Are Games Better Now Than They Used To Be

PC GamingEnthusiast's Matt Marinett explores if it can be said that games have been progressing or are stuck at a standstill.

[ps4gamer1983]

Hell no

Too easy
Too casual
Games are shorter
On disc dlc

[Fireseed]

Those statements are almost as vague as they are blind.

[LaWiiG]

Particularly if one didn't even read the article .-.

[crxss]

overall yes games are better. sure there are amazing older games but the technological advancement alone in newer games make them more entertaining. example I prefer 3D games over 2D ones. i think once that shift happened games only got better. just my opinion though.

also online multiplayer. sure having a LAN party or a good ol' split screen party is better but that's so much harder to organize nowadays.

[UKmilitia]

back when gaming used to be a luxury i enjoyed it.

these days its ruined by spoilt kids and greedy companies.

My biggest hate in gaming is DLC follwed by games broken on release.
back in day it had to be right and 99% of time was released perfect.

[Fez]

I'm kind of torn on this. In general I'd say there are more quality games nowadays and less poor ones - most pre-2000 games released now, leaving aside graphics, would be critically panned. But I'm playing Tomb Raider III just now and for all it's faults, bugs and graphical drawbacks, I much prefer it to the TR collection games and think it's on par with the latest Tomb Raider reboot.
The difficulty of the puzzles and platforming make it more compelling than a straight up action game.

But I think this is an exception and more due to the unique game design that isn't seen anymore. The pacing is so different to any game nowadays.

I would agree games are too easy nowadays, DLC/microtransactions are atrocious and the loss of splitscreen from modern gaming is a travesty but in general better games can be made due to the advancement of technology and the industry entering the mainstream.

[Snookies12]

Can any game these days ever hope to touch Chrono Trigger, Super Metroid, or Super Mario World? The answer is no, but I sure as hell hope one day something will.

[Godmars290]

have to admit, Fallout 4 comes close.

But then it required patching.

[Dasteru]

Code red, we got another time traveler here people. Someone call the temporal integrity commission.

[Shineon]

Dasteru this is the Temporal Integrity Comission and we've been watching the subject since Atari. He previously time traveled for Sony back in 98 retrieving DVD technology which throttled the Sega Corporation bringing an end to the Dreamcast.We still haven't caught him yet but any leads will help. Remember your country loves you

[LaWiiG]

XD

[Godmars290]

I think you guys are replying to the wrong comment.

And how didn't Fallout 4 require patching when it first came out? How weren't it and New Vegas so buggy that it inspired a mod community?

[Godmars290]

Meh, brain-fart aside, given current industry trends and habits, the example of New Vegas being buggier that Fallout 3, if there is ever a Fallout 4 the question will be how buggy it is.

[gangsta_red]

Wow, I thought Godmars really knew something the rest of us didn't!!

[gangsta_red]

I think a lot of that has to do with nostalgia too. Seeing that huge leap in graphics and sound from NES to SNES or Master System to Genesis was just insane at the time, especially if you're a kid at that time like I was.

I consider those games you mentioned to be some of the best games ever.

But we have had some excellent games that in my opinion touched or equaled those classics. Batman: AC, Bioshock 1, Gears of War, God of War, Mass Effect 1-3, Dark Souls 1 are just some of my favorites that I love and consider classics along side Super Metroid, etc, etc.

But Super Mario World, Chrono Trigger and especially Super Metroid will always hold a special place in my heart.

[Relientk77]

No games used to be released 100% complete and working, and no patches or DLC

[caseh]

DLC has always been about, for PC games anyway. Difference back then though was it was classed as an "Expansion Pack" and normally weighed in when people were losing interest rather than it being announced 6 months before the game itself had even launched.

I looked up BF:Hardline on PSN last night out of curiosity, the elite edition or whatever it was is £105... ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE QUID! It's gone beyond a joke.

[donwel]

How the hell does a downloadable elite version work anyway? I mean, it's not as if you're getting physical extras thrown into a fancy box and 105 notes is just ridiculous for digital content in the first place.
Remember when they said putting games into an online store would remove the costs related to buying space in brick and mortar stores and the actual printing of discs and packaging?
Yet more promises we were made. And they wonder why people still prefer to buy physical.

[HighResHero]

They are only better now in terms of graphics. Games like Bloodborne give me hope though.

[Agent_hitman]

Nah, the gaming industry has been plagued by too many FPS these days :p That's the problem.

[KTF26]

It depends on the game and the player

Not all old games are complete and not all new games are broken

[AudioEppa]

Only speaking on the kind of games that I like to play, yes, but the problem is there's not a lot of them, but this generation is still early.

The only probably now is trying to weed through the shit I don't like, to find what I do like.

Hopefully at E3 Sony shows off more games like second son & the order as AAA games go.

[zsquaresoff]

They're more gamer friendly. I enjoy games now a lot more than I use to previously.

I buy more games now than I use to in the past as well.

The only thing that I don't like is Dlc's and micro transaction in 60$ games.

If I paid full price for the game, I should get the full game and not bits and pieces of it.

[Masterchief_thegoat]

technology wise, games got much better. the only thing I miss, is local coop

[Manubiggs]

In the Ps1 dys I would drive over to my buddies place with my ps1 and TV to play Doom and Ridge Racer :)

[StrayaKNT]

I have never played a platforming game as good as ori, a fighting game as good as killer instinct (just bought mk but everyone online just spams long distance moves which kill the fun in it) and a racing game as good as forza horizon 2 so yes games are so much better Imo.

[Spotie]

Doesn't sound like you've played many games, then.

[StrayaKNT]

Played more than you that's for sure :)

[Spotie]

I wonder how you came to that conclusion?

I also wonder how your impression on games indicates this to be the case at all.

Well, I don't REALLY wonder.

[ginsunuva]

Ori looked and sounded really good, and I loved it, but if you stripped away the aesthetic, it would actually be a mediocre-to-decent platforming game in terms of level design. (The movesets were very well done though).

Unless their goal was to extend the game length by 10 hours due to deaths.

[StrayaKNT]

Well it's easily the best game I have played this year I don't know how you don't like the level design it is amazing

[Manubiggs]

Games have come a long way, and I think there is somethign for every type of gamer from Indie to AAA, from platformer to FPS and Souls games.. So yes, I think games are better today as a whole.

[rawrock]

Yes of course. Game snow are much better than the Atari 2600 or NES days. Next...

[KryptoniteTail]

Obviously it's not true. Each generation has its offerings and some from the past still reign. Good luck find RPGs like Parasite Eve, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and Secret of Mana today. Keep your open world action FFXV, give me FFX any day.

Same for Fighting games; Soulcalibur and Smash Bros are worse today than before.

Of course, it goes both ways. FPS are vastly superior today, Killzone Mercenary blows even classics like 007 away just because how far we have come in that genre.

TL;DR: Yes and no, it is subjective anyway.

[The-Marb]

Yes, absolutely.

Bigger franchises are less imaginative but the technology has allowed more immersive storytelling and wide ranging genres than ever before.

On disc DLC is nothing to do with the quality of the game, that's money grabbing marketing, not the game itself.

[46889337]

Considering the first videogame consisted of nothing but two rectangles and a circle compared to what came out afterwards, I'd say games are better now than what they used to be...

Must be a slow news week.

[PoSTedUP]

nope. maybe for some few franchises technology = progress like GTA and Killzone etc. but back in the day the majority of games use to be fun, unique, long... special etc. nowadays they are short, pretty, rehashed, milked, and there arent many games in general; and just a few gems here and there but compare that to when like every other game use to be fun and awesome, and when there was a lot of them...

indies have some of the best games so far this gen.

[Spotie]

In some ways, yes. Technology has allowed for deeper stories and more immersive worlds than ever before. But the same complications required for these things have brought forth their own shortcomings. I'm not one of those that sees the past through rose-colored glasses, but I think we've as many or more problems now as then.

[tweet75]

no they are not. The charm is gone. There was nothing like growing up in the 80s and discovering, super mario brothers, the legend of zelda, metroid, final fantasy , dragon warrior all in a 5 year period when they were all new.