10 Video Games That Aged Badly For Surprising Reasons
Have you played GoldenEye since 1997?
We've discussed movies that didn't stand the test of time because of surprising reasons - but surely those same things won't drag down our precious video games too, right?
Sadly, some games just don't stand up to what they once were. Actually... most games don't, in all honesty.
Gaming technology has progressed at breakneck speed. Mega Man 1 is nothing compared to MegaMan 3, Total War: Three Kingdoms blows away the original Shogun: Total War like a medieval musket loaded with buckshot, and Dynasty Warriors 7 is... well okay, DW3 was the greatest in the series and you can't change my mind on that.
But we're not just going to pick on old games for being old, looking old or not using all the buttons on the controller.
Stardew Valley might not use the most advanced 3D graphics, but is definitely going to weather the foreseeable future - as proven by the furore over the developer announcing a possible sequel or tie-in.
No, the following titles don't stand the test of time because they don't hold up to the elevated status they helped create. Some have a fatal flaw that we all overlooked, or maybe someone behind the game's development rocked the boat in a negative way - the reasons can be pretty wide reaching.
10. Kratos' TERRIBLE Motivation - God Of War
When we were teenagers the violent Spartan man-child that was Kratos was the coolest guy ever. And now, fifteen years later - especially with a more mature Kratos in the latest game - we see that the original games were just full of teen angst and sex. Nothing elucidates the difference between a 'mature' rating in games and actual maturity more than the original God of War games.
Similar games of this nature, like Grand Theft Auto and Duke Nukem, can stand the test of time a little better than Kratos' original series can.
At least in Grand Theft Auto the main character has real motivations that push them toward violence and Duke Nukem is a caricature, but Kratos is presented as being an inspirational badass.
That's part of what made the latest Duke Nukem game fail – unlike Kratos, Duke never really matured and never stopped being an angsty, offensive to be noticed, kid in a bodybuilder's frame. While Kratos became meta, Duke just became that guy from high school who still wears his letterman jacket and talks about prom like it was yesterday.