Five Things I Hate About Modern Games
Every gamer has lists. They know what their top ten games are. They know which games they hate most. They’ll have handpicked their favorite characters and genres and levels across the pantheon of video game history. Gamers always have strong opinions, often controversial, and many of us are eager to be the contrarian in stupid circular discussions.
In light of that extremely strange opening paragraph, today’s blog post will be (gasp) a list. What kind of list? I’m going to walk you through my five most hated things about modern games. I know this isn’t a meaningful discussion about one’s relationship with God or an article on writing tips, but I thought it’d be interesting nonetheless.
In no particular order, here are my most hated video game tropes/traits/defects:
“For realism” is what I call it when a developer creates an interesting or tried and true game mechanic and then erroneously chooses to corrupt it by emphasizing something that would be realistic. For example, having the player’s breathing heavily affect the sway of a sniper rifle. Sure, it’s more real that way, but it’s also not fun. When I choose the role of a sniper, I generally want to be able to hit my target.
“For challenge” is what happens when a developer implements specific defects not necessarily for realism but for the sake of making it harder to succeed. To use a game I recently played: the terrible flight mechanic in Yooka-Laylee. The regular glide works fine, but the special, player-controlled flight is uncooperative, drains stamina, and is generally a nuisance in its necessity in the final boss fight.
“For longevity” is what could also be called the Ubisoft Formula. This is where a developer needlessly fills an oversized with tons of difficult-to-find and pointless collectibles like feathers, flags, etc. This is a prominent detriment to enjoyment in certain types of open-world games like Assassin’s Creed or Arkham City/Knight/Origins. Collectathons can be fun, but only in smaller, well-realized doses.
“For lackluster foresight” is what I would term situations wherein a developer overlooked some aspect in the creation of the game. This includes poor checkpoint placement, bad signposting (telling the player where to go), too-dark gamma settings in environments, etc. This is a frequent problem in modern horror games (not called Resident Evil) such as Outlast 2 as well as in massive RPGs like Fallout or Elder Scrolls.
“For the love of money” is something that should be obvious to any gamer: it refers to the heavy monetization and micro-transaction arrangements in many of today’s big sellers. The inundation of DLC, both important and cosmetic, has led many games to feel incomplete—until you pay extra. What previously would’ve been an in-game unlockable is now sold as a pre-order bonus or an add-on pack. Sadly, gamers seem to have accepted this state of the industry as a necessary evil. Even I’m guilty of paying for content that should’ve been included in the initial disc release.
Of course, the problems in actual, certifiably bad games are innumerable, but this short list best represent what I think are the five worst traits/tropes in modern gaming. Some may disagree (especially with a few of my examples) but I think I’ve made a succinct case.
The funny thing is that most of these are either easily correctable or tolerable under specific circumstances. I don’t mind realism as long as it’s within the realm of enhancing the entertainment value. Challenge is good when it doesn’t feel artificial. Longevity isn’t a problem when the collectibles are worthwhile and the maps are fun to explore.
Even a lack of foresight and monetization can be tweaked or fixed by simply executing better time management and judgment during a project’s development. Would you, the developer, be tremendously upset by how far back a mistimed checkpoint sent you? Make it better. Would you, the developer, feel shortchanged by the absence of story content that enhances the experience (such as the From Ashes Mass Effect 3 DLC)? If so, push to have it at release on disc. Obviously, that may not always be the case, but if you think it can be done, please do it for the sake of a better, more thorough game.
Look, I’m not a developer. I don’t claim to know what goes on behind the scenes. But I’d be hard-pressed to believe that some of these issues can’t be corrected prior to going gold. I get that certain stinkers may linger in the air no matter what you or your team does, but if there’s a chance to correct something, please do it for those of us who would mightily appreciate the service.
If nothing else, it will help you avoid the (unreasonable, in my view) backlash that games like Mass Effect: Andromeda received because of a perceived lack of polish.
But that’s enough rambling about video games today. I’ve got to get back to working on TSOL’s sequel (currently working on final chapters and narrowing down the title) and, of course, getting back to reading the Word which I really don’t do often enough.
Have a great week. For those graduating from high school or college: good luck. For those presently in the workforce: have a great week. Thanks for reading, peace be to you, and God bless.
