Games today lack a sense of wonder, and a feeling of genuine awe for the medium. They lack that sense of primal excitement- that belief that each new game will change EVERYTHING; that sense that every new detail represents something Earth-shattering.
People today just don’t much understand what it was like back then, in that beautiful dark age of gaming.
Here, I quote from Gamespot’s review of Quake II:
“Whatever else may be said about Quake II, one thing is certain: It is the only first-person shooter to render the original Quake entirely obsolete. Within moments of starting the game, it is safe to say that all but the most irrationally loyal players will acknowledge that Quake II is better than the original in every respect, and that no one who can afford to upgrade will have any reason to ever load Quake again. Considering the countless hours invested by countless players in the game, that’s a remarkable achievement.
It’s also significant because since Quake shipped 18 months ago, we have seen a steady stream of challengers, games that have been trumpeted by press and players alike as the successors to the first-person throne. But none of these games has actually come through on that count – not Hexen II, not Jedi Knight, and certainly not any of the half-dozen “Quake Killers” that have yet to make it out of alphaland and onto store shelves. But Quake II does come through, delivering at least incremental and occasionally monumental improvements over its predecessor.
Many gamers describe playing Quake II in semireligious terms, and when immersed in the 3Dfx version of the game, it’s easy to understand why. The visual effects are awesome, as in awe-inspiring. The masterful weaving of subtle graphic effects – colored hues that blend seamlessly into one another, intricate textures cast over complex and beautiful architectural features, and realistic transitions between light and shadow – creates a graphic environment that is without peer on the PC.”
The dark age of gaming was one of breathless excitement. It was an era that we knew was going to mean something to the development of the world. We were there, that group of us driving everything forward, and we knew we were pushing all the boundaries and making those great leaps into the unknown.
Gaming today has good games. Interesting games. Games that can look great and have good voice acting. But no game today can harness the lighting. No game today can become a quasi religion for wayward youth, like Quake or DOOM.
No game today is spoken of in hushed tones.
Back to Unreal- you can feel the love put into this game by its creators. The attention to detail on all levels is just astounding; the enemies have personality, the controls are spot-on, the music and sound is pitch perfect, and, as I said earlier, the game’s look is still excellent, even when played on a PC without 3dfx acceleration. The game’s base graphics, while obviously made 15 years ago, impress today with style. Even now I can get lost in those beautiful backgrounds, just as I could so long ago.
AAA games today are detailed but boring. Very little stands out in the playing experience. The music is designed to be forgettable, the backgrounds are designed to be bland, the weapons lack punch and are all samey, the enemies are all non-descript clones of each other, and they’re just… boring.
I like old games, most especially those of the dark age, because they actively tried to distinguish themselves from Hollywood. They purposely stayed away from cut scenes and voice acting, and they on purpose gave their protagonists minimal personality, to allow the player to fully immerse himself in the gaming experience.
Video game reviewers today don’t seem to get this aspect of things. They see games like DOOM and Hexen and they assume that the hero’s lack of personality is a defect. That is not so. Subduing the main character in the game allows for greater immersion by the player, and allows other things to shine in the playing experience, like the enemies, the guns, the backgrounds, and the music.
Playing an old FPS is a more artistic experience on many levels than playing a new one. It is certainly a much more video game experience.
I think that this is why these games just don’t go away. They’re still here, and still the topic of so much discussion, in spite of being released so long along ago. It’s because they’re still the most “video game” of all the video games ever released.
And the mythology of the dark age, with it’s place in the history books, is just icing on the cake.
It could be that we’ll never see that kind of excitement in gaming, for anything, ever again.
Such a shame.
It was nice while it lasted.