Revisit Letdowns: Games which didn't hold up!

The current "Top 20" thread has delivered a few mentions of games which some still rate very highly but others believe have been shown up by time and progress so I thought it would be worth starting a thread to share and discuss games which people think fall into this category.

I'm sure we've all had that experience of returning to a game which at some time in the past you adored and discovering that it really doesn't float your boat in the same way that it used to!

For me a very recent addition to this list is Shadow of the Colossus. Whilst this never troubled my own personal "top games" lists I did hugely enjoy the experience back on PS2. Having spotted a few people include this in their top 20 lists this week I thought I would go back and play it again and fortunately the remaster had recently dropped as one of the free games on PS Plus so I would be experiencing the best possible version of it! Several hours later I emerged with a somewhat lukewarm view of the game. Stripped of the mystery and impact of a first play you can see that the mechanics are pretty paper thin and the whole thing is a breeze to get through. No longer distracted by the very impressive spectacle of the events the fiddly nature of some of the controls and the basic, repetitive and somewhat dull processes of scaling and defeating the colossi is also revealed on a repeat play. I still rate it as a brilliant first experience, but the revisit has tarnished my view of it to a certain extent.

So tell me, what games have you returned to with the expectation of rekindling that first joy only to discover that, much like former 90s Hollywood heartthrob Brendan Fraser, the years have not been kind to it?

Beyond Good and Evil.

Cumberdanes wrote:Beyond Good and Evil.

Ooh interesting. I really liked BG&E but it is one that I've actively avoided replaying for fear of having that memory tarnished!

Perfect Dark 64 with the N64 controller is almost impossible to play now. I know it's been rereleased since then, but even so, going back to the OG is like engaging in an exercise in stabbing your eyes and hands.

Cumberdanes wrote:Beyond Good and Evil.

That was never good though.

Bit harsh on poor Brendan, didn't he give up acting because he fell into depression after being sexually assaulted?

Alvin Flummux wrote:Perfect Dark 64 with the N64 controller is almost impossible to play now. I know it's been rereleased since then, but even so, going back to the OG is like engaging in an exercise in stabbing your eyes and hands.

Yeah, + Goldeneye. A lot of the N64 is difficult to go back to. Muddy, fuzzy graphics and frame rate issues as well as wrestling the controller. One of the reasons the OOT remake on 3DS is so good is because it feels like how you remember...

It’s got to be Tomb Raider’s 1 through 5 really, hasn’t it. They were frustrating as hell then (none more so than when you saw someone else playing it properly like a majestic ballet dancer). As much as I still mentally have a great affinity for them (well, the first 4 anyway, 5 was one Raider too many) I can’t imagine trying to wrestle her around those environments now. The controls were ageing in 1999 and that’s when we were all still pretty comfortable with them.

Plus the Anniversary edition was excellent, even if the T-Rex part lost its impact. Put moody Lara down and go remake 2, Square!

Tomous wrote:Bit harsh on poor Brendan, didn't he give up acting because he fell into depression after being sexually assaulted?

Not aware of this, if that's the case then sorry Brendan!

Tomous wrote:

Alvin Flummux wrote:Perfect Dark 64 with the N64 controller is almost impossible to play now. I know it's been rereleased since then, but even so, going back to the OG is like engaging in an exercise in stabbing your eyes and hands.

Yeah, + Goldeneye. A lot of the N64 is difficult to go back to. Muddy, fuzzy graphics and frame rate issues as well as wrestling the controller. One of the reasons the OOT remake on 3DS is so good is because it feels like how you remember...

It's definitely a victim of the time it was released, there are plenty of N64 games that still play well but that early 3D console generation doesn't transfer well to modern displays and player expectations!

KK wrote:It’s got to be Tomb Raider’s 1 through 5 really, hasn’t it. They were frustrating as hell then (none more so than when you saw someone else playing it properly like a majestic ballet dancer). As much as I still mentally have a great affinity for them (well, the first 4 anyway, 5 was one Raider too many) I can’t imagine trying to wrestle her around those environments now. The controls were ageing in 1999 and that’s when we were all still pretty comfortable with them.

Plus the Anniversary edition was excellent, even if the T-Rex part lost its impact. Put moody Lara down and go remake 2, Square!

I replayed TR1 and 2 a couple of years back and found the first game held up much better. The focus on solo exploration and limited combat meant that the controls were far less of a struggle than the later games I think. But yeah it's a series that could do with some proper remakes!

Tomous wrote:A lot of the N64 is difficult to go back to. Muddy, fuzzy graphics and frame rate issues as well as wrestling the controller. One of the reasons the OOT remake on 3DS is so good is because it feels like how you remember...

This is very true. I was going to say Super Mario 64. I love Super Mario 64! It remains the game closest to my heart! But... when I picked it up again, the camera was a pain and the whole thing looks... well, like most N64 games look.

Also: Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire. I played it endlessly when I was younger, with I think five completed save files. I loved the monster design, the music, the Secret Bases, the variety of cities, the introduction of Double Battles... but it really doesn't hold up. Even the remakes have the problem of large featureless expanses of sea, which doesn't make for good world design; and the stretch from Mauville to Fortree is rainy, long, dull, and perfectly capable of killing interest. They also stuffed up the music in several places, and the GBA soundfont has not aged well so it's not like the original's still perfectly enjoyable either.

Finally, OoT. I've said a bit about this recently so I won't go into much detail, but I gave up the playthrough before I got the 3DS port at Jabu-Jabu for various reasons.

Burnout 3. Went back to it a few weeks ago for the first time in 15 years, and while I’ll always have fond memories of it, I don’t think I want to play it again.

this is why im scared to replay certain games
out of my top 20 list i think id be less generous to

Ico
LA Noire
MOHAA
Walking Dead
SOTC
Batman Arkham Asylum

if i went back

Balladeer wrote:

Tomous wrote:A lot of the N64 is difficult to go back to. Muddy, fuzzy graphics and frame rate issues as well as wrestling the controller. One of the reasons the OOT remake on 3DS is so good is because it feels like how you remember...

This is very true. I was going to say Super Mario 64. I love Super Mario 64! It remains the game closest to my heart! But... when I picked it up again, the camera was a pain and the whole thing looks... well, like most N64 games look.

Also: Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire. I played it endlessly when I was younger, with I think five completed save files. I loved the monster design, the music, the Secret Bases, the variety of cities, the introduction of Double Battles... but it really doesn't hold up. Even the remakes have the problem of large featureless expanses of sea, which doesn't make for good world design; and the stretch from Mauville to Fortree is rainy, long, dull, and perfectly capable of killing interest. They also stuffed up the music in several places, and the GBA soundfont has not aged well so it's not like the original's still perfectly enjoyable either.

Finally, OoT. I've said a bit about this recently so I won't go into much detail, but I gave up the playthrough before I got the 3DS port at Jabu-Jabu for various reasons.

Super Mario 64 was a weird one for me, I didn't like it at the time, but when I played it several years later, probably nearing 10 years later I actually enjoyed it.

It's not as good as the Galaxies, or Odyssey though.

Pedz wrote:Super Mario 64 was a weird one for me, I didn't like it at the time, but when I played it several years later, probably nearing 10 years later I actually enjoyed it.

It's not as good as the Galaxies, or Odyssey though.

That is weird. I think it actually killed Galaxy 1 a bit for me: coming off a couple of 3D Marios with freedom of travel and exploration, Galaxy 1 was altogether too linear for my tastes. While appreciating its evident quality, I was actually quite disappointed in it. Adored Odyssey for much the same reason.

Ocarina of Time

Brilliant and groundbreaking at the time, but now i just find the whole dungeon format tiresome.

<]:^D wrote:this is why im scared to replay certain games
out of my top 20 list i think id be less generous to

Ico
LA Noire
MOHAA
Walking Dead
SOTC
Batman Arkham Asylum

if i went back

I very rarely go back to games I played (and really enjoyed) more than a couple of years previously for fear that it might spoil my probably rose tinted memories of them.

Ironhide wrote:

<]:^D wrote:this is why im scared to replay certain games
out of my top 20 list i think id be less generous to

Ico
LA Noire
MOHAA
Walking Dead
SOTC
Batman Arkham Asylum

if i went back

I very rarely go back to games I played (and really enjoyed) more than a couple of years previously for fear that it might spoil my probably rose tinted memories of them.

Batman and Walking Dead both hold up really well, I think games from the last gen into this hold up well for the most part.

im just worried that the emotional impact of my first playthrough will be spoiled by playing Walking Dead again
glad AA still sounds worth playing!

Yeah, when you know what to expect from the story it takes the impact of it out but it still plays and looks great (especially the recent definitive edition release)

Every game ever released will, at some point, fall victim to this.

It's a unique phenomena to gaming that all games age badly. I think it's due to the fact that games require a greater deal of active interaction to create immersion; old movies or songs might seem dated now, but people still experience them in the same way: you watch / listen. Whereas with games, you engage, you're an active participant, and the way you can interact with the game has evolved so much that older games don't (can't!) compare.

I wrote an article* along very similar lines fifteen (!!!) years ago, and the irony is, there'll be games I was thinking of as suitably advanced and futuristic at that time, as to make obsolete their predecessors, that will doubtless be obsolete to me now should I revisit them.

(*Yikes, that's a hard article to experience now. It reads like it was written by an anxious teenager... which is exactly what happened.)

N64 the thread.

A lot of those games don't hold up, it's mostly framerate issues that make them a rough ride. I look at Rare's output in particular, all of their games on the system barely hold a steady framerate. Would love to see these games modernised, DKR in particular.