Btw, hang tight: I hear Duke Nukem Forever will be coming out during the year of Linux on the desktop.

“It’s time to kick ass and chew bubblegum… and I’m all outta gum”

Fair enough. When good gameplay and graphics come together, it definitely makes for a better experience.

I guess my point is that maybe too much time is spent now on back story. That sounds like heresy, I know, but more often than not these storylines (to me) come off as either completely disposable, or typical plot devices used to either force emotion or justify the game experience. Again, I agree: when it’s a good story that properly serves the experience, it’s great. When I’m rolling my eyes and repeatedly pressing buttons to skip through text or bypass pointless dialog, it’s brutal.

But seriously: CG cutscenes aren’t anything new, and they never ruined video games. Some of them are horrible, yes, but in all honesty CG cutscenes have served to better video games. Look at the intro to Marvel Ultimate Alliance. It’s about 2 minutes long, and then bam you’re playing the game. There is a tutorial, but its pretty much the regular game you’re playing.

Games like Final Fantasy have overly long cutscenes, but that is because those games have a hugely overarching story that starts from the minute you press start until the credits roll. Those are deeply satisfying intros, and deeply satisfying stories.

I understand what you mean when you say the intro to Double Dragon was perfect. It is, it truly is. But you can’t look at it and go “Wow that is just so much better than the intro sequence to [insert final fantasy game here].

Better graphics does not equal a better game, but you have to admit that when good gameplay and good graphics team up it makes a hell of a better game than Double Dragon which, while had great music, had a pretty mediocre story and very little moves to learn.