It’s Not About the Gameplay to Gamers; It’s About the Graphics

Gamer’s should stop denying this fact and realise that all they care about is the graphics. I’ve seen it so many times when I hear that all gamers seem to want is the next generation of consoles, when what we have so far is just fine. Look at the graphics that games like Uncharted 3, Halo: Reach and Battlefield 3 brought. I hear that people want the next generation, but then I also hear so many gamers saying that the gameplay should come first, then the story. They don’t really mention graphics when they say something like this.

And think about it: what the heck is the next console even going to bring? A new console doesn’t ‘really’ bring better gameplay mechanics you know. That’s down to how a developer builds their game, and if they build the game right with the right engine, then they can make their gameplay as flawless as possible. All the next console[s] will bring is probably just a few extra FPS (Frames per Second I mean) and probably slightly better graphics; the full power graphics we probably won’t even see for years to come yet.

I’ve also seen so many other developers say things like “We’re really pushing the console’s boundaries with our game”, and as amazing as their game looks, another developer comes along and makes the previous game look like trash and even sometimes act like it was a piece of cake. You do not, I REPEAT, DO NOT need brilliant and high quality graphics to have a great game; in fact most high graphical games turn out to be disappointments. Battlefield 3 was in fact, a slight disappointment in the case of it’s single player. Gears of War 3 also looked brilliant, but the game’s story was disappointing plus it’s multiplayer, purely because we had played it all before. Deus Ex: Human Revolution also looked very good, but was let down by it’s boss battles, confusing story and ending.

And now let’s look on the other side of things; games with very mediocre to bad graphics, but great fun to play. You could consider Borderlands (even though the graphics make it look like an awesome comic book) and it’s fantastic RPG-like gameplay that kept you hooked throughout the game. Mass Effect 2 seemed a little groggy in terms of models and graphics, but that turned out to be game of the year in many peoples eyes. Amnesia: The Dark Descent also had groggy graphics at it’s time, and yet that game still managed to capture peoples minds into the story and gameplay. Even Fez, an XBLA game which pretty much uses retro graphics, was damn right fantastic.

Of course graphics can make games look brilliant, and no doubt that one day we will get into an age where graphics will one day look so good you’ll think and believe it’s real. But do we really need to rush into the next generation? Look at the sales of the PS Vita. Despite graphics for a handheld looking brilliant on it, sales were under expected performance. Was the Vita too expensive? Perhaps. Who’s to say the next Xbox or Playstation won’t be too expensive? I mean can you really afford a new console right now, especially with the tough times we live in? Think of the price the next console will be (around about $400/£300 RRP) and think about how much you’ll probably get for selling your current console, including the price it’ll go down in when everybody will begin selling theirs after the next console is announced. You’ll be forking out a shed load of money just to get what you might consider, in my eyes, as a few minor tweets and unnecessary hardware.

I realise that one day you will need to get those consoles to keep up with the gaming era, because developers do stop developing for consoles one way or another (nobody develops for the original Xbox no more and certainly hardly anyone does for the PS2 any more). But we do not need to rush things; if gamers and developers, plus Sony/Microsoft play their cards right, they can actually bring order and balance to gaming. If we rush, we might as well just struggle even more to get through these tough times.

And don’t take what I said and think to yourself “Well I don’t think it’s about the graphics. This guy is wrong” because I do not speak for all of you. Not all of you think the way I think and not all of you think the way the gamers I just described think.

Tags: Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Battlefield 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Gears of War 3, It's Not About the Gameplay to Gamers; It's about the Graphics, Mass Effect 2, PS Vita, Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception