Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada!

   



     If the current state of the gaming industry is what I fantasized about as a kid: glorious, multiplayer, bug-hunts in high resolution, then why do I find myself returning to the games of my youth? And if you thought it had to do with aesthetics or nostalgia, you'd be wrong. I'm returning to the games of my childhood for three reasons: namely, simple mechanics, straight-forward plot, and non-negotiable difficulty.

     When all you had for inputs where the d-pad, start, select, A, and B, you were forced to transgress your limitations - a frame of mind that truly inspires creativity. I could be wrong in feeling this way, but I can't help but feel like limitless potential is more often stifling and constricting, than the opposite. Sandbox games claiming that you can "do anything" are often way off the mark, and utterly banal and boring - I don't think I need to expand on why my lowest video gaming moment came to me when I was taking an NPC out on a date in GTA IV.
     Let's not even get into the notion of difficulty related to perceived reward, because without challenge, there is none! Every game tries to play off the argument that decreased difficulty is about experiencing the story, but frankly, I'm finding myself less interested in immersive story and more interested in gameplay. Obviously, difficulty is another concept right up there with retro-graphics on the trendy scale, but I seem to lose interest without something to test myself against.
   


     I suppose, that deep down, all I want is for Centauri to drive up to my mobile home and...