I recently had a Gears of War 2 marathon and managed to finish the game in under ten hours on the day it launched. When I told some people they laughed and thought I was nuts, some were even upset saying that I had cheapened the experience of playing through the title. I do not think I cheapened the experience, I played through and listened to the story and looked for COGs and extras, but still managed to finish the game in coop with a friend in the first day.
I will admit that once I beat it there was a sense of being tired of course, but also a sense of being lost and wondering what to do next. Now that the core campaign had been used and abused, was I relinquished to treating Gears like a multiplayer game and just grinding out games on-line or was there more for me to do?
This brings to mind a few things like why are games so short now a days? I do not think I cheapened the experience, but the game developers created a game that can be beat in a relatively short time frame. Yes there are multiplayer modes and different difficulties to play on if you want to run through again, but that is not the point. Playing through on different difficulties to me is not a different experience, just one that tends to frustrate the player more. The increasing of difficulty typically changes nothing in the game except for making the AI near god like and decreasing your ability to kill enemies. Unless the new difficulty provides new maps or a different game mechanic, this should not be considered as extra gameplay or extra content.
The core game was long enough to last me 10 hours of gameplay with no cheat codes or exploits. What happened to games that would suck you in for hours and hours and it would take you a solid few weeks of play until you reached the end? Gone are the days of 40 hours of gameplay and had work.
It seems to me that many games are scrimping on the length of the titles, look at Fable II, Gears of War 2, Halo 3, etc. These games can be finished in ten hours or so. Halo 3 many argue is worth it for the on-line portion and that is the only reason some purchased the title, but having a comprehensive story and single player campaign is pivotal to having a great title. If you have such a short single player campaign than why not just make it a multiplayer title like Shadowrun? Do we consider a game good if it hyped for weeks before hand and then falls short of expectations or do we consider it a hit because it has a large audience that just play online. Many people I played Gears with openly admitted that they did not even bother touching the story mode and just jumped on-line.
What do you think, does beating a game in one night cheapen the game or is the developer at fault? I think beating a game in one night may be excessive but it is not the fault of the gamer, but instead the fault of the game.
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Write a Comment»If you had a great time playing the game … then neither is at fault. I don’t believe in the “it should at least have XX hours of gameplay”-philosophy. Portal is a great example. I don’t feel ripped off, because I had a great experience playing it. The time it took me to complete had nothing to do with it.
As for cheapening the experience … only when you feel obligated to play the game. With things like gamerscore and trophies, it’s as if we nowadays only play to check off a game from a list. And that takes a lot of the fun out of it, IMO. But that’s another story entirely.
It’s kind of sad you could blow through it in one day. Most games are that length though nowadays. Thinking of Heavenly Sword, Dark Sector and MGS4 (if you cut through the cutscenes, they’re all less than 10 hours I believe.
Yeah and the 10 hours included watching all the cutscenes and some freezing issues that needed restarts. It also included a few rounds of horde in between to break up the campaign. Some people are reporting as fast as 7 hours to play through on easy
I agree games are defintely becoming shorter but you have to appreciate how long it takes to model/animate and program everything in that game in such a short space of time its not easy by any means, but in terms of cheapening the experience it doesnt you watch a film all the way through so why not a game its just not always pratical to do it like that.
@Ray
If you cut through the scenes on MGS4 you still get 15 hrs of gameplay.
I pretty much finished in one night too. I made it to the last chapter and saved from there, beat it the next morning. 8-10hrs is almost standard for a game length these days and have been for awhile. It never really bothers me like it does with others.
Its all about the replay value and Gears 2 has plenty with its coop. If a game holds replay value or if its just that good I could play the game over and over again.
Just making the game longer and putting in filler isn’t going to make it any better. I’d rather take a 8-10hr polished game over a 20hr. Not that 20hrs games are under polished, I put 50hrs into Fallout 3 and loved every minute. But something like FarCry 2 does hit the 20hr mark but the gameplay is the same through out and gets old.
Go play either of the stalker games, fallout 3, the witcher, farcry 2, those are all pretty long. Fallout 3 is ridiculously long if you really take the time to check out the world. The days of long games are not gone, this article just comes off as you trying to find an excuse to show off that you beat the game in a day. If you really want this article to be taken seriously, then you’re admitting that you don’t play enough games.
There’s always the RPGs. And while you can say Fable 2 is less than 10 hours, it still has more gameplay than that. The main storyline might be short, but there are many other things to do. 3PS’es and FPS’es are often short, because many people feel, and thus the developers make it so, that 10 hours of it becomes boring and repetitive. There are only so many levels you can make in a game like that before you start treading on familiar ground.
I agree with Jeroen. I am guilty of playing a game for the gamerscore (Test Drive Unlimited), but I had a good time doing it, so I guess I didn’t do it for the gamerscore. I still like to brek out the Ferrari 308 and pretend I’m Magnum P.I.
I digress. As long as you enjoy playing the game, that’s all that matters.
i don’t think it cheapens it. It is a “blockbuster” story and one that is designed to be what it is. It’s not a game where you play for a few hours, then leave and come back a week later to play for a few more hours. It is more similar to a movie or book than a “little big planet” or “grid.” This is a game where when you start it, you want to see what happens and finish it.
well all i have to say Al Zamora | Posted in Loot Ninja | Tagged Gears of War 2, Launch, Marathon, multiplayer, well you know i played it in co-op an beat it but i’m also doing it my self an finish in a couple of days an i gaurantee you haven’t done it in insane cause that is like impossible i playing in in normal half way through the game an it would last a good two hours on insane for real if you said i beat in one night an under 10 hours by yourself then i give you props but you would have to have proof as well cause really i played games since i was 9 yrs an i’m good at what i do but can’t play games all day got to work but co-op is easy if you play it on normal but its hard when you play it on insane so get out of here an tell the truth cause even with all that i know most people is trying to get the acheivments also but if you just play through its possible but if you trying to get the acheivments at the same time then it take awhile but go ahead an tell some more lies we like to her them….
@ cell989 You can beat MGS4 in under 5 hours skipping the cut scenes if you don’t suck and know how to “SNEAK” around. I have and that’s how i unlocked stuff. And that’s without killing anybody or being spotted. Did it on The Boss extreme difficulty.
Now if you want to make a game longer nowadays you have to get all the bonus items and do all the achievements/trophies nowadays. Resistance 2 is a good game to play for length because once you get through the single player campaign, you can go play the alternate coop campaign. I think things like that are smart moves by the developers. If you do want to collect everything the developers have confirmed it will take over 400 hours to do so. That’s a game that could keep you satisfied until the next big thing comes out.
I don’t like the gears of war 2 online, just like i didn’t like the first gears online. Host advantage is still in, and the only gun anybody uses is a shotgun, unless they find a power weapon. It just needs to be more balanced out imo. Me and my friends were playing earlier and one of my friends who was hyped for CoD 5 said **** that game this game is ****ing awesome. Not much later when it got to be in the late afternoon and our party had been playing online for a few hours he was bored of this game and couldn’t wait for CoD 5 to come out. Some games are great with online and story wise so you can play forever (Call of Duty 4) and some are just not. (Looks at gears 2)