What could possibly be wrong with excellent graphics?

 

 

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we never thought we would get to see. Oh we were so easily impressed… And the graphics were getting better game after game, year after year. I remember in the first years of Compact Discs (CDs);  it seemed that nothing could look any more real.

 

We don’t want excellent graphics

 

As the years went on,  the games did look more real. So real that you could not endure the graphics of a game you use to play all the time only a year ago.  Before we knew it, keeping our computers at a performance level that would allow us to play the next new game became an arms race with a non-existent opponent. While countries spent all their money on expanding their militaries, my brother and I put together enough to buy the incredible 8 Megabyte graphics card (8 MB, holy macaroni!). Then the 16… 32… 64… 512… Now I’m typing this article on a monster desktop that has a graphics card with two 2 Gigabytes of memory (as if one (GB) is not enough).

 

Superior Graphics? No, Thank you.

 

I never thought I would say this but I had enough of “better” graphics. Now I just want better games. Don’t get me wrong.  Of course I don’t want the games I play to look like the first Doom or Wolfenstein at this day. I’m just saying “Enough is enough.”

 

The mainstream game developers try to make their games look more real and we -at the Devilsmmo.com head office- appreciate their efforts up to a certain point. However, more and more money and time is spent on making the games look just a little bit prettier to satisfy a large group of gamers who are satisfied with only the best graphics ever. Time and money (the most important things in life according to some) the scarcest of resource in such a competitive market are depleted on better looking fire or water or whatever needs to look better. Yes, when the deadlines arrive and the games hit the shelves, these games do have great visuals. However great visuals mean very little when we have 5 hours of gameplay time, static missions, invisible walls and dreadful AI. 

 

 

Impressive Gameplay

 

I remember playing the very first Deus Ex, trying to infiltrate a very well protected base. I was preparing my modified weapons and augmentations while trying to decide whether to take them silently like a ghost, or assault them like a pro.

 

I also remember playing Thief 2, hiding in the shadows and waiting for the guards to walk past the hall so that I could use my rope arrow to climb to an upper level to steal the gold. Yeah!

 

Now I find myself playing Call of Duty, where I press a button and then there is this animation for 35 seconds where I watch the view switch to third person and perform some sort of fancy stealth kill. Why do you need such an extreme animation there? I’d rather kill 5 more enemies quietly in first person without the theatrics and the gameplay interrupting third person view. 

 

Cinematics after cinematics

 

Just the other day I managed to finish FEAR 3 where I had to endure minutes and minutes of cinematics about some drama only to find myself at war with the final boss where I was supposed to shoot it in the shining red spots! Even the fights against the bosses in good old Wolfenstein made more sense.  And believe me they did not have better graphics. Yawn.

 

How about Crysis 2? The beautiful graphics of New York City… Only if I ignored the enemies that would spawn behind the walls and shoot continuously at the atmosphere while I stand on the main road and look at the bullets hit the other side of the wall. I thought the AI was supposed to be the best ever.  The best AI ever? I literally stood on one roof and shot over 20 enemies with a sniper rifle without moving or crouching at the hardest AI difficulty. Is this acceptable? It apparently is because the game has top notch graphics.

 

Some might argue that I am spoiled. However I feel that my expectations are not that difficult to meet. In fact, making a game that I would enjoy is far easier than making the actual games out there. I remember the days of X-Com with such awe. Does anybody remember the amount of detail hidden in that game? Or how many good solid gaming hours it provided? Why can’t I have that anymore? Why do I have to watch minutes of cinematics every time I move in the modern game world? I’m not even mentioning the features we used to have like “co-op gaming” with a single copy of a game on local area network.

 

Recipe for a good game

 

Here’s what I’d expect from a good computer game:

-Decent graphics. Not extreme, not perfect, just decent…

-Long enough gameplay.

-Consistency in level of detail.

-Challenging AI.

 

Obviously, it is easier said than done. I realize that it is an art to actually implement all of these things at the same time. However, our opinion at Devilsmmo.com is that if it could be done 15 years ago, it can be done now.

 

There have been attempts at improved gameplay in the recent years. “Dragon Age: Origins” re-introduced a dynamic storyline to gaming and re-playability in an extremely elegant way. “Borderlands” used a massive open world and hours and hours of single player and co-op play time. “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” took us back to the days of the first Deus Ex and not the disastrous follow up “Deus Ex: Invisible War” where you could use the same ammunition in all weapons “Nano technologically” (whatever that means in this context). We also hear that the upcoming Rage has all the qualities that would satisfy our old school gaming appetite… Please realize that graphics in the above examples exceed our minimum expectations by far. In fact, they are more than perfect for our veteran gamer eyes.

Obviously it has been done, and it can be done again!  

 

 

MMO games do this better

 

Actually, there are tons of free MMO games that already have the secret ingredients that make up a good game. By default, most MMO games do not require extreme video cards nor do they feature the best graphics in the video game industry. The fact is, they do not need to, because most of these games are designed to create an environment where a large numbers of players get to interact. The game designers spend all this time in creating a universe where people can socialize. Therefore the time and the money is spent on what really matters: GAMEPLAY! Most MMO games are designed to be more fun than to simply look pretty. When time and money is spent in the right direction, players have hours and hours of good clean gaming time.

 

Imagine this, you are out with friends on a Friday night, enjoying a drink or two along with interesting conversation and good music. You see an extremely good looking and attractive person across the room. The night ends and you know next time you see them; you’re going to talk to them and try your chances. You wait for weeks for that chance, only to find out that they have nothing to offer you except the good looks. Horrible conversation, bad jokes, awkward silences and an annoying voice that makes you want to run away.

 

This is the exact situation with 9 out of 10 single player games out there. You see a trailer in Full HD that has been created on a $10,000 worth super computer with 3 monster graphics cards. The game looks so pretty! It seems as if it is going to be the best computer game you will ever get to play. You wait for weeks and weeks until it comes out. When it does, you are the first in line to buy it. You install it in a glimpse and start playing. The single player campaign ends in a few hours. A few hours of accomplishing simple goals… A few hours of defeating stupid enemies… A few hours made up mostly of cinematics and animations.You press a button and your enemies are destroyed.

 

Just like that attractive person whom you wasted your time and energy with, this awesome looking game has also let you down. Your past anticipation and excitement seems like a waste. You miss the days where you used to stay up playing a game for hours.

 

So, while everyone is in line for the next superficial perfection, we, at our Devilsmmo.com head office are a little skeptical and lack the hype of all believers and followers.

 

Our wives have taught us better :-)

 

Tyler Biggs