"Dead things"GameSpy has posted a top ten list of
dying game genres, with graphic adventures, unsurprisingly,
topping the list. Aside from the fact that they're a bit wrong in a few instances - neglecting, for example, the importance of
shmups in Japan, the continued survival and success of the beat 'em up (uh,
The Two Towers anyone?), and the abundance of rather good puzzle titles on both the consoles and the PC - it's a good read.
I specifically wanted to address a few bits from the graphic adventures "obituary":
On the bright side, there's still hope for fans of a good treasure hunt. The Longest Journey, considered by some to be the best adventure game of all-time was released just three years ago, and just last year Syberia proved that occasionally a worthwhile adventure game will trickle out and get a little attention.What, no mention of the fact that development is proceeding on sequels to both
Syberia and
The Longest Journey - the latter a
multiplatform sequel - for the PC, most likely both Xbox and PlayStation 2, and perhaps GameCube - with the definite potential to truly expand the market for adventure games, and to evolve the genre in an exciting direction that will pave the way for future titles, one of which will of course be the third chapter in the TLJ saga?
No? Oh.
Sorry for the marketing
spiel, but, hey, that's my job! Fact is, I hope - and believe - that the next
Journey will be a massive success across all platforms...not just for our sake, but for the sake of the genre and for other companies like Dreamcatcher and Microids, who are still developing exciting adventure titles.
However, it's also important to not look at adventure games as a rigid genre, something that has to look and play a certain way in order to be "pure". That's reactionary thinking. The word "adventure" isn't about how you control the game, or whether it's 2D or 3D: it's about
adventure; about immersion, story, puzzles, and about experiencing a world through the eyes of a well-defined character. The adventure genre should be a flexible one, facilitating for a wide variety of gameplay - from pure exploration and puzzle-solving, to more action-oriented gameplay. Ideally, you should be able to walk into an Electronics Boutique and pick and choose from adventure games as varied and different as any other genre out there.
GameSpy is quite right about the following statement:
...many elements of adventure games have been integrated into other genres. Today's RPG's, for example, feature many of the same puzzles and situations you'd encounter in late-80's PC adventure games.True. Modern multi-genre games - including some of the biggest games out there, like
GTA: Vice City,
Final Fantasy X, and
Resident Evil 0 - have borrowed important adventure elements like the strong storyline, inventory, quests, multiple choice dialogues, puzzles, exploration, and so on. And that's exactly why they're so popular, because people
want adventure games. They just may not have found a "pure" adventure to tickle their fancy lately. Why? Maybe there aren't enough good adventures (there aren't). Maybe some adventures are a bit too "old fashioned" (though that didn't hurt
The Longest Journey or
Syberia). Or maybe the above-mentioned games just happen to offer more gameplay, more
fun, more bang for your bucks, than any recent adventure.
I dunno. I guess there's no one answer to that question. I do know what
I would like to see in an adventure, however, which is why we're making another one, and why I'm confident it'll be a big success. And that's also why our next online world (which has been in development since last summer) contains a
lot of adventure elements - enough to make it a very unique multi-genre title, the first of its kind to go online. But enough about that. For now.
Phew. Interesting subject. With Funcom focusing on the adventure-slash-RPG genres, it's important to get
your feedback on this, so let your voice be heard - in e-mails to me, on boards and in forums, and in letters to your favourite online sites and magazines. Let it be known - in polite and professional terms, of course - that the "graphic adventure" ain't dead, because it's a genre that encompasses so many different elements that have been proven to work in a multitude of successful recent games.
More on this later.
