Uncharted 2 and shooters in general

[RickyL]

So i've been playing Uncharted 2, and my thoughts? Over-rated. Don't get me wrong, it's an excellent game - it has some truly amazing graphics, the story is pretty good, the voice acting and script is great, as is the music. But the gameplay itself? Pretty run of the mill actually. They can have all the fantastic set pieces they want, but when the actual combat doesn't break any new ground, it gets pretty repetitive.

Really this is a problem with shooters in general now - none of them are breaking any new ground, which is why Wolfenstein had that god awful magic power thing in it. Shooters are now having to put "special powers" in them now just so that they're different from the rest, which is why games like Singularity look pretty good.

In other words, DISCUSS.

[crisissuit3]

If thats the case, why do people still play games?

gaming is all about ripping off the other game, and its really hard to come up with an intresting idea that works.

[RickyL]

Yeah, i think that's why i enjoyed Mirrors Edge so much. It wasn't exactly a brilliant game by any stretch of the imagination, but the fact that it was something different from other games on the market was what made it so good. But you're right about gaming just being about ripping off others ideas, it'll probably be what causes the death of games if something isn't done about it; it'll be the death of shooters at the very least.

[eezstreet]

I played SWAT 4, this was pretty different from most shooters on the basis that you need to use tactics in order to play the game.

SWAT 4, for instance, requires that you have a team with you (whether it be single player or CO-OP multiplayer) because there's no way that you can arrest/neutralize all the suspects on your own.

There's also the issue of Rules of Engagement (RoE); you can't just fire at suspects just because you can. You can only fire your weapon when they are pointing a gun at you, your teammate or an innocent civilian. However, you do have an array of less lethal weapons that are (in my opinion) easier to use than lethal weapons because you can pretty much force suspects to comply before they have the chance to do any real damage.

[gravy666]

Originally Posted by crisissuit3

gaming is all about ripping off the other game, and its really hard to come up with an intresting idea that works.

You can say that about everything:

Movies- ripping of the other movie- really hard to come up with an interesting idea that works.

Writing- ripping off the other book- really hard to come up with an interesting idea that works.

Television- ripping off the other show- really hard to come up with an interesting idea that works.

Music- ripping off the other musician(s)- really hard to come up with an interesting idea that works.

Art- ripping off the other artist- really hard to come up with an interesting idea that works

Photography- ripping off the other photographer- really hard to come up with an interesting idea that works

And so on and so forth.

[crisissuit3]

Originally Posted by gravy666

You can say that about everything:

Movies- ripping of the other movie- really hard to come up with an interesting idea that works.

Writing- ripping off the other book- really hard to come up with an interesting idea that works.

Television- ripping off the other show- really hard to come up with an interesting idea that works.

Music- ripping off the other musician(s)- really hard to come up with an interesting idea that works.

Art- ripping off the other artist- really hard to come up with an interesting idea that works

Photography- ripping off the other photographer- really hard to come up with an interesting idea that works

And so on and so forth.

Uhm, no not really. Its very easy to come up with a intresting story. Its just that the viewers need to have an imagination sometimes.

I meant gameplay wise anyway.

[gravy666]

Originally Posted by crisissuit3

I meant gameplay wise anyway.

The theory is that developers just don't want to make the effort to do something that will really blow people's minds. And besides, with technology getting better every day, most developers just want to strive towards realistic and cinematic experiences- bridge the gap between games and movies.

The Escapist is a cleverly titled gaming magazine- a lot of people view games as a way to 'escape' reality, to do things that normally can't be accomplished. Or to escape into someone else's idealized world. Or just forget about real life issues and have a good time.

[Serio]

In the September issue of GameReactor, they actually had an interesting article on this subject. Generally, popular and established developers tend to recycle game concepts and stories from games that have already been proven a success. The reason for this is simple enough; They don't want to risk their money by developing a new, and potentially unpopular, game concept.
This is why most new concepts and unique plotlines are from independent developers such as 2D Boy(World of Goo), Double Fine Productions(Psychonauts, Brutal Legend), and so on.
They're willing to, somewhat, take the risk seeing as they don't have alot to lose.

[Commissar MercZ]

I thought Uncharted was more of an Action/Adventure game in the spirit of Tomb Raider and such?

Anyways this is not unique to games. Almost everywhere you'll find people working off proven concepts. I'd say the most annoying phase shooters are going through is the regenerating health that Halo popularized.

[kquaker]

I notice a lot of FPS games get overrated or over hyped. >.< And then games that are not in the fps genre get overly critiqued while the FPS ones get under critiqued.