Quality limited to one genre?

So I previewed "Adventure Night" a little last Sunday and began to realize something that upset me a little. I had never really played many tradition point-and-click adventure games growing up as a kid. I vaguely remember parts of Maniac Mansion as I sat and watched a friend play through it when I was younger. It has always been a genre I wanted to try, but never actually committed any time or money to. Until last weekend.

I picked up two more recent adventure games, Dreamfall and Escape From Monkey Island, last weekend and tried each for about 30 minutes. I realize this isn't the most in depth sit-down with either of these games, but the effects were still felt. And it made me think.

More effort was put into the characters, story, setting, humor, and atmosphere in the first 30 minutes of these games than I see in most games in their entirety. I was stunned just by how much I wanted to be in these worlds. How much I wanted to learn about these characters.

<==This robot monkey was more interesting to talk to that 99% of other characters out there.

Now I know the previously mentioned have always been the backbone for good adventure games. If anything, most complaints directed at this genre are everything but those things. Most faults are found in the gameplay itself... the often tedious and convoluted puzzles and game mechanics.

So why not put those elements that make this genre so appealing into genres that need it. Half Life 2 was great... but let's go one step further in first-person-shooters. Or give me the Japanese RPG that REALLY makes me cry when I lose a character. How about a strategy game that actually makes me laugh? Is deep and well written dialog not possible in an action game? Are these things too much to ask for?


Get to work developers! We have been settling for too little.

Brad