12 Classic Things Most Modern Video Games Are Missing

5. The Element Of Surprise

The Internet has done many great things for the gaming industry, no doubt, one of which is the increased transparency developers are forced to have, as the immediacy of information generally allows journalists to let gamers know ahead of time if something seems fishy (case in point, the recent Assassin's Creed: Unity debacle). The flip-side of all these Beta tests and preview impressions, however, is that video game PR also totally kills the element of surprise: there's rarely that thrill of being totally blown away by something unexpected anymore, simply because everyone knows about everything ahead of time. Gone are the days where, as a youngster, you played Sonic for the first time with little idea what it was about and were astounded, or you had no clue that Raiden would be the real protagonist in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. As fantastic as the new journalistic models are for consumer advocacy, they also drain much of the fun and excitement out of everything, either over-hyping a new game to the point of lunacy or simply providing too much coverage. Granted, any individual can simply try to avoid all the exposure, but in an increasingly-connected world, it's becoming rather challenging. In the last 5 years, how often can you genuinely say you had your jaw dropped by something unexpected in a game?