Unfinished Business
By Bill Stepec - May 2nd, 2008
Game: Guitar Hero 2
Last known whereabouts: A few songs into medium.
I was an idiot for thinking I would love Guitar Hero. Even as the second game hit, I hadn’t played it because I was never really in to rhythm-based games. Still, unable to resist a $100 Fisher-Price guitar, I opted to do something stupid.
In my defense, it was the title everyone was talking about and no one had anything negative to say in the slightest. It had been presented as the game no one could ever hate – a game so flawless it was like it had been steeping in liquid perfection then shipped in hermetically sealed containers of love.
Yet in reality, it was a plastic guitar where you would push some buttons to play a song. I have a weird “tick” in my pinky finger, which made the jump to medium difficulty especially excruciating. My girlfriend, who was a big fan of Frequency and Amplitude, thought the game was terrible. I now keep my guitar next to my Xbox 360 as a reminder not to buy any future version of Guitar Hero, Rock Band or any other gimmicky title without trying first. It is not encouraging to see the guitar rests next to my Dreamcast fishing rod and controller for Steel Battalion.
Game: Viva Piñata
Last known whereabouts: I think I caught a deer. Maybe.
As I played this game, I couldn’t help but think I’d rather be killing something.
Does this make me a bad person? Almost certainly. My point, however, remains valid.
Subscribe to this page's RSS feed to be notified when someone chimes in.
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.