Feature: Surviving the Test of Time

It happens to everyone. You’re back at your parents’ for a weekend and need something to do. So naturally, you go through your old game collection and find something you haven’t played in years. You boot up your weapon of choice and – to your dismay – your beloved classic from the past is terrible. Was it your childhood sensibilities that betrayed you? Or are some great games simply marked with an expiration date? What separates these games you can’t bear to play again from ones you enjoy just as much the second, third, or fourth revisit?

This game is kind of boring…

This past weekend, the game I went back to was Duke Nukem 3D. I wouldn’t consider it a beloved childhood memory given that I was always somewhat apathetical about FPS games, but it still was a game that I enjoyed in the mid-nineties. On replay it actually was relatively enjoyable, just not good enough to want to play more than a couple of levels. What turned me off from the game?

It actually wasn’t the sprite-based pseudo-3D graphics, because I had mentally prepared myself for those. I actually liked that they didn’t really bother with a story, unlike modern developers who will push one on you even when they’re terrible at storytelling. I also enjoyed the extremely fast pace that was a linchpin of so many early FPS games. However, when you got down to it the game just felt so repetitive.

It was the same couple of enemies over, and over, and over again. My strategy was to shoot and hide, then repeat to infinity. The puzzles were just ones where you press buttons in a random combination. So the novelty of the fast pace and no story quickly wore out, and I was bored again. I think repetition can be a common deterrent from old games. They were simpler times, and we had a higher tolerance for repetition. But that’s not the only thing that can make old games difficult to enjoy once again.

Artistic Expression

Some people refuse to watch black and white films simply because they’re black and white. It’s a misguided principle, but I’ve always wondered if it originates from a bad experience with a poorly shot black and white movie. One of those movies where everything is soaked in soft fill light, and it’s just very bland. If their first b&w film had been The Third Man, maybe things would be different. The key is that while the soft fill light is generally more realistic, the strong exaggerations of The Third Man hold up far better in the long run.

I think this concept also carries over to games. It doesn’t matter if it’s VGA era or PS2 era; a unique and exaggerated art style will always age more gracefully than a realistic one. The Zelda series provides a perfect example. Many consider Ocarina of Time to be the greatest Zelda, though I believe that A Link to the Past is superior. Regardless of which side of the eternal flame war you fall on, one thing for certain is that ALttP has an art style that’s still captivating today. Ocarina, on the other hand, is difficult to look at as a result of the more realistic art style. So it’s not necessarily true that simply because a game is older it can’t be more visually arresting.

I’d take this a step further and assert that 2D games visually age better than 3D ones. Part of this is coincidental; it’s simply the case that 3D games more often go for a realistic style in comparison to 2D ones. But the other big reason may be that the technology behind sprite rendering really hasn’t changed very much during the past 20 years. Sure, some modern 2D games employ post-process effects using pixel shaders, but the core technology behind animating sprites is essentially the same as it was in the SNES era.

3D, on the other hand, has yet to hit its ceiling. With every new generation of graphics cards, developers are able to increase the complexity of their models. It’s very common today to have main characters be drawn with upwards of 10,000 polygons; 15 years ago that was unheard of for an entire scene. So it’s no surprise when you fire up a game like the original Tomb Raider, your eyes will have none of it.

But on the other hand, most 2D games with graphical technology inferior to the NES are extremely difficult to look at. That basically eliminates all the Atari 2006 games I enjoyed as a very young child. I’ve tried to go back to Atari games once or twice over the years, but it’s essentially impossible for me to play any of them more than a few minutes. Even my favorites such as Pitfall suffer from this problem. Maybe that’s superficial, but that’s just the way it is for me.

Trailblazers Forgotten

The other thing I’ve noticed is that the closer a classic title is to the origin of a genre, the more difficult it becomes to play in retrospect. Take a look at real-time strategy games. While the first RTS game wasn’t Westwood’s Dune II, it is generally cited as the first game to really establish the direction of the modern genre. In my case, I was first exposed to the genre with the original Warcraft. At the time, I remember playing a few levels of the game at a PC store and being fascinated by it.

However, today those early RTS games are very difficult to go back to because our base expectations are much higher. Back then we were happy enough to have two different factions, even though they were basically the same. The fact that there were no rally points or other interface niceties didn’t matter because they had yet to be invented. But playing with these interfaces many years after the fact is now frustrating. In a sense, we’ve been spoiled by the improvements within the genre over time.

Replacement Theory

Especially with multiplayer-focused games, it’s very common for a sequel to completely and irrevocably replace a previous game. For example, when Diablo II was released, it essentially replaced the original Diablo. Every gameplay aspect of the original was improved upon, to the extent that the original Diablo became somewhat pointless to play. So today, if you wanted to play an action RPG for old-time’s sake, you probably are going to jump to Diablo II instead of the original. In the cases where there’s a large gap between releases (as there will be between the 2nd and 3rd Diablo games), I don’t know if this necessarily applies.

Another exception to this rule is the case where there is a large backlash against a sequel. Often, this is directly correlated to series where the original creators moved on, as is the case with Masters of Orion 3 and Star Control 3. However, there are other instances where the same developer decides to make a large gameplay change that some protest against (see Civilization V or Dragon Age II for some recent examples). This is something that obviously is evaluated on an individual basis. Some people loved Fallout 3, for instance, but I couldn’t stomach the game compared to the earlier ones.

But in spite of these exceptions, this does seem to be a common problem with multiplayer games. Just like there really isn’t a good reason to use Windows 98 today, I would struggle to find a reason to play Diablo in lieu of the sequel.

Nostalgia Conquers All

A lot of factors will determine how much an old game can be appreciated. I’ve covered some of them, but there certainly are many other considerations. Ultimately, however, I think the biggest component is going to be the personal connection you have with the game. If it’s a game that evokes strong memories of the past, you are going to enjoy it more than a game you barely remember playing. This is also why embracing an old game you never played in the first place can be difficult.

My suggestion for the next time you replay an old game is to attempt to return to the mindset you had the first time you played it. This can allow you to better reflect on why the game was such a draw in the first place. Sometimes the charm is still there, and you enjoy yourself. Other times, you’re disappointed when you realize how much your sensibilities have changed in the interim. But either way, it can be an interesting diversion when your gaming options are otherwise limited, and something I recommend to do from time to time.

Feature articles appear every Wednesday on Game Canary.

Categories: Features

Tags: Nostalgia

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