zjluoren 2009/01/05 3:56:41
Is it time to curb our obsession on how our games look? Brilliant graphics may be fun, but other elements of the game are more important. Now, every gamer has at least one game that they remember ¡®wowing¡¯ them with its graphics. For me it was the first time I saw Half-Life 2 in action. Going back even further it¡¯d have to be the first time I played Gran Turismo 2. They looked stunning, and in many ways still do, but the question that must be asked is ¡°Are graphics really that important?¡± I mean, in the grand scheme of PC gaming do they actually matter? The case for is pretty convincing; we want it to look good when we¡¯re blowing away Combine¡¯s in Half-Life 2, we want it to look ¡®real¡¯ when we¡¯re unleashing war on our neighbours in Total War. One of the first things we¡¯ll say to our friends about the new game we¡¯ve bought is ¡°The graphics are amazing!¡± It¡¯s only natural. However, let¡¯s look at it another way; New games, especially First Person Shooters, should always be outstanding graphically. It should go without saying surely? With the technology available to developers these days there is no excuse for producing games that look anything other than fantastic. Sadly, what often happens is we get so caught up in how amazing it looks that we allow for it to cover up the games¡¯ shortcomings. Command and Conquer Generals looked great but compared to it¡¯s ageing older brothers it was pretty poor, Assassins Creed¡¯s visuals were absolutely stunning but it was let down in a huge way by it¡¯s formulaic and systematic gameplay. S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Age of Empires 3 the list goes on. Sure, they all looked the business but in terms of game play and overall enjoyability they were no where near the high standards we should expect. Well, in my opinion anyway. Contrast this with classics like the original Age of Empires, Command and Conquer Red Alert, Counterstrike, Grim Fandango, Monkey Island etc. All games that are a million miles away from the high end of the graphics table but it is their game-play that makes them brilliant. You don¡¯t care about the fact that all of your soldiers look the same, or that everything is just a tad ¡®too square¡¯, no, all that matters is where you are going to get your next load of Ore from because you need a few more tanks to take down those pesky Soviets. It could possibly be argued that when these games were released they did stun with their looks but I don¡¯t think that is true, especially of the Command and Conquer and Empires range. In any case that becomes moot when you consider that even amongst games with the looks of Crysis or Call of Duty 4 people still quote these games as amongst the best and they are still as popular as ever. Graphics are important, you can¡¯t deny that, but it¡¯s about time we start taking them for granted and remembering what games should be judged on. Its characters, its sense of style, its storyline, or simply how much damned fun it is! Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder.