Aliasalpha: At least it's better than the c64 days where the pamphlet you got with the game contained one paragraph of story if you were lucky and was usually a wordy way of saying "Aliens are attacking, you're our last pilot. Go!"
Hey, hey, HEY!!! You do NOT talk that way about the beloved C64!
To prove how wrong you are, here is, in full, the backstory that came with the game Creatures (Clyde Radcliff Exterminates All The Unfriendly Repulsive Earth-ridden Slime):
"Out in the nether regions of deepest space (in the far bottom right of the Milky Way) lies a small, insignificant little planet named Blot. Although a pretty place, it's deserted after its inhabitants were forced to flee from an awful fate being called by such an unhip name as Blotians. As soon as they were able, they built a crude but sufficient colony ship and spluttered off into space in search of a trendier planet. Until such a place was found they renamed themselves Fuzzy Wuzzies in search of real hipness.
Unfortunately, a collision with an asteroid led to a crash landing on Earth. As luck would have it, they landed in some blue wobbly stuff commonly known as the Pacific Ocean next to an undiscovered island. After the Fuzzy Wuzzies swam ashore they promptly began building a village and named the island 'The Hippest Place in The Known Universe'.
What the Fuzzies didn't know was the existence of bad tempered Demons living on the far side of the island. These demons were enraged by all the noise made by the cheerful Fuzzies, and hated even more the ridiculously silly island name.
The Demons came up with a cunning plan to put an end to the commotion and general good time being had by these intruders they invited them to the biggest party ever held on the island. Fuzzies cannot resist a good party, and all of them brushed up their fur and attended. But just as they were starting to enjoy themsleves the Demons threw a net over everyone and carted them off to their Torture Chambers.
The only one who wasn't caught was Clyde Radcliff, a tanked up little Fuzzy already throwing up in the bushes. The next morning Clyde woke up with a splitting headache and breath so bad it could scorch a tree at six paces. Nevertheless, our courageous little hero vowed to destroy the Demons and rescue his fellow Fuzzies."
That beats the hell out of most stories for modern games :-D