I am missing something here?.

Two of the most recently hyped xbox live arcade games have left me distinctly cold, Castle crashers and Braid.

Both of these games were hyped to high heaven, lauded as classic games, given rave reviews etc etc etc.

So why do I find them both boring and run of the mill?, if you haven't played them, Castle crashers is a side scrolling beat-em up, like double dragon, golden axe etc etc, and Braid is a 2D platformer, both genres have been flogged to death, and neither of the games bring anything new to the table, so why are people raving about them?.

Am I just getting old and jaded, or am I REALLY missing the point here, do people really get blinded by the "play this game, it's fanstatic hype"? or am I just a miserable bastard.....

gtfo your xbox and play super mario, dude

People have their own tastes

And there was me thinking I might get some decent responses, maybe even a retro revival reference thrown in somewhere

With the over the top hype about them your expectations have been high and nothing can deliver that much. If they were slated or even ignored you might have actually enjoyed them a little more.

Personally they are nothing special but there you go.

Don't concentrate on the products, I am more talking about the blinkered, "well they said it was good, must be good" games player that the next gen consoles seem to attract....

Fact is at least 9 out 10 games are a disappointment in one way or another, but you pays yer money you takes yer choice.

I've tried them because i've stumbled accross them on xboxlive. Haven't read a review or seen an add, so i was pretty unbiased.

I thought Braid was made really nicely, but didn't really find it very enjoyable. It felt like playing pseudo Super Mario.

Castle crashers however was great fun, and if i would have had some points left, i probably would have bought it. I played it together with a friend on the same xbox, maybe it's because of that, but it was lots of fun! I really liked it!

Most arcade games you find on xboxlive are garbage tho (IMO).

I bought a few classics, like Bomberman (highly recommended) and Golden Axe (too many childhood memories to skip it). Also that top-down shooter (with planes) called 1942 really did the trick for me (also played with a friend).

Ususally i prefer the new arcade games tho, and not the remakes. N+ is awesome for example.

It's just microsoft, they're lying cheating mofo's!
So they lie to get more people to be interested in their xbox's
Hence the total bullshniz reviews.

Indeed N+ is a very good game, it's fresh, and offers something new, although it does get a bit tired after a few levels.

I just can't get into platform games any more. I think I've been spoiled by modern games, but I find it very difficult to play any game that doesn't have a first-person viewpoint. I tend to play games these days for the immersion of being the protagonist and pretending to go through what they are, be it HL2, Stalker, LFS, whatever, rather than just for the challenge of 'beating the game'.

for example, I play LFS not to 'win' or to 'be the fastest', but to just pretend to be a racing driver.

Few of you seem to read that he is talking about the industry in general and using his case to line it up. He means nothing of the games. And I can agree a bit, but honestly it's exactly why I don't listen to the hype of any game, sure its hard to ignore but I don't find myself measuring a game to the hype that it created. Would have to say however, this isn't only about games. Its about everything. The more hype about a product the more people that buy it, the more that buy it the more money big guys make. They don't care how much you like it a month after you bought it, they already have your money.

EDIT: Woot people caught on while I had been writing this!

Slightly off this topic but on the same venue is the fact that 95% of games today (if not much higher percentage), are just complete remakes with different characters/graphics. Which is why, and I find this totally stupid and pointless, we have every company under the sun fighting to create their game with the prettiest graphics... Screw the graphics, make new games -> Wii is hitting gold in this department. Which is also interesting. Even though I don't play my Wii often, (really it's great when there are a bunch of friends around, but I am too often on LFS), I can say I've gotten several people to buy one. Not by telling them its great and all that hype, but simply by inviting them over and them all of a sudden wanting it... Its a very intruiging way of advertisment, but it works very well. I am just waiting for the games to catchup to the technology the Wii has to offer, sure a few good games out there, but they can and will get better. Not just the typical Mario anymore from what little I've played... Controls is the most difference, but thats more than what most games can say. I just hope for the future of games that we start seeing more innovative ideas.

I don't think you're missing anything Dan, I do think most times the hype is build up because it will sell better.

That's one of the reasons I have a tendency to like indie or smaller companie's games better. The big ones are just too worried about how their products will sell.


Edit: Oh hi Blackbird :P I'm too slow at posting heheh...

Quote from de Souza :

Edit: Oh hi Blackbird :P I'm too slow at posting heheh...

You time stamp is 14 minutes later than mine!!!! So I agree, you are too slow at posting! (Very slow it seems.

Quote from sinbad :

Fact is at least 9 out 10 games are a disappointment in one way or another, but you pays yer money you takes yer choice.

99/100.

Last game that actually impressed me was Portal and that was what, a year ago? Bioshock was a could've, should've sort of release but fell way short, Crysis... Well it was pretty but that wears off quite quickly.

I haven't played GTA4 yet but I was irritated by the whole stupid "take your girlfriend out, go to the gym, eat burget at burger king" bullshit that interrupted San Andreas, and it looks like all that crap is back for GTA4. If I wanted to grind progress bars I'd be playing WoW.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I haven't played GTA4 yet but I was irritated by the whole stupid "take your girlfriend out, go to the gym, eat burget at burger king" bullshit that interrupted San Andreas, and it looks like all that crap is back for GTA4. If I wanted to grind progress bars I'd be playing WoW.

Yeah, I agree about SA, some of that is back in GTA4, but it's not as nessecary, or intrusive as it was in SA, infact, I played through the whole story without touching any of it.

IMO GTA4 is a class piece of entertainment, I am still playing it, and after 4+ months, thats quite a testament.

I understand what you feel Dano, I feel the same way.
I hate when games get's overhyped, and it's creating unfair immage of the game. Now it's to a complete other consoll and all that, but was this game - Assasin Creed , that got praised up in the skies, then I tried it and got tired of it on 3 hours, dissapointed
It was the same all over the whole game, and after 3 hours I had seen it all.

Now back to these arcade games, a friend of mine got xbox, and he loves those games, but when I try them I can't seem to get the entertaining effect by it, it just...sucks

Quote from Crashgate3 :

I just can't get into platform games any more.

another reason could be the fact that 99% of the time all the new platform games released are almost exactly the same - same sort of levels, same sort of plot, same sort of characters, same sort of moves

although occasionally you get a few gems, back in the days of PS2 games such as Jak & Daxter (before it was ruined) and Ratchet & Clank (before it was ruined) were awesome

Quote from thisnameistaken :

If I wanted to grind progress bars I'd be playing WoW.

ur doing it wrong
http://progressquest.com/

Quote from Shotglass :

ur doing it wrong
http://progressquest.com/

I played that years ago, great stuff. I had a Double-Hobbit Fighter/Organist.

I try to take the position that as I'm an older gamer these days, I've seen a lot of games... I really appreciate good innovative games but I don't assume younger or more inexperienced gamers need to feel the same way. I might have played 250 kinds of platform game, whereas another person might have played 5, or none.

Can a game be a good game even if it's not very innovative? Or are kids just falling hook line and sinker for the same old trash?

I think GTA4 was hyped overly but was worth it, but it wasnt worth its 10/10 scores i think. I love the game still play it, but thats the same with Skate i still play that and ive almost had it for a year and im still finding new things to do or old things with a new edge.

I always hope i miss out on hype for certian games, but there are games you just follow that you hope are good because they've been portrayed that way.

Hmm im making no sense never mind me then

Everyone says that when you've finished GTA4 you have so many things to do. But you don't. By the time you've finished the story, you've got the nice cars/houses you want, you've seen the city and it's peoples.

It's very rare I play it after completeing it, as I found the ending rather laclustre personally. But hey.

Hype is a bad thing, you shouldn't listen to it, it has done damage to great games like GTA4 and Spore recently. When you over hype something people start to imagine they can do anything in the game, and imagine an experiance which is far beyond anything a game can realistically provide.

Speaking of Spore, I've only just noticed it's out. Has anyone played it yet?