Generation Of Difference

Being a gamer since the early nineties, I have played a variety of different games. From then to present I have played a fair yew and I own even more, but there has been something which has been nagging at me about games from the more recent generations.

Having been through five console generations, and owning consoles from all five generations there has been something I’ve noticed. Playing something from an older generation I feel the difficulty back then is a little bit more of a challenge. Games of today aren’t all easy, but I do feel there has been a slight simplification of game play.

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In the past games didn’t hold your hand and tell you what you had to do. Most didn’t even have a training mode; it just threw you right in at the deep end and let you figure what you had to do. All games now seem to have a training mode built into the opening of the game. This form of help is nice for people who have never picked up a game, or not played a game in a series, but for people who have played a couple games in a series it is annoying. What’s worse, you can’t turn this off. In some cases you are constantly reminded of the game's controls, with HUD flashes or button indicators.

When playing games on the Sega Megadrive and Super Nintendo a lot of these things aren’t included. When I boot up Sonic 2 it doesn’t tell me how to spin dash or when to jump or how to enter a special stage. In a modern Sonic a lot this is told to you during game play, with Omochao popping up to tell every time. While I was playing these games as a five year old, I didn’t know to do things besides being told by other people and just getting lucky. A lot of this was fun, and frustrating at the same time.

Sometimes when I play games now I feel things have been dumbed down. I think a lot of this has been done to help and encourage people to play games, and know how to play them. While also helping to  encourage people to play on and get on with the game. I feel even the game play has been slightly simplified as well to encourage play as well.

Recently I have been replaying Tomb Raider, and maybe because I suck or because of its difficult control scheme. Playing one level took me over an hour to complete, not to mention all the times I died, and went the wrong way made me take so long. The time it took me made me engage with the game even more.

However, when I played Tomb Raider Anniversary, I replayed the same level and found myself doing the level with a level of ease. Even though I didn’t remember where everything was I still managed to complete the level in a fraction of the time it took me to do the original. It’s not that I didn't enjoy it, but I really feel they did make the remake slightly more simplistic.

Not all games made now are simplistic or haven’t changed their formula so much it’s makes it an easy game. When I consider the Mario series, the gameplay is still the same and seems to have the same level of difficulty as you progress. It may be because it is a platformer that doesn't apply.  

I’m not complaining about games today, I’m just looking for something a little more difficult. I know there are a lot of games out there which have a genuine difficulty, but not a lot of the games I’m into. I feel a lot of the new games seem a little bit straight forward. With the exception of a few games, a lot of games have a narrow path and tell what you should be doing.

To be honest I feel I am longing to play games from older generations. When I play games I want it to challenge me, and not tell me where I should be going. Or shouting at the screen, thank you game! This is probably why I feel more connected with a game from an older generation.