Recently, I went to the arcade at the local mall. As I was milling about all the old games that had been out for years, I moved to the back of the place and saw.Tekken 4?! Wow! I had no idea it was even out! I couldn't get the tokens into the machine fast enough.
Upon first play, I was immediately disappointed. The graphics, while not bad by any means, certainly weren't a large step up from the Tekken Tag Machine which used to occupy this space. The gameplay, too, was bland and appeared as nothing more than a rehash of the older games. New characters included Christy, who appeared as nothing more than a nod to the Dead or Alive series, with oversized mammaries and a fighting style that was exactly the same as Eddy Gordo from T3.
As I walked out of the store, disappointed, it made me realize just how rarely we see any true innovation in videogaming anymore. One need look no further than Playstation 2's freshman year to see just how true that statement is.
The most popular games on the PS2 thus far have been Twisted Metal Black and Gran Turismo 3. Are both of those games fun? Arguably so, but it's all ground we've trampled many, many times before. Graphically, yes, they do blow their predecessors away, but how about from a gameplay standpoint? Do they scream innovation? Well, no, of course not.
How many times can we, as gamers, be spoonfed the same old formula with fancier graphics but no real changes to the core element of a videogame? I'll tell you - as long as we keep buying what companies throw our way. Things will never change in the market as long as companies keep making money from tired, worn out concepts.
One can hope that the new consoles on the horizon bring with them new gaming paradigms, but looking at the launch line ups of both the XBOX and the Gamecube don't exactly fill me with hope.
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