General

I've decided that I have to start commenting on what's wrong, to varying degrees, with almost every video game out there these days. The problem is often not something big, but it makes a big impact on my opinion, being a video game snob.

I don't know what my hope is with this. If I convince people of my opinion, what does that accomplish? Maybe people will like video games less? That's not very nice of me, now people don't have as much fun. But maybe that will pressure the market and better games will be made, which will benefit me. ha. Or, maybe my friends will understand me better? Or, just maybe, there are others out there that are as tired of annoying things as I am, but just haven't found an outlet for expressing it. Let me know if you're such a person. Maybe we can fix this.

Common themes of complaint

that you may find on this blog.

• Story Line: Does your innovative action game really need a story line in the first place? And even still, do you have to make it so complete for the sake of making it complete? Nobody likes these story lines, they serve only to build up the image of the game as being complete, it only reduces the value of the game.
  
• Mini Games: Stop making mini games. This ruins the flow of your game. You're trying to be everything to everyone by having many different types of games, stop it. I don't count God of War's so-called minigames, those are an integral part of the game.
  
• Tomogotchi pets: This isn't a Barbie game (assuming I'm playing it). At least I have the option of pretending this isn't part of the game.
  
• In-Game Tutorials: I'm slowly starting to come around on this. I used to be totally against it. But then, I don't like to look at the manual either. But don't make it part of the game as such. Make it part of the introduction. And it would be nice if the characters in the game didn't know what your controller looks like, for goodness sake, that doesn't make any sense.
  
• Adventure Mode: This isn't an adventure game. Stop wasting my time. I want to run around and jump on things.
  
• Realistic Graphics: Sometimes important, but when it's the focus of the game, it's not that great. I love good visuals, but they have to be unique, unless the game really calls for realism. Realistic games usually don't interest me, but that's just my taste.
  

I will try to explain in more detail why these ruin the games they're in when I talk about the individual games. If I have the time, I will take you step by step through each game I look at, and show you what they did wrong, and how they should have done it.

Now, what do I like?

There's a few categories of things that I love about video games, some of which are actually mutually exclusive:

• Audio/Visuals: I love a pretty game. I also love games that aren't that pretty, it depends on the purpose of the game. Good audio/visuals can come on the NES. I thought the original Metroid was gorgeous, and I'm yet to see a Metroid level that quite captured the eerieness of the original Kraid's Hideout, with that amazing music we all know and love. But maybe that's just nostalgia. This is where video games can be artwork in the more traditional sense. Interesting audio/visuals, though, not necessarily high resolution, or realistic. Rez was all audio/visuals, and it was innovative in that area too. The original 2D Sonic games had nice looking levels with accompanying music, it's a theme, it's a setting, it's a scene. I can't describe it. But this is one thing I love about games, when done right.
  
• Unconventional Ideas: Katamari Damacy, a work of pure genius. And, awesomely enough, a fairly popular game, which is a great counterexample to the phenomenon I'm talking about.
  
• Unconventional Format: If you can somehow get me into the game without giving me tutorials and useless storylines, and it makes sense, you have mondo points in my book. Killer 7 comes to mind.
  
• WTF: I loved Athena for the NES. It had so many glitches. It's a total trip. Maybe I'm a weird guy.
  

I should put forth that many of my favorite games were from the 2D era, what I grew up on (Metroid and Sonic). I liked that stuff, and I was excited to see some of those things come to 3D. When it repeatedly turns into something other than what I had hoped for, well you can't blame me for being a little bitter. I also like some new games a lot (Rez, Katamari Damacy). I will likely make posts on what's right with those games.

Look, video games are a work of art. If you put the wrong things, you spoil the art. I just hate seeing great ideas spoiled. I also would like to see more good ideas. I think it's the same with music, really. Business messes it up. It tries to make music to appeal to everybody, bless their hearts, but it ends up as watered down crap. Fortunately there's a music underground. It seems that a video game underground has started as well. I don't know if any quality productions have come out of that, though I know some pretty neat ideas have.

NOTE
By the way, I will edit this post as I come up with new general things to add. I guess this belongs more as static content rather than a blog entry, but for now, I will keep this around to edit.