Replaying in the name of Exploration

Often you hear people complain about linear games today, often older gamers used to more "complex" games. The complaints are many times valid too, military shooters that already are very linear and still feel the need to have big arrows pointing out where to go. It can really feel like these games not only seem to think you're stupid, but also make you stupid. To be honest, I've noticed this myself, I've played many shooters this gen and when a more complex games comes along I can find myself exhausted because it's more complex then following a neon lit corridor full of baddies to blast away. However, I don't think the issue is as big as many make it out to be.

Hint: Continue forward, stoopid

A problem it is, but I don't know, lately I've gotten the impression that such games are becoming the exception, not the rule. No offense to linear games of course, there are many great linear games IMO like Metal Gear Rising or Uncharted, games that make the most out if the limited space. It's the games like CoD that merely have a somewhat good looking shooting gallery throughout the game that makes it hard to figure out why it has to exist in the first place. Though as I said, I think games like that are dying out, you can't do that anymore and expect a huge success. Games like Far Cry 3, Tomb Raider and Bioshock: Infinite are the ones people seem to want these days, and developers are trying to meet that demand.

Although, regardless linear or open world structure, exploration is something that not everyone gets right. CoD doesn't leave much room for exploration, not interesting. Then again, games like Assassin's Creed does, but it's not always interesting either. Just because it's big doesn't mean it's interesting to walk around and see everything. There isn't many games that include deep exploration that makes it fun to return again and again. Games that I think have done exploration fun are MGS, Gta and Fallout, to name a few examples. Not many have been able to do what they did, not only make it fun to explore, but make it rewarding.

That's something not many seem to get, sure, you put in an extra area for us to explore but why should we? When all you reward us with is trivial bullshit. In Metal Gear Solid 3, if you went off to explore, you could find awesome stuff like a crocodile cap that could camouflage you in water, fun and useful. Stuff like that kept me replaying the game many times to see and find everything, and I can only assume there's still stuff to see. Most games today don't have that, after finishing most games today it feels like you've seen it all already, no point in going back.

Where to begin the exploring?

I suppose it goes hand in hand with unlocks, where did those go? Did it all become DLC instead of stuff you unlock by just playing the game? I hope not, the example I'm going to use here is Uncharted, specifically Uncharted 2 and 3. Uncharted 2 had lots of stuff in it, it was a big game that was fun to replay over and over again, that game had some exploration, not too much but it was backed up by having actual unlocks. A menu for stuff like skins, modes and weapons that you could unlock by simply playing the game. A great feature that many games don't have anymore, so why, just why did they cut that for Uncharted 3? Obvious reasons would be that the project was kinda rushed, don't get me wrong I still liked the game but it feelt like a lot lighter package than Uncharted 2. No unlocks for the singleplayer campaign this time around, no fun skins to use, no weapons, no nothing. No worries for Naughty Dog's next game, The Last of Us, though, since it's been in development by the Uncharted 2 team since, well, Uncharted 2, have faith in those guys.

I don't know, personally I'm having high hopes that true exploration in games which is fun, interesting and rewarding is coming back. Though it seems like the industry has been lying in the ditch for a bit too long, it's going to take some time for them to learn how to make it really interesting again, Tomb Raider had it but it wasn't really interesting to be honest. After finishing it I've never had a need to go back, same with Far Cry 3, I'm even having a hard time going back to Bioshock: Infinite for a second playthrough. I don't get it, they made Bioshock, that game had great exploration, not as enjoyable this time and is often just some annoying backtracking to unlock some chest or something similar.

Suppose that's my take on it, I like exploration, it's the essence of what makes games immortal classics, at least to me. Here's hoping that it makes a strong comeback along with my favorite franchise ergo Gta V and MGS V!