The Nostalgia Trap

Nostalgia is great, it lets us look back on the games we love and remember all the good times we had with them. The issue with it is, going back and playing something new can sometimes be disappointing. For me it was Halo, I had never really played any of them before, and with all the hype for MCC coming to PC I decided to jump in and I have to say, I didn’t enjoy it. My issue with Halo 1 and 2 specifically are their mechanics, the aiming(or lack thereof) felt archaic, and the movement sloppy. With FPS controls evolving over time, not having those rose colored glasses makes the game almost unplayable. Now, this isn’t anything against the games, I love GoldenEye and I know if someone jumped into it for the first time they would surely hate it. However, it opened my eyes to this issue, that some of the games I love are just not fun for new players. This isn’t true for all games, NES and SNES games are timeless due to their simple controls and easy to digest visuals. Whereas games from the PS1, N64, PS2, and Xbox days were venturing into new territory in 3-dimensional gaming and haven't aged well. I will reiterate that this doesn’t make these games bad, just that sequels and similar games have improved on the controls so much so that even simple things like aiming and running being absent are noticed. What this really proves to me is despite my hang-ups, most players look back fondly on Halo and that shows how much of an impact they had on the industry. So if you love something and show it to someone and they don’t like it, that’s ok, it’s still special to you and that’s what counts.