I read through it, and you've got it down pretty well. But I think this is stuff the game industry is aware of. They know they make crap. The problem is people will pay loads of money for it. People will drop $60 every year on Madden, people will drop $15 a month on whatever MMORPG. That's attractive. You can cut a lot of corners and still make money to the point where it's not worth even bothering with good design. Video games have become more like movies than many give credit; movie studios pump out loads of junk every year, and now so do game studios. There are some gems to be found, though.
One of my favorite games last year, and easily one of the best I've ever played, isn't a technically a game at all. There's no challenge, just exploration. It's also free, outside of owning a copy of Half-Life 2, which they practically give away now. It's a mod called Dear Esther, and you can find it on ModDB. It only takes an hour, max, to finish, but it's some of the best storytelling I've ever seen in a video game. It's fairly simple- you explore a Scottish isle and listen to the narrator explain the island's history, as well as his own. In addition, the narration can change each time you play it, giving it a modicum of replay value. (To be honest, though, and this isn't a point in its favor, it's just as easy to download the script and read through it after a playthough or two.) The plot is surprisingly dense and the themes are very complicated for what is basically the video game equivalent of a one-act play.
Braid was another great one last year, and it was only $20 or so. Great story, simple gameplay, and it somehow still has replay value to me. Maybe I love the story that much or the puzzles are still so clever that it amuses me to do them again. I can't say for sure.
I also played a very obscure one that you may be familiar with from /x/. It's a homebrewed RPG called Yume Nikki (Japanese for Dream Diary.) It's another pure exploration game. You play a young reclusive girl named Madotsuki who is trying to lucid dream and record it. Some of the things you can find go from whimsical and funny to deeply disturbing. And by deeply, I mean incredibly. There's no real point. There are items you can pick up, and if you find them all and bring them back to the central hub, there's an "ending", but it's not really important. It's more entertaining to walk around and poke at random crap and see what happens.
Lastly, there's one I talked with you about briefly called Eversion, which is one of the most interesting platformers I've played in years. You wouldn't think sidescrollers have much innovation left in them, but this one really does. You play a little yellow... blob-thing and go from world to world picking up gems. But some gems can't be grabbed outright. You have to find places where the boundaries between dimensions are thin. Usually it's between pairs of bushes or other objects. Once you find them, the background color and music change slightly and you can slip into a "lower" dimension where things are different. You might be able to walk on clouds, for example, or a bush that used to be in your way might disappear. It's really awesome and very clever. It does have its flaws; namely, very slippery controls, but it is freeware. And it's got a neat 8-bit NES style that gives it a kind of nostalgia too. Here's a link- http://zarat.us/tra/offline-games/eversion.html There was an "HD" version available (More of an SNES look and better music) for $5, but it seems the author took it down to offer it on Steam soon. (I paid $5 for it, so I wonder if I'll get access to the new version or not.)
For me, it's gotten to the point that I rarely buy new video games, and find myself constantly replaying old ones I've fallen in love with. (Though my inability to afford new video games is a big contributor to that. And all the multiplayer games my friends buy end up on different systems that what I've bought it on, e.g., I own Left 4 Dead 2 on Xbox 360, everyone else has it on PC.)
One of my favorite games last year, and easily one of the best I've ever played, isn't a technically a game at all. There's no challenge, just exploration. It's also free, outside of owning a copy of Half-Life 2, which they practically give away now. It's a mod called Dear Esther, and you can find it on ModDB. It only takes an hour, max, to finish, but it's some of the best storytelling I've ever seen in a video game. It's fairly simple- you explore a Scottish isle and listen to the narrator explain the island's history, as well as his own. In addition, the narration can change each time you play it, giving it a modicum of replay value. (To be honest, though, and this isn't a point in its favor, it's just as easy to download the script and read through it after a playthough or two.) The plot is surprisingly dense and the themes are very complicated for what is basically the video game equivalent of a one-act play.
Braid was another great one last year, and it was only $20 or so. Great story, simple gameplay, and it somehow still has replay value to me. Maybe I love the story that much or the puzzles are still so clever that it amuses me to do them again. I can't say for sure.
I also played a very obscure one that you may be familiar with from /x/. It's a homebrewed RPG called Yume Nikki (Japanese for Dream Diary.) It's another pure exploration game. You play a young reclusive girl named Madotsuki who is trying to lucid dream and record it. Some of the things you can find go from whimsical and funny to deeply disturbing. And by deeply, I mean incredibly. There's no real point. There are items you can pick up, and if you find them all and bring them back to the central hub, there's an "ending", but it's not really important. It's more entertaining to walk around and poke at random crap and see what happens.
Lastly, there's one I talked with you about briefly called Eversion, which is one of the most interesting platformers I've played in years. You wouldn't think sidescrollers have much innovation left in them, but this one really does. You play a little yellow... blob-thing and go from world to world picking up gems. But some gems can't be grabbed outright. You have to find places where the boundaries between dimensions are thin. Usually it's between pairs of bushes or other objects. Once you find them, the background color and music change slightly and you can slip into a "lower" dimension where things are different. You might be able to walk on clouds, for example, or a bush that used to be in your way might disappear. It's really awesome and very clever. It does have its flaws; namely, very slippery controls, but it is freeware. And it's got a neat 8-bit NES style that gives it a kind of nostalgia too. Here's a link- http://zarat.us/tra/offline-games/eversion.html There was an "HD" version available (More of an SNES look and better music) for $5, but it seems the author took it down to offer it on Steam soon. (I paid $5 for it, so I wonder if I'll get access to the new version or not.)
For me, it's gotten to the point that I rarely buy new video games, and find myself constantly replaying old ones I've fallen in love with. (Though my inability to afford new video games is a big contributor to that. And all the multiplayer games my friends buy end up on different systems that what I've bought it on, e.g., I own Left 4 Dead 2 on Xbox 360, everyone else has it on PC.)
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