You’re Doing It Wrong: If I Could Turn Back Time…

Ever played a video game and found something terminally wrong with it? Perhaps you’ve found something wrong with all video games? You may not be alone – You’re Doing It Wrong is the name of a column from the mind of contributor Harry, who feels it just to let the internet know of his videogame grievances. After all, the games we love could be better…

I can understand why a videogame franchise gets extended if there is still money to be made, I understand why a publisher will commission another game in a series if the numbers add up and the story has been left unfinished. What I don’t understand is why a publisher sees money and franchise extension as more important assets than quality and innovation while insisting on telling us otherwise.

There are numerous ways for a publisher (as well as the developer) to assure us that we, the paying customer, will feel that our money is being well invested. “We’re very excited to be working the next game in the [insert videogame] series,” [insert developer] tells us. “It’s a big project with a lot of potential, and with the help of [insert publisher] we can bring you the best game yet.” We fall prey to fancy technical words and superlatives, the kind that will probably feature in the most positive reviews and on the back of videogame box art. We are the victims of our own naivety, and when the time comes to play the games we think will redefine, recreate or recapture we find ourselves more often than not disappointed with the outcome.

I try to avoid using the words optimistic and looking forward to when talking about a sequel. If there’s a sequel to a game I particularly liked being released I’ll reserve some of my excitement, but I’m only human. I took it upon myself to avoid getting too worked up over Crackdown 2, the sequel to one of my all-time favourite games; I haven’t gone out of my way to buy a copy of the game yet because based on a number of reviews and my experience with the demo I fear I’ll find the familiar experience overly so. I experienced a lack of originality with the Crackdown 2 demo and I’m expecting a lack of purpose with the full game.  If a sequel is to exist, I expect enough change next time around to make it deserving of my time and money.

Crackdown 2 isn’t the only game recently I’ve reserved excitement for; while the other game in question isn’t a direct sequel to an all-time favourite of mine, the game to which it spawns from is a definitive classic. Perhaps the reason why I have yet to get a copy of Crackdown 2 is because of my experience with Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, a sequel that, to all intents and purposes, a game without purpose for existence. Ubisoft clearly see the Prince of Persia franchise as a hugely profitable franchise still, as do Hollywood. I actually admired what Ubisoft tried to do a few years ago, when they ‘rebooted’ the Prince of Persia series and made a game that not only looked different to its predecessors but also played a little different too.

It was refreshing to see a major developer take a risk like that, and while it didn’t pay off I would have respected Ubisoft for laying the series to rest with a failed but ambitious experiment to rejuvenate a clearly dead videogame series. Unfortunately that isn’t the case because the Prince of Persia still lives on, it may be what gamers requested but it’s not what was really wanted. Gamers asked for a Prince of Persia game that was akin to The Sands of Time and Ubisoft obliged, you may feel Ubisoft were right in their decision to continue the franchise further but I felt the series died with the attempted reboot. I played The Forgotten Sands start to finish and found the experience to be as formulaic and unoriginal as expected but what infuriated me most about the game was its lack of purpose for being.

“So what, everyone’s doing it.” Ubisoft say, Activision with the Call of Duty and Tony Hawk franchises, EA with the Need for Speed franchise, Sega with Sonic the Hedgehog, Nintendo with Legend of Zelda, Microsoft with Halo, Square Enix with Final Fantasy… the list goes on. All of these name-drops are series I feel have outstayed their welcome.

This ‘tradition’ has become somewhat of a pet peeve of mine, seeing publishers thinking with their wallets first. I know it happens in many industries but I’ve found it more prevalent in one I am more attached to – I feel disheartened to see wave after wave of games published lacking innovation, creativity and originality.

There’s a big drive in the industry for new innovations and revolutionary technology but the persistence from publishers to produce games from old series is in comparison contradictory. Perhaps the idea tank is running on fumes and the nearest station is nowhere in sight. I can’t see the videogame industry breaking down on the side of the road any time soon, but it is in dire need of refuelling.

Maybe a fresh coat of paint wouldn’t go amiss either…