Overused Themes in Video Games

Whenever I go online to look up the latest video game buzz, I notice that there are certain themes that are taking over the market. Whenever I see that a game carries one of these themes, no matter how good the game might be, I seem to automatically overlook it. I am not saying that I don't like particular games that fall into these themes, Its just they don't seem to catch my eye immediately when I'm browsing through video game news and I never notice them until they have been out for a few months already.


SCI-FI / SPACE
If it takes place outer-space, galactic armies in space suits with laser weapons, aliens taking over the world, space ships, etc., I immediately loose interest. Mass Effect, Half-Life, Doom, Lost Planet, any Star Wars game, and of course Halo. (If there is one game series I simply don't give a damn about, it's Halo.) The only sci-fi themed game that can keep me interested is Metriod, but that's because of nostalgia and the fact that Metriod games tend not to have so much dialogue, which I like. Maybe it has something to do with the character design in many sci-fi games, they look so boring. When I look at the characters in Mass Effect, they seem so bland and uninspired, and Master Chief is just some guy in a space suit. And the whole outer space thing is tiresome. Blasting into space in a space ship shooting space aliens with your space lasers. And whenever you're in some hi tech building or vessel and activate something or hit a switch, you get that female computer voice that says, "Opening Door", or "Initiating Sequence", or "Access Granted". Its so ANNOYING and BORING. Make it stop!


MEDIEVAL / MIDDLE AGES
Knights, ogres, wizards, elves, dragon slayers. Games in this category include Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Assassin's Creed, and World of Warcraft. All of these games look the same to me. The armor, the monsters, the weapons and the environments all look as if they were watching too much Lord of the Rings. Even to some extent, Zelda fits in this theme, but at least there is much more creativity put it to it. Its a shame, because I hear Assassin's Creed is a pretty good game, but I just can't get over how boring the setting looks.


ZOMBIE / UNDEAD
Resident Evil, Left4Dead, Dead Space, Dead Rising, House of the Dead. Please kill me already! I know some of these games a good, but I don't think I can get hyped for another game where you take down a bunch of flesh-eating zombies, even if it looks decent. How about a game where you play AS the zombie? You could eat brains for health. You could take body parts from your victims as upgrades. Mix it up a bit.


POST-APOCALYPTIC
The plot usually goes like this: There was some huge war or some nuclear accident, and the whole world is in ruins, and its up to a large football player with a big gun, a scar on his eye, and a dark past to save it. Gears of War, Darksiders, the new Bionic Commando, inFamous, Resistance, and Fallout come to mind. These games always look dark and gray with no variance in color. The box art always consists of the main character with a weapon in his hand and the smoky ruins of a big city in the background. I feel like once I have played one game with this theme, I have played them all. Its just so boring. The characters are so depressing, they have no life or personality to them. They always have a frown on there face. Lighten up, will ya. Its just a game!


COMIC BOOK
X-men, Spider-man, Batman, you name it. The thing about these games is that they are too predictable and there is too much dialogue. You already know the powers, who you will fight, all the secret outfits, etc. I have already played this game 10 years ago. Leave me alone! For example, even though I know Batman: Arkham Asylum is a good game, I just don't feel the need to play it. I know the plot, I've played other Batman games, I've seen the movies, I've watched the cartoons. I've had enough. Same with Spider-man and X-men. If I want to get into Batman, I'll just watch a Batman movie. If you want to get me interested in another Batman game, make it based on the 1960's TV series with Adam West. Now that would catch my eye.


MOVIE BASED
These games never surprise me. Obviously trying to make money off of a recently released movie. They are never polished, always rushed to the shelves. Boring and predictable. Transformers: THE GAME, Ironman 2: THE GAME, Avatar: THE GAME, etc. Whether its a game based on a good movie, or a game based on a bad movie, the game always turns out to be crap.


MILITARY / ARMY
These games tend to be too realistic to me. The whole purpose of video games is to escape from reality. Any Call of Duty game, Battlefield, Metal of Honor, SOCOM, etc. Also, they tend to revolve around World War II. All of these games are the same. Same weapons, same vehicles, same environments. Pistol, sniper rifle, grenade launcher, machine gun, shot gun, etc. I can never get excited for these types of games. Whenever I watch someone play them, I start to fall asleep. Old and predictable. Next...