How soon before we see the best of all genres in 1 game?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Video games have entered a new level of greatness lately and raised the bar in almost every genre, from shooters to puzzlers to RPGs to racers. No matter what kind of video game you like, it's very likely that this year you played one of the very best of that kind of game.

We're already seeing games try to mix all these different genres together into one game, but with mixed results. For instance, Mass Effect combines RPGs with a third-person squad-based shooter with some puzzle and driving thrown in for good measure. Now, while few would disagree that Mass Effect nailed the RPG, but the rest? Not so much. Imagine if Mass Effect's shooter was as good as a Call of Duty 4 or a Halo 3, squad control as good as a Rainbow Six Vegas, puzzles as ingenious as Portal and driving as fun as Burnout. How soon do you think it will be before we start seeing Triple A Games that actually nail 3 or more game genres within one game?

Obviously, programming and technical constraints are the biggest hurdle here, to say nothing of the increased production costs of creating an All-In-One Game like this. However, how much would a game like this make? Would it be worth it for the game studios to produce or would they make more money simply putting their resources into making stand-alone shooters, RPGs, driving games, etc...

[StreetFighterRyu]

Can you imagine how much the game would cost? It won't be $60 I can tell you that much. It would be awsome, but might not happen in a long while. Or at all actually. Seems near impossible.

[Sanagi]

I'm all for the mixing of styles and the defiance of genre borders, but games are too diverse for this to be a feasible idea. Tetris Rhythm Tactics Fighting NFL 2008? It's like trying to make a stew that contains every flavor in the world.

The only feasible way to do it is to employ different genres as minigames within one game. Final Fantasy 7 does this reasonably well, for example.

[Wesley Dodds]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing a few months ago. I had the idea for a multiplayer game that mixes genres. So, one person would be playing a puzzle game, and if they did well it would mean power-ups for the person playing a shmup, and high scores by the shump player would mean weapons, health and ammo for the FPS player, kills would be turbos for the racer, etc.

[StreetFighterRyu]

Tetris Rhythm Tactics Fighting NFL 2008?

This made me lmao.

[Xero Kaiser]

We'll probably never see it because it's a terrible idea. 2 genres is about the best you can do without spreading yourself entirely too thin. Nobody wants a puzzle game in a football game that's somehow a turn based, real-time strategy, third person shooter dating sim.

The best games tend to focus on one thing with some light elements taken from other genres. There's a reason for that. You want to be everything to everybody and you wind up doing nothing right

[BYC]

Sandbox games are the closest so far. I do belive they can achieve it if the developer really really tries. Throw in good FPS/TPS aspects into GTA, with Burnout/Forza/GT style driving, add good RPing choices, throw in some leveling and power ups so the people who thinking leveling = RPGs will be satisfied. And then wrap it up into GTA MMO, and it might be close. The only problem is it's not really worth it IMO.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

I'm totally supportive of the idea of seeing a multi-genre game, as long as said genres match with each other (I agree with Xero Kaiser here). I believe that if it excels in all the genres the developers are including in the game, the sales would be huge. It would have its detractors, sure, but for the people who like more than one genre it would be paradise.

Regarding the costs, it would be a titanic endeavor to undertake, exactly because of the fact that there would be so many genres (well, two or three, I suppose) mixed into this one game. The development team (or teams) would be bigger than usual, for starters.

If only...

[StoneGold]

Is there a movie that combines the best of all genres? Other than American Ninja?

[Kevinroc]

Certain characters have had their hand in multiple franchises and done so successfully. Mario, for example, has been in tons of different genres successfully. Even the Mario Party games bring forth some different types of genres (albeit to varying degrees of success for some mini games).

[jesse_custer]

I believe the sandbox game, mentioned by BYC earlier, is a good example of someone trying to do this. The problem is that most sandbox games, especially current sandbox games, suck pretty hard. They're inventive but they wind up combining every different genre gameplay style into one gigantic repetitive wheel. I'd say the Metal Gear Solid and Zelda series have done a far better job of combining genre elements.

[Xero Kaiser]

Certain characters have had their hand in multiple franchises and done so successfully. Mario, for example, has been in tons of different genres successfully.

Yes, but Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Mario Party and Mario Galaxy are all separate games

[Kage Kisaragi]

Persona 3 has aspects of RPG, Life Simulator, and Stratergy. So I don't think it'll take to long, if they didn't mind lengthening the game some more they could have added the sports aspects via the after school sports clubs that are already in the game. That would include Track, Swimming and Kendo fighting events. Now that would have been sweet.

[livin_target]

Personally, I don't think it'll happen anytime soon. Sandbox games are so successful (IMO) because they take a lot of ideas and simplify them down so that the user doesn't have to learn about 20 different complicated things. We've already seen some games try to merge the best bits of 2 genres and fail mainly because they can be a bit overwhelming. Take the battlezone series: IMO they're fairly decent games but some FPS players don't want to be burdened with the whole RTS aspect of the series and some RTS players are discouraged from the games because they hate the idea of having to take part in a dog fight. Games like this are quite fun but they require a lot of time and effort to master and a lot of people just feel overwhelmed when faced with having to learn to play 5 different games at once.

I think the worst offender of this that I've come across were some custom made maps for Op Flashpoint that added RTS elements to it. This basically meant that each player had to fight, lead a squad, coordinate with other squads, manage resources, reinforce your squad and follow orders from the team commander all at the same time while hoping the team commander was good enough to keep resources flowing and keep the tech tree up to date with your opposition. They were damned good fun when you took part in a good game but if it was a bad game, it was pretty miserable and very difficult for new players to get a grip on how to play.

Saying that, I could see some genres mixing well together, like FPS and RPG (as seen in Vamp Bloodlines and Deus Ex).

[nervmeister]

How soon before we see the best of all genres in 1 game?Only when Peter Jackson decides to get into the gaming business will we see it.

[StreetFighterRyu]

Nobody wants a puzzle game in a football game that's somehow a turn based, real-time strategy, third person shooter dating sim.

I just wonder how this will turn out.:p

Sandbox games are the closest so far.

Sorry, I don't know what sandbox games are.

I do belive they can achieve it if the developer really really tries. Throw in good FPS/TPS aspects into GTA, with Burnout/Forza/GT style driving, add good RPing choices, throw in some leveling and power ups so the people who thinking leveling = RPGs will be satisfied. And then wrap it up into GTA MMO, and it might be close. The only problem is it's not really worth it IMO.

Eh, it might be worth it. Except the MMO part. I was thinking of a similar thing to this. (No power ups) I like how GTA:SA let you level up skills. (Which I hope the next GTA game will have) Need for Speed driving stlye. TPS like Saints Row and GTA. And hell throw in some blades for sword fanatics. (Namely myself) And give it real sword fighting. Colliding, learn some awsome techneqius. (Spelled them wrong) And please, give real rooming capacity. 'Cause it's always 4 in a car. Why not five? And 7 when you're in an SUV?

But no MMO. Just give it a nice Test Drive Unlimited stlye free roaming for a lobby. Even make a Cafe as a lobby or even your own house. (I was thinking of buying a house, decorating it, and even buy a pool with the money you earn in heists, raiding houses, and rank matches)