I would add a poll, but I imagine there's too many genres to list and/or file under "other (please explain in post). The inspiration for this thread is a recent gaming party I had where we were remembering the games that made for the best experiences. Halo 2 cropped up (truly the best online experience, imo, but haters gonna hate) and a handful of other games including the Crash Bandicoot series under the reign of Naughty Dog. This got me thinking as to whether a specific genre needs to come back and release us from the "brown realistic marine warfare FPS" genre which is all the rage since the release of Halo 2 (it was popular before, but never to this extent).
I understand that games go through fads and that this will soon blow over, but my question for discussion is what genre should replace it? Which genre has enough fun and scope to make the next fad enjoyable to you?
My proposition is platform gaming and I'll try to say this without looking through the nostalgia goggles too much. I recently rented, played and beat Army of Two: The 40th Day in a 24 hour period (nearer 7 hours actual game time) and although it was short, I found it enjoyable. Using this and a handful of other FPS titles as my validation (due to their abysmally short completion time), I'd propose platforming games make a swift return. I recently picked up Crash Bandicoot 1 for the PSX (played on my PS3 in wonderful HD lovelyness, which means nothing when it's such an old game) and have been playing through it for quite some time trying to fully complete it. It dawned on me then that despite it being a short game, to actually fully complete it, I was taking a similar time to what I might spend on a FPS these days. Disregarding the multiplayer, I'd probably the same amount of playtime out of both. The difference being that Crash Bandicoot was damn fun! Like I said, maybe I'm viewing it through nostalgia goggles as a child from the 90's, but platforming games really are the most enjoyable (in my humble opinion). They don't need a compelling story to be brilliant (although they can have), they don't need overly brilliant graphics (but can have) and there's a lot of scope for variance.
So my question to you guys and for further discussion on my own opinion: What genre do you think needs to make a comeback? And if you think shooting games are all fine and dandy, tell us why. Let me know your opinions and hopefully we can get a hearty discussion going. I imagine this might be a rehashed thread, but I'm new here and there's always new opinions to consider :]
