Bringing Back the Old School

by Jeff on 12/27/2009

Image property of Rockstar Games

This past Thanksgiving I found myself with a week off, while I should have been studying for finals, I chose to catch up on more pressing matters. Anyways, here is a post that should have been up a month ago… oh well, like I said, I had more pressing things to do.

To celebrate Thanksgiving and to give students time to spend with their families, my university doesn’t hold classes for the entire week that Thanksgiving falls on. It is definitely something that I look forward to every year as I need the break to recollect my marbles that I invariably lost during the semester. During this time I like to catch up on my gaming quota. Yes, every good gamer has an internal gauge and mine was reading empty. I could have bought a new game to occupy my time this Thanksgiving, but a killer deal on a Flip Mino used up that cash. But, I still needed something to fill my game-o-meter. I headed over to look at my stock of video games that I keep on hand for such situations. Halo 3? No, I just replayed that. [prototype]? Eh, the part I saved at takes like an hour to beat. I just don’t feel like doing that right off the bat. I just need something that is mindless fun….. how about Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas? Uhhh, it’s old, but damn its fun. What the hell, let’s do it.

As I pop the disk into my Xbox 360 and waited for it to boot up I recalled back to the fun times I had playing this game. The jet pack. The planes. The bicycle. It was all so dumb in the grand scheme of GTA but I loved it. Ah crap it’s up. New game…start…skip cinematic…woo hoo a bike! Holy shit! The graphics are awful. Did I really think this as great at the time? Well, I will give it a try. Haha, riding the bike isn’t half bad, I need to upgrade the bunny hop though so I can jump over cars. Damn, this bike is a squirrley bastard. Whew, made it back to Grove Street. Wow, the dialog is terrible. What, was this phoned in? Shit. I guess new games have spoiled me somewhat.

I continue playing though, relying off of the fond memories that I loved this game and if I just get back into it I will love it again. I do a few missions before I hit the gym and bulk up. Then its time to ride a bike all over town. Yes, that is all I did for almost an hour. Hit the gym and ride a bike. Might sound boring to you, but it was the mindless drivel that I so desired. I even hopped the fence to fly planes early so I could get my pilots license way before I am supposed to. What did I find as I played the game? The poor graphics just faded away to where I didn’t really care anymore. I was having fun. Who cared if my head was a square that someone took a bench grinder to, the mindless drivel won. Don’t get me wrong, the dialog is still god awful, but who cares, I skip through it anyway.

It was a refreshing change to play an older game again. To venture through familiar territory remembering little tips and tricks from my past to make the game easier or more enjoyable. What about you? Do you like to go back and play some of your favorite game or are you only one of the latest and greatest types? Personally, I keep nearly all of my old games on hand just for times like this. Besides, when you don’t play a game for a long enough period of time, it feels like new again when you pick it up to play.

Sound off in the comments below and let me know what your gaming preferences are.