Remember your favorite video game. The theme song that you would hum without even realizing your brain patterns had synced to the rhythmic beat. The tension that would rise in your veins as the impending boss battle drew closer. The depression or triumph you felt when having to turn the game off and wait for another day to conquer your battle of choice.
I grew up on video games. I would sit on my Dad's lap in front of our desktop and watch him meticulously move the analog stick to go after enemies. I remember one time where he had to kill a dog in the game, it was an enemy dog so it made it acceptable. I remember watching him get frustrated at a number of times he would have to re-do a section. Re-analyze, re-imagine, re-plan the winning route.
I've played a lot of video games over the years, everything from the classics to new games that emerge on the market. I could lie and say I'm fluent in them, but the honest truth is I know I haven't played nearly as many as I should have to consider myself a gamer. However, I am a gamer in my own sense, but that's an argument for another day.
The recent trend in the video game industry has been the revival of the games I started my intense gaming history. The Sims 4 included songs from the versions of time's past. Every time I hear one of the tunes from The Sims 2 dressing room, I still sing along. The PlayStation store offers a section of PS2 Classic games that you can purchase for play. The top-of-the-line graphics are debatable in our world filled with VR headsets, but those games I grew up on take me back to a time where life was carefree.
The most recent game I've been taken back into is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered. COD4, as it is known better as in the gaming community, is arguably one of the best installments of the franchise. The maps were perfectly constructed for strategic multiplayer modes, the story mode captures the essence of war, and the memories you are able to make with your friends are unparalleled.
The recent remastered version of the game makes few changes to the game, notably the changes of detailing, upgrading the older graphics in favor of newer graphics, while keeping the original game's "look". The sounds are more crisp to meet the PS4's capabilities, but the gameplay stays the same. I get taken back to years ago when I hear the theme song start to play in my headset. A time where life seemed easier and I didn't know of the greatness that game would instill in me.
Video games are more than just a boy thing. They are a girl thing, a parents thing, even a grandparents thing. We all have something from our ages that we grab onto, something that brings us back. Mine just happens to be video games and I feel as if a lot of other people have that same pull.
Nostalgia works in powerful ways. I encourage everyone to rediscover that pull, especially if it's video games. Today's technology is allowing us to time travel back to when things were easy. We forget about the world around us while we're plugged in, even if it's just for a few moments. We remember fun.
We remember.
