What game was great at the time but aged horribly?

Obviously all games age, but what are some in your opinion that have aged badly?

I myself don't have anything that I can think of for this particular topic. I'd be interested to know what you think though.

Pretty much any early 3D game. I remember how people went apeshit over games like Alone in the Dark (1992), Little Big Adventure and Ecstatica (both 1994), but try playing them today and see how far one gets.

Pretty much anything 3d on the ps1 or n64. On pc you could up the res and it’s still kinda tolerable. Kinda. But on those consoles it all looks like mud now. Final Fantasy 7 is a big one. I can’t play it anymore. My eyes literally hurt. I can still play atari 2600 games though lol.

@vaidream45: I find final fantasy 7 fine, the pre rendered backgrounds still look ok and the characters models have a charm to them.

Hoof hands rule

@vaidream45: Yeah I’m planning to play FF7 soon in time for the remake. I guess i’ll Just have to tolerate it. I do find charm in those types of old school 3D polygon graphics though!

@thehig1: yeah I’ve always found the pre-rendered bg’s beautiful.

GTA3,VICE,SA. Love these games but trying to play them today is rough no physics, stiff animations ect...

@speeny: I hear ya. For some reason ff7 on a modern tv just killed me. Ff9 somehow was much more tolerable and I play through it about once every 2 years. Btw i think you have LOTS of time before the ff7 remake comes out lol. IF it comes out.

Wrestlemania 2000

Morrowind and the original Deus Ex. These are games I wish I could have played when they came out because they've really aged horribly.

Difficult to pin-point, because I rarely get blinded by flash and gimmicks hiding bad gameplay.

If a game isn't fun to actually experience, I'll likely note its flaws. Though the original Devil May Cry is a reasonable pick here, Once one plays DMC3 onward it's difficult to go back.

Regardless I think some older 3D games actually aged well- (examples) Metal Gear Solid, Deus Ex, Theif, Ocarina of Time, Quake 3, and the original Resident Evils may suffer from early 3D limitations yet are still enjoyable games with decent gameplay. As they're all built around those early 3D limitations.

Resident Evil is probably the one that aged the worst from the list, that's why Capcom are investing in Remakes. Yet I still believe Gamers can have a good time with the originals. Something like the original Tomb Raider and Goldeneye however I just can't find reasonably playable at all 'granted I always found them bad', even after an hour or two of play. My guess is these two never sold well based on gameplay anyway.

I'd say almost all of them. I've tried to go back and play things from my old Magnavox Odyssey system, original Nintendo, older PC games like Morrowind and KOTOR, newer games are just all around WAY better, like not even close.

What Nintendo games? Spelunker and Super Mario Bros 3 are pretty fun to play speaking from personal experience.

PC games like Morrowind

Morrowind I would recommend overhaul 3.0 if you have it on P.C. and not Xbox. Combat is the worst part that's aged, the overhaul let's you tweak the dice system however you prefer, even an Oblivion control setting. Plus, the overhaul improved it from a graphical perspective as well_

@vaidream45: I can imagine on a big TV all the imperfections would stand out a lot more. Lol

I know right. When was the game first announced? 2015???

Fallout 1 and 2. Great games with really awful user interfaces. Would love to see remasters of them with more modern UI.

GTA 3

A lot of the PS1 games. To name one, I'd say FF8

Two that always come to my mind are GoldenEye N64 and Spider-Man PS1.

I have respect for GoldenEye, despite not having played it as much as other people: it did bring shooters forward in a big way and had some really creative mechanics in it (plus I just love old-school Rare). But honestly, it is TERRIBLE to play nowadays. Aside from the obvious graphic aging, the controls and aiming are honestly practically unplayable nowadays. There are multiple N64 games like Banjo-Kazooie and Ocarina of Time that you can still go back to today and have an absolute blast: but GoldenEye is honestly, in my opinion, one of the worst aging games ever.

As for Spider-Man, I loved this game as a kid, but it is really clunky to play nowadays. The combat especially is for the most part a stiff mash-fest where you just smack the punch button with not a lot of thought to it. Also, the characters' faces are.... melted. They are all melted. Especially Black Cat, Punisher, and every single henchman. It's not all bad though, there's lot of clever little details and some of the boss fights are fun. Plus, there's a surprising amount of goodies to unlock. All in all if you went back to Spider-Man PS1, there's still some things to appreciate, but you'll have to forgive a LOT.

@speeny: yeah...ff7 on my 60 inch led did not bode well lol. I even upped the res via emulator but it can’t be salvaged. Dude, ff7 remake has been teasing for many years now. Funny it was supposed to be a ps4 exclusive yet I don’t think they’ll finish it on time. That was early in the ps4 life too. I dunno, the fact that it won’t be turn based like the original is a major turnoff. Half the game is combat and completely changing it like that sucks. I wish they would just do a true remaster and clean up the graphics and not mess with the rest.

@speeny:

Without the shadow of a doubt, Shenmue 1 on Sega Dreamcast. It's unusually short for an rpg, there's very little to do in game, alot of annoying talk quests and you get very little direction. The waiting and talking makes the game ridiculously boring. And everything else that puts a heavy emphasis on realism is horribly implemented. Also, the game has a really terrible English DUB.

Agreed on Morrowind. Just could not get into it because of the presentation. A shame, because I hear great things.

I still play Deus Ex about three times per year, it's arguably my favorite game of all time. But it has not aged well at this point. A shame, the Unreal Engine really held out for a long time. But yeah only reason I can stomach is because I was there when it was released, and mods, mods, mods.

@vaidream45: Oh for sure man. I'm not a big fan of the non-turn based style myself. It's what makes a good Final Fantasy game what it is.

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin on PS2. The animations are sluggish compared to even Hitman Contracts and the gameplay is clunky.

Goldeneye N64 - Lag fest. Slows down to about 15fps when more than 2 enemies are on screen or God forbid you use the rocket launcher.

Almost every damn game chosen for the American PlayStation Mini.

@ronthallsballs: Yep I won’t be getting it. Lol

Pretty much everything one the PSOne, PS2 that haven't been remastered. Same thing on the N64, Game Cube or the Xbox ...

3D doesn't age well at all unless the game had a special thing for you.

Like I still can play Atari, NES and SNES game no problem, PS1/N64 or PS2/GC/Xbox are hit or miss for me. I stille enjoy a lot of PS1 title that was dear to me when I played them for the first time.

Daggerfall.

99% of all games because of the simple fact of the technology involved

Dues Ex got alot of (and deserves praise) for being ambitious, intelligent and innovate.

But as a game, it was never very good in many respects.

@uninspiredcup: Wow, really?ive heard otherwise. Guess I’ll just have to find out for myself. :P

It depends on what your expectations are going in. A lot of people disliked Deus Ex because they expected a first-person shooter, which it isn't: it's an RPG which happens to include shooting. Same reason why I initially disliked Vampire Bloodlines, then loved it once I understood the rules.

I played 'Totally Spies: Super Party' when I was 8. I called the game 'the best ever'. Well, that was a mistake. I've tried to download it 10 years latter. Unfortunatelly I saw bad graphics that time and game was incompatible with windows 10 so I had to delete it. My memories from the childhood will never be the same again(

Age of Empires

pretty much every brawler from the 90s. I dropped so many quarters on the X-men arcade back in the day, bought it from PSN on the PS3 and it's just terrible. Same for the old Ninja Turtles games. The Streets of Rage games, starting with 2, still hold up fairly well, though.

I missed out on System Shock the first time and bought it on Steam...couldn't play it. I think the more active the gameplay, that is when it's more reliant on its physics and motion, it suffers more over time. Turn based stuff like old Interplay RPGs and Blizzard ARPGs and RTSs hold up pretty well, though.

Gran Turismo from the PS1 hasn't aged particularly well. Grainy visuals, basic handling and physics, UI is also very dated.

The only consistent part is the crappie engine sounds.

Medal of Honor Allied Assault

At least for baby zoomers, any game without on screen waypoints.

Tomb Raider.

@Ish_basic: What?!? I play beat'm ups all the time, Turtles in Time, Streets of Rage 2, Omen, etc and the good ones are still damn good. My son and I have a blast with them.

Anything between N64 and 360. Graphics have aged terribly since after 16-bit. I loved thips 2 and underground but it's just aged so badly.

Went to the game knowing full well it was a RPG.

Voice acting, UI, game-balance, animations, writing, shooting etc.. it's all pretty bad.

I respect the game, for what it done and how it demonstrated what games could be. Something with meaningful social commentary. But I don't think it's aged as well as stuff like System Shock or Thief.

Voice acting is hard to defend, yeah: i think the main characters are ok but the random NPCs are amateur hour. Then again this was the late 90s, high production values for videogames were not really a thing. The shooting is as bad an any Unreal 1 engine game, plus you really need to put points into it before it's viable in any way. I always thought the writing was fine, barring the subject matter which is can put off a lot of people due to the conspiracy theories.

I get the criticism, but I would advise giving it another chance, with points into shooting to make it feel more natural.

Ocarina of time. Admittedly I never played Ocarina of time when it was released due to me being knee deep with ps1 but when I finally got to play it, man the camera sucks. Also targeting sucks. I can never get the camera to work as I intended, probably due to me used to dual analog of the dualshock.

Years later 3ds ver was released and the camera does get better but it still feel outdated, never felt Ocarina of Time as timeless as everyone says it is. Its just a good game with frustrating issues for me.