What is missing from 'Next Gen' gaming

This is a brief list of things I had expected to see by now in new games, but haven't happened,

Nonlinear games. I feel like developers have totally forgotten how to make nonlinear game structures. Even games from my childhood made attempts at this, what with all the branching pathways in Super Mario World, the 'level tree' of Star Fox 64, and even Sonic levels usually made a passinga attempt at multiple paths within levels. But now, it seems like devs have put so much work into all the textures and frills, they are loath to possibly exclude any part of it from any single playthrough. Even free roaming games like oblivion wind up being very linear. At least as far as missions: Receive quest. Go to objective arrow. kill / pick up / enter the monster / object / door you find there. Return to location of original questgiver. Receive reward and/or additional quest.

I think games would benefit from an approach similar to those 'choose your story' Goosebumps books from about 10 yrs ago where at the end of a page you had to choose what to do and which page to go to. For example, you could be pursuing an enemy through his base, and depending on how fast you are, you either board his escape 767 and fight through it on mission 2a, or you could be too late and in mission 2b, follow in a helicopter you steal and fight off ground and air forces on the way.

Gears had a golden oppotunity at the end of act 4, where you had to run to the APC and beat the timer. Instead of restarting the checkpoint if it ran out, you should have had to fight the brumak after it wrecks your ride and continue on foot. They could have tossed in another level parallel to that to keep it even.

Destructible environments. After Red Faction, I figured the new gen would have all kinds of buildings to crumble, bridges to collapse, and bunkers to blast, all in real time. Sure, it would mean compromising a game's visuals a bit, but it would add so much to gameplay. I know there is a game coming up that is promising something like Geo Mod but cooler, either mercs 2 or frontlines, but there should be way more.

Consequences. I don't mean crap like good/bad endings, or bioshock's minor trade-off between harvesting or saving little sisters. I mean things that really affect gameplay. That's why halo was hailed as revolutionary: you were constantly making decisions on what two weapons to carry, and playing the game with a plasma rifle and assault rifle was very different from using a sniper/shotty combo, or rocket launcher/pistol, etc... The only game I own that has a major gameplay change due to an in-game decision is Oblivion's vampirism, and that was just terrible.

Oh, and music you have saved on your HD should be mixed in with the game's sound as if it were the game's own soundtrack.

Whats missing in next-gen gaming.

For one, the game enviorments arent great, theyreally seem last gen.

second, there arent any new game concepts out there, these game company keep on making sports games. For what, why are they waisting all they're time on sports games? They could of made the next best first person shooter ( besides Halo 3 and bio-shock and Half-life).

Thats just what i think the next gen gaming is missing.

Whats missing in next-gen gaming.

For one, the game enviorments arent great, theyreally seem last gen.

second, there arent any new game concepts out there, these game company keep on making sports games. For what, why are they waisting all they're time on sports games? They could of made the next best first person shooter ( besides Halo 3 and bio-shock and Half-life).

Thats just what i think the next gen gaming is missing.

mosa922

I agree with you - sports games are the same year after year...in my opinion I'd love to see more detailed character models...I'm not even talking about faces, more like clothing and how they hold things like weapons or other items. This may sound really stupid, but it drives me nuts to see some character's outfit where everything just looks painted on...it's next-gen - I want more realistic clothes, da**it!

a good story that draws you in to the game there has only been a couple of games with a good story for the next gen consles

something like the darkness

I think we need more customabilty or nonlinear like you said. One draw for me its silly for some is I like making my character even if its not like male or female, But what weapons I can upgrade and use like Hitman blood money in a way or Bioshock but without the means to get all the upgrades. Imagine Bioshock if you could upgrade a few weapons and plasmids or maybe just upgrade all your weapons but not your plasmids. So each player would have there own favor.

Also I would love to see a Choice your own adventure type books turned into games. It is kind of what role playing games are really to a point well some of them.

naked women?Clinton015

Meh, IF you get naked women. I want my naked men.

the real thing that is missing from gaming in general is story. we aren't pushing any boundries when it comes it gaming as an artform. nothing at all in gaming causes the player to reflect on there own life, or pose questions about the social and moral reality around them.

bioshock is a push in the right direction, but it isn't a big enough push, infact it's a realy realy realy small nudge when you take in the big picture of everything.

I have not yet played a next-gen game with a decent storyline. Yeah, some have interesting stories, but they are shallow at best, or too dramatic, or they take themselves too seriously. Just once, I would like a game with a story that could trigger some deep emotions.

A cheesburger once in awhile would be nice too.

For me the 2 "real" next gen games that stand out in my mind are Assassins Creed and Mass Effect. I pick these 2 games for 2 very different reasons. Assassins Creed offers up an interactive gaming world never seen before with the processing power being put to fantastic use to make the world interactive with the ability to climb through everything and your actions usually have a consiquence of some kind such as pushing people with alert guards or climbing buildings in the open will get you noticed. illbitcrusher

yeah those two games look very good. the other game that I can think of is splinter-cell conviction - the crowd dynamic seems very next gen, but the game I feel will be hit or miss

The Power Glove.septemberluc