Well the thing is that Skyrim is a case of "there is no reason to try and fix what isn't broken". This type of game is pretty much perfect in of itself for what it's setting out to do. Despite it's simplification with each installment it's one of the few holdouts of real "serious" gaming, since as many reviews point out, it doesn't hold the hands of players and send them on a guided tour of a theme park to all the novel bits. In fact a game of this scale intimidates most casuals, and that is exactly what makes it stand out. I think a lot of casuals (despite what they might think of themselves as) don't like Skyrim for the same reason serious gamers don't like a lot of other games... it's a waste of time and focus that could be going towards something they DO like. Overall it's a bit more fair to lionize/defend Skyrim simply because of the casual domination of the market, and how few 'serious' games there really are. If you had as many games like Skyrim coming out every year as there are shooters, iPhone games, or Social Browser games... they it might be somewhat justified to pick on the community response here.
Truthfully most of the "anyone can play" games like "Modern Warfare", "Uncharted", or "Arkham City" will probably fare better than they should at the end of the year due to being aimed at the much larger, casual market.
Additionally "Game Of The Year Editions" rarely have anything to do with being an actual game of the year by any major voting circuit, everyone releases them. Indeed it's increasinglt rare to see any successful game not release a "game of the year edition" at
some point.
Really, the number of people who probably look at Skyrim and go "OMG, it's too big, too open, too much to do" kind of demonstrate why it's probably the only real contender for serious awards. Basically if a game is embraced heavily by the casual crowd, it's not
going to be a serious game. I mean honestly, while there are young children who DO play serious games, they are pretty rare since it takes an exceptional child. In comparison when you have kids in elementary school successfully mastering the gameplay of things like "Modern Warfare" (enough of them to be an annoying stereotype), regardless of whether they should be experiencing that kind of content, that right there should be a blow against your product, especially if your trying to make pretensions of being some kind of truely exceptional entertainment experience. The praise games like "Uncharted" and "Modern Warfare" get are like showering random episodes of "Barney and Friends" with academy awards, and letting them walk away with "Best Picture" nominations and so on. Such games might be entertaining, but are hardly a credit to the gaming craft and what it can be, filling the role of a summer kid-flick for all intents and purposes, albiet with the disturbing reality that a lot of adults don't see it that way because of all the snazzy violence.
That's what I think at any rate.
Truthfully most of the "anyone can play" games like "Modern Warfare", "Uncharted", or "Arkham City" will probably fare better than they should at the end of the year due to being aimed at the much larger, casual market.
Additionally "Game Of The Year Editions" rarely have anything to do with being an actual game of the year by any major voting circuit, everyone releases them. Indeed it's increasinglt rare to see any successful game not release a "game of the year edition" at
some point.
Really, the number of people who probably look at Skyrim and go "OMG, it's too big, too open, too much to do" kind of demonstrate why it's probably the only real contender for serious awards. Basically if a game is embraced heavily by the casual crowd, it's not
going to be a serious game. I mean honestly, while there are young children who DO play serious games, they are pretty rare since it takes an exceptional child. In comparison when you have kids in elementary school successfully mastering the gameplay of things like "Modern Warfare" (enough of them to be an annoying stereotype), regardless of whether they should be experiencing that kind of content, that right there should be a blow against your product, especially if your trying to make pretensions of being some kind of truely exceptional entertainment experience. The praise games like "Uncharted" and "Modern Warfare" get are like showering random episodes of "Barney and Friends" with academy awards, and letting them walk away with "Best Picture" nominations and so on. Such games might be entertaining, but are hardly a credit to the gaming craft and what it can be, filling the role of a summer kid-flick for all intents and purposes, albiet with the disturbing reality that a lot of adults don't see it that way because of all the snazzy violence.
That's what I think at any rate.
