Recently I’ve been attempting to get away from playing a continuous stream of over-hyped, highly polished, triple-A titles. This may sound odd but I have reached the point in my life where I feel that I’ve had my fill of most variants of shooters, seen enough open world sandboxes and generally played more decidedly average action-adventures than I’ve consumed proverbial hot dinners. The marketing machine that pushed Assassin’s Creed into my conscience and tempted me with GTA IV has finally ground me down and I’m looking for a way out.
It came to the fore recently when after completing the first level of Killzone 2 I realised that I just didn’t care. No matter how many plaudits had been lavished upon it, I could not bring myself to put the disc back in my PlayStation as I felt I was just treading the same old ground once again. I’ve travelled the galaxy saving the human race numerous times and I’ve single-handedly won World Wars I, II and, I think just once, III. This was just another faceless clone in the procession.
There will be the exceptions to the rule where a new game does something particularly interesting, like Red Faction: Geurilla’s amazing simulation of destructive physics or the sheer light-hearted appeal of Little Big Planet, but on the whole my attention is now drawn elsewhere.
It started with Xbox Live Arcade, continued with PlayStation Network and has now been reinforce by Steam. From the comedy of Penny Arcade to the brain bending Echochrome, constructing gelantinous structures in World of Goo to chilling out with Pixel Junk: Eden, pound for pound I have had more fun this year with downloadable games than anything that has come out on a disc.
Part of it comes down to the expectations and budgets attached to full retail games. Given the reins to the next highly anticipated shooter, no developer is going to try and stray too far from the tried and tested path without being damn sure it will be a hit. Plus, with development costs running into multiple millions then the same can be said there, risk with that much cash on the line is not something that will make your investors sleep well at night. For every Mirror’s Edge that showed flashes brilliance and originality there are a dozen substandard shooters all with frighteningly similar protagonists.
Now do excuse me, there’s a tower of Goo that needs constructing.
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Do you find you have a pile of high profile games lying unplayed and unloved or do you count down the days until the next installment of your favourite series? Are you a heavy user of Steam or even the new iPhone store and are able to separate out the wheat from the chaff? Where do you like to go to get your fix? Let us know your views.
I make my living as a programmer at a British games developer. In my spare time I try and spread myself between writing, gaming, goalkeeping, rolling dice and keeping my hair blue. Somewhere around that my wife and rabbits fit in. Disclaimer: the views expressed are my own and do not neccessarily reflect those of my employer
Couldn’t agree more at the minute. I’m finding myself spending money on random XBLA titles and PSN titles more than anything else; Trash Panic and Super Stardust being the latest.
I’m one click away from getting hooked on Steam again as well. I think the popcap stuff may well be the final straw.