Am I too picky or are companies releasing crap lately?[PC]

[jakeic]

I agree, games are getting worse and worse for the average game. Even big titles like BF3 (most recent game I've bought) came with so many flaws and annoyances that it's sad, but people keep buying it. There are very good games, but they are few-and-far in between; Skyrim, Oblivion, DOTA2 (whenit comes out), Minecraft, but the average trend is going downhill :

skyrim is one of the worst offenders of current trend in gaming. the game-play aspects of TES games have been cut back since Morrowwind, otherwise it is the same game that was released 10 years ago, only it is made for idiots.

[Deleted]

It is garbage because you focus too much on AAA titles. Buy some indie games (or at least s´made by smaller developers) and you could be left more satisfied. Just a few tips: Bastion, Magicka, Mount and Blade Warband. All three excellent games without no AAA involved. Cheap too.

Edit: Oh and for the love of all that is holy consider getting Deus Ex: Human Revolution. No it isn't perfect, no it isn't the greatest game in the world, but it is the best game I've played this year. If you haven't played it and like rpg and fps games you should give it a try. Look for some good online sale if you don't feel completely smitten with it, I saw "Greenmangaming" (?) having a deal a week back at 7£ or somesuch, others can have similar price tags.

[Clockwork Pinkie]

Been like this for awhile now. Just comes down to what you like, nothing else. Critics, player reviews, your favorite video blogger. None of that matters. The rise of all of those is what's really killing entertainment. Before, we'd see a movie based on a trailer. Or play a game based on the box art and the story it told us on the back of the box. Now we see playthroughs, video bloggers and critics analyzing and breaking down every single aspect of whatever it is they're reviewing and you can basically "play" an entire video game on YouTube. The companies have always been releasing crap.

After 10 years, that crap turns into classic as something crappier comes out. I remember games I used to play. Not on the 64 of SNEs or Atari, those are classic and will stay classic. But on the PC. Midtown Madness, I just had fun cruising the city. Now I see that it had terrible driving, no story, felt like I was driving legos. Couldn't get into it. Now with games like Saints Row and GTA, crusing a city can be more than just staying in the car the whole time. You can get out of the car, rob a stor, buy some cloths, buy a house to store cars. All sorts of things.

Again, it all comes down to what you believe is good and bad. Hate on what you'd like, and keep on enjoying what you play. Don't let anyone else tell you differently.

[Anjerith]

To the OP; Duke Nukem was by no means a 'big hit', it was simply so long in the making that it had the benefit of an extreme amount of hype the likes of which no game will ever again be able to compete against. Sadly, this include Duke himself.

The major issue with game companies now is that they are very much in the state that Hollywood was 10 years ago; Wildly successful at the expense of creativity and originality. Although games are selling better than they ever have, they are essentially the same games that companies have been giving us for the past 10 years with very little in the way or original or even interesting content.


While it is easy to blame developers for these issues, the fact is simply this; Consumers have demanded the content we are getting and we deserve it. If a game you expected to be great is crap, look at how you approached it's development; a demand for perfection is often in-deliberately attached to titles when they are announced. This in-turn leads to a huge loss as the game comes closer to completion.

[Clockwork Pinkie]

Quality of games has been pretty crappy since 2005.

Hopefully the next generation of consoles fixes this...and it's all we have to hope for because 99.9% of games are being made for consoles nowdays. Honestly...you could count the amount of really great titles on 1 hand for the last 7 years.

I just hope next gen has superb backwards capability. Example. New Xbox able to play all 360 and regular Xbox games. PS4 able to play all PS3, PS2, and PS1 games. Now that would be something. We have the technology for it so, why not. They'd be making money either way.

Also OP: I'm interested in what indie/not-so-popular games you're talking about. There's alot of underrated games that deserve some credit. Just Cause 2. Mafia II. Prey. Forza Motorsport, hell, even the James Bond video games still being released are still fun. But everyone wants to buy what their friends are buying so they can play together for a couple of hours before they both get bored of it. Want a multi-player FPS shooter. Download and play TF2 for free and wait for the others to go lower in price.

[PBitt]

There are surely more games being made solely for making a quick buck than there used to be, say 10 years ago and prior for sure, but I actually think that gaming as a whole has gotten a little better in the past year or so because there were a fair amount of great games that had a lot of love put into making them to go along with the crap/overrated games. And Indie games, like Terraria and Magicka, are more often than not worth the money, as they are usually 5-10 dollars max for a little game that someone put a lot of thought into. But at the end of the day, you have to keep in mind that those who make games do need to make money so you can't really blame companies for making games that appeal to the masses.

[Deleted]

the problem I see each year is that there's a lot of hyped titles and a lot of will to squeeze money out of it.

last year we had Dragon Age 2, undoubtedly a superb RPG as far as RPGs go, but with one major downside: it was compared with Dragon Age Origins.
we had a second game which trust us into a world of magic and mysteries only to... slightly continue on with the plot. we went from fighting our way literally knee-deep into the nest of our hatred enemy, facing off with the unknown byproducts of magic, making moral choices that really meant something, having to deal with ambushes and being able to settle things by carefully masterminding a plan to... you know. the same thing. sure, it looked pretty, but it was pretty much the same thing. we didn't get anything new, it was just like the continuation of a book that didn't really leave us yearning for the third book but we're gonna read it anyway because we read the first two.

and then we had the fps-titans, Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3.
these games aren't bad either, but they're not bringing anything new to the game.
they're not being innovative. yea sure now bullets actually sound from where they land, yea sure soldiers move 112% more realistically than before, but it's the same kind of thing: "shoot the other guy".

and that is the problem of the current generation of games: they're all the same.
all big RPGs come fully loaded with voice overs, beautiful environments and plenty of dialogue choices!
all shooters come loaded with so many explosions all four Die Hard movies have issues keeping up together!

and if that's what you go for, all the big titles, then the only time you're going to be satisfied is when they release a game that isn't a follow-up.
where all the creative thinking as far as new mechanics go is being made is in the new titles being released, specifically indie games or games in other genres then RRG and FPS, or even games from big studios in those genres!

[drwelfare]

Pretty graphics and such take precedent over content and story more then it used to.

I do miss those games that came in 2 3.5" floppy discs that took a month or more to beat.

[sacrypheyes]

Seriously..the ONLY good games I have played in the last year or 2 are as follows..

Portal 2
Skyrim
Witcher 2
BF3
Batman: Arkham City
(Lots of indie games that I'm not going to bother listing)

why is skyrim in this list?

[Majik8ball]

Seriously..the ONLY good games I have played in the last year or 2 are as follows..

Portal 2
Skyrim
Witcher 2
BF3
Batman: Arkham City
(Lots of indie games that I'm not going to bother listing)


Other big hits that I though were garbage:
SWTOR - Shouldn't have even been released in the state it's in.
COD:BO - COD..is just not for PC gamers anymore.
Brink - Overhyped POS that could have been good if they didn't try so hard to be different.
Red Faction Armageddon - Most linear game I've played since Super Mario Bro's.
Dragon Age 2 - Shouldn't even have Dragon Age in the name..sooo bad
Cataclysm - Sigh
LOTR: War in the North - Double sigh
MW3 - Didn't buy it..but ffs can a developer/publisher get any lazier than this?
Duke Nukem - 12yrs...
Crysis 2 - Console port sequel of the game that turned PC graphics in a new direction. So much more linear than Crysis 1 as well. Big let down!

Ok I could go on but I don't wanna..but it's SO SAD that I have like 15 indie games that are $15-FREE that are done better than some of these blockbusters and personally I could sink more hours into Killing Floor or Bastion than I could in any of the games listed in the "garbage section"

I rather enjoyed DA2 & Cata, I do wish thatmore games offered choice in both how to play it ( like skyrim or Deus Ex: HR) and story decisions ( Such as Mass Effect )

[Ferocity]

Starting with 5th Generations of Consoles (PS, N64, Sega Saturn among those) PC gaming started to slowly fade, while Consoles have decent games up till now.

Currently PC games are just too... shortliving. Of course there are exceptions. But from RPG side, Grandia, Suikoden, Breath of Fire, Final Fantasy, Xenosaga, Disgaea, Tales series - first which come on mind. For PC, well... Only if Skyrim from recent ones. Decent PC RPGs died with Arcanum, Wizardry and Might and Magic. Not including MMO RPGs, MMO RPGs are in their early evolution phase with WoW setting long-lasting deviation from evolution course by having so much initial inflation on market which caused other companies to blindly copy not the best sides of it instead of risking to innovate.

[Clockwork Pinkie]

why is skyrim in this list?

As it says in the very first line. "The only good games I have played in the last year or 2 are as follows.". His opinion, not anyone else...

[Deleted]

I have over 200 Steam Games and "Plants vs Zombies" is one of my top played games according to the hours (#1 is Titan Quest Immortal Throne [with the Underlord Mod] with 400+ hours played).
I don't know if this is amusing or weird or...dunno.

[Neeshka]

Deus Ex human revolution, LA Noire and Dead Space 2 are all excellent. Saints Row 3 is definitely worth checking out, with entertaining gameplay.
There's nothing wrong with Crysis 2; and after the PC dx11 patch the graphics are spectacular.

I strongly disagree with people that say any call of duty is a "bad game". Just because the multiplayer is a rehash doesn't make it a bad game. Every COD single player campaign has good gunplay, very decent AI, good graphics, no bugs, a lot of polish, superb voice acting; and a decent enough story. I would play these games exclusively for the SP campaign alone.

I also disagree with people that think value for money or game length is even a factor when judging the quality of a game; since I remember playing games as a kid that lasted just a few days.

Cataclysm was a WoW expansion; and I don't really see any major flaws with it. End game raiding (which is all im interested in tbh) has been consistently at a similar level same since tbc bt/sunwell in terms of difficulty and boss encounter design.

I didn't play BF3 (never liked co-op multiplayer shooters with vehicles), and I hated skyrim after about 30-40 hours in.
You've listed games only from last year and you aren't too picky since you like skyrim lol.

Oh, just remembered; get Trine 2; superb puzzle platformer with a wonderful art style it's been largely ignored.

[Saladbar]

Opinions, we all have them. I've been playing PC games for 25 years. I thought 2011 was probably one of the greatest years for PC games ever.

[Shampun]

You need to expand your playing base (Duke nukem was an abomination on the level of a war crime though...)

anyway, recent games you should play that were awesome (that the OP didn't list):
Legend of Zelda, Skyward Sword
Gears of War 3
Saints Row the Third
Assassin's creed Revelations
Halo Reach
Uncharted 3
Rage

I think he/she is talking about games for PC

[vindicatorx]

Most companies have shifted to portable gaming as they are making truckloads off low requirement games like Angry birds this has had a huge impact on the kind of games companies are focusing on why spend 3 years and a millions developing a game that might make a 300 million when they can make a buttload off a simple iphone game.

[Scripted Sigma]

Pretty graphics and such take precedent over content and story more then it used to.

I do miss those games that came in 2 3.5" floppy discs that took a month or more to beat.

Only for newer players. Those who started playing with a PlayStation in their hands and forward would never know how exciting Chrono Trigger is.

[ironik]

I know this is a little off topic, but I've seen mention of DN:F as being an abomination of a game. In fact It was referred to as the same as a war crime... STOP HATIN! DN:F is EXACTLY what it was supposed to be. I'd almost be willing to bet that most of the things that people thought were bad about the game, were actually put there intentionally by the developers to either be ironic or piss off the gamer-elitists. I had a blast playing DN:F! I was laughing my ass of through almost the entire game, especially when I saw that he jumps the same way he did in DN3D! Duke is Duke. K, I'm done...

[Ishu]

I feel the issue is that games of today want to be cinematic. But the people working on them have no skills in that area at all. Indie games will be the future imo.

I agree with this. It's not so much that the games today are bad, it's just that they try too hard to be movies.