Screw Retro!

When I was younger games were much better…right? Wrong, oh so wrong. I mean come on you’re joking right, compare Pong to Vanquish. Recent technology has given us better graphics, better sound and endless possibilities to make even the most far fetched game concept possible. Besides that in yesteryear games were made by a single guy or a small group of tech nerds in an attic, nowadays professional writers, symphonic orchestra’s and big league producers rule the video gaming seas. And off course a few of those small scale design teams have made some epic games, like the first Prince of Persia for example. But their skills fade in reality compared to the professionals today.

I didn’t use to feel this way… I’ll explain. Recently the Castlevania Franchise got a re-boot. Castlevania has always been a favorite of mine, the first installment I remembered as this epic adventure that demanded the best of my skills. It was a feast for the eyes and the music was brilliant (humming it right now actually) then came Simon’s Quest maybe one of my all time favorite console games. I remember these games fondly and the franchise only got better through time. So being a fan I needed to have this new game without doubt. I played it, finished it and was somewhat disappointed. The game is good, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t get the buzz the old Castlevania games gave me. So I made one huge mistake…. I downloaded a good emulator and started playing my old NES favorite Simon’s Quest…. It sucked!

Invisible holes in the floor, puzzles that are defying logic to such an extend that only a walk through can save you, clearing a castle demands that you stake a crystal ball with an oak stake that has no other use, the only reason I knew this is because I actually watched a vid on youtube on the game and then came the final boss Dracula which could be destroyed by standing in one place using one button repeatedly. Never mind the graphics, unforgiving controls and all-round boring adversaries. It sucked, not in the good vampiric way either… it sucked balls… big hairy, smelly balls. And it hit me….

The issue is not that games of the olden days are better, we just didn’t know any better… We are spoiled by the brilliance of some of the games out there and fail to recognize how totally awesome games can be when you view them in their own light. Castlevaina – Lords of Shadows is on almost every ground superior to it’s predecessors (well except for the fact that it is linear as hell) it just didn’t give me the same feeling because I have been spoiled. Simons Quest was on the top of it’s game, it was new in many ways Lords of Shadows is not.

So where does that leave us, apparently the old games suck to our spoiled sense and new games fail to maze or challenge us… well there are three options… continue on a bit jaded while you slowly come to terms with the fact that you have “seen it all”, stop playing altogether and do a Bob Ross art workshop, keep up with trying to find those diamonds out there, those sporadically created pearls of brilliance that make gaming worthwhile.