Games that Need to Change - PART 2

Metal Gear Solid

Don’t get me wrong I’m a diehard Metal Gear fan. I could watch Solid Snake eat a bowl of cereal for 8 hours and be happy but then again I’m a weird guy. Sadly I think if Kojima & Co. wants to sustain the popularity of the franchise it needs an overhaul to bring in some of the younger gamers. I love the cut scenes as much as any other MGS fan but to be honest they need to be refined and interwoven into the game better to keep newer gamers from walking away during a 45 minute chunk of time without gameplay. No one told Kojima that the average attention span is less than 10 minutes. I thought Uncharted 2 was a great example of how a game could develop character relationships in game while utilizing short yet cinematic cut scenes to bring it all together. Not a single cinematic in Uncharted 2 broke 6 minutes. GENIUS!

When it comes to controls Metal Gear is one of the most advanced and complicated games on the market. There are so many controls, options, items and weapons available to the player that many of them go unnoticed. Watching an experienced MGS player at work is a thing of beauty but sadly most people would never know they can utilize half of those abilities or maneuvers. Kojima & Co. needs to bring all of their great control and gameplay options to the foreground so players can more easily execute them and feel like the badass that Snake really is. 

Games that Need to Change - PART 1

Grand Theft Auto

One of the greatest selling franchises of all time and I’m telling it to change. I am such a pretentious asshole. With each GTA iteration the world becomes more vast and expansive but sadly it’s starting to lose some of its appeal. Particularly with sandbox games players feel the need to do anything and go anywhere.

Never has a game needed branching storylines more than Grand Theft Auto. And don’t tell me that GTA IV had branching storylines because having two endings based on one decision doesn’t count. Those aren’t branches, that’s a tree stump with a limb sticking out. If GTA could take a page out of the Mass Effect book and allow the player to control the dialog exchanges and where the story heads I think it would reinvigorate the already great franchise.