Unfinished Business
By Bill Stepec - May 2nd, 2008
Game: Perfect Dark Zero
Last known whereabouts: Following blue arrows in the 4th or 5th level.
Wow.
What a miserable title to launch a system. Everything – from the jenky controls to the boring art design – made you want to stop playing this game almost immediately after loading it up on your new 360. Using Perfect Dark to launch a console is like having Britney Spears sing the anthem at the home opener. Sure, it may have been a hot property a few years back, but now it’s just something to laugh at.
I’m sure the game had its moments – at least I remember playing multi-player. It had co-op and a cover system, two of today’s latest crazes. I mean, the game looks good on paper, and to a lesser extent – on screen. But the execution suffered, and as a result, playing this game was very much like execution. No fun at all.
The only reason to purchase this game was because it is a launch title, and at the time, pickings were slim. Call of Duty 2 was definitely the better choice. I think I’ve even put more playtime in to Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. Heck, I played through Condemned: Criminal Origins twice before I could be bothered to endure half of this title.
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5 responses so far:Wow - nice article! I’m so awesome!
If you’re so awesome, why can’t you beat Dead Rising? Bwakajakajaka! Just kidding. That’s one of my 360 games that I’ve barely gotten into. If I did an article like this on, say, GameCube games, I would have to talk about something in the area of 70 games.
I blame the fact that I played through Resident Evil 4 multiple times.
You don’t like Guitar Hero, have you no Soul? Shaun, are you sure you checked that Bill was a live Human being, and not a fiendishly convincing version of a Spambot? ;)
Seriously though, I think it depends on how you term the word “finish”. If I play a game, not to competition, but feel that I have gotten “everything” out of it of interest (especially true in repetitive games that make you do the same thing over and over: GoW PC I choose you) I feel like I have “finished” it. I don’t feel guilty about not seeing the almost arbitrary ending to a typically “phoned in” storyline. Games that I “complete” are usually the ones I am having such a good time playing, that I *don’t* want to end.
With respect to Episode 2: The PC would probably give you the accuracy required to complete the mission. (It’s actually the last mission of the episode too). I enjoyed that one so much, I played it twice in a row (as soon as I finished it, I restarted, because it was just fricken awesome. And I wanted to try another technique). Try using logs, or running over the mini-striders with your car.
Dead Rising is a strange case: With the way the save/continue/death system is, I think it actually encourages/requires you to play through multiple times, failing. Until you get your character up to a high enough level that it gets easier. Zombie killing is Shaun and I’s favourite past time, so we could likely do it forever, which means that game never gets old. (”Only 65,000 zombies in the game? Why so low!”)
Agreed on Viva Pinata. I gave up 5-6hrs in. I wanted to “Catch ‘em all”, however they game gives you no real way to keep track of your goals, and always distracts you with new Pinatas. I was quickly overwhelmed, realized that it was just a virtual garden anyhow, and quickly went back to playing TF2.
Good to have you aboard Bill. PS. Could you not be so damn funny next time, you make the less comically gifted of us (me) look bad by comparison :p
Hey folks - thanks for the comments.
For the record - I have RE4 for Wii. Played through to the sewer, to find that I will have to buy the uzi-lookin’ gun to kill the invisible monsters effectively (I’ve been doing the pistol/shotgun thing). What kills me is I know for sure that a new Uzi sort of weapon will be available soon, making my purchase something of a waste. Plus, since I never planned on using that gun, I sold all my ammo. Suffice to say I’m done RE4 for now, but that’s another article.
I’m not really sure exactly what it was about the HL:EP2 thing that made me want to stop playing. I assumed it was the combination of factors, hence my pizza analogy. Still, I’ve put up with more from worse games. Maybe it was babysitting the buildings. It’s too much like an escort mission.
Interesting point on the difference between “completing” and “finishing” a game. I’m sure a ton of people have reached endgame in WOW, but continue to eat intravenously for 12 hour sessions none-the-less. On the other hand, I know a guy who bought GTA Vice City and played for months without ever touching the plot.
It’s facinating the way people play games.
What about games that you can’t finish because they have no ending? How would you go about determining when it is you’re done with them? Something like Pac-Man CE comes to mind. I take 20 minute stabs at it every now and then but am so, so bad at it that after that 20 minutes I am crushed.