DIGITISER
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ

REPEAT AD INFINITUM: Why All The New Games Are Old News by Mr Biffo

23/10/2015

12 Comments

 
Picture
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate. Black Ops 3. Halo 5. Rise of the Tomb Raider. Just Cause 3. Rainbow Six Siege. Star Wars Battlefront.

Those are most of the big action games that are due for release between now and Christmas.

I've enjoyed instalments of all of them, to greater or lesser degrees. So why am I feeling such ennui at the thought of returning to any one of those franchises?


I'll tell you why: because I'm not seeing anything new, and it's getting right on my moobs.

Picture
FAMILIAR FACES
Syndicate looks pretty much like last year's Unity, albeit set in London, and with fewer bugs.

Unity had the benefit of returning the AC series to another sprawling city following the refreshing sea breezes of Black Flag. Black Ops 3 is another Call of Duty romp set in some potential future.


Rise of the Tomb Raider looks, sadly, like more of the same - more Tomb Raider, more Uncharted, more Far Cry. Halo 5 seems to be banking a little bit too much on its audience's commitment to the ongoing saga of Master Chief. Just Cause 3 at least arrives five years after its predecessor, but gives us yet more explosions on yet another tropical island.

Battlefront once again places us in a bunch of Star Wars battles that it feels like we've all fought before - with no campaign mode. And Siege is another online-only effort, with familiar gritty action-stealth mechanics in lots of dark corridors. 

I totally get why this is happening. Halo 5 has cost something like $100 million to make, and if you're going to invest that sort of money in something, you'd better be sure that it's going to sell. And it will, of course. Halo always does. The brand is familiar and safe. 

But there's a cumulative effect here, with so many overly familiar games hitting around the same time. I just feel fatigued; like any one of those games is going to test nothing but my muscle memory. It is, finally, on the cusp of being boring.

Picture
S'WEARY
Because here's a thing. Metal Gear Solid V was great... but even then I reached a point where I grew weary of it.

Kojima's opus pushed things into wholly peculiar and original areas, but even then... there was enough of an outside influence at play that boredom set in. Enough of the game  felt similar enough to other games that it felt like I was replaying things I'd already played a dozen times before. Alright, then there'd be some weird cutscene, or quirky moment, or a talking gnu in a gas mask or something, that would jolt me out of my detachment, but still... it's becoming an issue.


The UbiSoft map model has become the norm, and it's becoming as overused as side-scrolling platformers were back in the 90s. It's the default model for too many games. Alright, it isn't what we're going to be seeing in Black Ops 3, but that suffers from the Call of Duty series' adherence to its own rigid formula - and no amount of zombie or parkour modes is going to change that.

And it's not even the gameplay that's becoming an issue. It's the settings of all these games. Call of Duty: high-tech warfare. Snow mission, city mission, countryside mission, oil rig mission. 

Or it's the number of jungles we've now walked round, or the deserts we've found ourselves lost in. Or the identikit, close-cropped, male action heroes we always seem to be. Put Nathan Drake next to the bloke in Just Cause or Mad Max. They're virtually interchangeable. 

So we get more plastic-y, wobble headed, CGI avatars, in more ill-directed cutscenes, talking about things that move us only towards the 'Skip Cutscene' button.

Picture
THE ISOLATION GAME
All of the games I've mentioned are going to sell well. Or well enough, that they'll convince publishers that these are the sorts of games people want.

The relative disappointment of Sega's mega-budget Alien: Isolation - which, by Sega's own admission, flopped despite being a known brand - has the industry running scared. Isolation offered new ideas, but somehow didn't connect with a big enough audience. 

I mean, I didn't much like it - the difficulty level was ramped up so high that it became a chore for me. But given the success of Bloodborne and Dark Souls II, that seems to be something people want these days. Which merely adds to the mystery of why the game wasn't a huge hit. 

​And the conclusion for many seems to be: too original.

But I honestly think that, at some point, it's going to backfire for the industry, if it continues along this path. It won't be sudden, but there could be a gradual slide, as people start to look around for something new.

Look at movies - the first signs of super-hero fatigue are beginning to set in. Avengers: Age of Ultron didn't do as well as its predecessor, and Ant-Man was only a modest hit (but managed to turn a profit due to its relatively low budget). People like the familiar, but they also yearn for the new. 

What worked once won't always work if you just keep repeating without refreshing. 

FROM THE ARCHIVE:
YOUTUBE RED ALERT by Mr Biffo
A HIDEO KOJIMA ARTICLE by Mr Biffo
​BOYCOTT STAR WARS VII: A NON-MOVEMENT by Mr Biffo
12 Comments
Wagoo link
23/10/2015 12:15:24 pm

I'm still waiting for Halo 3 to come out (PC).

I think Alien: Isolation was best enjoyed with your face in a rift, so you could enjoy being randomly bummed in the gob by the alien.

Reply
Rivhard Hugues
23/10/2015 12:17:47 pm

Amen,

I recently had a trunkle around Mad Max and it seemed to tick so many boxes for me to like it, but i just didnt, i got bored really quickly. It didnt take a genius to work out why, after considering the other 2 games ive spent the majority of my 'next-gen' time with, namely assassins creed: unity and arkham knight. Both big, sprawling map-moppers.
Shamefully, and despite all that, AC: syndicate is on my christmas list, but mainly because its in the locale and time period i've been hoping the series would go to since i play AC 2 (so long ago).

I'm glad you raised alien isolation again, i keep eyeing it up and considering a purchase, im all for supporting new ideas and games doing the right things. The problem is i'm a massive wuss and i just honestly dont think id actually enjoy playing it.

Reply
FEoD link
23/10/2015 04:57:21 pm

I am also too big a fearty to ever play it, but kind of wish I'd bought it just to support something that wasn't another sandboxcollectable-em-up.
I might still do so and gift it to someone with stronger nerve...

Reply
Mr Darcy
23/10/2015 12:23:37 pm

I wonder how well Dark Souls would have done were it not for the DARK N GRITTY FANTAZEE bandwagon Game of Thrones kicked off...

Reply
antony-adler
23/10/2015 12:26:00 pm

Torn on this one - giant map mopping, enough already, another 50 hours of the same old same old.

Having said that, Just Cause is my favourite franchise, They've done 3 in a decade compared to the annual makeovers, so it isn't too over doing it and smashing s**t up is just so fun. I'll not bother with the missions at all, just fly around with the new wingsuit and go bang bang.

Reply
Steve McDerivative
23/10/2015 01:35:55 pm

I really want to be excited for Assassins' Creed Syndicate. I last played an AC game well over a year or so ago (gave up midway through Liberation) but after playing the series up till then, the formula really wore on me. I had to skip Black Flag, Rogue, and Unity, and I still don't feel like I've had enough of a break to like this as much as I want to.

I feel like this is partly because the games are largely the same, and the overall future plot is no longer driving anywhere to justify me doing the same stuff over and over. I actually quite liked Desmond and his gang, and thought the future plot was interesting. I didn't even mind them killing him off (people seem to react badly to endings that aren't triumphant - see LA Noire), but the series has been in a holding pattern since then. I really hope Syndicate really brings back a meaningful direction for the franchise.

Reply
Keith
23/10/2015 02:18:15 pm

I think Alien Isolation was terrific, the only thing that spoiled it was that they felt the need to drag it out a bit when a shorter experience would have been just as good

Reply
Superbeast 37
23/10/2015 06:15:56 pm

Games have gradually over time been polarising into indie v mega-budget AAA's.

The middle ground of the mid budget titles has been growing smaller and smaller each year.

The Souls games are in that middle ground. They struggle to make the top 50 games of the year (on sales numbers) when released but the budget is modest and so they can remain profitable within their niche.

With that in mind, mega-budget Alien Isolation was always skating on thin ice. People lament the decline of the survival horror genre in recent years but you can't blame developers for not producing something that has gone out of fashion with consumers.

A mega-budget AAA title just can't afford to dabble in niche genres, target a hardcore minority or take risks with originality.

The originality will have to come from lower cost indie titles. Now I personally don't see much originality in indie titles. Some? Sure. But most appear to be replicating games that I grew bored of in 1989. The yoofs might think they are original but I am not impressed.

Hopefully the big publishers can follow Ubisofts lead and take their risks and experiment with new ideas by making "professional-indie titles".

As far as Alien goes though, I don't know whether it wasn't marketed very well and was dwarfed by other large AAA's releasing in the same window, but I didn't detect much hype in the wider consumer base and in fact I'd say there was a complete lack of awareness.

So possibly a failure to reach the wider market due to poor marketing and also apathy amongst that wider market towards the genre/licence.

Reply
Col. Asdasd
24/10/2015 12:10:22 am

Never mind playing, I'm exhausted just having these games marketed at me.

I mean, here I am, spinning headlong through time, ever more wildly, ever more ragged in my flailing parabolas, moving ever outwards, pushing on towards infinity, drifting out into the dark. It's a little galling to find the run of my unremarkable mortality measure out by the trailers for successive instalments of the perennial mega-franchises.

'HALO 3: FINISH THE FIGHT' commands one ad. I look away, and in the time it takes to trim my toenails, another year has passed. I can tell because the screen is screaming at me. 'HALO 4: THE FIGHT CONTINUES.'

I rack my brain for trace memories of the intervening months. Did I accomplish... anything? Did I learn a single new person's name?

But there's always tomorrow. Perhaps things will be different. What's that light up ahead? Maybe a sign of hop-

'HALO 5. #HUNT THE TRUTH'

Reply
Stay
24/10/2015 12:26:19 am

I am really looking forward to Just Case 3 and Yakuza 5 will be getting both games on release. But on my Christmas list is Fallout and Batman. If

My problem with open world games I get distracted with all the side quests and it takes me ages to actually finish a game - that why I am still playing MGSV with 20 missions done but 57 side missions complete and all 3 buddies at max bonding. When FF13 came out it was at the perfect time as I just wanted to play linear game as I had overdosed on open world games.

Reply
Kelvin Green link
24/10/2015 11:54:48 am

What's weird is Nintendo does this -- oh look, another Mario Kart! -- but somehow they make it work. I feel like I should be as annoyed about playing another Zelda game where I have to clear the water temple then fight the water boss again as I am when yet another identical Medal of Duty comes out, but I'm not. I don't know why.

Reply
PS1Snake
27/10/2015 02:41:05 am

I agree everything's too safe and predictable.
I don't see it getting any better. High development costs + industry's obsession with creating film-like experiences will ensure that things stay the same.
I haven't even jumped into the current generation as I can't shake the seen-it-all before feeling.
I'd rather spend my time finding hidden gems that I missed on older consoles.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    This section will not be visible in live published website. Below are your current settings:


    Current Number Of Columns are = 2

    Expand Posts Area =

    Gap/Space Between Posts = 12px

    Blog Post Style = card

    Use of custom card colors instead of default colors = 1

    Blog Post Card Background Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Shadow Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Border Color = current color

    Publish the website and visit your blog page to see the results

    Picture
    Support Me on Ko-fi
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    RSS Feed Widget
    Picture

    Picture
    Tweets by @mrbiffo
    Picture
    Follow us on The Facebook

    Picture

    Archives

    December 2022
    May 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014


    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ