10 Amazing Games You Didn't Realise Aged HORRIBLY
These awesome games aged like milk left out in the summer sun.
It's probably fair to say that video games age inherently worse than all other art forms, in large part because games are still an incredibly young type of media, whose technological innovation moves at a geometric rate compared to, say, movies, music, or books.
And so, while some games do manage to age gracefully - say, the original Sonic the Hedgehog - not all masterpieces can be quite so lucky.
Sometimes games end up succumbing to the ravages of time, and we're forced to admit that they don't really hold up to modern scrutiny.
Now, we all know that certain beloved games have aged like milk - say, the original Grand Theft Auto or GoldenEye 007 - but what about those less-obvious titles which are a genuine chore to play nowadays?
And so, we come to these 10 video games, each of them beloved by millions of players who, more likely than not, haven't revisited them in recent years.
If you do, you'll likely be taken aback by just how awkward their gameplay mechanics are and how stiff they feel to play.
It does nothing to diminish their overall legacy, but it's worth being aware of if you're planning on revisiting any of these classic games...
10. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
It's often said that Hitman 2: Silent Assassin marks the point at which the stealth franchise really found its footing - that it was a vastly superior evolution of the series' messy-but-promising first game, Hitman: Codename 47.
And while that's basically true, it doesn't mean that Hitman 2 is still easy to play with a smile on your face today.
The excessively linear level design just doesn't hold up compared to subsequent titles, the AI is infuriatingly aggressive, and the disguise system lacks the nuance of later games.
The result is a title that's much slower and far more challenging than any other in the series' 25-year history, and typically not for the better.
It is the definition of a game that outstays its welcome - something even huge fans of the Hitman games might bring themselves to admit.
The next two games in the franchise, Hitman: Contracts and Blood Money, have however aged considerably better with their more balanced difficulty and streamlined mechanics.