"new" Games

Trev M

Hi All,

I downloaded a few demos recently, namely FIFA 10 and Forza 3....Im beginning to wonder are we being solds pups here?

I have Fifa 09 and Forza 2..... both of which I have had hours of enterainment from and can say to be fair they were worth the money I paid without a doubt.

However, on playing both demos for the "new" games I gotta say Im not really all that impressed by the next generation of these titles based on the demos..... looks like both games are slight tweaks with a couple of odd features thrown in to justify buying them....My issue is these bloody things aint cheap by any means and your essentially buying the same basic game with some tweakage.

Just a thought.
Trev

Shammy

ypu correct , but its pretty much the same with all series , they make money for the developer.What can we do , in reality not a lot .

Look at the big hula balu about mw2 , yes it will be a great game but not the impact mw cod 4 made , just with graw , and then graw 2 , pretty much the same game different maps slightly better graphics.

johnny_ultimate

This is a far more obvious issue with the likes of driving or sports games, especially yearly updates. At the end of the day, you can't profoundly alter the content of a realistic driving simulator or a very rigid rule-based game like football. Any changes they are going to make are going to be refinements rather than revolutions. Sometimes the technology comes along to give said genre a good kick up the ass, but there is only so much a developer can do with 'reality' as such. Yearly upgrades in particular have very little room for major improvements - fans are happy with small changes that improve the overall flow of the game, but there is likely to be a backlash at any hugely significant changes. A lot of people play these games because they are comfortable with it (it amazes me how much time a lot of my non-gamer friends/family invest in the latest Fifa) and are happy with the yearly small upgrade. Sure, they are getting basically the same game to the untrained eye, but I'd say fans would endlessly argue against this. Personally if I was interested in sports games (thank **** I'm not, I spend enough time playing games as it is) I'd skip a year before picking up an upgrade - two years of refinements would likely feel like better value for money.

With more narrative based games THEN you can provide a more feature packed sequel. An action game can instantly introduce a whole new story, locations, characters or modes (online, for example) which means a sequel will appear 'newer', while attempting to stay loyal to the general gameplay and feel of the prequel. Also, when you're working with fiction art designers and technology will have a far more obvious improvement from one installment to the next. Going back to Fifa, how much more impressive can you make grass look?

brian plank

they were particularly lazy with forza. the new features are pointless and theres hardly any difference in the graphics. http://kotaku.com/5374211/but-does-forza-3-look-different-from-forza-2/gallery/.

djkeogh

Yea I've never really seen the appeal in picking up the yearly re-iterations of these games. They're really is nothing different in them to warrant the expense. When we look at tiger woods for example. I got Tiger woods 05 on the original xbox and played it to death. Didn't see the point in getting 06 cause I was still enjoying 05. Next one I got was 09 and it really wasn't different enough in my book (how much do you expect it to change I guess) and i got very bored very quick.

Another sports game i got was fight night 4 which i felt was a great improvement over 3 and genuinely had enough graphical and gameplay improvements over the previous installment. This comes from the many years between the two games as well of course.

I picked up Fifa 10 the other day as I haven't played a football game in years so this feels great and fresh to me. Having not played 09 I can't say whether this version is leaps and bounds but I imagine not.

It is a licence to print money when you can get your die hard fans to fork out time and again for the games but as is said above the same happens all the time in gaming. Wait til Bioshock 2 and Mass Effect 2 for example. From what I've seen of these 2 games they look like they're going to be more of the same. I find this particularly unforgivable in an RPG game. Having loved Knight of the Old republic I picked up the sequel and while the story was still great the gameplay being near identical with the same graphics and alien sound bytes recycled it became very dull very quick.

zero19

brian plank wrote: »

they were particularly lazy with forza. the new features are pointless and theres hardly any difference in the graphics. http://kotaku.com/5374211/but-does-forza-3-look-different-from-forza-2/gallery/.

Actually i wouldn't call a drag and drift mode pointless features, and the graphics seem much better to me in car view and tire threads visable even the rear window heater lines are there, but this is just my opinion...

Shnitszer

I downloaded the Brutal Legend demo recently and it was fun. The gameplay was kinda of similar to Fable though, not that thats bad or anything. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hates Jack Black's voice though:D.

Still its a welcome change from all the multiplayer games I,ve been playing recently like COD4 or GTA IV. I'm really wanting a game with a good story but haven't found one yet. ODST was fun but abit too short plus Bungie didnt add matchmaking to firefight for some reason:mad:.

Jev/N

brian plank wrote: »

theres hardly any difference in the graphics. http://kotaku.com/5374211/but-does-forza-3-look-different-from-forza-2/gallery/.

I would disagree on that, the graphics have improved a good bit - noticeable on a 40" HDTV anyway

Trev M

Some good points made.

Is there not a case to be made for making the yearly iteration part of DLC ? Save on production and shipping all the logistics etc and provide the game update at a reasonable price?

With regard to the point about how limited developers are in expanding the gameplay of "realistic sims" I think there is scope to add more and is only limited by how committed teh developers are...I think developing the online aspect further would be a great start, some work has been done but its just scratching the surface as the online community is a huge pool of people to draw ideas from.

Allowing some continuity from the previous title that would port into the new expanded version would be good, for example keeping your forza 2 garage and it automatically porting into 3?

Different types of vehicles, and competitions are an easy option to expand the game significantly (Ala Dirt2 , although thats a pretty bad game IMO). The opprotunity to design a car from the ground up, I dont think it would be a huge leap to be able to design body work, chasis etc .... the building blocks are already there for mods so why not a design feature thats more dramatic?

In terms of FIFA 10 - yeah I accpet it might be a more difficult task, it actually has an abundance of features and I guess it is at a stage were its about refinement....so again back to my DLC idea. I cant imagine paying another 50 bills for FIFA 10 as much as I loved 09.

brian plank

zero19 wrote: »

Actually i wouldn't call a drag and drift mode pointless features

neither would i. the interiors are terrible imo and rewind is just sad. other than that its good.

tomred1

Shnitszer wrote: »

I downloaded the Brutal Legend demo recently and it was fun. The gameplay was kinda of similar to Fable though, not that thats bad or anything. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hates Jack Black's voice though:D.

Still its a welcome change from all the multiplayer games I,ve been playing recently like COD4 or GTA IV. I'm really wanting a game with a good story but haven't found one yet. ODST was fun but abit too short plus Bungie didnt add matchmaking to firefight for some reason:mad:.

Have you tried Fallout 3?

I

Shnitszer

tomred1 wrote: »

Have you tried Fallout 3?

I

Yeah I,ve got Fallout 3 its a good game especially when using VATS to see someones head pop off. I thought the missions were fun and all but the story was terrible.

At the end all you do is press a button and then a cutscene about you being called the lone wanderer and you with a dog. And then you die not able to play again after it.

I just don't understand why they would put a cutscene at the end after every other part of the story, like when you meet your da again, didn't have a cutscene. Its like they just tacked the ending on after everything.

djkeogh

you should spoiler that last post as your giving away the ending and plot details of a game some have not yet played

TheChrisD

Shnitszer wrote: »

Yeah I,ve got Fallout 3 its a good game especially when using VATS to see someones head pop off. I thought the missions were fun and all but the story was terrible.

At the end all you do is press a button and then a cutscene about you being called the lone wanderer and you with a dog. And then you die not able to play again after it.

I just don't understand why they would put a cutscene at the end after every other part of the story, like when you meet your da again, didn't have a cutscene. Its like they just tacked the ending on after everything.

Two words: Broken Steel.

Fingleberries

Shnitszer wrote: »

Yeah I,ve got Fallout 3 its a good game especially when using VATS to see someones head pop off. I thought the missions were fun and all but the story was terrible. At the end all you do is press a button and then a cutscene about you being called the lone wanderer and you with a dog. And then you die not able to play again after it.

I just don't understand why they would put a cutscene at the end after every other part of the story, like when you meet your da again, didn't have a cutscene. Its like they just tacked the ending on after everything.

That's a bit like the scene where Homer is coming out of the Cinema after watching Empire Strikes Back and talking out loud says "I can't believe Darth Vader is Lukes Father"

D'oh!

Royale with Cheese

I play Fifa so much that I don't mind paying for a yearly upgrade. Sure it was only €35 on the day of release for the past 2 versions so I can't complain.

Not sure they've improved the overall gameplay but for me anyway the online play so far is miles better than last year. Virtually lag free, and it tells you before you start playing an opponent if the game is going to lag. In 09 I never played one game online that was as fluid as when playing the computer. This year 90% of the games I've played you'd never notice you were actually playing over a network. Well worth the €35 for that alone.

docentore

And have a look at new Wolfenstein. You're still killing bloody germans