Are your favourite franchises better or worse this generation?

There’s nothing more exciting than a new console generation. And however much we bounce and squeal about the limitless possibilities of new game design upon each new launch, the thing we’re always most interested in is how much better our favourite old games are going to be this time around. But are they always?

We decided to take stock of just how much this generation has improved things – or not – by comparing the current editions of our favourite long-standing franchises to their crusty old predecessors. And just so that there can be no arguments, we’ve employed hard science, via GamesRadar’s patented Cross-Generational Video Game Awesometer, in order to attain an accurate summation of when things were best. Trust its readings. It never lies. It is science.

Resident Evil

What this generation brought:

Two-player co-op, twin-stick controls

How the overall package compares:

Resident Evil 4 was one of, if not the, defining action game of the last generation, so how on Earth was Resi 5 going to follow it up? Its predecessor reinvented both survival horror and third-person shooters, but with the likes of Gears of War having already done the latter again this time around, a new spin was going to be even harder to find.

The solution? Iteration rather than revolution. The current-gen Resident Evil is exactly what that description suggests; Resident Evil 4 with current-gen trappings. The basic gameplay is the same, but the visuals are amongst the best we’ve seen on our current machines. Throw in online co-op, a cover system, and a new, Gears-style, twin-stick-control option, and you’ve got everything expected from a modern day Resi. Perfect then? No, not quite.

The problem is that by adding a grab-bag of rival shooters’ conventions, Resident Evil’s formula began to feel diluted, even suffering a personality crisis at times. With feet now equally in the action and horror camps, Resident Evil 5 is a game that often doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. And given the even greater emphasis on action, fans of the earlier, pure horror games are now more alienated than ever. And it doesn’t help that in terms of gameplay and enemies, Chris and Sheva’s adventure sometimes sticks a little too closely to Leon’s for comfort.

When the Awesometer says Resident Evil is best: 

Grand Theft Auto

What this generation brought:

A seamless Liberty City, better writing and cinematic values than ever before, less madness, DLC

How the overall package compares:

It’s fair to say that Grand Theft Auto had a pretty good time last generation. Inventing the sandbox genre and expanding its development to giddy levels between GTA3, Vice City and San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto changed the scope of action games forever and provided some of the most ludicrous rollercoaster fun we’ve ever had.

It’s only natural that this generation’s Grand Theft Auto IV was more eagerly awaited than the second coming of Jesus, but your comparable enjoyment of it rather depends on what you want what from a GTA game. If you buy into Rockstar North’s intense love of crime cinema, its characters, story and vibrant sense of place make it the game you’ve dreamed of ever since you’ve had thumbs. If you’re more about skydiving, rocket packs and ram-raiding shopping centres in a tank, part IV’s more reserved approach is likely to leave you a little underwhelmed.

That said, the core GTA gameplay is noticeably improved, particularly in terms of gun combat, and the much-vaunted DLC expansions balance out the fun rather wonderfully thanks to The Ballad of Gay Tony’s stonkingly over-the-top excesses. But that’s only if you want to pay extra for the experience. And currently, only if you happen to own an Xbox 360.

When the Awesometer says Grand Theft Auto is best: 

Metal Gear Solid

What this generation brought:

An old man, an over-the-shoulder camera, more action, cooler camouflage, more variety, longer cutscenes

How the overall package compares:

During the last couple of generations the core Metal Gear Solid franchise improved with each and every instalment. Having created the stealth action genre with Metal Gear Solid in 1998, director Hideo Kojima then pushed video game storytelling to brand new excesses with his cinematic if protracted cutscenes and consistently experimental narrative devices. Loved and reviled in equal measure for exactly the same reasons, Metal Gear Solid is as distinctive and progressive a series as exists in gaming, but how did current-gen technology run with that identity?

Beautifully is how. Put Simply, Metal Gear Solid 4 is everything we hoped for from the marriage of Kojima’s throbbing avant garde brain and the PS3’s no-less-throbbing Cell processor. The visuals are still some of the best we’ve seen on the system, the smoother, more open game mechanics are a joy, and in terms of fan service, few sequels have ever given so much back to their long-term audience.

It’s possible to argue that the PS2’s MGS3 is objectively the best game in the series, but as a resolution to the story, a send-off for Snake and stunning calling card for the PlayStation 3, MGS4 can’t be beaten.

When the Awesometer says Metal Gear Solid is best: