Length Of Games

[Nic_A31]

Whats with all the short games in the last couple of years?

Including, but not limited to;

Medal of Honor

Crysis

Assassin's Creed (to some extent, finding all the flags and hidden corners took me a little while)

Call of Duty

Frontlines: Fuel of War

STALKER (again, yes and no, both games have some replay with alternate endings, more exploration, etc)

Need For Speed

I think the last decent length games I enjoyed was Doom 3, for its time, awesome graphics and around 24 hours of linear story line that CAN actually be replayed, just to see if its possible to play it from start to finish without a single jump out of the chair (Ive tried a number of times and still always forget about atleast ONE ambush/random attack/weird scary ass shit moment, shit runs down my leg every time).

Are games worth their money anymore? You get some pretty graphics, and some intelligent AI, which makes the 45 minute story line a little easier to digest, but for $100 off the shelf, or even later, or second hand for $75, $50, etc, are the producer's of games giving us good value for money ?

Whats worht buying, whats not:

Discuss

[1802NV]

My answer is no!

Most of the new games lately are not worth $100. too short or just crap/really over hyped.

For me its more about gameplay and replay value, shiney things help but should not be the focus.

Also the amount of bugey games is ridiculous - dont they test them before they release them these days.

my 2c anyway

[R31Nismoid]

these days there is high expectation of games when you look at whats come prior over the years.

Big games cost money - but also depends what you are looking for.

A game you play by yourself or one that has a great online element.

I like RTS/online stuff. Im still waiting for the Dawn of War 2 super patch... then ill get into that.

Good value in WC3 TFT, DOW2, CS:S, TF2 etc etc, all online stuff that you can play for hours and never be over it IMO

[N1GTR]

Bring back the game lengths of Mechwarrior, Age of Empires, Force Recon etc

I couldnt believe how short the story was in COD4, at least stop skipping from one person to another, that would make it feel a bit longer!

COD5 felt the same, fingers crossed COD6 is longer. Without the multiplayer side of those games I simply wouldnt buy them

[bozodos]

yeah I dunno whether its better to have longevity or a really frenetic luscious game world, albeit a short one a la COD4.

I finished GTA 4 the other week, and that felt like AGES to finish the main story with a bit of stuffing around taking girls on dates, mini games, side missions ETC. It was a massively rewarding game experience though and I didnt feel bored at all when playing it.

The problem many games have is that they start to feel samey or get long winded when they are long, like Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

[Nic_A31]

Also the amount of bugey games is ridiculous - dont they test them before they release them these days.

I thought between Operation Flashpoint and ArmA, a step was taken backwards, in the way of automatic speech, AI, pathfinding, etc, but when I bought Arma II I was even more dissapointed. Shocking, after all the reviews noting how poor the obvious issues were, they still ignored it. Bring on Operation Flashpoint 2.

yeah I dunno whether its better to have longevity or a really frenetic luscious game world, albeit a short one a la COD4.

I finished GTA 4 the other week, and that felt like AGES to finish the main story with a bit of stuffing around taking girls on dates, mini games, side missions ETC. It was a massively rewarding game experience though and I didnt feel bored at all when playing it.

The problem many games have is that they start to feel samey or get long winded when they are long, like Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

Well I think repetition can be enjoyable if its actually fun, look at games like Doom, or newer, like Painkiller....mindlessly mowing down lines from the undead army by the hundred's, heavy metal in the background as blood, guts and ass go everywhere. ID are talking about Doom 4 being less scary and more fun/massacre based, which is good call, but the fear in Doom 3 was what makes the repetition tolerable.

I think modding saves game sales by a massive shot, like GTA4 mentioned above, or classics like CounterStrike...years after their release, the modding community still smother's games like these with a good reason to keep dust from building up on the box over on the shelf in the corner. Better more when the producer's support or even incorporate modification opportunities into the release, anything from releasing production tools and source code, right up to competitions for modders. If I recalled correctly, Operation Flashpoint was re-released with the last patch made, along with a few of the bigger mods for the game via a competition all on the one CD - awesome idea.

PS: Somtimes a repetitive game is awesome. After 9 hours at work, I dont want to do a puzzle to open a door, I want to shoot some motherf**kers without a question mark.

When I'm actually awake (weekends, post-morning coffee), the "head work" is easier. Hitman is definately not a game for after work on a rainy day.

Edited October 1, 2009 by Nic_A31

[Hakosuka22]

The short story lines in games these days have actually changed the games I play now.

Im more interested in simulators that are constantly updated and have alot of patches that improve it. Plus you can play it for a few weeks, put it down then pick up something else.

Hoping that COD: MW 2 lives up to its expectations however. Even though COD4 was short it hasnt stopped me going through single player a few times.

Developers/Producers need to think about making games last longer though, instead of churning out 2 games a year that are rubbish and are just a fad. E.g Need for Speed

[(OO)SKYLINE(OO)]

Depending on the game I guess.

3rd Person Action Adventures are usually quite long, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, God Of War, Killer 7, NFS etc...

What's a lengthy game for you?

You talking 3-5+ hours or 1-2 weeks?

[N1GTR]

Operation Flash Point - thats another awesome one, i was trying to remember the name before but couldnt

Old school, but still very cool

[defari]

if you want a long RPG, get oblivion, decent graphics, fighting is pretty repetitive.. only finished half the game already up to 80 hours game time. (partly because you cant sprint and the f**king horse is just slightly quicker than walking)

Edited October 2, 2009 by defari

[Nic_A31]

^^ Finished Oblivion main campaing and most of the side missions, absolutely MASSIVE game, havent played in a while, but definately a milestone. Got the expansion packs here but havent got into them in a while.

IMO, long game is atleast 20+ hours of game time.

Not 3 hours like Crysis....like, for somebody like me, with ALOT of first person shooter experience, I passed the game only dying a handfull of times, got the game in a single pass basically, which shows just how short it was. Where as longer games, even if I dont find myself repeating levels and shit, its still lengthy.

[25GTT]

I didnt think assasins creed was too short, but definately agree with the new COD 4 based on world war 2, i cant beleive how quickly that finished.

i recently finished 'The witcher' REALLY enjoyed it, was an RPG with a great story line which went for some time. A lot of the first person shooters though are a bit short, however to be honest for me i am kind of happy, i want to finish them but they do become a bit repetitive other than different back grounds.

I also just finished "Mass Effect' that did go for a while and i didnt even do the side quests. Mass effect is like an RPG but with a lot of FPS in it as well.

It appears the RPG's are far longer that FPS's! and therefore better value in my opinion.

[bozodos]

yeah Operation Flashpoint is my all time favourite game, some of the user campaigns and models were even better than the Bohemia ones! I was SO disappointed with ArmA though, hopefully OFP2 will be a worthy successor, despite being made by a different company.

Speaking of Doom, I had started playing it again on the 360 before it died, its quite timeless in a way

[910trx]

i only buy games now because of their online gameplay

single player mode is handy if you need to learn, or your internet quota is used up

AI after a while becomes predictable and you learn weaknesses and faults

its better when your opponents, team, community are real people who can do anything at any one time

its also good when you spend a whole session sniping one guy out, guaranteed he will find you again and try an own you in another session

[~^ReTrO^~]

shortest game i have played lately was that new terminator... wasnt bad but just to short.... best game for your money... Fallout 3

[Yo-Yo]

fallout 3 was awesome but lacked the charm of fallout 2 imo, plenty of humour and obscure pop culture references and enjoyable to play over and over I might even fire up my old pc and play it again

I'm personally waiting out for bioshock 2, mass effect 2

I liked mass effect, lasted for awhile but replay could get boring

[Snowman]

fallout 3 was awesome but lacked the charm of fallout 2 imo, plenty of humour and obscure pop culture references and enjoyable to play over and over I might even fire up my old pc and play it again

Fallout 3 was long and you could also play it twice easily - once bad and once good - and they are totally different story lines. (eg Blow up Megaton or disarm the bomb).

It also has the 5 new add-on's which I've started playing. Have finished the first 2 (Operation Anchorage and The Pitt) and have started 3rd one. Again even these add ons seem to have multiple ways to go about them (especially The Pitt so far) so will likely play them again as well. Still - those add on's come at a cost so aint part of the original $100 but I've certainly got my $$$ worth from that game.

[kralster]

I find nowadays if a game cannot be completed in under 10 hours i'm not that interested. When I was younger i could spend hundred of hours on a final fantasy game collecting items, leveling up, etc, etc, and the same would go for game like metal gear solid with collecting dog tags. Now i just want to get through a game and see the end, i'm just not that into it anymore. Like MGS4 i powered through, i listened to all the conversations and whatnot, but if i played it 10 years ago i would of really fleshed it out which i'm just not interested in doing anymore.

There is an exception though as i loved Okami on PS2 and did heaps of stuff in that.

[LordMidol]

How the hell do you manage to finish Crysis in 3 hours? What difficulty? It took me a shit load longer than 3 hours I only enjoyed the first part of the game though (jungle areas).

I guess I don't play many games. I got sick of paying money for crap. Crysis was the last game I bought.

[defari]

I find nowadays if a game cannot be completed in under 10 hours i'm not that interested. When I was younger i could spend hundred of hours on a final fantasy game collecting items, leveling up, etc, etc, and the same would go for game like metal gear solid with collecting dog tags. Now i just want to get through a game and see the end, i'm just not that into it anymore. Like MGS4 i powered through, i listened to all the conversations and whatnot, but if i played it 10 years ago i would of really fleshed it out which i'm just not interested in doing anymore.

i remember it took me nearly 150 hours of gameplay to fully finish finaly fantasy 7.. the new one looks mint!