it today. Early 3-D graphics look terrible now, especially 3-D people (ugh!). They look like store window dummies made out of legos. Its A.I. and physics are pretty primative by todays standards too.
In general puzzle games and games with 2-D graphics tend to age better than 3-D games. Today's amazing 3-D tech becomes tomarrow's primative relic pretty quickly. You really don't have to go too many years back. Just try setting the first Burnout game for the Xbox next to Burnout Paradise for the 360 to see what I mean.
The list of games that have not aged well is very, very long. The first one that comes to mind is Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64. That game was pretty cool back in the day, but it makes my eyes bleed when I play it today. Early 3-D graphics look terrible now, especially 3-D people (ugh!). They look like store window dummies made out of legos. Its A.I. and physics are pretty primative by todays standards too.
In general puzzle games and games with 2-D graphics tend to age better than 3-D games. Today's amazing 3-D tech becomes tomarrow's primative relic pretty quickly. You really don't have to go too many years back. Just try setting the first Burnout game for the Xbox next to Burnout Paradise for the 360 to see what I mean.
In my opinion the old fashioned DOOM style shooters have aged well since it's very easy to simply pick them up and play them again and again and again and again (that would be it for the moment though, maybe after a while you could come back to it). They're just centred around being fun and frantic. No complex story or exposition bullshit, just you, a gun and a horde of bad guys (the way it was meant to be).
A game I think has not aged well is Splinter Cell and it's sequels. Spending a long time to set up a kill before executing it ruthlessly is very fun (MGS and Manhunt both proved this in their own unique ways) but both also gave you a) the option to actually kill bad guys most of the time (rather than the 'zero fatalities' mandate they give in certain missions) and don't punish you too badly for cocking everything up (in MGS you have the option of gunning down your pursuers while in Manhunt you can quite easily run away from most enemies) while Splinter Cell will sometimes automatically fail the mission or hand you enemies who are inhuman killing machines compared to you.
A game I think has not aged well is Splinter Cell and it's sequels. Spending a long time to set up a kill before executing it ruthlessly is very fun (MGS and Manhunt both proved this in their own unique ways) but both also gave you a) the option to actually kill bad guys most of the time (rather than the 'zero fatalities' mandate they give in certain missions) and don't punish you too badly for cocking everything up (in MGS you have the option of gunning down your pursuers while in Manhunt you can quite easily run away from most enemies) while Splinter Cell will sometimes automatically fail the mission or hand you enemies who are inhuman killing machines compared to you.
I can't really think of any games that age well. There's still plenty of old games i'd still play but games have gotten exponetinally better (overall) in every single important area, bar one and there aren't rose tinted lenses strong enough to hide this.
Graphics are enourmously improved, Presentation is universally much more sophisticated, music, artwork and style are all things no longer heavily restricted in scope by crappy hardware.
It's not all good though. Games are alot less charming and original. Alot of games are criminally easy compared to older titles and alot of developers lose sight that a game is supposed to be fun in their maniacal quest for 'realism!!'.
It's always sorta baffled me why backwards compatibility is so important to gamers.
Graphics are enourmously improved, Presentation is universally much more sophisticated, music, artwork and style are all things no longer heavily restricted in scope by crappy hardware.
It's not all good though. Games are alot less charming and original. Alot of games are criminally easy compared to older titles and alot of developers lose sight that a game is supposed to be fun in their maniacal quest for 'realism!!'.
It's always sorta baffled me why backwards compatibility is so important to gamers.
Aged Well: Fallout
While Fallout 3 is nothing like it's predecessors, Bethesda did a really great job at bringing that experience the others had with their game.
Hasn't Aged Well: Mario
He's just been used for so many terrible titles, even Galaxy was boring.
While Fallout 3 is nothing like it's predecessors, Bethesda did a really great job at bringing that experience the others had with their game.
Hasn't Aged Well: Mario
He's just been used for so many terrible titles, even Galaxy was boring.
Aged well: Street Fighter 2, Warcraft 3
Depending on how someone sees it: Final Fantasy
Hasn't aged well: Lately, Star fox.
Depending on how someone sees it: Final Fantasy
Hasn't aged well: Lately, Star fox.
Speaking from personal experience only,
Aged well: M.A.X. (the first that is, the second is made of suck), Homeworld series, Space Empires series, Total Annihilation, The Settlers series (except Heritage of Awfulness), Mechwarrior 4, MechCommander 2, Europa Universalis II engine games, Ground Control (the first), Command & Conquer/Red Alert/Dune serieseseseseses, Operation Flashpoint, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Aged poorly: Dune 2000 3D, Medal of Honor (the original), Grand Theft Auto I+II (and III a bit), Age of Empires I+II, Heroes of Might and Magic I-III (IMHO), No One Lives Forever, Civilization I+II (and III, to a certain extent)
Aged well: M.A.X. (the first that is, the second is made of suck), Homeworld series, Space Empires series, Total Annihilation, The Settlers series (except Heritage of Awfulness), Mechwarrior 4, MechCommander 2, Europa Universalis II engine games, Ground Control (the first), Command & Conquer/Red Alert/Dune serieseseseseses, Operation Flashpoint, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Aged poorly: Dune 2000 3D, Medal of Honor (the original), Grand Theft Auto I+II (and III a bit), Age of Empires I+II, Heroes of Might and Magic I-III (IMHO), No One Lives Forever, Civilization I+II (and III, to a certain extent)
Just to bring in one that I'm almost definite nobody else will have mentioned, the 1997 game of Blade Runner has aged fantastically - it was one of the first games ever with graphics of that quality, and the storyline that changed evry time you played it means that it gets old much much slower than any other game. It was a pioneer of the time, and it still shows nowadays. Plus, the visuals are possibly better than some of the games coming out nowadays!
As for one that hasn't aged well, the originl two Medal of Honor games have been ruined for me. I played them through again recently, and they really don't stand the test of time...
As for one that hasn't aged well, the originl two Medal of Honor games have been ruined for me. I played them through again recently, and they really don't stand the test of time...
