- Tommy lax16
- |
- Honorable Member
Recently, I purchased two very different games: Halo 4 and Paper Mario Sticker Star. Both games come from a lineage of respected and enjoyable games, as most of you know. However, these games possessed qualities which differed from those which made their predecessors great.
Both of these games had undergone the process of "casualization."
Let's start off with Sticker Star. The paper mario games have been widely respected for a myriad of reasons, including good plot, unique rpg elements, and good characterization. Unfortunately, Sticker Star lacked all of these qualities. The plot was practically non-existent, the rpg elements were either lacking or completely gone, and the characters (except Kertsi) were generic and bland.
Moving on to Halo 4. The campaign was solid (although it did have it's problems). However, my major complaints about Halo 4 are not about the campaign; they are about the multiplayer. Rather than maintain the traditionally enjoyable Halo multiplayer formula, 343 decided to pollute the game with various elements from CoD, including loadouts, perks, ordnances, kill cams, random match entries, a point system with which you purchase things, etc. This essentially alienated more passionate players in favor of, you guessed it, casuals (the same general audience which CoD games are played by).
These are only two recent examples of how the gaming industry is beginning to focus more on the casual demographic (which prefers simplicity and ease) in spite of the more hardcore community (which prefers complexity and challenge). Both of these games were from series which I genuinely enjoyed, which makes my disappointment in them even more crushing and bitter. I understand that there are still a variety of games for people with my interests, but I am concerned that the companies who make such games may also casualize their games in order to appeal to the large casual demographic.
tl;dr- Due to the gaming industry's attempts to appeal to the larger, more casual demographic, certain game series are declining.