There seems to be a trend to not like AAA games for one reason or another on this board. I understand that not everyone will like everything, but I dont understand the hipster thing to dislike a game (or genre) because its popular. Also, many of you give me the impression that you are hoping that the AAA industry will somehow crumble so all that are left are indie games. I cant speak for anyone else, but I didn’t get inspired to get into games because of small indie games. The big games inspired me, indie games just let me know that I’m not the only one who were inspired by the major titles, lol
I can see why a person would choose to learn how to make a game if that person feels that many games out there are not delivering the experience that he or she wants to experience. However, many times, its just a lil iteration on an existing game (its gonna be like mario kart, but in the sky!! or super mario but harder! halo with more gunz!!!) without the polish or thought that went behinds a lot of the game design decisions.
With that said, why do some of you seem to hate on AAA games, or the people who like the popular AAA games like Call of Duty or Halo? Surely, even the most jaded gamer can see some sort of redeeming quality in AAA games. I mean, they cant be completely, bad, uninspired, and that repetitive, right? Sure, some indie games are a lil different, but the most i see try to be old games with primitive graphics! How is that any different than the criticism AAA games get?
So, tell me, what are some of the good things about the big blockbuster games? What things do they do right?
I’ll start with what I like:
-Long campaigns (some people can burn thru most games in a few hours, but i cant and wont. I also like to do all the things within a campaign, like side quests and bonus missions)
-nicer graphics and art, and art direction
general overall polish (yes, all games have bugs, a side effect on large games being made in a short time)
-music and sound
-complex game controls and mechanics
-stories and cut scenes
thats a fair point. There are a lot of sequels out there. On one hand, its a safe bet for people who control the purse strings. They feel that if they will spend millions of dollars on a product, they want a sure fire bet that they will get that money back and then some. Also, if many people liked it once, they will like it at least one more time…and many times that seems to be correct.
On the other hand, it would be nice to see a new ip or a new genre get the same effort some games get. The bottom line is that money talks. If the 123rd call of duty comes out and sells like gang busters, dont be mad when the 124th call of duty comes out. You can only be mad at “the world” for liking the same thing over and over. I guess people feel “if it aint broke, dont fix it.” Eventually, people will get tired of it, and soon a new popular game will emerge. its a endless cycle.
I can only speak for myself. I don’t hate AAA games. I do love a lot of them for the same reasons you’ve stated.
Better graphics, longer campaigns, complex stories, overall polish etc.
I playing Rage right now, and I keep saying myself while playing, that would be impossible without a big budget and a small army of experienced professionals.
But there are also problems coming with some AAA titles.
There is a overall lack of risk taking propensity, which leads us to the overuse of some franchises with always the same boring and repetitive gameplay. And some publishers like EA treat their customers like dumb money cows (see SimCity…)
I don’t understand why fans still buy it, when on CODs videos they are commenting that it looks like an expansion and they aren’t buying it and blah blah blah then on their same channel they’re playing it. I finished buying COD years ago, but why do they say it sucks if they go right back out and buy it? They’re the ones creating this same game, because they’re giving them money.
since this is a message board and everything is text, i cant tell if there is resentment there…as if you are saying that “Joe Walmart” aka the avg public is stupid, and will spend money on everything, therefore the AAA studios will simply take advantage of said idiot. Also that “Joe Walmart” is too dumb to appreciate how awesome “indie” games are. If this isn’t what you mean, then I apologize for misunderstanding you. If it is what you mean, then cool, your opinion.
The last CoD I bought was CoD 1. That was enough for me.
To answer the original question, not all AAA games are bad. They are all made purely to make money, but the veil of a good game is a bit more transparent on some than on others. For example, the aforementioned CoD games don’t change, yet people still buy them. They have updated graphics, but that’s about it. The AAA games that are usually the best are the ones that the developers actually spend good time on (other than Duke Nukem Forever). Most Valve games are great. Multiple games in the Assassin’s Creed series are good. These games are immersive and actually are fun and different, be it the story or the gameplay mechanics. What I’ve noticed is that it’s generally the multiplayer-centric AAA games that people hate and the ones that are centered around a single player experience that people like. To be fair, most people don’t like change, and a major change in a multiplayer environment will get a lot of people upset. Innovation for a single player is good because the player is not trying to compete with others and is willing to learn and accept a large change.
Having excellent gameplay is always a must, but for myself, the best thing AAA has going for it is typically stories. They have the budget to hire some of the best thinkers out there. Unfortunately, the stories don’t always translate well because of crap writing. A game can have a great concept and overall a really grand story, but for me…if the writing is crap, then it spoils the whole thing. At least pay someone who took English Comp 101.
There are some good stories, Neverwinter Nights had an ok story, old Wasteland type games from the early 1990’s, Oblivion, some older RPG’s, a couple of the Hitman series, but by and large I do not think the stories are very good in games. The BIG mistake is they try to go TOO fast without proper character development and the entire time you are reading or listening to the story as if you are speed-reading a Cliff Notes before a test.
Stories need to be immersive like a good movie, not throw 10 names at you before you even get 5 minutes in, which is what many of these games do. So by and large I think gaming stories are VERY bad with about 1 in 10 of them being passable and about 1 in 50 being good, but that is just my opinion. I am also harsh on movies so I guess that is just me.
Gaming stories = Commando type Rambo stories, SCI FI knock-offs of Half-Life repeat stories hundreds of times over, disgruntled scientists that were surgically operated on and “upgraded”, etc…
I’m not a fan of when anything becomes “just business” (because currently a lot of harm is shrugged off with a simple phrase “it’s just business”). I know a lot of passionate good-meaning people in AAA game development, and they honestly want to make good products… but I think the entire “business” aspect of AAA games means it often gets butchered and all of the artistic corners rounded off until it looks like some standard work.
Really, the way a lot of these companies run is rather ugly. They use the employees like interchangeable gears, force them into horrible crunches, ask them to sacrifice their personal lives and then replace then with someone younger when they get burnt out.
Still, all of the passionate well-meaning artists try their best to bring something good to gamers… but… it seems so often that being AAA and “business as usual” stands in the way of them really creating some amazing works.
I think games can be art, not just McDonalds to shovel into the masses mouths.
I also disagree with the complete lack of any social responsibility that the industry has. Pushing the entire objectification of women just to make a few more bucks? It actually is contributing to real harm that a lot of people are suffering… all in the name of a dollar.
Basically, I think there is a LOT more bad than good in the AAA industry. They make polished looking products (though often times filled with bugs because rushed) … and yea they are fun… but is the cost really worth it? Especially when running businesses like that isn’t even needed to be successful?
Sometimes big games can have bad gameplay, the lowest common denominator to sell the most copies. Take resident evil, dead space both IPs started off as survival horror games but it was too niche and didnt sell enough so they decided to make it action horror. Or something like bioshock infinite which supposedly had terrible gameplay but great graphics and story. With an indie game you are going to have gameplay first story maybe second if its there at all.
I still like games like arkham asylum or alan wake.
