Is it just me that looks at the lists of upcoming “big” games, and the reviews for recent “big” games, and for the most part am completely unimpressed? Not with the scores, more that I can’t summon up the interest in the games themselves. I’m pretty sure this is happening more and more, as new popular game series spring up to literally no interest from me. Certainly, there are a few titles that I’m excited by, but I’m sure there used to be a lot more. I subscribed to Gamesmaster magazine for a year or so (when Official Nintendo Magazine closed my sub moved over) but month after month there were games that I’d look at dead-eyed and simply ignore.
Have I just stopped enjoying the sort of game that appeals to mainstream gamers these days? Did I used to be a mainstream gamer myself? I decided to take a look.
To begin with, lets have a look at a recent UK top ten games sales chart.
Now, which of these games am I actually interested in? Lego Marvel Avengers is one. GTA V is sort of another, but it’s been out so long now and I never bothered picking it up (mainly because it hasn’t been cheap enough) so I’m not sure about it any more. As for the rest, no interest at all.
I’ve played a bit of Uncharted 1 and 2, and they felt like disappointing Tomb Raider games in the mould of the worst Tomb Raider of recent times (Underworld) so I’m not interested in Uncharted 4. Soldier games are on my list of Nope, so The Division, Call of Duty and Homefront are out. I’ve fallen out with most first person shooters (I prefer thinking ones like Bioshock and Dishonoured) so Doom is off the list. I admit I don’t really know what Valkyria Chronicles is like so that may interest me, Fire Emblem would normally be an instant purchase but the three versions muddies the decision (and I’ve not finished the last one yet) and of course FIFA is FIFA so no.
What I like about games doesn’t tie in with current popular opinion, it would seem. But did it used to? Here’s a chart from 2006:
Straight away there are two on the list that are definitely my sort of thing: Animal Crossing and Half-Life 2: Episode One. I’ve played and enjoyed both. Tomb Raider: Legend was a game I liked too, but I only bought it because I saw it cheap two years later and it wasn’t something I had been looking forward to.
Sensible Soccer I’d been excited about but was disappointed that it wasn’t like the originals. None of the other games, not even Nintendogs, spoke to me. There’s a lot of football games in that list, I notice. Was 2006 a World Cup year or something?
Going back a bit further, I found this chart from 2002:
There’s just one game on this list that appeals – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3. I bought it at launch with my Gamecube, such was my love for the previous two THPS games, and I played it to death – probably more than any other Gamecube game, actually. None of the others interested me then, nor now.
Grand Theft Auto 3 is an odd one. I was a fan of the first four games (yes, there were four games before GTA 3) but the move into 3D broke it for me. I played a demo, and borrowed the full game, but it never clicked. Empty streets. No bikes. There was fun to be had with tank-spawning cheats, but it wasn’t until Vice City (bikes, innit) that I was hooked on the series.
So what have I learned?
I’m not sure I’ve ever been aligned with popular opinion. There have been times when the gap may have narrowed, but popular games are usually of the Shootmans and Football genres and they don’t appeal to me anyway. That said, there are games not listed above that have been incredibly popular that I have been excited about: the Batman Arkham games, Fallout 3/New Vegas/4, Skyrim, Assassin’s Creed (although I’m playing through Unity at the moment and I’m considering my plan to do Syndicate afterwards very carefully – the series is less interesting to me these days)… and Nintendo stuff.
Yes, Nintendo games, especially for the Wii U, haven’t been selling in GTA/CoD numbers but they are very popular. Look at Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario Maker – they’ve sold loads (despite being on a sadly dead-at-retail system) and I really like them! Splatoon, Super Mario 3D World, and so on are all my sort of thing.
Maybe that’s the thing. What I like and what I don’t like hasn’t really changed, it’s just the things I like are perhaps a little less front-and-centre than they used to be.