This may be a useless fact, and a boring one also, but Twisted Metal was the first Playstation game I bought. In fact, it was a collection CD (Pirate Collection, might I add) which had Twisted Metal 1, 2, 3 and Vigilante 8, all in one CD. In the timeless words of Bruce Campbell, "Groovy". I played it over, and over, and over again. And when I finally learnt English, I played them one more time, just to know what the drokk was going on with my characters (So I got a bit dissappointed when half or more of them ended up swirling in space or dead or worse... stomm happens). Those were some really great games. Rogue trip, Vigilante 8, even 007 Racing.
But what happened? Why did they faded? It's evolution. Good old evolution.
All game genres have a "base" of sorts, what defines them, some sort of formula. What makes FPS games be FPS, racing games be racing games, etc. As the public evolves, they start demanding changes in these bases. FPS started adding squad control, so there was no "Lone Badass Marine" who single-handedly wiped out an entire alien race. Racing games started including police chases, car customization, free-roaming. RPGs are on a constant state of change, always adding new things to the original formula.
At this point, I feel the need to add something: I am NOT against formula changes. I think they're great. We're talking about vehicular combat here (And B-Movies, but don't worry, I'm getting there)
But what about vehicular combat? Why didn't it evolve? Simply, because any change to the formula would have been too superficial. In squad-based FPS, you HAVE to use your team, or you're simply dead meat, so the formula changes from "Shoot people up" to "Use your team to shoot people up". Same goes with customization on racing games. But the formula of vehicular combat can't be altered. It's simply "Run around and shoot people up", and its way too hard to add new things to something that vague. At its core, the vehicular combat formula remains untochable.
The same happens to B-Movies. You can't expect them to have deep storylines or amazing special effects. They would become A-Movies, not B. Their formula doesn't change. They remain a ridiculous bunch of ridiculous movies made by (Mostly) ridiculous people. As the public evolved and started asking for more and better storylines, character development, etc., B-movies faded away. And the same thing happens to vehicular combat.
The public is asking for something that vehicular combat just can't deliver. Storylines can't easily conveyed, only through FMVs, 'cause you're just too focused on shooting people up to hear your poor guy whineing about his/her pathetic life. Same goes for character development. Changes in gameplay could only happen through new weapons, levels, vehicles, etc., but the formula remains the same. The only thing that can be upgraded are graphics, but it's a superficial face-lift.
And so, the only people who still play vehicular combat game/watch B-Movies remain the same: die-hard fans who don't wan't to see their favorite game/movie genre change. They (Well, we) want new characters, new situations, new weapons, but not new formulas. They're happy with the way their games/movies are now.
Now, only a handful of games/movies are released every year, but we receive them with a happy grin on our faces. We embrace them, play/see them, and, if it's good (Or bad, from your point of view), we raise them to "cult" status. It's that simple.
Luckily, there's a kind of revival of old videogame genres. We see a lot of good "Me against the world" FPS, and they keep coming. Maybe its nostalgia, maybe it's because we have grown bored of the deep storylines but no fun, or maybe the new generations have forgotten about these genres and receive them as something "Completely new, like nothing I'd ever seen before!". Whatever the reason is, I just can't wait for the moment when vehicular combat makes its triumphant return. And then you will pay... you will all pay!! All the deep storylines and character development in the world won't be able to save you!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
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*Cof cof* Sorry about that... got a little over the top, I guess. Anyways, those are my thoughts about it. But what do you think? Did you use to play Vehicular Combat games? Did you like them? Do you still play them? Did you make a small model of Sweet Tooth's Ice Cream Van out of cardboard?
