Graphics vs Gameplay
	We take a look to how the game industry has changed, from the earlier days of games relying on gameplay, to nowadays with games almost mimicking real life.
05.05.05 - 11:54 pm

Graphics: Most people think that graphics really don't matter.  Let's think back for a second: remember when the first side-scrolling Mario game came out on the NES?  Well that baby was all about the gameplay, but you could only play so many of those side-scrollers before you started realizing something: they often became stale after a while.  You could only run back and forth, jumping into bricks and collecting coins so much.  Now think for a minute about the Mario that debuted on the N64 (which happened to be called Mario 64).  That was gaming bliss too! There were tons of worlds to explore with tons of secrets and everything else in-between.  But how could we explore these lands and conquer giant beasts like Bowser?  Because of the graphical capabilities.  You wouldn't be able to run around like that in a 2-D game, and because of the N64's graphical capabilities, you could create new genres and make games even more creative and fun.  Which Zeldas do you think are more fun: the old top-down 2-D action/rpgs or the new 3-d ones like Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask?  3-D graphics ushered in new game types and expanded upon what you could do in a game.  Let's take a look at another genre: fighting games.  Many 2-D fighting games have been created in the past, and were even starting to loose their edge.  Then along came 3-D capabilities in our game consoles, and what has been created because of this?  A whole new breed of fighting games, ones that were fully rendered in 3-D.  This created a whole new legion of fans following such fighting games like Tekken and Virtua Fighter.  These types of fighting games wouldn't have been made without these graphics capabilities.  Do you love the gameplay in Dead or Alive?  Well then you better thank the introduction of 3-D graphics made to the console industry.  In some games, graphics even affect the gameplay.  Take a look at Splinter Cell. Thanks to the lighting engine, you can hide in the shadows, sometimes even standing right in from of a guard and not getting caught.  Because of the graphics, you can do things like that, like cloak yourself in the shadows, shoot guys through curtains thanks to their shadows being rendered on the curtains, and many more instances in the game.

Gameplay: This is where basically the game is, the gameplay department.  Old-school games DEPENDED on this.  Back then, you had to get really creative in order to make a fun, new game for the masses.  Now, this department is sometimes overlooked.  A lot of developers spend more time, money, and resources on the graphics and sometimes forget all about the gameplay, or do a half-ass job on it.  Take a look at Kakuto Chojin, the game has some of the prettiest visuals, but this doesn't matter once you realize that the game gets boring and tedious after a while.  Also, the dollar speaks a lot more than fun nowadays.  Game developers will sometimes make a game just to get a quick buck off of a certain license or franchise (think, how many crappy game based off of movies have you played?).  In most of these games, they do a poor job and just rush the overall game.  Look at Mortal Kombat Advance,  even though it was partially a port, the developers spent no time on the gameplay engine, fighting technics, nothing, they just did a half-ass job to get a quick buck from the GBA players who are into MK.  Another game is Ty the Tasmanian Tiger.  EA wanted a sort of mascot-platform game and failed to try anything new, they just took old gameplay ideas from such successful franchises as Sonic and Crash Bandicoot and just slapped it onto a mascot that appealed to kids.  The game isn't necessarily bad, but they was created for a quick buck.

Whether you prefer high-tech visuals or fun-filled gameplay, it basically comes down to the game.  Halo combines very good visuals with outstanding gameplay, as does Splinter Cell.  It just depends on whether the game is GOOD or if it is FUN.  After all, that's what partially brings us toward playing these games, because they are fun diversions from the rest of the boring world.  But try not to overlook games just because the visuals are ugly, it may turn out to be a new classic.