http://www.polycat.net/1130/top-ten-games-of-2005-1-resident-evil-4/ Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:46:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 http://www.polycat.net/1130/top-ten-games-of-2005-1-resident-evil-4/#comment-206499 Editorial: Games As Art : Primotech Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:02:43 +0000 http://www.polycat.net/1130#comment-206499 [...] The second classification of games is the video game industry’s equivalent to Hollywood’s action, horror, or drama franchise films. These are the kinds of games that gamers are accustomed to seeing yearly or biyearly iterations of without fail that provide a very well-defined experience that players are familiar with and typically have no expectations for major change so much as yearly enhancements and additional features added to the franchise mold, such as the Tomb Raider, Madden, Tony Hawk, and Rainbow Six series, among other long-running franchise titles. There is a definite overlap possibility between this category of games and the “cinematic games” classification, but I consider the gameplay franchise titles to be primarily delivering a very specific type of gameplay with little regard to maintaining any level of artistic prowess- not to mention that sequels come at a very fast rate. A new iteration in a franchise like Madden doesn’t compare, for instance, to a new iteration in the Metal Gear Solid series (which only come once three to five years). This isn’t to say that these types of games are bad in any way, shape, or form; some of my favorite titles are certain iterations within these series… But there’s hardly much in the way of real innovation present in the subsequent titles in these types of franchises (though there are exceptions, such as Resident Evil 4). [...] […] The second classification of games is the video game industry’s equivalent to Hollywood’s action, horror, or drama franchise films. These are the kinds of games that gamers are accustomed to seeing yearly or biyearly iterations of without fail that provide a very well-defined experience that players are familiar with and typically have no expectations for major change so much as yearly enhancements and additional features added to the franchise mold, such as the Tomb Raider, Madden, Tony Hawk, and Rainbow Six series, among other long-running franchise titles. There is a definite overlap possibility between this category of games and the “cinematic games” classification, but I consider the gameplay franchise titles to be primarily delivering a very specific type of gameplay with little regard to maintaining any level of artistic prowess- not to mention that sequels come at a very fast rate. A new iteration in a franchise like Madden doesn’t compare, for instance, to a new iteration in the Metal Gear Solid series (which only come once three to five years). This isn’t to say that these types of games are bad in any way, shape, or form; some of my favorite titles are certain iterations within these series… But there’s hardly much in the way of real innovation present in the subsequent titles in these types of franchises (though there are exceptions, such as Resident Evil 4). […]

]]>