I was speaking to some friends about gaming today. During our discussion, the following question came up, “What makes a good game?”
That’s a tough one to answer. Memorable titles, like the original Bioshock had a great story but followed a very linear path with little actual player choice. Indeed, many games attempting to tell a narrative have to do that as they have a specific story to tell. Where such games fail is when they attempt to give the player the illusion of choice when it’s clear there’s little of that in the first place. So, in my opinion, for a game to be successful, or remain memorable in the collective conscious of gamers, it has to be fun, polished, or exhibit a memorable story of some kind.
An example of a gaming making a misstep in the story department is Bioshock Infinite. The game is beautiful, with a fantastic setting, competent shooter mechanics, and an intriguing tale to tell. But the way it attempts to tell the story, by repeatedly reminding me of its theme of patriotism gone wrong is a bit annoying. As a gamer, let me digest what you’re throwing at me. Be a bit more subtle in the writing. The floating city of Columbia in Bioshock Infinite has plenty of things to remind me that things aren’t quite right. In fact, they’re quite wrong. I love the exposition provided by the character you play as, Booker DeWitt. And I love exploring Columbia. But I don’t need audio files providing additional story. Then there’s the various slide shows peppered about the world re-iterating the same story or themes. Alright. I get it.
Personally, I’d have liked to see the audiofiles in the form of newspapers or books peppered about the world. But it’s a minor critique of the game. And to be honest, I’m not far enough to make a final assessment of the story before I actually complete the game. As it stands though, I find the aforementioned narrative conventions a tad annoying. It’s just too much.
Conversely, you have a game like State of Decay, which I adored as I first began to play it. What was amazing about it was the fact that you had an open-world game that encouraged you to really get out there and scrounge for supplies while simultaneously managing an enclave of survivors with dwindling supplies. But the shoddy controls, terrible voice acting, repetitious quests, and poor PC optimization are what ultimately killed State of Decay for me. Inside all of that is a good game. Or rather a good concept. But the execution is terrible. And the PC version is really just shit. The textures look like balls and I doubt we’ll be getting any hi-res textures until the Xbox One version ships. It’s really a shame. But the game lacks polish and gets boring really quick. State of Decay excels at allowing the player to create their own stories. Along with the fact that the player has the potential to play as all the survivors places less of an emphasis on a specific character and rather the group at large. When you lose a character you’ve had for a while, it hits you hard. But the rough edges of the game were too much for me. Ultimately, I put it down as I felt there are better games to play.
Last on the list is Bungie’s Destiny. I have little to no desire to actually play the game, and here’s why – it’s clear that the game is missing loads of content to be released as part of their season pass or future expansions. LAME. Furthermore, from I’ve read, the story is lackluster. People have me shaking my head when they claim it’s an MMO. Destiny is not an MMO! It’s a 6-player co-op game with MMO elements and PvP!
As expected, the gameplay is polished to a bright sheen. Gameplay often trumps all, and allows people to overlook other shortcomings a game may have. Which is good, because in Destiny’s case, it sounds like the story sucks and the game’s a massive grind-fest. Bungie’s track-record over the past decade shows that they know how to make polished games. But incredible stories? Despite the awesome depth of the rumored Halo bible, Bungie hasn’t wowed people with story since Myth.
In the end though, fun trumps all. If you find a game to be fun, for whatever reason, that will keep you coming back for more. And let’s face it – games are repetitive experiences. The interactivity and what you take from those experiences are what set games apart from other forms of entertainment. Games have the potential to involve you in a story or experience more than any other medium. Developers need to remember that.
I find it interesting what some choose to focus on as they develop their game. With State of Decay, I would rather have had less voice acting so we could get more variety in missions or better polish. For Destiny. I’d like to see a story that pulls the heart strings or involves the player a bit more. And for Bioshock Infinite, I’d like to remind Levine that we’re playing one of his games. We don’t need to be reminded that it’s cerebral. We’re already paying attention dammit!
This whole post may make it seem like I’m your stereotypical gamer who just can’t be pleased. I’m not. But my time and money is limited. I want the best experience I can get. I’m gainfully employed and can buy a game brand new if I want. The problem is, in many instances, it’s simply not worth it to do so. There’s a seemingly endless train of entertainment out there. So if I’m going to spend my money, I want my experience to be worth every penny.
The games that I loved weren’t necessarily polished (the early days of Counter Strike were enough evidence of that). But the teams behind them clearly had a love for their product. They also had a firm concept or idea in mind, be it story (looking at you Soul Reaver), great gameplay (the destructibility in Bad Company 2), or amazing atmosphere (Half Life 2, anyone?). I could go on and on about the great games I’ve played. In the end, it’s all subjective. And even the games I railed on above aren’t bad games. Hell, I like Bioshock Infinite so far. You could even argue that the above games are good games as each has been successful in some way. For me, I just know that if you can hook me in the first five minutes with your world or gameplay, I’m sold. The hard thing is that as I’ve gotten older, I’ve played more games. Sure, the memories of some of those experiences are colored with nostalgia. But when I can fire up Super Mario Brothers 3 ad still have fun, I think that says something. The work the developers put in that game is clear. There was a certain love and respect for the title. And it still shows to this day.
If that doesn’t make a good game, I don’t know what does.
-ty
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