Variety Friday: Retro Games vs Modern Games


No, I’m not going on some rant about how retro games are infinitely superior to modern ones. Yet I am also not going to go on a rampage about how modern ones are infinitely superior to games from 10+ years ago. Instead, I’m talking about the differences and how each is superior in their own way.
Now while there are clearly very large differences in games from over 10 years ago, and games from 6 months ago, those aren’t exact what I am going to be focusing on. Yes, the graphics are infinitely superior, and you don’t have to pay for games in quarters, I’m going to be focusing on the actual gameplay aspects. Now, let’s hop into a time machine and jump back about 11 years ago. It is a time of great innovation and huge technological advancement (I so didn’t steal that line from Deus Ex: HR) people are stepping into the PC market with next gen hardware, while some without said hardware. More and more 3D games were being released for the personal computer, no longer requiring gaming consoles. Now, I’m not going to focus on it too much since I already gave it its own article, but Deus Ex. It was a 3D game which can support resolutions nearly unheard of back then. But what really made it shine was the freedom of gameplay. Even today we have tons of linear shooters with outright pointless stories, yet deus ex did better than our industry today does, by making not only an FPSRPG, but making a game which lets the player decide their fate, and the fate of the world.
See now that is something the industry today has still not grasped, and that is giving the player not just the freedom of choosing multiple options, but simply letting them play how they wish and then making sure the game revolves around how they do so. Even better than Bioware and their famous dialog system, it doesn’t just revolve around dialog options marked good or bad, it revolves around how the player plays the game, and their actions towards NPCs. The reason this is superior is because one, it reflects the actual player much better than a few dialog options, because they do what they believe is right, or wrong depend on how they play. Then the world simply merges with their choices and not with simple dialog options with action in between, frankly it makes for a more engaging experience. And two being what I hinted at in one, being that if you really think about it, Mass Effect’s story boils down to dialog options advancing the story, with near pointless action in between, the story is told through dialog alone, while in deus ex it allows the story to not only be told through dialog, but actions and your reactions to said actions. Now you may give me crap about comparing an Old Stealth RPG against a modern action RPG, but at the core, both games are trying very hard to tell stories, and both of them succeed, just one more than the other.
Now, stepping forward a few years to 2003, was the release of one of the, if not the first FPSMMO, Planetside. It brought FPS multiplayer to a new level nearly never before seen! Letting near infinite players battle over large continents, requiring each player to fill a role, weather infantry, gunner, pilot, anti-vehicle, heavy infantry, energy gatherer, repairer, and etc. Allowing players to play in many ways, across large battlefields with skill based progression, allowing you to spec in what you want to do. This showed how to do large scale multiplayer right, sure there is MAG with its 128 v 128, but you can’t really beat the thrill of Planetside, since there is much more land, better skill progression, and overall a more enjoyable experience which is still fun to play today!
Now, heading farther back in time to the great days of the N64, the days where Nintendo knew how to make games, and had partners who also knew how to make games…good ones. For this example, I’m going to first be talking about Banjo Kazooie. What I personally loved about it, was how it conveyed the feeling of an entire world, while still maintaining a classic cartoony feeling, which surprisingly worked out well! The wacky characters were great and really helped advance the story, and the world and sceneries also helped. Some (keyword being some) games in modern times really should try taking themselves not seriously and trying to convey a story in a world which isn’t related to earth today (AKA modern, sci-fi, or medieval…or fantasy as well for that matter). One really great example of a non-realistic game telling a story through the scenery and atmosphere is Brutal Legend. It taking place in an alternate metal universe was a great idea which really shined, and the atmosphere in the game was great, and it shows how not all games need to be serious, to be good.
My other example being Ocarina of Time, which showed how puzzle elements should be implemented into games (I’m looking at you Valve). Now, I’m going to take a long shot and compare Ocarina of Time to Portal 2. What the games have in common is how they both focus on puzzles, and they both have a story. But Zelda is much more than that; it has much more freedom of play, side things to do, and frankly much more gameplay even after Portal 2 co-op. Now, I’m going against myself here on this one and I’m not going to come out and say Ocarina of Time is better than Portal 2 because they are just so different, but what Ocarina of Time did do, is incorporated puzzles perfectly into a game with combat, something that hasn’t been done so well over the past years, for example Half-Life 2 and the pointless physics puzzles. But now Nintendo is just milking The Legend of Zelda franchise and the series is dead to me so moving on.
Now moving back to even older games such as Super Mario Bros and Missile Command. What these retro games excelled at most is doing what I call “Tell story through implied narrative” they don’t actually give you all the context of the story, they set you on a goal, and you have to figure out the story for yourself, but what many fail to notice is how the games do in fact have aspects as games today. Such as Missile Command, it has the same moral choice system as Bioware games, you need to choose if you try to save all cities, or focus on defending one and let the others perish, you may not notice it, but the moral choice is there. Then in Mario, the game has implied narrative and simply gives you one goal of saving the princess, but you have to figure out how to complete this goal for yourself, it is a great example of letting a player figure out how to play.
Now, again I’m not saying one is superior to the other, but for this industry to truly advance, we need to look back at our classics and move on from them, because some of them are great, and are still great.