Are games as fun as they used to be?

A bit of a melodramatic topic perhaps but it's a thought that occurs to me from time to time. Today's games are unquestionably more sophisticated than the games of yesteryear, having come light years in the quality of graphics and audio, not to mention gameplay physics and artificial intelligence. In several areas, it's safe to say that today's games easily blow their predecessors out of the water.

All the same, as a fan of pulling out old games (and even old consoles) from time to time I sometimes wonder if games have lost some of their fun and addictiveness as they've improved in other areas. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a "back in the good old days" kind of thread per se but it's funny to think how much fun I had with NBA Live 95 considering I'm the type of player who desires realism in basketball games and for all NBA Live 95's positives, it wasn't always the most realistic and obviously lacked the features that would be added throughout the years. Even though you expected more of the series moving forward, at the time it was still immensely enjoyable.

Same sort of thing with Duke Nukem 3D, which I recently downloaded off XBL. In an era where there so many more advanced first person shooters being made, for someone who grew up playing the game when it was new I feel it stands the test of time and is still incredibly fun. Then you have the lost genre of adventure games that covered everything from the Zork series to Leisure Suit Larry to Monkey Island and other LucasArts classics.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still quite an enthusiastic gamer and I don't mean to say that today's games are rubbish. But sometimes I feel they're lacking a certain something; you don't want to use trite expressions like "heart" or "soul" in this situation but they're probably apt all the same. I just feel there's a certain quality in old games that isn't always present today.

I guess the same can be said about movies & music these days....

First thing that comes to mind is to ask yourself if games, like birthdays & Christmas, just less fun because you're getting older?

Secondly, back in the day (to use the well coined expression), in a rapidly growing gaming industry, most games were groundbreaking in their genres, so our low or non-existent expectations were always broken. In addition to that, the advancement in graphics, PC, console capabilities were bigger jumps relative than they seem to be now.

Thirdly, is it just because the gaming industry has become so big that $$$'s come first & it's less about the computer nerd creating games?

Looking at different sporting titles, here are my impressions:

Live Series: Started with '95, which was a superbly fun game. It revolutionarised 5-on-5 sim bball titles, as it was able to run a quick game without slowdowns. I played a couple of 82 game seasons, with my favourite being with the Lakers (Divac, Campbell, Ceballos - who I traded from Suns for Lynch, Peeler, Van Exel & rookie SG Eddie Jones). I even played 400+ custom games against my older brother in about 18 months, I think I won 81% of those games. Shame I didn't enter a Live '95 tournament, as I think I would've done pretty well. I played Live '95 until I got Live '98 for PC, that's how good it was. It also shows how much I felt Live '96 & Live '97 were letdowns. Those 2 titles, especially Live '96, seemed to lose some of the fun factor & seemed a bit dull & boring. Then there was Live '98, which after Live '95, is probably my 2nd most favourite Live title. It brought fun back into, it took a big graphical leap, & provided many good memories. I remember being around the old NLSC a lot in those days, even if it wasn't on forums. Live '99 graphically improved what Live '98 did & was a solid title. Live 2000 finally brought what I thought they should've had 2 years prior, & that was the dynasty mode. Although for me personally, I didn't like this title as much as 2 predecessors. Then the dark ages hit in as Live '01 was only on PS2, as they wanted to design for the new next gen system. From there, it wasn't until Live '04 that came along for PC, that I was prompted to play the game much. Then Live '05 made more jumps, & probably became my 3rd favourite title in the series. Live '06 improved in some areas, & went backwards in other areas. And that's where it's stopped for me. It seems like for a couple of years, the game is really fun, then to try & improve it, it loses a bit of its 'soul' for a couple of years, then it comes back & is fun again. I think Live is starting to head back that way again, hopefully with a shot stick in hand.


Tony Hawk: THPS2 for PS1 was easily my favourite of the series. It was easy to pick up & play, had great levels, was quick & very fun. Enough game modes to keep everybody happy. The 3rd one was alright, but the more they seemed to add as far as controls go, the less fun it seemed to get for me. And when they added story/career modes, that was me for the series & I haven't played since.


WWF Smackdown: My favourite was the 2nd title for PS1. The 1st one was good & fun, but the 2nd title just blew it out of the water. Create a wrestler, being able to assign every sort of move. It was fast & fun. Some strategy, but not too much, was involved. And it marked the berth of some of the greatest custom characters of All-Time, including J.D! (part of the 3 B's Stable) & The Ozmeister. As you can see, very fond memories.


Heroes of Might & Magic 3: The right mix of advancements in the game over Heroes 1 & 2. Very good turn based strategy game. Lots of hours lost on this one. They tried to make a 4th one about 5 or so years ago. I did get the game based on the 3rd one, but HOMM4 had lost all the fun factor, so I never played it.


NBA Jam/Street: The original NBA Jam was just easy to pick up & very fun arcade game. Although TE was also alright, I thought as the series progressed (& spinoffs like Street came along), the more that was added, the worse the game got. I think I could go back & play the original NBA Jam now & still enjoy it


I think there are still a lot of good, fun games coming out, it's just a matter of finding them. Something like PS3's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune surprised me, much better than I expected. Lego Star Wars. So I think game developers are getting back to fun.

In the end, as great as my memories of Live '95 were & I wouldn't trade them in for anything, I'm glad I am playing the current bball titles instead. They've come along way, even if the fun factor sometimes get forgotten in odd years.

Same sort of thing with Duke Nukem 3D, which I recently downloaded off XBL. In an era where there so many more advanced first person shooters being made, for someone who grew up playing the game when it was new I feel it stands the test of time and is still incredibly fun. Then you have the lost genre of adventure games that covered everything from the Zork series to Leisure Suit Larry to Monkey Island and other LucasArts classics.

Out of curiosity, what was the most recently made shooter you've played?

Duck Hunt.

he made that post thinking Duck hunt isn't as much fun as Duke Nukem?! I'm speechless.

Duck Hunt wasn't a first person shooter, it was a fully immersible hunting experience...with a ray gun. In all seriousness, it was a very fun game back in the day.

The latest FPS I played...I've kind of gone off the genre but it was probably one of the Unreal Tournament games. I guess my point is that even with all the FPS games available these days that have far superior graphics, better gameplay engines (aiming systems and the like) and all that, I'll still go back and play a game like Duke Nukem 3D. Admittedly there's nostalgia involved but there's got to be something else that makes me want to shell out Microsoft Points to buy a game I already own on PC. Maybe it's the humour and the raunch, or perhaps there's something appealing in the simplicity of the game.

First thing that comes to mind is to ask yourself if games, like birthdays & Christmas, just less fun because you're getting older?

To a certain extent I think that is the case but when I go back and play these old games I tend to enjoy them just as much, even if they get me thinking "Wow, games have sure come a long way since then".

Secondly, back in the day (to use the well coined expression), in a rapidly growing gaming industry, most games were groundbreaking in their genres, so our low or non-existent expectations were always broken. In addition to that, the advancement in graphics, PC, console capabilities were bigger jumps relative than they seem to be now.

That's probably part of it. I do look back on those games with fond feelings of nostalgia and lower expectations because I know what I'm getting, and I'd also agree that at the time they seemed more impressive and with technology improving the bar is being raised and we're expecting more and more. The funny thing is, I don't necessarily think "I can't believe I used to play this" when I indulge in a bit of retro gaming and games these days are delivering some of the things we as gamers used to wish for back in the day.

But perhaps that harkens back to your first point. Even if those of us who are older now but grew up with video games still enjoy gaming, we are looking at things with more of a critical eye.

Thirdly, is it just because the gaming industry has become so big that $$$'s come first & it's less about the computer nerd creating games?

I don't think that's necessarily the case, I think that developers seem to cater to the hardcore gamer to a certain extent. Otherwise, companies like EA wouldn't be holding the community events and other developers wouldn't be posting on message boards and interacting with fans to get their feedback. You didn't really have that interaction back in the day when adventure games and platformers were more prominent.

Duck Hunt wasn't a first person shooter, it was a fully immersible hunting experience...with a ray gun. In all seriousness, it was a very fun game back in the day.

I was about to launch a flame war with you Andrew for such a comment. I'll back off, for now.

Well like I said, it went beyond being a first person shooter. With a first person shooter, you simply see the gun on the screen. With Duck Hunt you actually hold it, as I said making it a fully immersible hunting experience, not some mere first person shooter.

Well said.
Even the dog who mocked the player was engaging. I knew some people who wanted to "shoot the damn dog".

Back in those days, we had low expectations towards what video games could do. I don't think many were expecting what we have now.

So when we dust off one of those old games, we still have the same low expectations for those games, which those games turn out to be really enjoyable.

Well said.
Even the dog who mocked the player was engaging. I knew some people who wanted to "shoot the damn dog".

If they ever remake it for the current generation of consoles, I think that feature is a must.

The latest FPS I played...I've kind of gone off the genre but it was probably one of the Unreal Tournament games. I guess my point is that even with all the FPS games available these days that have far superior graphics, better gameplay engines (aiming systems and the like) and all that, I'll still go back and play a game like Duke Nukem 3D. Admittedly there's nostalgia involved but there's got to be something else that makes me want to shell out Microsoft Points to buy a game I already own on PC. Maybe it's the humour and the raunch, or perhaps there's something appealing in the simplicity of the game.

Well its hard to question if games are as fun as they used to be if you don't play the recent ones.

True, I guess as it pertains to first person shooters I was wondering how a game from over ten years ago keeps drawing me back while I have little interest in playing more recent games in that genre. The topic isn't all about first person shooters though, that was just one example that came to mind.

i think a lot of games nowadays are more movie than game. you sit for 5 or 10 mins watching the movie then you play out the "playable" part of the movie. that makes it less fun in my opinion. GTA IV comes to mind.

Perhaps, but then again adventure games were basically interactive movies that more or less followed the same path, though some of the LucasArts adventure games offered hard and easy puzzle versions and Indiana Jones & The Fate of Atlantis offered three different paths with a slightly different story and puzzles.

Is it fair then to say that more games today trade substance for flash, that the price for aesthetic beauty is depth or some other element of the game that is fun? Sort of like the whole old Star Wars trilogy vs the new Star Wars trilogy debate, the argument that better effects and more realistic CGI characters don't necessarily equal a better movie.

I think you're making the fallacy of comparing older classics to modern non-classics.

Super Mario Galaxy is superior to all other platformers in history. But it's a classic. I can't go back and compare it to Bubsy. Same reason I can't compare Super Mario Bros. 3 to trash like Blinx.

Classics remain classics despite their age. A non-classic, even if good due to the time (see: most early Playstation titles, a ton of NES titles) do not. We can think easily of past classics because their focus was on gameplay and experience over modeling polygons and drawing shaders. And because we grew up with them.

And Matthew does have a bit of a point. Adventure games aren't a lost genre, I guess you just aren't playing the new ones. And even, you're comparing Duke Nukem 3D (built around a story based single player game) to Unreal Tournament (non-story multiplayer only) as you most recent FPS. When there's been things like Half-Life 2 and its episodes which would be more comparable.

There are many modern classics. The best Mario, Zelda and Metroid all come from the last gen. (Galaxy, Wind Waker and Prime) Team Fortress 2 is today, and as fun, if not more than any other multiplayer game ever. God of War series, ICO/SOTC...Resident Evil 4, Half-Life 2 and episodes, etc. These will probably stand the test of time as well as any classic 1990 work.

I see your point about comparing classics to non-classics. In regards to adventure games being a lost genre, I admit that's a bit of an exaggeration but I'd still suggest the style of adventure games that I used to enjoy - Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Leisure Suit Larry - aren't as prominent as they used to be. The new Sam & Max games are definitely in that vein and I'm reasonably impressed with them but how many other SCUMM-like games are there? I suppose the SCUMM engine is too outdated now but I'm still quite fond of it.

Well, there's not SCUMM games because it's moved to 3D after Grim Fandango, but there are plenty of great 3D Adventure games that are focused story-first around today.

Such as? I'd be interested in giving them a look.

yeah i guess you could say there aren't many "classic" games being made compared to before.
anybody played Sega's Yakuza on PS2? great game, similar to Shenmue. it's the last game i have truly enjoyed playing.

Grim Fandango and Sam and Max obviously, Dreamfall/The Longest Journey, Farenheit/Indigo Prophecy, Vampire The Masquerade. Syberia has been well regarded by someone I trust. I intended to try the Penny Arcade game and Outcast.

anybody played Sega's Yakuza on PS2? great game, similar to Shenmue. it's the last game i have truly enjoyed playing.

That game might be the most tragically overlooked game of all time. I think they made a sequel for the PS2 as well, but it suffered from at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Which one? Yakuza 2 came out in early September. (Dec 2006 in JP.) Shenmue II came out for Dreamcast in EU and JP (both of which are playable on US DC's), but never in NA until its up-port to Xbox. (Which every GameStop/EBGames I've ever been in has ten thousand* $6 copies of.)

And Shenmue is hardly overlooked.

*May be hyperbole.

Grim Fandango and Sam and Max obviously, Dreamfall/The Longest Journey, Farenheit/Indigo Prophecy, Vampire The Masquerade. Syberia has been well regarded by someone I trust. I intended to try the Penny Arcade game and Outcast.

I should probably pick up Grim Fandango at some point, I've seen it re-released fairly cheaply as part of the LucasArts Classics brand. The new Sam & Max I've played and enjoyed. Are the other games you mentioned in the same vein as the older games I was referring to or more action/adventure type games?

You really should pick up and play Grim Fandango, Andrew.