Green Mushroom Award: Intro
Allow me to jump on my soapbox and bitch about the state of video gaming today. Most new video games offer no new innovations in gameplay and instead recycle existing genres and throw in better graphics and sound, more involved and immersive story lines (complete with voice acting) and enough bells and whistles to make the game not seem like more of the same. Meanwhile these games offer only incremental gameplay improvements over the pioneers of the genre, while the new features only dilute and detract from the originals.
There is a trend today for immersive games that have deep story lines. While extra plot can add a lot to a game and can also create an additional problem-solving element, it can usually be stripped away revealing the same gameplay as last year's game. These are games like Quake 8, Halo 12, Myst: XLVII, Warcraft 17, and Grand Theft Auto: Nome.
Now there's nothing wrong with games that offer more of the same, it's the ill-advised improvements that make these games a mistake. All the new "features" of these games make the learning curve slower and the added complications squash the experience of playing games I already love just the way they are.
That being said, you can make improvements to a game and end up with better gameplay. WarCraft II offered a substantially improved user interface over the original that had a direct impact on gameplay. The same can be said with Starcraft, which expanded the gameplay and interface. However, there are signs in Starcraft of the genre starting to jump the shark. Who remembers or cares about the stupid voice acting intermissions and plot points that interrupt gameplay? To me, this is excess. Also, the expansion Brood Wars offers more units that essentially do the same things as the original units, and only serves to wildly over complicate the game.
Now I'm not so caught up on gameplay as I sound, I enjoy the rush of sharp graphics and music too, but to me, the best games offer new ways of playing and push the gaming experience. And for me, it seems like the pace of video game innovation has slowed. This effect is even more noticeable due to the increased volume of games today saturating the market.
In an effort to applaud and acknowledge the past and present of excellence in video gaming, I'm offering a monthly segment: The Green Mushroom Award is presented to those video games that have broken new ground in gaming possibilities or have elevated gameplay in a particular genre. Recipients are selected in no particular order, and indeed at my whim, and are announced on the first of each month. That there is a correspondence between winning games and the games I've played and personally enjoy may become increasingly obvious, though this emerging pattern should not lessen the validity and import of this esteemed award.
There is a trend today for immersive games that have deep story lines. While extra plot can add a lot to a game and can also create an additional problem-solving element, it can usually be stripped away revealing the same gameplay as last year's game. These are games like Quake 8, Halo 12, Myst: XLVII, Warcraft 17, and Grand Theft Auto: Nome.
Now there's nothing wrong with games that offer more of the same, it's the ill-advised improvements that make these games a mistake. All the new "features" of these games make the learning curve slower and the added complications squash the experience of playing games I already love just the way they are.
That being said, you can make improvements to a game and end up with better gameplay. WarCraft II offered a substantially improved user interface over the original that had a direct impact on gameplay. The same can be said with Starcraft, which expanded the gameplay and interface. However, there are signs in Starcraft of the genre starting to jump the shark. Who remembers or cares about the stupid voice acting intermissions and plot points that interrupt gameplay? To me, this is excess. Also, the expansion Brood Wars offers more units that essentially do the same things as the original units, and only serves to wildly over complicate the game.
Now I'm not so caught up on gameplay as I sound, I enjoy the rush of sharp graphics and music too, but to me, the best games offer new ways of playing and push the gaming experience. And for me, it seems like the pace of video game innovation has slowed. This effect is even more noticeable due to the increased volume of games today saturating the market.
In an effort to applaud and acknowledge the past and present of excellence in video gaming, I'm offering a monthly segment: The Green Mushroom Award is presented to those video games that have broken new ground in gaming possibilities or have elevated gameplay in a particular genre. Recipients are selected in no particular order, and indeed at my whim, and are announced on the first of each month. That there is a correspondence between winning games and the games I've played and personally enjoy may become increasingly obvious, though this emerging pattern should not lessen the validity and import of this esteemed award.
posted by flowbeus at 3:40 PM
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