An Honest Review from a Gamer/ Game Developer Enthusiast

In recent times, I have revisited classic narrative-driven games that evoke nostalgic memories, such as "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time". Upon returning to contemporary gaming experiences, I recognized a perceptible disparity in the level of excitement and enjoyment. Subsequently, I conducted a thorough comparison to identify the underlying factors contributing to this discernible difference. Several observations came forth:

1) Movements/ Controls:

The current games rely mostly on the key binds “W”, “Spacebar” and “left-click”. Where-as the classics also involved a lot of other options or to perform a series of complex movements which were necessary to be used in order to clear a level.

2) Gameplay:

The graphics are an important part of a game, but the primary focus should be on the elements like story and character building. The most appropriate example of this would be the antagonists from the “Far Cry” series (Far Cry 3, 4 and 5 in particular) and the assassins from “Assassin’s Creed” Series which caused the games to be a major success in the gaming fanbase. The fans have loved the antagonists more because of their character development, the unexpected “Elements of Surprise” that the games bring in due to the crazy nature of these characters.

3) Emotions:

I would say this point is one of the most under-rated ones. The emotions that are associated with a particular scene… such as adrenaline rush during action and horror scenes. For example, being chased by the men of Vaas Montenegro, or the iconic “I said stop the bus, not shoot the bus” scene by Pagan Min from Far Cry 4. The feeling of calmness during scenes when you discover a new area on the map and it displays a beautiful scenery. All these moments are engraved in the hearts which makes the game popular.

4) Attention to detail:

The minute details like water splashing on the camera when the player dives into the water in “Assassin’s Creed Black Flag” may not look like much, but I still remember my friends discussing about it and attracting a lot of players due to the water mechanics.

Another point worth noticing is- making the experience too much smooth will oppose the true intentions of gameplay.

"Smoothness is inversely proportional to gameplay"

However, attention to key detailed elements like, special weapons in specific missions - like the flamethrower mission in Far Cry. The attention to loading bars (E.g. Prince of Persia Warrior Within's loading with blood), The ship customization options in Black Flag. The progression of swords in the sands of time, The use of the time dagger, etc. are a few things which are noticed by gamers.

5) Memories and childhood:

Emotions that are triggered during the game, play an important role and are further developed into what later the gamers call “Core Memories” of that game. These memories force the gamers to revisit and play the same game again even though they have completed it once. The story-based games which we now play as grown-ups might serve as a “First story-based” game for the younger generation. Their first game will dictate the way in which they look up to other games.

6) Space Optimization:

Games these days easily cross 100GB in size and gamers these days do not have the policy of “One game at a time”. So it often happened with us when players say “I don’t want to get this game because it will take up lots of space, instead I can get 2 games for the same amount of space”.

7) Tester should always be a Gamer at heart:

While testers do a great job of making sure that the quality of the game being delivered is optimal, a gamer can quickly notice the flaws of a game based on the years of experience he/she has had playing video games. Or, one more solution could be to have 2 categories of testers: one to test the technical aspect, while the other to check the quality of game from a gamer’s point of view.

8) Hype/ Quality of a game:

The first few hours of a video game play a vital role in the success of a game. Whether or not to continue playing that game is decided by the player in this time frame itself.

9) The challenging level of puzzles:

I have observed that in the present, games are made a lot more user-friendly and easier as compared to the classics. The purpose of a game should be to develop the skills in the player that are required to clear the level. Not the other way round by adjusting the difficulty to make it easier. If a player is “hard stuck” on a particular level, a lot of walkthrough videos are available to get past that point.

I remember moments when I had to call one of my friends to my home to get me past a level because I didn’t have enough skills to clear it (skill issue).

10)  Too much gap between the trailer and the actual release of a game:

This is like a double-edged sword. Having too much time gap (around 6 months to one year) between trailer and release can either cause the fanbase to be distracted by some other game, or even if they do wait patiently for the release, there are two possible cases:

(i)            The gameplay and quality of that game lives up to the hype and the player-base forgives the long amount of wait time.

Or

(ii)        The game does not live up to the hype and the players are disappointed because the quality of the content is not up to the mark.

11) Sound Effects and Narration - The sound effects used in game subconsciously creates the nostalgia effect for gamers and become signature moves. Example sound track in PoP Warrior Within when Dahaka Chases the prince or how in the Sands of Time there is a level at end where the player has to choose the door based on where the sound of water is coming from. Basically, it includes all the elements which act like clues to the player that's incorporating special effects in to gameplay which are beyond just key presses

Last but not the least, this is my personal opinion and the thoughts of others might differ. I respect that. The purpose of this post is not to criticize anyone, but to bring attention to the things that can be done in order to bring the gaming experiences to an optimal level. While there are other games as well that could be used as an example, I stuck to Ubisoft games because they majorly contribute to my gaming childhood and to avoid the risk of any potential conflicts. I am open to conversations and to hear your thoughts on this.

Ubisoft, Ubisoft India Studios, Massive Entertainment - A Ubisoft Studio.