Are sprites a bad thing?

  So, these days not many games come out that use sprites.  I suppose, for the most part, they are considered a thing of the past.  Admittedly, many games these days are in 3D and sprites wouldn't work.  But I started thinking about this when the new Strider game was announced.  It is going to be one of those, so-called, 2.5D games.  A game where you run around on a 2D plane, but all the assets are in 3D.

  There is nothing inherently wrong with this.  But to compare, this is a screen shot with the upcoming remake of Ducktales.

  Obviously the backgrounds are in 3D, but the sprites are smooth, colorful and not a pixel to be seen.  To give another example, here is a screenshot from Dust.

  There is one thing about sprites.  They don't age.  Now, I'm not saying all sprites are created equal.  Obviously Super Mario Bros 1 looks a bit different from something like Super Castlevania.  My point is just that, for me, I can go back to old games.  While I can say 'this sprite of Mario is simple', it's the same as the day it was created.  I'm probably sounding a bit odd, but let me compare.  I have no problem with old sprites, but when I put in an old game like Final Fantasy 7..

"Are these... random collections of shapes supposed to mean something?"

  It just looks bad.  Maybe it's just my brain at work.  While I can look at old games and see that the sprites lack detail, I don't think they look any worse than the day they were made.  But old blocky polygons are something that I think my brain has moved on from.  Perhaps this is a personal thing.

  Speaking about sprites in general, I just feel there's more life to them.  There is art involved in making them.  When things are done in 3D, they feel a bit less.. real, I suppose.  There's a term called the 'uncanny valley', it means something is close enough to human, but not close enough, so your brain will feel a bit uncomfortable about it.  It'll tell you that something is 'off'.  Sprites are clearly far enough away from being 'realistic' that perhaps it doesn't trigger that feeling.

  Lots of games that use sprites these days are trying to be 'retro', so the sprites are old and pixelated.  There aren't many games that are trying to use sprites seriously.  It's sad because sprites can pull off artistic styles and designs that you couldn't pull off with 3D models.  Off the top of my head, there's only one game that manages to get close to looking as pretty as hand drawn things, while still using 3D models.

This game.

  Perhaps I'm just being nostalgic, but lots of games these days just feel a bit 'samey'.  I could post screenshots form Call of Duty and Battlefront, but it's been done to death.  Yatzee, over at Zero Punctuation, has complained about all the games these days using pallets of brown and grey.  This is probably a symptom of everything moving more and more towards trying to be 'realistic'.

  I say, we shouldn't fear sprites.  Obviously I don't think every game should start using them.  But I think games made from sprites still have their places in the world.  Now that our technology is more developed, sprites can be used to explore new art styles and ways to see video games.  Lots of old games are getting 'HD' remakes, but it's basically just smoothing over the art.  Games made from scratch can have more frames of animation.

  Maybe companies these days are just afraid from straying with what works.  People in space armor shooting aliens.. in space.  Things like this might just be a place for indie developers now.  But I can guarantee, if any of those games make big bucks, you'll see the big companies leaping in to follow.