Disposable Nature

Every scene sticks in my mind.

Maybe I'm getting old but I'm starting to notice a trend in the games industry lately. It seems that even though online gaming is at it's biggest ever, the longevity of of those experiences are weakening. I've been thinking about how to kill time until the UK release of the latest Fire Emblem game and I thought back to Chrono Trigger. “Maybe I could go grab some of those endings that I missed” Then I thought about my memories of the game. Mini-games at the millennial fair, punishment based on your subtle and not so subtle actions at the court case, seeing the depressing state of the future, learning how everything ties together. Chrono Trigger really stuck with me and it was just one of many games.

Persona 3 was a great example of game I always like looking back on.

Flash forward to the current generation. I played a few of the earlier Call of Duty games and despite the hate it gets, is actually a solid shooter. The problem is that it has left me with nothing. I don't remember the story much or what I was fighting for, something to do with guns I’m sure. Okay fine, It's an online game...I can dig it. Problem is...I don't remember much about my experiences with the online either. I got stressed more than a few times and I got some cool head shots but I don’t really “remember” them. The next version of Call of Duty made the last mostly obsolete. Call of Duty was a game that you were supposed to dispose of when you were done..

I think this is from Modern Warfare 2?

This is not to say that all games in recent memory have been this way. Some of the most striking games have come from this gen. Bioshock, Journey, Dark Souls, Ni No Kuni. That being said, there is a alarming increase in throw away games and it just kind of makes me sad. I don't want my games to just be time sponges, I want them to be experiences that I really take in. Maybe it's a change in business model, maybe it's changed according to the needs of majority of gamers. Maybe games have always been something to whittle away their free time with.

I dare say there are plenty of throw away games from earlier generations. Fighting games are probably the most guilty offender here. Why own Street Fighter II when Turbo is out? In their defence, this was also a method to perfect the game itself but the end result is the same. Sell Street Fighter II because Turbo is better in every possible way. Most people have learnt their lesson with fighting games (myself excluded) in that it's best to wait for the Hyper Rainbow Super Turbo Remix EX Alpha GOTY edition. It is however harder to draw the line with the next Battlefield or Call of Duty, exactly when you should jump into a new game.

No Super Bars Yet.

Maybe I'm wrong and I missed something, maybe most gamers prefer to move on with their games. As long as there is space enough for both mindsets, I'm fine with it, if it's what people want. It might be too strong a word that the industry is evolving but there is no doubt that it's changing.

First Person Shooter Or An Adventure Game From The First Person Perspective?

I wanna talk about something that's been bugging me a little lately. Just how much the FPS genre has changed in such a short space of time. Now I'm no PC gamer and I'm sure that the PC followed different rules but if you consider today that the multiplayer component is the focus for any shooter these days, If you think back to just last generation on the consoles you had stuff like timesplitters which obviously had a heavy single player component. Now I'm not saying that multiplayer is not important...I'm not even saying that it shouldn't be the focus but don't you find it a little bit of a step back to remove the rich single player component we used to expect from most of our games.

Timesplitters, Goldeneye and Perfect Dark pretty much nailed what makes a good FPS back in it's time. Would it work now? No. Not without a heavy amount of nostalgia drive but I think that the design point of view for the single player still would. The controls need to be modernized to keep up with the standard...To face facts, the FPS genre was never able to survive outside of the current gen on it's own merit alone. Yes Perfect Dark and Goldeneye were highly rated on the N64 and god knows I love the N64 but it was limited in games. So yes it was logical that good games would become great. Though I personally still feel Ocarina Of Time was one such game that would of been great no matter the circemstance.

Objective based gameplay that we saw on the N64 and the PS2 are already quite missed to me. I myself find it tiring to run from point A to point B over and over again on what is pretty much a rail shooter that just doesn't force you to hold the forward button down. Now the multiplayer...That's all good...At least in theory it's all good...I'm sure it has it's fair room for improvement but what i'm trying to say is that. Is the multiplayer component enough that the single player is allowed to suck? Wouldn't it be better to just strip out the single player and put the money into a better online experience? You could argue that you still need a single player mode...But can we just have a good one? Please? EA, Activation...Can we have it so when your next game comes out that your old one does not automatically become obsolete? Perfect Dark got released on XBLA with a multiplayer component improved...I'd sure love to see someone pull that with modern warfare and it still suceed after it's day.

Sonic Generations Review

Well here we are. It's 2011 and there's a new Sonic game. It's almost been like clockwork over the years and to be honest Sonic is met with heavy criticism these days. I do sort of feel for Sega...We're talking about trying to please two radically different fan bases...Granted I had no idea that such modern fan base really existed but it turns out that I'm wrong about that. I as you can guess by my above statement am from the classic Sonic camp. However, I am not against all 3D Sonic games...I think that like most Dreamcast games, Sonic Adventure 1&2 were fantastic examples of making a good 3D Sonic game. Obviously "Sonic 2006" was a low point for the series but besides the Wii game's being a little flaky, was it all that terrible? Or just not as good as Sonic 3 & Knuckles?

Anyway...Fast forward...Sonic Unleashed. Good concept, failed execution. Colours. Great game but some lackluster level design for me and here we are. Sonic Generations...The molding of two eras, A perfect idea which will in all probability never be repeated. Classic Sonic with 2.5D gameplay. Physics and level design close to that of the 16bit era of sonic. Modern sonic with what seems like an engine similar to Sonic Colours. Switching between 3D and 2.5D gameplay with his own style of gameplay.

The story is not important as always to what Sonic is all about but I'll put the basics of the plot. an evil existence that controls time as put Sonic and his friends in a sort of limbo where colour has been taken from the world. Meeting up with his classic counterpart they must race through the zones of their past to return colour to their history. It's not much but it's enough to get you playing from zone to zone. The "banter" between  the characters can be fun to watch as it's apparent that Sonic greatly changed with the idea of "cool" from the 90s til now. It's sort of like seeing how much the industry changes with the times...Sort of sad in a way. It's not a very long game...Say six or so hours depending on what you do or how you play. Challenges can increase the length a fair bit and they are reasonably fun with their different level design.

The gameplay is superb. Yes fans on both sides will notice changes where it's not exactly like sonic for the megadrive or like the modern sonic games but  they are emulating the core gameplay of both. I think the most important thing is that Sega still knows how to make a fun, non cheap game with fun stages that flow very well for both Sonics. Playing as classic Sonic you'll notice all the old sound effects and many of the old gameplay choices which made the old games great. Rule number one of Sonic...Always take the high ground for speed.

Modern Sonic does well also in gameplay also. There are some times when he sort of messes up in the 3D plane when not moving forward as he's not really designed to be moving slowly through the levels. I do not recall any cheap deaths in the game. When I die it's because I've been too eager to use the boost button. This game is not boost to win. Yes if you know the level design perfectly you probably can boost a fair bit but overall there will be times when you need to time your jumps to avoid pitfalls and other such traps. Modern Sonic is not as fun or as well made as Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 for me but it''s very much a pass in my book.

So let's see...Classic Sonic and modern Sonic play well, The story is enough if you want one and it's long enough for a platformer if you want to do the challenges. The biggest flaw in this game for me is that with my experience on the PS3. It suffers from some pretty annoying load times for this kind of game...Music takes a little bit to kick in sometimes...It's all a little random on the technical side...I hear from a friend that the Xbox 360 version does not suffer from these issues...Bottom line...An install function would of not gone a miss this time. 

Sonic is back at last and appears to be making up for lost time. 9/10