Day Nineteen

As I've mentioned before on this blog, I don't understand why some people criticize Team 17 for putting out new versions of Worms that don't really change the game play all that much. I have no problem having more of something I really enjoy without the need to instill forced novelty upon it, when the novelty of simply having new levels would suffice. I can think of two recent games, Dragon Age 2 and Crysis 2, that felt the need to add crap in that prevented me from buying the games.

Dragon Age was a fantastic game. A lovely RPG that I'll likely play through a second time one day. When I finished it, I was quite excited to learn that Dragon Age 2 was a near certainty in the future. I was dismayed to learn that the second installment was taking a much more Diablo style "action RPG" approach to it. At first I trusted the developer to use this to improve upon the original in small ways. The more I learned the more I felt this was not going to be the case. Then when the demo was released, I confirmed that it wasn't going to be the case. They had monkeyed with the game beyond the point that it felt like the game I had enjoyed in the first installment.

Whether the changes in Dragon Age 2 are an improvement or detriment are clearly up to debate. I did not enjoy them and wished they had stayed true to the original and explored the new game mechanics in another game. Most of the time if I really enjoy a game, when I'm done, I simply want more of the same thing, with new content. A good example of this would be Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. Loved the first one. Loved the second one. While there were changes between the two, Fallout: New Vegas was really not much more than a second helping of Fallout 3. Same game, new content == win.

While some would argue that Fallout 3 is a prime example of what I'm whining about, those people are wrong. Fallout and Fallout 2 were excellent games with Fallout 2 being an excellent follow on to the style and content of the original. Fallout 3 was released 10 years after Fallout 2 and it would have been ridiculous for a major studio to publish a 2D isometric RPG in 2008. Using a great universe to make a new game is awesome. Using a great game to make a crappy game sucks.

Games Played: 
Worms Reloaded

Achievements: 
Not so much