When I was a kid gaming was nothing like today-you had to wait for a game worth buying to come out. There were only a handful of major labels and once in a while you found a nice small development sleeper hit. It wasnt like today where there is a plethora of developers and choices and a new game comes out every week...whether you have heard of it or not.
So I'm a kid I get bored easily and the next installment of double dragon wont be out for a while...so...make the game hard. Make it so that I have to soak days worth of time hell weeks even. Make it so that I have no choice but to play unfair levels and ridiculously tough enemies in late stages. Bullshit timers that run out way too early. One life and no continues? yeah I suffered that shit. By time you beat it you felt satisfied and wanted to tear a hole into the next game...you would still have to wait but you remember that challenge and you counted the days-you checked up in Nintendo Power as to when you might expect the new game you wanted. You were gonna make the next game pay-oh yeah.
Nowadays? Pfh who cares? Add some multiplayer and we're done. Let them play against hackers and people who memorized the gameplay. So let me get this straight...You as a developer are supposed to provide fun and challenge to your gamer yes? Yes. Ok and you do this by allowing me to duck behind cover and wait for my health to replenish in a game that focuses on and sells the "realistic combat feel"? Yeah ok. So your fun and challenge doesnt really come from the game itself but rather the PLAYERS you play against or with? Hmmm doesnt sound like any real care went into level design and balance.
Now when I say level design I dont mean "It looks realistic with the trucks by the house" and bla bla bla. No I mean like designing the level in such a way to either trick the player into a trap or making them solve a problem either with force or smarts you know something like that...it allowed us to play in a way that was unique to oneself. Nowadays you just kinda wander the map looking for a guy to shoot-boring. Major snooze. In the unlikely event that I do get hit it is nearly impossible to die in Single player these days. Just duck and wait.
We don't have to go back very far where the standard was health pick ups. And you couldnt grab that health when you were at 100% to save for later. No you had to leave that crap there and hope to be able to get back to it should you need it. A lot of times I would survive a bad ass fight and on my way to the health previously in the level I would be fragged. This was aggravating but part of the game. I had the PATIENCE to play the game as designed.
I say patience because a lot of us arent. So to regenerate health just sit there...you are now a bad ass gamer with great tactical mindset.
And before I forget about balance and design...typically in these shooters you take five maybe six bullets and within a seven second window and you die. Ok so the 9mm handgun is noticeably weaker than the shotgun...Part of what a game is supposed to do is frustrate and scare you. Where is the health bar? When I was younger and you saw a bad ass enemy for the first time you would gasp in horror as you saw your health bar drop by 80% in one hit. Hell sometimes you took the hit just because you were curious. And when that health was gone it was gone baby. Nowadays-no health bar no way to really gauge how much fight you have left...just lay somewhere quiet until your sight straightens out.
My original point is that these games are designed like cotton candy. It's sweet goes down easy and there is always more of it. Franchises launch titles sometimes twice a year you can't tell me that isnt catering to people's impatience. There is also fear. There is so much competition out there that if you take too long to put out a game the fans may find a new favorite and your sequel will meet bitter middle fingers. Back then it wasnt so. There was competition yes but not like today where literally dozens of major labels are slugging it out.
Because of this we are left with milktoast games that most of us veterans can clobber with one hand. I know some people that will not play a hard game since they have become too spoiled. They dont see the challenge as a reward. They'd rather play some easy crap and feel that they are a bad ass gamer. Developers also cater to this mindset as well. Back then games were fun and if you played them you werent judged on your skill but rather HOW you played them. The wannabe badasses who stomp easy games? back in my day you'd be reserved to Sesame St on NES...in my opinion you're doing that anyway with these hold your hand easy to beat games so...say hey to Oscar on the way to pick up your uh "Plasma Rifle".
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