‘Modern video games have too much story and not enough gameplay’

God Of War went from amoral monster to sad dad (Sony Interactive Entertainment)

A Reader’s Feature worries that videos games spend too much time on backstory and tortured heroes than they do kickass gameplay.

What happened to gameplay? I agree with the article PS5 games have become too serious with no sense of fun. Having grown up with the development of consoles (yes, I used to own an Atari 2600 back in the day) I’ve seen how the gaming world has developed. Whilst there are a lot of good modern games they seem to lack the pick-up and play element and humour. As the previous article noted, the protagonists all seem to have some emotionally driven back story.

Maybe it’s just me, but where are the modern day equivalents of titles such as Road Rash, Blur, or Duke Nukem? Give me a game where the protagonist is essentially a person born to kick ass. I’m not interested in their backstory and, to be honest, story cut scenes have me reaching for the skip button every time. I don’t need to know about their relationships or motives, I just want to play the actual game.

Also, some games seem (to me at least) overly complicated. Take Diablo 4, a good game that I enjoyed playing, but only after extensive online searching for character builds which seem to require advanced mathematical qualifications to get the most out of your character’s stats. The storyline was great (apparently) but to me cut scenes and extended dialogue just bog the gameplay down. Do I need to know about Lilith? Nope. I just want to get on with hacking and slashing hordes of enemy monsters.

If I want quality acting and plots, I’ll watch a movie or read a book. What I want when I sit down to play a game is action, involvement, and maybe a little humour, delivered through gameplay. I’m all for character development too, but is it really needed in video games?

When God Of War was released way back in 2005 on the PlayStation 2 it was an instant hit. A fast and furious collection of battles and puzzles that hit the mark. Kratos kicked ass and made it with ladies. Fast forward to the God Of War reboot, which is a slow-paced, single parent, snooze fest, with much boat rowing. Yes, there are battles and puzzles but after playing it, I didn’t feel any sense of achievement, rather, I was just glad that it was over.

As the console world has grown, so have the games grown up. Unfortunately, developers have traded fun and gameplay for stories and cut scenes. And I get that they want to create an immersive world for the player to escape to, but if a game has that ‘just one more go’ element, it really doesn’t need an in depth story. After all, are you really playing the game so the character can right whatever wrong has happened or are you playing it to blast/hack/punch the bad guys into oblivion, whilst looking and feeling good about it?

A good example of a modern game getting it right (at least in my opinion) is Call Of Duty Zombies mode. No story [it does have a story that has being ongoing across multiple games – GC], no character development. You’re a soldier, here’s your guns, go and shoot zombies. I didn’t even bother finishing the campaign.

Zombies mode, solo or with friends, was all I needed. Given how popular it is, I’m not the only one who feels this way. Yes, modern games have come a long way since the days of Pong and Space Invaders, but when it comes to video games, more detail and complexity isn’t always a good thing. For me gameplay will always be the most important thing.

By reader Jason

Diablo 4 – do you care about Lilith? (Blizzard Entertainment)

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