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A Critique of The State of Adventure Gaming
Erwin Broekhuis writes "The fourth and last installment of Beiddie Rafól's The Cold Hotspot: A Critique of the State of Adventure Games, has been published at Adventure Developers. The series explores some of the key points and contradictions of the stagnation and lack of direction within the adventure game genre." From the first article: "The truth is, the adventure game genre, as we all know it, has long been suffering from obscurity, lack of progress, sheer banality, isolation (surprise!), and, simply, from the garden variety of dullness. And everyone - developers, publishers, the media, and yes, we gamers ourselves - is guilty of creating and fueling this suffering."
There was no better time in PC gaming than when Sierra was actively developing their Quest games.
Kings Quest (at least KQ 1 - 7)
Space Quest (This NEEDS a 7)
Quest for Glory
These are what made gaming great. I absolutely loved their Robin Hood game, Conquests of the Longbow.
The only other game that was remotely as fun (though perhaps not as involving) as these was Grim Fandango from LucasArts.
Wonder what the Williams' (Ken & Roberta, the founders of Sierra) are up to these days, anyway. They need to get the old team back together and remind people why they were the powerhouse of PC gaming in its day.
[DISCLAIMER: This post is a work of satire and should not be misconstrued as a holy text upon which to base a religion.]
I loved Beyond Good and Evil. The Zelda series also qualifies as action/adventure.
I really miss the old Sierra/Lucasarts games though.
I actually still play them. Sam and Max, Day of the Tentacle, Space Quest, The Dig, etc. etc.
Great games with a sense of humor. Each one different. There used to be a whole slew of them every year. Then came the great 3D transition and away they went. They survived the transition from text to graphics, but couldn't cope with the 3D.
Even Grim Fandango was tough to control, and I don't think it benefitted much from 3D gameplay.
Almost no more 2D games outside of portables, next to no new adventure games... sigh. It's really rather sad actually. The playstation and quake mark the death of whole genres that really never should've died.
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...how it's my fault that LucasArts cancelled development on Full Throttle 2, claiming that "the market isn't right for adventure games right now" (or somesuch)? I really have to point the finger at the publishers - if not the developers themselves - for being locked in some faulty mindsets about which kinds of games consumers (for lack of a better word) would be willing to buy in sufficient quantities.
On the other hand, I'm willing to admit (if not bet money) that it could be myself who has a faulty mindset regarding which kinds of games will make the most money these days.
Still, diversity can be a healthy thing. Large publishers should consider the extra money they could make by reaching segments of the gamer audience that would be interested in a resurgense of good, original, and of course fun adventure games.
(P.S. I didn't RTFA)
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