Games that have aged well

Retr0gamer · 28-08-2014 10:25pm

I played the first Crash Bandicoot recently. It's really not that great at all. There's some really awful level design, particularly the bridge levels. Crash 3 is pretty great though.

Not G.R · 28-08-2014 10:43pm

Metroid Prime 1&2 still look outstanding despite being ~10 years old

Fate Amenable To Change · 29-08-2014 12:18am

I think anyone nowadays could pick up these games and not complain too much about graphics/controls etc.
Lord of the rings, the two towers;
Devil May Cry;
Star Ocean, till the end of time;
FFX (IMO actually was actually the pinnacle of the turn based battle system)
The original Wind Waker;
Mario Sunshine;
Timesplitters;
Theme Hospital;
I'm going to include the Elder Scrolls even though its relatively recent as it was well ahead of its time and there are very few games even now that surpass it (if any do).

Many games have not aged well due to their ideas being copied, adapted and improved upon even though they were groundbreaking at the time.

Magill · 29-08-2014 12:22am

Pretty much just a list stacked of minty games really ! I haven't played them in years but I'd imagine all the 2D Mario and Zelda games still look great (1 - World). Even Nintendo's early 3D games have aged incredibly well in comparison to others. Mario 64 and OoT are still great imo.

Retr0gamer · 29-08-2014 12:25am

Lord of the rings is fairly pants. Star Ocean til the end of time had a dumb story that completely destroyed the series mythos up to that point. Time splitters is more a product of its time, there's far better FPS games now.

As for FFX I've no problems with that except Grandia and Persona 3/4 are the pinnacle of turn based combat

Pac1Man · 29-08-2014 12:28am

mrty wrote: »

Battlefield 1942, graphics aged a small bit however it's still leaps and bounds ahead of most titles to date in game play.:D

Does that game still have a following online?

Fate Amenable To Change · 29-08-2014 12:34am

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Lord of the rings is fairly pants. Star Ocean til the end of time had a dumb story that completely destroyed the series mythos up to that point. Time splitters is more a product of its time, there's far better FPS games now.

As for FFX I've no problems with that except Grandia and Persona 3/4 are the pinnacle of turn based combat

Most people I know who played Lord of The Rings thought it was great.

As for Star Ocean, yeah the story was off the wall but the battles were pretty good, some of the characters were pretty cool and the crafting system was unreal. GOing from baking to making lazer weapons was great fun.

Time Splitters was probably the best fun in multiplayer fps deatmatch I ever played and was just incredibly fun/zany from weapons to charcters. I think the developers who were had fun making games that left from Rare were probably the ones who made it. I'm hoping Splatoon surpasses it though.

Each to their own I guess.

Right Turn Clyde · 29-08-2014 12:35am

A perfectly timed through-ball is a sight to behold, and nowhere more so than in Pro Evolution Soccer 5. I still play it regularly. The beautiful game, made beautiful. It's from the gods.

delly · 29-08-2014 12:59am

For a game to age well, I think it has to have the ability to be fired up now and you could really enjoy playing it. Graphics and gameplay are an obvious boundary to this, as while you may think a game was great way back when, playing it now might not be the case. An example of this for me would be 'Medal of Honor: Allied Assault'. I have great memories of the game, it was such an atmospheric FPS, yet I fired it up a year or two ago and didn't play too long as it had been surpassed so much.

One type of game that takes a kinder view over type is the strategy genre, yet they too can still suffer. I spent many a long night playing Civilization and Railroad Tycoon, so would like to think that I could play and enjoy them again, but I could also have my memories shattered by doing so. I think it would be best to leave them as the great classics they are.

I will nominate one game however, as I have played it in the last year and enjoyed doing so, and that is SimCity 3000. It is part of a collective, so the theory behind the game existed prior to SC 3000, but I think it set a high standard in graphics and gameplay. 15 years later and a few hours on it can still be enjoyed.

J_E · 29-08-2014 1:52am

Super Metroid - level design, soundtrack and graphics still fresh and iconic. If it were released as an indie game today it would be top tier, award winning.

Adamantium · 29-08-2014 2:14am

richymcdermott wrote: »

I am surprised by the outcry and love for the crash bandicoot series , I remember liking 2 and 3 but they were hardly amazing games. very linear and never variation in level design.

I never liked Crash 1-3 as a kid despite trying, but CTR is probably my favourite racer of all time. That god tier boost and powerslide mechanic was and is perfection. Better than any Mario Kart, you needed to be skilled at racing in CTR. Looks shallow, but is deep as the ocean. The punchy sound effects and weapons are glorious, jumping power boots ramps and getting hangtime for what feels like forever and then slamming back down on the track for even more boost. So satisfying.

krudler · 29-08-2014 2:49am

Cydoniac wrote: »

Super Metroid - level design, soundtrack and graphics still fresh and iconic. If it were released as an indie game today it would be top tier, award winning.

It's a miracle of 16bit gaming tbh. It has more atmosphere in it's opening scenes than some modern games would dream of. The music is phenomenal too.

J_E · 29-08-2014 2:55am

gizmo wrote: »

I'd be interested to hear your take on how Donkey Kong Country hasn't aged well, Retr0gamer. I absolutely loved it as a kid and again when I went back to it a good few years later. I'm rather worried now.

I don't think the original has aged so well... it just feels slightly less refined musically and graphically, even though the sprite animations were phenomenal at the time. However the 2nd one is a pure masterpiece, 3rd one decent too.

Tefral · 29-08-2014 2:56am

Age of Empires 2 age of kings for me! I still play it with mates with hours long LAN games!

krudler · 29-08-2014 5:50am

Gunstar Heros, it's the MegaDrive's crowning glory as far as I'm concerned.

Bubble Bobble, the theme tune will be in your head for days, its still a great addictive little game to get stuck into.

Looks wise for me 3D games always age worse than 2D, a load of ps1 games look like absolute arse now but something like Super Metroid still looks like it always did. Street Fighter 2 still looks as good as it did back in 1991, Tekken 1? yeesh.

Seamus1964 · 29-08-2014 7:06am

krudler wrote: »

Bubble Bobble, the theme tune will be in your head for days

Damn you...I just got "Do You Like To Build A Snowman" out from my head..

Barely There · 29-08-2014 7:42am

I came very late to the party with Portal 2, but am playing it at the moment and really enjoying.

Retr0gamer · 29-08-2014 9:02am

Adamantium wrote: »

I never liked Crash 1-3 as a kid despite trying, but CTR is probably my favourite racer of all time. That god tier boost and powerslide mechanic was and is perfection. Better than any Mario Kart, you needed to be skilled at racing in CTR. Looks shallow, but is deep as the ocean. The punchy sound effects and weapons are glorious, jumping power boots ramps and getting hangtime for what feels like forever and then slamming back down on the track for even more boost. So satisfying.

I don't get the deal with CTR. It was seen at the time as a step behind Mario Kart on release. The physics feel really off, there doesn't feel like there's a connection with the ground and it's very floaty, there are a few too many bad tracks and the framerate is very poor for a racer meaning controller response is off. It's around the same level as MK64, which wasn't a great game, but any other Mario kart is far better. I'd still argue MK64 was way better. It was a decent kart racer for the PS1 to make up for the absence of Mario Kart but nothing more. It pretty much stole the Diddy Kong racing template as well, that there was a far better game than CTR.

Josey Wales · 29-08-2014 10:27am

The games that still hold up for me include:

Street Fighter II - The game is still just as fun now as it was then. I'm not big into fighting games so I really know all the subtle nuances that goes into making them. So for me this game is just the same as any fighting game released today.

Streets of Rage 2 - An amazing game back when it was released and it is still great fun to play.

Super Mario World - My favourite game of all time and I still turn it on every now and then. I'm looking forward to introducing my son to it when he is old enough.

Gunstar Heroes - I played though this a few years back on XBLA and it holds up.

WipeOut Fusion - I know it gets a lot of hate from some WipeOut fans but I always loved this game. It doesn't look as pretty as WipeOut HD (but what game does?) but it is still fun to play.

seanbarrow · 29-08-2014 10:37am

Munch's Oddessey for xbox is still a good game. Anyone ever play it?

Daith · 29-08-2014 11:52am

Replayed Metroid Prime 1 there. Still holds up. As does Secret of Mana and Baldur's Gate 2.

corsav6 · 29-08-2014 11:55am

Not sure if these have been mentioned but Half Life and Dungeon Keeper 2. Best thing is they run on my really old laptop.

BeerWolf · 29-08-2014 1:48pm

Reckon, generally, it'd be old 3D games that didn't age well... while 2D Sprited [16-bit games] games still look good.

Burning Eclipse · 29-08-2014 1:55pm

I first played System Shock 2 more than 10 years after it first came out and I think it aged incredibly well. Played better that most of the games I've played in the last 5 years.

Davei141 · 29-08-2014 2:59pm

Commandos series 1-3
Desperadoes
Medieval Total War
Super Mario World
Donkey Kong Country
Super Probotector Alien Rebels (Contra III)

Most PC strategy and Snes/Megadrive games really.

Myrddin · 29-08-2014 5:19pm

A Link to the Past is utterly timeless, still looks gorgeous, sounds gorgeous, & plays so so well.

Mr.Saturn · 29-08-2014 5:35pm

krudler wrote: »

DKC2 is great alright, I wasn't a fan of the 3rd game though. Thought the graphics were worse than previous two as well for some reason.

Could be the fact it was released to little fanfare where it was competing with the original Playstation and the N64, might have marred its memory. I feel it's an underrated entry into the series and possesses a lot of polish, though it somewhat sullied by RARE's burgeoning interest in collect-a-thon elements.

Donkey Kong Country Returns still kills'em all, mind.

Cydoniac wrote: »

Super Metroid - level design, soundtrack and graphics still fresh and iconic. If it were released as an indie game today it would be top tier, award winning.

-Insert snarky comment about Cave Story here-

BloodBath · 29-08-2014 7:15pm

Mario Brothers 3 is the only 8 bit game I can think of that has aged well. Head and shoulders above any others.

Sunset Riders (Arcade)
Street Fighter 2 (Arcade)

Super Mario World
Donkey Kong Country
A link to the past

Basically the majority of Nintendo's main franchises from the second or third game upwards.

Retr0gamer · 29-08-2014 10:02pm

There's a tonne of great 8 bit games that are timeless. Stuff like mega man 2, bionic commando, castlevania 3, he'll most of capcom, sun soft and konami a NES output. That's not even going outside of the NES.

krudler · 30-08-2014 12:31am

Resident Evil REmake on the Gamecube, dem graphics...

Games that have aged well

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