In Praise of Short Games
I have a confession to make: I have finished less than a dozen video games in my whole life.
Right. It probably has to do with my being a very slow gamer, but lately it has more to do with a lack of enough spare time for my hobbies. This is why one of my pet peeves regarding game critics is that they always seem to give negative reviews when a game can be finished in under fifteen hours (or fifteen minutes, for that matter). OK, fine, give me a friendly warning about the length. But in my book, a short game is a game I can finish, and that's a positive!
Maybe it is because now both me and my wife have full-time jobs plus a baby to take care of, but there used to be a time when I could finish a Halo (Xbox) or a Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube). But those times are long gone! But in case I decide to spend the next year finishing one of these epic tales, what more recent games do actually finished that you think the ending (or the trip) made it worth the trouble? Personally, I have to add to the couple already mentioned: Rayman 2 (Dreamcast), Advance Wars (GBA), Metal Arms (most memorable ending, and probably the longest game I've ever finished), and Soul Calibur II (the story mode). Oh, and I better add The Return of the King (on cooperative mode), before my wife reminds me that we finished that one together, and Doom III (Xbox, also on cooperative mode, online... all four glorious hours of it)!
Two games that I got stuck in the very last boss battle, but I still recommend to go all the way through: Panzer Dragoon Orta (Xbox) and Vexx.
So, what other epic games made you feel so good after finishing them that you wanted to play them again all the way through from the beginning?
Right. It probably has to do with my being a very slow gamer, but lately it has more to do with a lack of enough spare time for my hobbies. This is why one of my pet peeves regarding game critics is that they always seem to give negative reviews when a game can be finished in under fifteen hours (or fifteen minutes, for that matter). OK, fine, give me a friendly warning about the length. But in my book, a short game is a game I can finish, and that's a positive!
Maybe it is because now both me and my wife have full-time jobs plus a baby to take care of, but there used to be a time when I could finish a Halo (Xbox) or a Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube). But those times are long gone! But in case I decide to spend the next year finishing one of these epic tales, what more recent games do actually finished that you think the ending (or the trip) made it worth the trouble? Personally, I have to add to the couple already mentioned: Rayman 2 (Dreamcast), Advance Wars (GBA), Metal Arms (most memorable ending, and probably the longest game I've ever finished), and Soul Calibur II (the story mode). Oh, and I better add The Return of the King (on cooperative mode), before my wife reminds me that we finished that one together, and Doom III (Xbox, also on cooperative mode, online... all four glorious hours of it)!
Two games that I got stuck in the very last boss battle, but I still recommend to go all the way through: Panzer Dragoon Orta (Xbox) and Vexx.
So, what other epic games made you feel so good after finishing them that you wanted to play them again all the way through from the beginning?
posted by InvisibleMan at 10:12 PM
1 Comments:
I'm glad someone enjoys short games. With me personally I have the same kind of situation sans the child. I however have beaten over 80% of the game I have ever owned and It's kind of rewarding to me. Growing up my wife could no get a new game until she beat the one she had. This (especially in NES times) can be really hard. The fact is I believe some games should be short.
SMB is the kind of game I can sit down and beat in 30 minutes on the john (thanks to gba ports) and I gotta say I enjoy it. New Mario Brothers supplies me with a quick fix and tetris DS's 200 line as well as puzzle mode is a good thing. Alien Hominid is a pick up and play and even Zelda Wind Waker is significantly shorter. RE4 was 20 hours (18 for me) and I was satisfied with it.
However. I am a big fan of epic adventures and for every quick fix I prepare for an ultimate adventure. I'm glad game companies can make short games and please some one and the same for movies.
I would easily sit trough another hour of X:Men 3 if they kept up the pace but King Kong could have been 30 minutes shorter and still covered everything I wanted to see.
Cheers
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