Games that age well and games that don't

It always surprises me, when going back to a game I haven't played in a while, how much my opinion of it can change. It seems to depend a lot on the genre, and how much its advanced since the game in question can out, cus I'm finding games I used to love are barely even playable now.

If you've gone into your back catalog recently, post one old game you think still holds up today and one that time hasn't been so kind to. Here's mine:
 
Fine Wine (aged well)
Roller Coaster Tycoon- I booted up this 11 year old game a couple of days ago, and was amazed by how addicting it still was. The coaster building was still as fun as I remembered as was laying out the finer details of the park.

The cartoony sprite based graphics obviously look completely dated from a technical standpoint, but still held up artistically and never became a distraction and there were only a few instances where the game showed its age in the mechanics. Sure, the AI path finding isn't great and some features added in sequels like an automatic coaster completer were missed, but the game was still really fun to play.

How I would rate it out of 10 (then/now): 9/8.5

Curdled Milk (aged poorly)

GTA III- Right after beating GTA4 again, I decided to go back and revisit GTA3, a game I really loved when it came out, and found it to be a complete chore to play. The driving was still mostly fun, but the shooting and targeting were completely inadequate, the storytelling was pitiful (why the hell would Claude kill Kenji just because some guy he just met told him to? At least with Salvatore it made sense since he tried to get Claude killed), and the graphics didn't hold up in anyway. Liberty City from GTA3 just looks ugly.

More egregious was the mission design, which too often had me driving to and from a location for 3 minutes, only to perform an action which would often take all of 10 seconds. I also died quite a bit in this game, and unlike GTA4 or other modern openworld action games, I usually felt like it wasn't my fault. Exploration also became a complete pain due to the gangs that patrolled the city, and the list goes on.

The real saving grace here was the sound design. The voice acting was mostly great across the board, and the radio stations, especially Chatterbox, still held up really well.

How I would rate it out of 10 (then/now): 9/6.5

The rule for me is basically:
 
Games with good 2d sprite art = never get old
 
Games with early 3d graphics = eye cancer

I just reinstalled Baldur's Gate 2 last night.

Burnout 3 is still fucking amazing, same with Halo Combat Evolved.

GTA1 and GTA 2 are still quite fun I found.  
 
Obviously Starcraft 1. 
 
Uhm, I find that if the controls were bad and have since been changed in newer versions then I can never go back, such as Warcraft 1...Selecting 4 Units using only shift? OMG *dies*

I think it comes to personal preferences if a game aged well or not. Say for example Ultima 1. Most people today would call it a craptastic game with utterly horrible graphics and almost no story or fun gameplay, while I would say it's a ridiculously fun dungeonromp and lite-RPG. Same goes for Daggerfall, or Infestation, which are two games you either hate or love, depending on age or preference.

I played Ocarina of Time not too long ago. Game is still amazing.

Whether or not you have nostalgia for something probably plays a big role. I love the old PSX Spyro games to death, but when I gave them to my 7 year old cousin to play, he hated them :(

You know what game didn't age well for me? Goldeneye. Props to it for being one of the best multiplayer FPS games of all time and I got more hours than I could count out of it, but revisiting it recently all I could think was "goddamn the N64 controller is unintuitive as all hell."

" I just reinstalled Baldur's Gate 2 last night. "

I have no problem playing GTA III now. 

Deus Ex is still amazing today.

Stylisation usually ages well, realism, not so much. Also, good gameplay is essential. Iterative games don't age well; for example, why play Generic Sports Game 2010 when you can play Generic Sports Game 2011.
 
Oh and this:
 
@CptBedlam said:

" The rule for me is basically:  Games with good 2d sprite art = never get old Games with early 3d graphics = eye cancer "

Most point and click games.
 
Final Fantasy VII <3

Diablo II has aged very well imo,still playing it

There are many, many games that just don't get old very easily, but Symphony of the Night NEVER gets old. I still play it through at least once every year. 
 
Roguelikes don't really age in my eyes either,  although theyre just the alphabet scattered around the screen. The ones with tile-based graphics usually look like ass to me, even though I guess they are supposed to be superior graphics-wise.
 
I can't think of many games that haven't aged well, but I agree with Utiow21 on GTA III. Never been a fan of the franchise to begin with, though.

OLD:
 
TFC from valve, the original TFC on the original won setup I rated about 10/10 in 1999, I was 13 as well and my perception of the future was that there would never be a better game. Until they announced TFC2 (back then they had yet dropped the C of TFC2) I loaded up TFC on the original Won servers, which of course failed but the 100% legal and what makes valve-employees release crap like tf2 is won2.net (a copy of the original won servers) I have learned that I was not just a shiny eyed kid but a realist. Although I still give it room to grow. 9.5/10
 
TFC 99': 10/10
TFC 10': 9.5/10
 
New
 
TF2 from the start was never that great in my eyes, it was still alright and played decently. I had played it a bit then the patches came... The Unlockables, Crafting and the final nail is the drop/buy system. Originally I would have said this game was an easy 9/10 in 2007 but now with all the poor patching and radical changes that they made over the short 3 years, where TFC stayed just about the same [all but the teleporters] for 10 years, has ruined the game. I would lower this 9/10 game to a sluggish 6.5/10 and hey, at least it still launches on most machines... no auto-crash to desktops.
 
TF2 07': 9/10
TF2 10': 6.5/10
 
What a wonderful Wine/Milk combo...

" The rule for me is basically:  Games with good 2d sprite art = never get old Games with early 3d graphics = eye cancer "

Played San Andreas recently, still fucking awesome. I can still go back to most last-gen games. And a good majority of PS1 RPGs and adventure games never get old to me. I love going back and playing old fighting games too like the SF Alpha games and the other day I booted up Bloody Roar and Soul Blade. Plus I still have fun playing NES and SNES emulators on here. I think a lot of early 3D platformers are close to unplayable now, sports games too, but other than that most old games are still great fun imo.

" @CptBedlam said:

" The rule for me is basically:  Games with good 2d sprite art = never get old Games with early 3d graphics = eye cancer "

I'd agree with you, but I can't play Diablo II nowadays. Even with those gorgeous 2D sprites, stretching a 800x600 game into modern displays should be a crime. Sure, there are some patches/hacks that run it in a native resolution... but it's not the same, and usually make the game lag a lot.   On the other hand, I'm still amazed by the animations in some 1990s graphic adventures, especially Monkey Island 2. "

It mostly depends on compatibility for me now because I'm using a TV as my monitor which lead to some overscan issues. It's mostly my fault though because I could just connect a VGA cable (I use the HDMI port on my TV atm) and switch to VGA whenever I play an old game with overscan issue. But I'm too lazy...
 
I don't mind old graphics, specially if it's a game I've played before.Old adventure games haven't aged well, if they don't have any sort of fast travel. The divider being if I have to wait for the character to go to some door or the edge of the screen before I can to the next screen or not.

" The rule for me is basically:  
Games with good 2d sprite art = never get old 
Games with early 3d graphics = eye cancer "

" @Doctorchimp said:

" I just reinstalled Baldur's Gate 2 last night. "

I started KOTOR a few weeks ago and am loving it/ could care less that it's old. "

Played though final fantasy 7 not too long ago and it looks a terrible, still plays well and is a fantastic game but looks wise it's fugly.

" Burnout 3 is still fucking amazing, same with Halo Combat Evolved. "

" @JoeyRavn said:

" @CptBedlam said:

" The rule for me is basically:  Games with good 2d sprite art = never get old Games with early 3d graphics = eye cancer "

I'd agree with you, but I can't play Diablo II nowadays. Even with those gorgeous 2D sprites, stretching a 800x600 game into modern displays should be a crime. Sure, there are some patches/hacks that run it in a native resolution... but it's not the same, and usually make the game lag a lot.   On the other hand, I'm still amazed by the animations in some 1990s graphic adventures, especially Monkey Island 2. "

Low resolution doesn't bother me all that much. I still play Jagged Alliance 2, for example. This game is just so amazing. "

The only 2 games I'll still play on long road trips when I have my GBA w/ NES emulator. The perfect combination of timeless 2D graphics and early NES-generation challenge, and a puzzle concept that doesn't need any explanation or improvement beyond it's original design.
 

" @CptBedlam said:

" @JoeyRavn said:

" @CptBedlam said:

" The rule for me is basically:  Games with good 2d sprite art = never get old Games with early 3d graphics = eye cancer "

I'd agree with you, but I can't play Diablo II nowadays. Even with those gorgeous 2D sprites, stretching a 800x600 game into modern displays should be a crime. Sure, there are some patches/hacks that run it in a native resolution... but it's not the same, and usually make the game lag a lot.   On the other hand, I'm still amazed by the animations in some 1990s graphic adventures, especially Monkey Island 2. "

Low resolution doesn't bother me all that much. I still play Jagged Alliance 2, for example. This game is just so amazing. "

Oh, the low resolution itself doesn't bother me at all. What really kills the game for me is that I have to play it in 800x600 in a 1600x900 display. Everything looks... stretched :P "

"Ah, okay. Totally understandable. I hate stretched images, too. Isn't there a display mode that keeps the aspect ratio? "

" The rule for me is basically:  Games with good 2d sprite art = never get old Games with early 3d graphics = eye cancer "

Hmm...that's too bad. I was always curious about finally playing Bad Fur Day, but it seems like it's probably too late now. Also I tried playing FF VIII again and couldn't stand it, but popped in IX right after and I'm loving it. Didn't really expect that, given that a lot of my friends consider FFIX to be one of the worst in the main franchise (well, I think we can all agree now that FFXIV is the worst if you really want to count it)

I don't think FF 7 aged well because I played it for the first time a year ago and it was a chore to see it through to the end.

Half life 2 realy aged well  
 
gta 3, not really. I also found half life didnt age well. I didn't know what to do most of the time for the puzzles. The character sidesteps like two steps everytime. Also you don't have alot of life, you can die way too easily. I'm sure it was great at the time, however I find it almost unplayable today. I never finished that game and maybe the problem will be fixed when they update the game and release the half life mod that everyone was waiting for. I think then, the game will be great, however not in it's current state.