Requiem for the FPSes of Old
Posted By Tobiah on March 9, 2010
I’ve noticed an odd trend within the gaming community, specifically in regard to First Person Shooters:
OLD is BAD
As far as the majority of the FPS-enjoying world is concerned if a new game has come out, everything before it was horrible unbalanced garbage. A while back Halo 3 was the new kid on the block, shiny and handsome. Then Gears of War 2 was released, and suddenly everyone was acting like the Master Chief stepped in something. In time, Gears of War 2 gave way to Modern Warfare 2, the new golden child, who in turn was replaced by Battlefront: Bad Company 2.
Under this system, anyone who still plays an old video game is either a cheater, a small child, or a camper. Playing a game older than a year is akin to being a dog-fucker. No one returns your calls, people avoid eye contact with you on the street, your credit rating goes to hell. It’s awful.
I respect the system which the gaming gods have given us, and do my best to spit on the heretics whenever I can. But for the life of me I don’t understand it. I can think of no other genre of video game which subscribes to this philosophy. Yoshi’s Island did not suddenly render Super Mario World unplayable, nor do fans of Final Fantasy XXI (or whatever ludicrous number they are up to) go around the internet hunting the fans of previous editions down like feral dogs and trolling them to death.
It stands to reason that the multiplayer aspect is a major influence, although to call that “the reason” would involve succumbing to two fallacies. First, that different is a synonym for better, and second that in order to like one game, you must retroactively hate all previous games. It’s like these FPSes are jealous girlfriends that will smash everything in the house if you so much as look at a picture of your Ex. It also doesn’t explain why the old/bad interchange doesn’t extend to other multiplayer endeavors, such as online RPGs or Real Time Strategy games.
The one FPS that has seemingly managed to avoid this fate is Counterstrike, although in that case it may be due more to dark wizardry than anything else. It can be said that those who still adhere to the old ways are more beast than man, sustained by arcane rituals and sacrifices to an unspeakable and ancient master known as de_dust.
Whatever the cause, this mind-set remains a constant mystery to me. Of course, I’m the guy who still boots up old adventure games from time to time, just to kick that stupid wizard’s cat, so perhaps it’s simply beyond me.
