The Remastered HD 1080i graphics edition

Microsoft versus Sony, Battlefield versus Call of Duty and Forza versus Gran Turismo. These are some of the rivalries that can get people talking about console wars. “Game On or Game Over” is your place to get inside the minds of Nicholas and Andy as they seek to find the true meaning of gaming and tackle some of gaming’s most controversial subjects. Both are award winning authors – although the awards haven’t been mailed or created yet — but trust them. Would they lie to you?

Andy: I don’t know if it’s just me or if more people feel like this. With the annual Game Developer Conference in the bag, after watching reading, and listening to things coming out of it, I am underwhelmed by where gaming is going. Leading up to GDC there were a series of teasers, trailers and what have you for upcoming games and it really sunk in for me that gaming is really full of “sameness” right now. We’ve been seeing it for the last couple years really, but it seems more pronounced than ever now.

Let’s look at some of the ‘big’ titles that are coming up soon. Battlefield Hardline, Mario Party 10, MLB 15 The Show and Mortal Kombat X. Every one of those titles are from a series and aside from minor differences they are essentially the same thing as before. Two of the games are the tenth in their respective series. Add to that the growing trend of developers releasing “remastered” games and it gets even worse.

Maybe I’m just a little jaded right now, but I didn’t buy a $500 system to play games I have already played (remasters) and I was also hoping I’d get a bunch of new experiences that the older generation of consoles just couldn’t match. Yet a year plus into it already and aside from an uptick in graphics and bigger world sizes, I have to be honest and say I haven’t noticed that big of a difference.  Am I on an island here in terms of thinking like this, or do you think it’s shared by other gamers as well?

Nicholas: I certainly don’t think that you’re alone in thinking what you do, but I’ll be honest and say I don’t agree. I know a lot of the other Stevivor staff are with you and have been vocal about the number of remakes this generation and the lack of new IPs, but I’ve always enjoyed the occasional remake and I’m still clamoring for one for Need For Speed Underground (please EA, please make this happen). I have a decent amount of games for my Xbox 360, but there were a lot of games I missed out on. For me, a lot of these remakes are a chance to experience games and stories that I didn’t get the chance to last gen, so I like it. For example, I’m absolutely loving playing through the Halo: Master Chief Collection because it was a franchise I essentially overlooked entirely when they originally launched. I can understand though how people who played these games when they first came out might be bored with seeing them again.

I wanted to delve further into your comment thought about games being essentially bigger worlds with greater graphics. I’ve thought about where gaming can go in the past, but I’m always stumped for possibilities (then again, I’m not exactly creative). What are the elements we can break a game down into? Storyline, side-missions and collectibles, soundtrack, controls, the game world and online features. When you’re speaking of innovation, where do you see the biggest avenue for changes to be made, and why do you think it needs to be tied to current gen technology capabilities? Furthermore, are there any other elements you can break a game down into?

Andy: I think you’ve broken down the components of a game pretty accurately. I mean, there really is only so many things that can feasibly go into a game after all. My problem, if you even want to call it that, with games is when you segment games into a genre, the games within that genre are damn near identical. Sure some will have better mechanics, graphics or story but for the most part you do the same thing. Take shooters for example. If it’s a first person shooter they play the same, and generally have the same story arch. Look at Battlefield and Call of Duty – explosions, shoot the bad guys and barely save the world. You can even apply that story arch to a game like Halo. Make it a third person shooter and you can talk about games like Gears of War all the way to Scourge Outbreak (yeah how many people have played that game!)

To me that’s the biggest issue here. It’s that when I buy a new game, I have this feeling that I have already played it before. Sure the setting may be new, the characters may be different – but the actual bones of the game… been there done that. Look no further than Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4. They are essentially the exact same game just in different settings and a few other tweaks. Don’t get me wrong, I liked both games but FC4 didn’t ‘feel’ new in terms of a new game feel. As I sit here and think about the last game I played that legitimately felt like a “new” game and the closest one I can think of is Red Dead Redemption, but I think my views are skewed on it because of the ending. It didn’t end with Marston riding off into the sunset living happily ever after, it was a punch in the gut that helped me connect on a deeper level. A lot of games don’t do that anymore. They end with us knowing it’s merely a setup for the next one, and the one after that, and the one after that… I’m looking at you Assassin’s Creed trilogy, err franchise.

I have long been a proponent of saying change just for change isn’t a good idea. Yet, at the same time staying the course just for the sake of staying the course doesn’t advance gaming either. Before I talk about the plethora of remakes hitting the market, I wanted to get your thoughts on the above and talk about my biggest point of contention with games right now. What do you think? What was the last game that you played where the entire experience felt ‘new’ or ‘different’? Am I just a jaded gamer who has played way too many games?

Nicholas: I certainly understand what you’re saying, but I wonder how different games can actually be? You asked the question “what was the last game you played where the entire experience felt new or different”, and for me, I think it was Mass Effect. I’ve never been a big sci-fi fan but the franchise really took me by storm. The universe, the characters, the gameplay and the story – everything just blew me away. Perhaps because I was so used to racing games only at the time it felt different. That said, all three games featured slightly the same story with slightly improved gameplay elements – a third-person shooter with one character trying to save the universe. It’s not a completely unique story once you break it down, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a genre-defining game (in my opinion).

The question I’m also asking myself is whether games need to be unique in story or gameplay to be great. Case in point, Wolfenstein TNO was just another Nazi-killing FPS – but it was still one of the most enjoyable games I played in 2014 (and of this current generation too). It wasn’t revolutionary in its story nor its gameplay, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag and Unity still had the base mechanics that were founded with the very first game – but I still absolutely loved them both. Hell, both games actually re-invigorated my love for the series.

I suppose the question I’d like to put back to you is “what are you expecting to see from these games?” What would you have as an idea for a new story or gameplay mechanic that you haven’t seen before, that would really blow you away?

Andy: Hmm, those are great questions. I’m not sure who you stole it from, because I know you couldn’t come up with something like that on your own, but it fits with my line of thinking right now. As we’ve been talking about this I’ve been doing some thinking and I keep coming back not so much to actual game mechanics but to story elements. Maybe that’s where my biggest complaint really is. It’s that stories in games are so damn similar it feels like we are literally playing the same thing with a different coat of paint. If I could pick one thing I would like to see change, that’s what it would be for sure with me. Games are a lot like the movie industry where they just keep recycling the same old plot over and over again with a few minor tweaks to say it’s different. I want to sit back during a scene or after a game as the credits roll, and say “Holy sh*t, that was amazing. I never expected that.” I haven’t had that feeling in a while. The last time I felt that was probably the end of Tell Tale’s first season of The Walking Dead. While I’ve played some good games since then, like Dragon Age Inquisition, I haven’t had that “wow” moment I’m looking for.

Now, I know what you want to say next, so let me get ahead of the curve here. “Not every game has to be like that.” That’s right, they don’t and I don’t honestly expect every game to be like that. However, at the same time, not every game should be like ones before it, and that’s where I feel we are at. Which brings me back to all the remastered games that are coming out. Not only are they like games before them… they ARE the games that were already released. I just can’t for the life of me understand why there are so many “remastered” games hitting the shelves. As much as I love Fallout 3, if Bethesda came out and said they were releasing a remastered version of it I wouldn’t buy it. I’ve already put my time into that game. Add to that the prices publishers are trying to charge for the same games, it’s appalling. But, like anything else if people keep buying it they will keep releasing it and have no motivation to work on the next project and truly innovate.

Maybe it’s my quest for new stuff, I’m not sure. I can watch my favorite movies several times a year, I can read my favorite books every couple years, but once a game is done and dusted for me I have a really hard time playing it again. More so for a game that a publisher expects me to buy again for the exact same experience. I know you have expressed interest in some remastered titles, but you also mentioned I’m not alone in my hatred of them either. Why do you think we are seeing so many HD re-releases? Do you think we are in for even more in the year or two years ahead?

Nicholas: I think it’s for the pure fact that they are selling, so it makes good business sense to do so. That said, I think it’s because a lot of us (or maybe only a few – I really don’t know) are after that nostalgia factor of experiencing some of the great titles we played either last generation or the one before that. A good example of this for me came when Microsoft re-released Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie and Perfect Dark for the Xbox 360. I absolutely loved those games as a kid, so getting the chance to re-live those games with upgraded graphics was certainly welcome. The same would apply if EA re-released Need For Speed Underground. When it comes to re-releasing games from the last generation, say Grand Theft Auto V, that feeling of nostalgia is a lot less, but I still enjoyed being able to play the game again with better looks.

To answer your second question as to whether I think we’ll be in for even more in the next two years – yes, but perhaps they won’t flood the market. Right now I think we’re seeing so many because developers are trying to put more games out there on the market. We need to remember that the new consoles are not even two years old, so re-releasing games may be a way of getting more products out there with less development effort. I think as time passes we’ll see less remakes as newer games take their place.

The idea of remakes though isn’t new in the entertainment industry. Classic films are remade from time to time. Greatest Hits albums are released for popular artists all the time. Books are re-released with slight amendments or additions whenever they get turned into films (think the recently released ‘American Sniper’.) Should games be exempt from this?

I’ve been thinking about what you’ve said about stories being generally the same, just with different settings. Isn’t this what movies do too? Aren’t most movies just some variation of a male hero rescuing the world and being rewarded with a love interest? You can sort of pick the endings of most movies, or who’ll be the double-crosser about half the way through. Is this issue of ‘sameness’ that you’re speaking about exclusive to games, or does it happen everywhere you think?

Andy: Oh, it absolutely happens in other entertainment areas. Just look at the types of movies Hollywood is churning out. How many reboots, remakes, sequels do we see from them? A crap ton (yes that is a scientific measurement). Look no further than the announcement of not one but two ‘Ghostbuster’ movies in production. I would hate to think with all the creativity in both the movie and game industry that there is no one left with an original idea. Maybe the consumer is part of the problem. We don’t force them to think outside the box and come up with something new because we willing spend our money on reskinned, recycled, and rehashed ideas.

We are both old enough to have seen the “zombie” craze come into fruition. I remember when it was werewolves, and then a small dose of zombies took off and people saw how successful they were and now boom. Zombies are everywhere. Call of Duty, Dead Island, Dying Light, State of Decay, Last of Us, Dead Space and Resident Evil. Those were just off the top of my head, I’m sure there are some I forgot. For the most part they are all the same thing. Something mysterious caused it, someone wants to capitalize on it, one lone person (or small group) is responsible for trying to save humanity. You can say the same thing about every zombie movie as well.

I have to think that there is still creativity out there, but now that almost every studio (both games and movies) are held under shareholders’ ever watchful gaze, they don’t want to take that risk. So, they keep churning out the old tried and true story and method. It’s akin to getting a bag of your favourite candy. Every piece in the bag is one flavour. Now, you’re not disappointed because it’s a flavour you like. The next bag is the same flavour, and the bag after that, and the one after that. You get to a point where you still like that candy but you just can’t eat any more of it because you’re sick of it for now. That’s where I am right now in my gaming life. I still enjoy games, but I need more flavours.

To wrap this week’s article up, can you talk a little about where we go from here. We’ve said before if you want change don’t buy the game – but what happens when people complain, but still buy the game because there’s nothing else to play? We want different flavours, but since there’s only these few flavours we settle for them and eat them anyway. Is that an apt analogy for where the game industry is at right now? It’s hard for them to take risks, when what they are doing is making them money. Do you think gamers would support a company that blows the walls out of the bow and really challenges how we play and perceive games?

Nicholas: I think that’s really hard to determine. I’ve been giving that sort of question some thought over the past week and I don’t think it’s so easy to tell. When I think of companies that take risks, I think of examples like Titanfall, Destiny and Evolve – but what has been the response from each game so far? Lot of hype leading up to it, a little over half of gamers like it but eventually it’s criticised from having a lack of story and not being any fun offline. It’s really interesting that when we talk about wanting change, we get it and then people aren’t happy. So I’m sort of stumped there.

If we use the three articles above as examples, where do I see gaming going? I see a greater emphasis on more larger-scale gaming, and most of it happening online too. The days of most games being single-player only appear to be well gone, and there’s now more of a push to be online all the time (interesting when you started this article talking about a lot of games just having better graphics and larger worlds).

Should we support companies that try to take risks and change the way we game? Sure, but not if those risks don’t pay off. I know that sounds harsh, but I’m not interested in spending $100AUD on a risk that isn’t fun. I guess that’s what separates you and I at this stage. I’m quite happy with where gaming is right now, so for me, I’m not too keen on seeing any big risks or changes to how gaming is right now. By contrast, with you wanting change, you seem to be more accepting of taking these risks and seeing something different. If you aren’t in the minority, and if more gamers want to see something truly different in what they buy, then I think this generation is going to be the best chance to see that. It just depends on which group has the loudest voice.

Tune in next time for the next instalment of Game On or Game Over. If you have any ideas for our next article, feel free to contact Andy or Nicholas on Twitter.