Like any artform, video gaming has evolved in light of new technology and new audiences, but while most things in gaming have advanced, there are a few areas where it really seems we’ve taken a step backwards. There are just some things that, on average, retro games simply did better.
1 Be a Complete Shipping Game
These days, thanks to the internet and the ability to patch games after their release, it seems to be the norm for developers to release unfinished games. The pressure to hit that release date and get money flowing often overrides the desire to ship a polished and complete product. Not that every retro game was perfect!
Games released on cartridge and disc could also have game-breaking bugs or quality issues, but given that fixing issues like these would be expensive and difficult, there was a strong incentive to get it right the first time, with minor bugs corrected in later pressings.
Honestly, the problem is so bad today that I find it hard to recommend anyone buy a game at launch, since you’re usually paying the highest price for the worst version of the game. It’s certainly a nightmare for physical game collectors when a game absolutely requires a launch-day patch to be in a good playable state.
2 Work Offline
Game developers and platform holders have been pushing for always-online game systems for decades. Gamers have pushed back, but these efforts have been relentless. Thankfully, on platforms like Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5, you can still have a fully offline experience, but even some single-player games or single-player elements of otherwise online games want that line connecting back to home base.
I don’t have a problem with games having online features, but when there are online requirements that make no sense, that’s just incredibly frustrating. It’s not just about having internet access, these services go down from time to time too. It doesn’t matter that you have the internet when there’s nothing to connect to!
3 Be Done in a Weekend
I fondly remember renting Metal Gear Solid on a Friday and handing it back on Monday morning before school, having finished the whole game. Likewise, my buddy and I rented Resident Evil 2 with our pocket money and no-sleep tag-team played the entire game over a weekend. I like a meaty game as much as the next person, but I definitely miss having more games that take a weekend or two to finish, especially now that I’m a grownup and might only have 10 hours in a given week to play something. I have so many modern games that I enjoy playing, but they just never seem to end!
4 A Focus on Gameplay
What is a game? The exact definition is a matter of debate, but there are definitely some “games” that stray so far from the core concept and structure of a game that it’s hard to see them as video games at all. Without a central game structure or gameplay loop, some titles are little more than digital fidget toys or interactive movies. Even modern games that are true games at their core are so over-stuffed with theme park filler that they are 90% non-game.
That can make it hard to enjoy a lot of modern gaming because I came here for satisfying and engrossing gameplay, seasoned with some story and a few cool cutscenes, maybe.
Instead, I might get a CG movie sprinkled with some gameplay or spend my time collecting pointless items to craft more pointless stuff just so I can engage with the actual fun part of the game, and that feels like its missing the point of video games entirely.
5 They End!
Games are best when they have a beginning, middle, and end. I like a game that’s a discrete experience, but that’s not what the economics of modern games seem to demand. This is somewhat related to games being too long, but at least many of those games do have an ending at some point. I’m not just talking about live service games which are designed to go on forever. No, even single-player games sometimes have a tendency to turn into a sort of offline live service game, with randomly-generated quests and a constant trickle of new content.
Maybe for players who never want to leave a given game world, that’s not such a bad thing. However, I’d prefer it if developers spent their time working on a new game instead of trying to pad out their current game, but that’s just me!
