The Infinity Blade series changed how people played iphone games. It had new and better graphics with unique and fun gameplay. Yet it all felt familiar. The style of two champions competing to deplete the other’s heath-bar dates back to the late 80’s-90’s. When the original Street Fighter came out in 1987. This was followed by the now wildly popular game, Mortal Combat which released in 1992. When I was playing Infinity Blade III I thought back to these games and how mobile games are almost repeating the path of other consoles and devices.
The original Street Fighter was released as an arcade game. Its gameplay was simple, dodge, block, punch, kick. There were more complexities than that, but those were the key aspects. In Infinity Blade you have dodge, block, parry, attack. They each work for different enemies and scenarios, yet they are very simple. The game is nothing special for the console world. In fact, had it been released on consul it most likely would not have sold very well because it wasn’t anything special. It even copied additions made in Street Fighter II by adding special moves that helped execute enemies fast by completing combos and successful attacks. The game was made better by the limitations of the device on which it was played.
By the third addition of the Infinity Blade series the game had lost its charm. You could find the gameplay in other games and every version played almost exactly the same. This is something all fighting games have to deal with. How can you make the exact same game new and fun again. Some games add more characters, Infinity Blade added a playable female character in the third game. Others, such as the Mortal Combat games make bloodier and more fantastical deaths for the player to enjoy. Through my research into this style of videogame I realized that my love for the Infinity Blade series did not come from the gameplay itself, but from my own nostalgia and excitement over a new way to play a game that I had once loved.
“Games Nobody Talks about Anymore: 1987’s Street Fighter.” Den of Geek. N.p., n.d. Web. Dec. 2016. <http://www.denofgeek.com/us/games/street-fighter/242821/games-nobody-talks-about-anymore-1987-s-street-fighter>.