Best game genre trend?
Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:14 am
I'd like to know which game genre trend did you like the best. Throughout the whole gaming history, there were examples of games that kick started whole new genres. If they were successful, they got a whole bunch of "copy cats" going after their success and with the premise to "better" the originator. Many genre trends came and passed but the most persistent ones still live on in one form or another, which could also be seen as a sort of compliment to the "timelessness" of certain game genres. So which did you like best and why?
I gotta go with platformers personally, as I think they are a brilliant, timeless genre of games, although these days a bit "withered" in popularity (the "proper" 3-D ones in particular). I just find it's the kind of genre where solid gameplay mechanics play the biggest role but it also allows for a lot of creativity to flourish. I was also fond of the fighting game trend of the early 90s to mid 90s. It seemed as a kinda "hard core" era for Arcade and console gaming where it was expected from players to know finger-bending combos and had a real competitive spirit to it. The modern variant would be the military first-person shooter game but I personally find those got quite watered-down and sameish these days. It's also interesting to see the explosion of popularity of "sandboxy" games in general. Maybe a sign that gamers want more "creative" games?
But there are also examples of "came and went away" genres such as Japanese-style RPGs (got big during the SNES era and even bigger after Final Fantasy VII came out but kinda faded in popularity or became more a handheld "niche"), the "twitch" f-p shooters, which were big on the PC in late 90s and early 2000s but made way for the more "realistic" ones and a few other examples.
A trully "timeless" genre seems to be the "space shooter" which was there since the beginning of gaming time and only changed a bit of it's "skin" during all this time. And in an abstract kinda way, the "Sports" game would also be timeless, as would the racing game, although those were ever-popular.
Opinions?
I gotta go with platformers personally, as I think they are a brilliant, timeless genre of games, although these days a bit "withered" in popularity (the "proper" 3-D ones in particular). I just find it's the kind of genre where solid gameplay mechanics play the biggest role but it also allows for a lot of creativity to flourish. I was also fond of the fighting game trend of the early 90s to mid 90s. It seemed as a kinda "hard core" era for Arcade and console gaming where it was expected from players to know finger-bending combos and had a real competitive spirit to it. The modern variant would be the military first-person shooter game but I personally find those got quite watered-down and sameish these days. It's also interesting to see the explosion of popularity of "sandboxy" games in general. Maybe a sign that gamers want more "creative" games?
But there are also examples of "came and went away" genres such as Japanese-style RPGs (got big during the SNES era and even bigger after Final Fantasy VII came out but kinda faded in popularity or became more a handheld "niche"), the "twitch" f-p shooters, which were big on the PC in late 90s and early 2000s but made way for the more "realistic" ones and a few other examples.
A trully "timeless" genre seems to be the "space shooter" which was there since the beginning of gaming time and only changed a bit of it's "skin" during all this time. And in an abstract kinda way, the "Sports" game would also be timeless, as would the racing game, although those were ever-popular.
Opinions?
