Action-Adventure... isn't

[TornadoCreator]

One of my biggest annoyances is "Action-Adventure"... here's a little test for you. Name 3 action-adventure games.

Let's see if you picked the games that according to GAME.com (that's the UK equivalent of GameStop) are "Action-Adventure". Just so you know, there's 2,008 "Action-Adventure" games, compared to the other genres, none of which top 700, not even First Person Shooters (685).

Did you get.... Little Big Planet? No... oh right, you thought it was a Platformer
Did you get.... Red Dead Redemption? No... oh right, you thought it was a Sandbox Game
Did you get.... Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection? No... yeah it's a Compilation disc grrr....
Did you get.... Battlefield Bad Company 2? No... of course not, it's an FPS.
How about.... Dead Space 2? No... Right, you thought it was a Survival Horror right?
What about.... Mass Effect 2? No... I bet you thought that was an RPG right?
I know, you picked... New Super Mario Bros? No... I'm not joking, this one is labed Action-Adventure too.
Here's one for you... Carnival Games: Kinect... HOW THE F*CK?! Action-Adventure, you taking the piss?!

Seriously, this non-genre needs to go away there is no such thing as Action Adventure. Every single video game fits into one of the following genres (sub genres included)

Action Games - This is very broad and has so many subgenres that it becomes close to useless on it's own, most people just use the name of the subgenre.

- Beat-em up - eg. Golden Axe, Final Fight, Streets Of Rage
- 2D Action Platformer - Castlevania VI, Super Metroid, Shinobi 3
- Hack n' Slash - eg. Diablo 2, Champions Return To Arms, Legend Of Zelda
- Brawler - eg. God Of War, Devil May Cry 3, Dynasty Warriors 4
- 3D Action Platformer - eg. Shadow Of The Colossus, Tomb Raider Legend, Assassins Creed
- Sandbox Games - eg. GTA: San Andreas, inFamous, Just Cause 2
- Cover-Based Shooter - eg. Gears Of War 2, Vanquish, Uncharted 2
- Stealth Games - eg. Hitman: Blood Money, Metal Gear Solid 4, Techu: Shadow Assassins
- Survival Horror - eg. Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Silent Hill 2, Fatal Frame 2
- Fighting Games - eg. Soul Caliber, Guily Gear X, Street Fighter 2 Turbo

First Person Shooter - Becoming much more of an over-genre as things tend to mix with the FPS.

- FPS-Horror - eg. Doom 3, FEAR 2, Penumbra: Overture
- FPS-RPG - eg. Fallout 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, STALKER: Call Of Pripyat
- Military FPS - eg. Call Of Duty, Medal Of Honor, Battlefield Bad Company 2
- Sci-Fi FPS - eg. Halo Reach, Metroid Prime, Singularity

Roleplaying Games - Again, as a genre this has grown to be rather too broad and as such sub-genres are necessary. Also, games tend to now include "RPG Elements", just because you level-up doesn't make it an RPG.

- J-RPG - eg. Final Fantasy VII, Lost Odyssey, Chrono Trigger
- Action RPG - eg. Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origin, Demon's Souls
- Tactical RPG - eg. Breath Of Fire: Dragon Quarter, Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics
- MMORPG - eg. World Of Warcraft, EVE Online, Ragnarok Online

There are some games like Legend Of Mana and Terranigma which merge Hack n' Slash gameplay with a J-RPG storyline, they can be considered either, or both.

Traditional Console Games - These are the other genres people tend to associate with consoles.

- Traditional 2D Platformers - eg. Super Mario World, Sonic The Hedgehog, Mega-Man
- Traditional 3D Platformers - eg. Ratchet & Clank, Rayman 3, Super Mario Galaxy
- Puzzle Games eg. Tetris, Bomberman, Super Monkey Ball
- Rythym Games eg. Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, Rock Band
- Party Game eg. Wii Sports, Mario Party, WarioWare
- Sports Games eg. Madden NFL, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3, Fight Night Round 4.
- Racing Games eg. Grand Turismo, Burnout 3 Takedown, F-Zero GX
- On Rails Shooter eg. Titan Wars, Star Fox 64, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
- Arcade Rail-Shooter eg. House Of The Dead, Dead Space: Extraction, Time Crisis
- Arcade Shooters eg. Galaga, Asteroids, R-Type
- Arcade Classics eg. Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Breakout

Arcade Rail-Shooters are sometimes called "Light Gun Games" to avoid confusion with 'On Rails Shooters' which is a shooter, where you can move your ship/plane etc. but are normally locked to a specific route.

Traditional PC Games - These are the other genres that generally require a mouse and keyboard to properly play.

- Real Time Strategy - eg. Starcraft 2, Command & Conquer, Supreme Commander.
- Strategy Builder - eg. Civilization IV, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Pharoh: Queen Of The Nile
- Turn-Based Strategy eg. Heroes Of Might & Magic 3, Empire: Total War, Romance Of The Three Kingdoms

There are a few more genres such as "Interactive Fiction", "Point & Click Adventure" and "Dating Sim", but I don't think they're really worth mentioning as games rarely come out in these genres or are extremely niché.

All in all that makes 35 genres and not one of them is called "Action-Adventure" and the best bit is, you know exactly what I mean now when I say which genre I'm talking about. On top of this, now we can stop saying things like "A game like God of War but..." and just say "A Brawler", and instead of "A game like Prince Of Persia but..." we can just say "A 3D Action Platformer". After all, we don't say "A game like Call Of Duty but..." we say "A First Person Shooter". What is the point of a genre that tells us nothing? Action-Adventure may as well say "Video Game".

Oh and for all you people who where think "God Of War" when I said "Think of an Action-Adventure" game, WRONG! For a game to be an Action-Adventure game it would need to be an action game that incorporates ideas from the adventure genre, namely the collecting of items to solve puzzles to get to the next part of the game. God Of War doesn't do this... the closest to a game that does do that would probably be the Zelda games, but you've heard "Like God Of War but..." so many times you just assumed it was.

I say let's make a pact, let's all promise as gamers to never use the phrase "Action-Adventure" again, after all we know it's meaningless now.

[alienjesus]

Calling legend of zelda hack and slash is far more laughable than calling it action adventure. In fact, Action Adventure is probably the ebst possible definition for the series.

[Opa Opa]

Calling legend of zelda hack and slash is far more laughable than calling it action adventure. In fact, Action Adventure is probably the ebst possible definition for the series.

beat me to it.

[Jmustang1968]

I think dragon age falls under western pc rpg style. Like baldurs gate and the old fallouts. I dont see it as much as an action RPG.

I also think Secret of Mana is prototypical action rpg

[Jmustang1968]

Diablo 2 is also an RPG. It doesn't belong in th action category or in the same category as zelda. I would say it is a dungeon crawler rpg.

[Xeogred]

Zelda is the Zelda genre.

[boltfanSD]

I'm gonna say the Tomb Raider series and the Uncharted series are pretty much the definition of Action Adventure. Also, Rogue Squadron isn't an on-rails shooter.

[TornadoCreator]

Calling legend of zelda hack and slash is far more laughable than calling it action adventure. In fact, Action Adventure is probably the ebst possible definition for the series.

Stop being such a damn Zelda fanboy just because you don't like how I classified the game. What? Does it sound less impressive if you call it a "hack n slash"? Doen't stop it being one. Shall I prove it? Diablo 2 is clearly a "hack n slash", no-one would dispute that surely, so let's compare.

In Diablo 2 you go though the game fighting enemies in real time from a top down isometric angle, with a single click attack and alternative click special move in order to obtain gold to buy new items, health potions etc. Thoughout the game, you follow NPC's directions into dungeons where you find additional spells and items that you can then use to kill Diablo.

In Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past you go though the game fighting enemies in real time from a top down view, with a single button attack and alternative button item (bomb, boomarang etc), in order to obtain rupees to buy new items, health potions etc. Thoughout the game, you follow NPC's directions into dungeons where you find additional items that you can then use to defeat Ganon.

This is clearly the same genre, if you disagree. YOU ARE WRONG! Want to dispute this, prove your point, don't just say "it's laughable" because it's not and you know it's not, you're just trolling. Becides, if you read on, I said later in the post that if you take a literal meaning of the words "action" and "adventure" and considered what that would entail, the game that best fits the description is Legend Of Zelda so quit being butthurt.

[Opa Opa]

Diablo 2 is clearly a "hack n slash", no-one would dispute that surely, so let's compare.

x.jpg (27.55 KiB) Viewed 1398 times

[alienjesus]

Calling legend of zelda hack and slash is far more laughable than calling it action adventure. In fact, Action Adventure is probably the ebst possible definition for the series.

Stop being such a damn Zelda fanboy just because you don't like how I classified the game. What? Does it sound less impressive if you call it a "hack n slash"? Doen't stop it being one. Shall I prove it? Diablo 2 is clearly a "hack n slash", no-one would dispute that surely, so let's compare.

In Diablo 2 you go though the game fighting enemies in real time from a top down isometric angle, with a single click attack and alternative click special move in order to obtain gold to buy new items, health potions etc. Thoughout the game, you follow NPC's directions into dungeons where you find additional spells and items that you can then use to kill Diablo.

In Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past you go though the game fighting enemies in real time from a top down view, with a single button attack and alternative button item (bomb, boomarang etc), in order to obtain rupees to buy new items, health potions etc. Thoughout the game, you follow NPC's directions into dungeons where you find additional items that you can then use to defeat Ganon.

This is clearly the same genre, if you disagree. YOU ARE WRONG! Want to dispute this, prove your point, don't just say "it's laughable" because it's not and you know it's not, you're just trolling. Becides, if you read on, I said later in the post that if you take a literal meaning of the words "action" and "adventure" and considered what that would entail, the game that best fits the description is Legend Of Zelda so quit being butthurt.

Is there a reason you're so aggressive to everyone who has any mildly different opinions to you? I'm not WRONG (as you so eloquently put it), it's a definition that varies from person to person with frankly ill defined boundaries. Zelda isn't a game that focus solely on swing your sword - the puzzles make up a pretty significant component of it. It's akin to saying Halo and gradius are in the same genre because they both spend the game going about shooting stuff with lasers.