Lately it has come to my attention that about 10-12 years ago, we really had our head up our asses. I am referring to the early years of the N64 and Playstation era of course... It seems like we were ready and willing to accept anything and call it excellent, simply because we never saw 3D games before. I have four examples with which I hope to illustrate my point... Hopefully I don't get a lot of flak for "bashing" on some of the "greatest" titles from that generation.

Final Fantasy 7
This is a great RPG. Overblown to absolutely hell, but it's fine in its own right. The point I want to make with this however, is the look of the game. Who on Earth thought it was a good idea to have blocky characters made of six polygons a piece, in front of a screen shot for a background. This was just pure laziness and I don't know how we forgave it even then. Thankfully the style was fixed not long after.

Super Mario 64
Obviously another great game. Introduced how to get a 3D platformer right. First problem though is that Mario is slipping all over the fucking place. This was something that wasn't solved into Mario Galaxy for christ sake. I don't know who dropped the ball there but dammit. The other issue is that camera control. It's not terrible, but it's certain in the way more then it should be in every close corridor circumstance. At the time we didn't know what the hell a good camera was so we let it slide. Then again, we can't bitch this game out to much because at least it tried. Unlike countless other games...

Sonic Adventure
Which brings me to Sonic Adventure. What the fuck bussiness does this game even have existing. Glitches everywhere, the game stops to load repeatedly, it looks MEH at best, it has boring ass music and a story that is better off not being spoken of. Not to mention the terrible idea of a wordmap. But when you go back and look at reviews for this game, it's getting god damn 9's! I guess we just thought that was how a Sonic game was supposed to be...? Actually the sad part is that this is only the beginning of the poor Hedgehogs spiral to shit... With the exception of Adventure 2 and Secret of the Seven Rings anyway. Both have their issues but at least they're fun. I'll never understand what we saw in the original though.

Ocarina of Time
I can hear the fan boys screaming... "What the hell is so wrong with Ocarina!?" Sorry guys, but a lot. Even back in then I'm not sure why we were giving this game 10's, especially if you've played a Link to the Past which has a near identical storyline with the exception of time travel. But lets get down to it. The battle system is ass. Camera control set the bar but what's up with the sense of power, being that there isn't any. It's like no enemy feels any pain in this game and they don't even flinch. Fanfuckingtastic. The pacing of the game is also terrible. There is never a sense of urgency or danger, and everything is just easy breezy. The most undeniable issue however, and I'm sure that anyone going back and looking at this game will see it, the game is EMPTY. Look at fucking Hyrule Field. You'll be lucky to find an enemy during the day, never mind a tree. This is typically justified by saying "Well thats the best they could do then" and that's bullshit. If you can't do it, don't. Do what you can do, and do it right, instead. Even Majora was a massive step forword from this but then people hate that for "Not being a Zelda game" but now i'm getting off track...

The point I'm trying to make here is that we were truly blind in the early 3D era and I don't know what we were thinking. And these games I've listed, were supposed to be the cream of the crop. God knows how many issues plague the rest of the pack... I for one don't even want to think about it. I guess I'd like to thank developers out there for raising out standards and having us expect a lot more in our gaming experiences now. As for the fan boys out there who still hold these old games dear... Pull your head out of your ass and see the truth. They have not stood the test of time, whether you like it or not.