Postby Edward M » July 27th, 2007, 5:07 am
Arcades have been dying, and it would be great if something like Xbox live brought them back. But they seem strung up in offering up unlimited continues. At least they offer "achievements" for doing incredibly hard tasks, so it has the arcade form in that version.
But this author seems to think arcade games are pretty much superior to everything. I'm a gamer who plays a wide variety of games, from contra, to Oblivion, to Mario Kart, to Halo. Pretty much the only genres I skip out on are realistic sports games annual rehashes and overly text lengthy JRPGS (but there are even a few I like there like Paper Mario or Final Fantasy Tactics.)
I would love for the arcades to make a comeback, but I wouldn't want it to be the single defining voice of gaming like this author wants. After all, an arcade isn't gonna produce the next Deus Ex. I'd like to see a gaming world where Deus Ex and Metal Slug could coexist (and with the lame movie cash-ins in the trash bins where they belong).
This author brings up DMC 3 and Ninja Gaiden being too easy compared to earlier games. Thats true I had no trouble beating either game in their default or hard difficulty. But Ninja Gaiden gets insanely hard in "very hard" mode and in some of its missions. But for some stupid reason, you have to unlock those modes by playing through the game in its default difficuty. Who is the fool that thought up unlockable difficulties? Shouldn't I be able to start up a game in its hardest difficulty the first time I play? Well at least the Hitman series lets me do, which makes the games 10 times more interesting as I know there are severe consequences for getting caught, especially with its lack of inmission saves in its hardest difficulty. You see developers can make normal difficulties for the masses, but leave in the insanely hard mode for the hardcore, at the start and not locked. I think Hitman is a perfect example on how to create this balance.
