The hive mind can be a brilliant thing, answers can be obtained quickly and problems solved in minutes. People can rally for one cause or another and groups can be formed to support or oppose the smallest decision. When the hive is in agreement and overwhelming correct then nearly anything can be achieved, within context of course. The problem arises when the hive isn't right and it rolls on through making the wrong judgement because people are to afraid to speak out. You then get a roll on effect of people whom choose to be different purely for difference sake. Fighting with ridiculous logic and without purpose other than to play devils advocate, even when the general consensus is actually right. Take Too Human for example, full of promise, hype, anticipation and also fundamental failings. The game universally panned by regular people and critics too yet there were those people who claim it to be an amazing game. I'm not putting the game down to a level of Yaris but it is a very poor game that garnered a large amount of the aforementioned 'be different' crowd. So lets look at the wider effect on the games community from this phenomenon.

Recently I have found myself to be picking up games that you could call 'safe'. The big guns, AAA titles are all I am really willing to put my money down on. I know the content, the package is guaranteed and 9 times out of 10 I will be a happy customer, I wasn't always this way though. Games like Killer 7, Ico and Rez sit happily in my game collection, each bought at full price on launch but the thing they all have in common? I've spent no more than a couple of hours with each of them and why? Because they simply aren't very good games. They are competent, I'm not saying they are trash, they just aren't up to standard with what else is out there now or at their time of release. Now I know each of those games has quite a substantial following or at least there is enough people to have a strong admiration for them to warrant their existence. My query is are people just supporting these games because they want to be different?

All of those games and many like them use either 'stylistic' visuals or radically different slants on gameplay and control. Yet all of them are broken in many ways that people seem to forgive purely on the grounds of them being 'different'. Ico takes games worst mechanic, escort missions and turns it into a whole game. Killer 7 just has the worst controls to ever grace a game of any type and Rez just screams of over simplification and repetition. These are all basic things that all larger games will get shot down for in an instance. These games bring out the people who hail it for some life changing message that other people 'just don't understand'. These are the same people who argue games like Gears of War and Resistance to be 'generic'. Whilst those two games each play it safe they both add so much to a their genres that they are far from generic. In fact the only recent example of where a game took a niche concept in both gameplay and artistic style then actually made it work was Braid. It works on all levels and actually manages to substantiate it's overarching message with a solid experience that will bring most people to the conclusion intended. Something like No More Heroes on the other hand, well it's Killer 7 part 2 in everything but name. I got to rank 6 in that game and just stopped, your fighting controls, the world and the gameplay all the way through. Yet it oozes with so much other stuff that sets it apart but isn't enough to save it from mediocrity.

So my point is this? There are so many games that try to stand out with things that in the gaming world just fall flat on their face. Yet plenty of people will support the broken mechanics to their death. I'm not suggesting we should not have such games, a sterile range of titles that stick to known quantities is hardly an exciting prospect. I just don't understand the constant praise some of these games get. It can be done correctly and when it is then the overall package is nearly flawless, which is probably a testament to how ambitious the titles themselves are in the first place.

So I throw it out to you guys? Do you find yourself playing it safe with your game purchases or will you buy that niche title just because the hive mind of the gaming community says it is amazing? Do you buy titles simply based on the fact they are different or just your personal craving for difference that draws you to such titles.


Lazlow out.