Why are games so dark these days?

[Kotatsu Neko]

Play Psychonauts!

A game so inventive and visually charming it is impossible to play it and not love it.

[brokeback]

why don't you just sell all your games and go on holiday with the money? thats exactly what I'm going to do> going to bangcok and on to cambodia on a month long journey of excitement and adventure. It will be like the best RPG ever. I'm going to equip myself with a cloak and sword and travel across the countryside fighting low level beasts* and stealing their Gil.


*cows, chickens, stray dogs etc

[muse hunter]

The world GTA is set in is dull and miserable to create the feeling of "real life". It's hardly cartoony or comic-book-like in my opinion.

I would say that about gta3 and andreas but vice city's environment was colourful, vibrant, and full of character and did seem a bit like a comic (gta series - the ultimate one hit wonder). I know what people mean about game environments most try to look "realistic" but end up just being dull (getaway and true crime for example). The developers seem to forget that videogames are all about fantasy and not the dullness of real life, seeing these rubbish excuses for environments does make you feel sick and loose a bit of faith in the industry, however play a game like jet set radio future or fable and that magic will soon return. They are games with beautiful characteristic environments what i always thought that videogames will one day look like.

[Darwock]

The world GTA is set in is dull and miserable to create the feeling of "real life". It's hardly cartoony or comic-book-like in my opinion.

This sounds utterly crazy to me, different perspectives I guess. Didn't you ever listen to the radio? Or the people on the streets? Or look at the graffiti, posters all over the place? GTA is just one big spoof of the real world, it's not meant to be taken seriously in my opinion. It's not 'The Getaway'.

[gossi the dog]

I see where your coming from. Very few games nowadays don't have that uplifiting feel that many did back in the early 1990's. Skies of Arcadia and the Dragon Quest series are the only recent examples that I can think of.

[gingerj]

Mario sunshine made me smile the entire way through it, those casino levels were jokes...

[Ady]

I don't think GTA belongs in this thraed, tbh.

Manhunt and Max Payne perhaps, but not GTA.

[Crossed fingers]

Back to gIzzE's dilemma, i'm not sure what type of games you're into but i'd heartily recommend Disgaea and the upcoming Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana both from Nippon ichi-extremely bright graphics, and a games which are quite fantasy based. There's also okami being released in the future.

I empathise with you, i too feel most games don't have the character of say Shenmue, Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, but i think you'll see a move towards more story based games such as Fahrenhite in the future.

[Wools]

Jet. Set. Radiiiiiiiiiiooooo!
Thtas a great, colorfull game!

Also try Outrun 2, Dead Or Alive Vollyball, Super Monkey Ball, Harvest Moon and the others already mentioned for great, uplifting games from this generation.

There hundreds out there and im sure others will reccomend them

[MikeRox]

aye, it's not that they're not there, it's just hard work finding them. the "feel good" games are the ones that give me the biggest buzz tbh.

[Shimmyhill]

Mario Sunshine was prolly my fave game this generation, i remember playing it in the Summer and it was such a jolly uplifting game to play. Im with you m8 games are too depressing these days.

Maybe we are just getting old

[Molloy]

I was playing Ridge Racer at the arcade yesterday and just thinking that's what games should be. The cheezy enthusiam of the commentator (There's somebody on your tail!!) and the bargain basement techno just added so much to the game. It was so unselfconsious it almost felt subversive.

Problem with alot of games now is they're straining to be cool, credible and meaningful. And they end up dull. There was almost a sort of punk quality to the arcade games of yesteryear. The music was videogamey, the graphics were videogamey.

The other game I was playing was Super Sidekicks 2. Not much fun to play these days but the whole way it tried to look like videogame football rather than real football was kind of refreshing. The characters all had these silly 3 frame animations for when they got fouled. It felt like a distillation of all the exciting bits of the game rather than a slavish copy.

In the new Smackdown games you have the all the wrestlers, their correct entrace music and properly mapped faces but none of them capture the essence of the wrestlers the way Technos did with Wrestlefest. Those simple animations of Mr. Perfect waving his towel about and sneering at you are just gold. The new stuff is flashier but it doesn't capture the personality of the wrestlers. It's more realistic but it doesn't appreciate the cheezy silliness of wrestling, which is what videogames can replicate so well.

I was watching a show about Hitchcock awhile back that really struck a cord with me. He was saying how early silent cinema was so unique. It was unlike literature, theatre or any other medium. Because of the limitations of the medium they had to create their own language. And it was fantastic. But then talkies came along and everybody dismissed the silent cinema as childish nonsense. It wasn't credible enough. How did they go about making it credible? They adapted plays and novels for 20 years. Hitchcock had to knock out adaptations for years before his producers allowed him to do anything original.

Videogames have a character. And it's been seriously diluted in the last 10 years in particular. But it'll all swing back the other way eventually. Maybe in 20 years it'll be OK for a videogame to be a videogame again.

[IcePak]

I totally agree with what you are saying gIzzE. And you made some good points too Molloy. I'd like to add to it, but I think you guys have said it perfectly.

[eastyy]

think i might have misunderstood when i saw the topic i was thinking doom3/chronicles of riddick/project zero were to dark but in there is hardly any light
:-) i think the perfect example of what you mean is prince of persia the sands of time that had quite a nice feel to it but the sequel warrior withing definetly had a more darker feel to it and while the combat was better i just didnt like the new darker attitude

[IcePak]

I thought the darker atmosphere of PoP:WW suited the storyline well. I don't think it was as good as TSoT, but it wasn't as bad as a lot of people say.