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As gaming technology becomes more and more advanced, and graphics and gameplay become increasingly more complex, there seems to be a subterranean yearning for simpler times – when two dimensional game platforms were the norm, complete with 16 bit sound effects. As someone who grew up in an era when Mario and Bomberman were the top-of-the-line in terms of available video-games, it’s been a slow and difficult shift for some of us to adapt to the supra-realistic gaming realm of today.
The benefit of two dimensional games was the fact that they were limited by their graphics, which meant that they had to work extra hard to supplement the other facets of a quintessentially good game – namely, plot and character development. I don’t want to sound like a movie critic. But at the same time, video games have always fallen into a similar field of media, and they have been judged and lauded accordingly. Some of the best games out there, which have stood the test of time, are ones that have a deep and interesting story to tell, full of imagination and unexpected twists. Halo quickly revolutionized the FPS genre by combining not only great and unprecedented graphics, but also incorporating a fascinating storyline, which lent itself to subsequent sequels.
But in the 90’s, games had to rely on storyline a lot more if they wanted to have any lasting impact. One of the classic SNES games was Chronotrigger, that for all intents and purposes, pretty much defined the RPG genre up until the present day. It followed the temporal adventures of a kid named Chrono as he passed through various time periods, making friends from each era, and striving to uncover the secrets behind an eventual enemy named Lavos who would destroy the world some time far in the future.
But it was, like most SNES games, two dimensional. Nevertheless, the lack of ‘dimension’ was secondary to the worlds that the creators were able to portray, and the story arcs that developed (Chronotrigger was also one of the first games to introduce alternate endings, based on the decisions of the player).
Today this movement back toward two dimensional games can be seen in a number of independent companies, since they are relatively easy to develop – however, their ease of development doesn’t mean that they are any less compelling. Games like Fez (which is at face value 2D but uses a unique 3D ‘shifting’ ability to solve puzzles) and Reus (in which you take on the role of a world deity), as well as a number of other independent games, utilize the two dimensions to their utmost.
Of course, 2D isn’t restricted primarily to independent gaming companies – Sid Meier’s Civilization series is one of the longest standing world empire games, which a number of incarnations (I believe we’re on 5 already?), and many casinos and online gaming websites also employ two-dimensional interfaces into their games. However, both online casinos, independents, and commercial programmers are aware that the graphics of a game always play second fiddle to how playable and entertaining a game is to the buyer. For nostalgia hunters like me, it’s a way to reconcile some of the more vapid “high graphic” games coming out these days. I’ll take fascinating character development over realism any day.
