Nine Features No Next-Gen Game Should Go Without

Nine Features No Next-Gen Game Should Go Without

Ability to save replays

We're living in a Youtube society these days. Thanks to the advent of cell phones, digital cameras and laptops, it's possible to document every single moment of our lives. But capturing awesome game moments is far too difficult. Sure, some games have built-in options for saving highlights (mostly sports titles) but in our opinion, every game should give the player the ability to cap at least a couple of seconds of in-game footage to the PS3 and 360's massive HDDs. Even Wii owners should be allowed to get in on the action by being allowed to save some footage to SD cards.

We can take this idea one step further: the PS3 and 360 can broker a deal with Youtube for an app that resides inside each console's menu system (the Wii can easily add a channel as well). Gamers can then upload their clips to special channels that other gamers can browse, watch and rate right through their XMBs. Gamers are already uploading gaming clips on Youtube but by automating the process and eliminating the need for extraneous video equipment, you'd give gamers the ability to share their best moments with the world; sure, you'd get a bunch of crap but that's what rating systems are for.

Worst offenders: Grand Theft Auto series
Games that did it right: Most Sports Games, Burnout series

Nine Features No Next-Gen Game Should Go Without

The ability to pause at any time

No matter how badly you want to, you simply can't pause life. It doesn't matter what you're doing: life will find a way to interrupt you and for whatever reason, it will almost always happen while you're playing a video game. You're trying to relax and have a good time and all of a sudden, your phone rings or your dog starts doing its 'I'm gonna pee on the carpet' dance. The pizza delivery guy shows up and starts banging on your door or your significant other wants to "talk about their day."

So what does a good gamer do? He or she pauses the game, gets up off the couch and deals with whatever problem arose. But get this-some games won't let you pause whenever you want. Xbox 360 and PS3 owners can usually hit the XMB buttons and enter the main menu system but even then, some games will contine on in the background. But there's no good reason why you shouldn't be allowed to pause the game at any time. Seriously, when was the last time you were able to play a video game without a single interruption? Unless you're Batman and you're hunkered down in the Batcave, you're bound to have something crop up in the middle of game so the ability to pause (and even better save) the action is something every game should have. Oh, and what about the ability to TIVO cutscenes? Pause and rewinding through key cutscenes and dialouge would be a godsend.

And for our online brethern, every online game should have the option of letting you pause and have a little "AFK" icon (stands for away from keyboard but it's a universal code that tells others you had to step away) pop up over your character's heads. You can also institute a 10-second no-movement freeze or an auto respawn to stop cheaters from using it to ambush unsuspecting players as well.



Nine Features No Next-Gen Game Should Go Without

The ability to replay the game on a harder difficulty while keeping your inventory and abilities.

This is something that has been broken in most modern games for far too long. The inability to play through a video game a second time through while keeping all your upgrades, weapons, and other earned assorted goodies is beyond frustrating. The incentive to replay a game becomes almost instantly crushed once you tell the player that everything they worked hard to unlock can't be enjoyed during the second play through. A game has to be truly exceptional to get you to want to play it more than once all the way through. And to spend the time creating all sorts of unlockables and upgrades, only to have them not available when you play the game again on a harder difficulty seems, well, kind of ass backwards.



Nine Features No Next-Gen Game Should Go Without

Loading screen timewasters

Video games are basically supercomputers that sit in your living room. They have enough processing power to pump out amazing visuals and handle mathmatical equations that would give Einstein a headache. But video game software has become so complex that even with all that processing power, loading screens remain a daily fact of life. We can't begrudge developers that-we completely understand that sometimes, you have to stop the action in order to load the next massive level.

But what we don't understand is why so many developers force us to just sit there and stare at a static loading screen. Granted, this creates an opportunity to go to the bathroom or grab a snack from the kitchen but the majority of gamers end up twiddling their thumbs. This is why every game should include some sort of interactive timewaster that runs on top of loading screens. Namco did this with Ridge Racer Revolution, giving you the option of playing the classic arcade shooter Galaga 88 during loading screens; best of all, you were given an in-game reward for shooting all the enemies down.

Why aren't more developers doing this? It makes so much sense. Again, loading screens are necessary and we accept that but for gamers, it's just time wasted. Even if it's just something silly like the ability to bend the words that pop up in Symphony of the Night's loading screen, just give us something to do while we wait; if you can somehow find a way to tie it into the main game, all the better.

Worst offenders: 98% of games
Games that did it right: Tekken series, FIFA series, NBA Live series

Nine Features No Next-Gen Game Should Go Without

GPS

We're not saying every game should have a special chip inside that'll tell you, the government or space aliens what and where you're playing games. No, we mean every game should have some sort of mechanic built in that points you in the direction you need to go. We're not saying they should have a fat yellow glowing arrow that basically eliminates all sense of challenge and discovery; all we mean is that there should be something in place to ensure that you don't get lost.

Dead Space is a recent title that did this really well. The game's story was well written enough that you never felt lost and objectives were clear enough but the game featured a cool glowing light thingie that told you where to go; the light faded quickly so it never robbed you of the sense of satisfaction that comes with finding your own way but if you ever got stuck or forgot what you were doing, a quick press of a button was all you needed to get back on track. It was slick, simple and insanely useful and every game could use something similar.

Games that did it right: Dead Space, Grand Theft Auto 4, Saints Row series

Comments [32]

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PatrickShaw

It drives me INSANE that a huge number of games don't allow you to replay your favorite missions!

ZanonX

Here is one, letting you choose a character to go through the game with after you beat the game.

I'll use punch out as a example, you are always little mac but like I said above, if you beat it you can play as piston or mike tyson as the main.

that would be a cool feature.

Toneman

Pretty sweet article... I love how you show worst offenders and games that do it right to make your point. Very well done... all devs should read this article :)

goldberg_evan

while I agree with the list...how could you not include subtitles? As a hearing impaired gamer, I find myself struggling to understand some game's plot by lack of subtitles (both in-game and cut scenes). The major one that made me mad by not having subtitles was Assassin's Creed. I loved the game, but sometimes felt lost in the story because I could not understand the character's discussions.

FOURTHxSURVIVOR

Thank god you didn't say multiplayer. I hate how every time a new game comes out or there is a list like this on anther site or mag they always go on about how a game is missing multiplayer or that it should be a mandatory feature. So thank you for creating a list that suggest actually useful features (like the remapping of controllers, I couldn't agree more) instead of just: "every game needs capture the flag". Multiplayer has become a real annoyance in that, instead of offering different and fun modes to a single player game, like challenge rooms, rewards for speed runs or offering weird variants of the SP game, companies just slap on a cheap multiplayer mode and somehow think that because you have some AI buddy that spouts one-liners, ruining the experience (Resident Evil 5...), it offers replay value because said companion can be controlled with a human player.

Not every game needs deathmatch, not every game needs co-op and if developers and (especially publishers) would realize that well realized bonus modes will take their game further than some tacked on multiplayer portion than we would start seeing better quality in single player games over all. I like MP too but I don't want to being playing some kid over and over everyday because my game offers 6 hours of SP and nothing else.

So good list, its sad how obvious these ideas are and yet they aren't universal - I mean not all of them would work in every game but things like skippable cutscenes and custom controls should be mandatory.

wariomangreat123

These are all necessary features that should be mandatory this generation as well.

teh2Dgamer

Nothing makes me walk away from a game faster than an un-skipable cutscene. It's like the dvelopers are saying **** you, you're going to watch it, and love it. That's usually when I either turn the game off, or go to the bathroom. That way they wasted thier time forcing me to watch a cutscene that I won;t be watching anyways.

It drives me apesh** batty when I can't skip a cutscene.

hikayu

how could fallout 3 have a good autosaving system ? i used to wander hours in the game and then suddenly i die , losing hours of game play !

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