Last Christmas I was very kindly given the complete Friends boxed set. Whatever your thoughts on this American sitcom, I can contently sit and watch them back to back even though I’ve seen them so many times I can recite the lines backwards. Compare this to films and I can’t watch the same one twice within the space of a few years, not even my most cherished Jurassic Park. However odd it may sound, when I already know how plots will unfold the commitment of a couple of hours always makes me hesitant about settling down on the sofa with a movie. As such my DVD collection is mostly TV box sets that are wearing thin with repeat viewings sitting alongside a large smattering of films I’ve only ever watched once.
The same is true of my gaming habits; I find it very hard to replay lengthy sections that I have experienced before. Many reviews, including my own, speak about longevity and whether the game has legs after the initial play through, but unless there is an interesting twist on what has gone before, or even a particularly juicy Achievement, then I am more than likely to place the disc back in its case and move on to a fresh challenge.
Those most likely to succumb to my apathy are first-person shooters. I’m getting to the stage where many are becoming indistinguishable, for if you’ve saved the galaxy once through a set of iron sights then you’ve probably saved it once before and will do so again in a very similar fashion. There has to be a certain set-piece or quality in the AI to draw me back. Even though it is a fantastic game, I don’t think I could force myself through Call of Duty: Modern Warfare a second time. The entire basis of the franchise to date has been advancing through a relatively linear stage against an enemy that has infinite reinforcements until you push past a certain trigger point. Although this may encourage the player to leave the safety of his sandbagged trench and urge his troops forward, knowing the only the solution to your situation is getting to point X takes the magic away.
Even half-way through a game I can fall foul of this sentiment, with Grand Theft Auto IV being the greatest example of recent times; it suffered from constantly recycled and bland mission structures with the flair and inventiveness that had been the trademark of previous GTAs somehow lacking. Most were drive from A to B to kill C or take dodgy package from D to E whilst being followed, and by the end I really didn’t give an F. This was exacerbated further as I could clearly recall in previous entries in the series being chased down storm sewers in a homage to Terminator 2. Whilst IV may have taken on a more gritty and surly persona, it did so by sacrificing the variety that had drawn me in.
The unforgivable situation of replaying a section, however, is that of the corrupt save game or an ill-judged checkpoint. Knowing that you are playing through a game again because you wanted to is an entire different matter when compared to being forced to because your game has saved at a point moments before a mortar impact inches in front of you (Call of Duty 2) or because it simply doesn’t like to travel on a memory card (Braid).
The TV sitcom counterpart to these Hollywood blockbusters are swiftly becoming those games that can offer either a great variety in a short space of time or provide an experience that fits into a bite sized chunk. Take football games as an example, although every simulated 90 minutes might seem the same it is the minutiae which makes them great; from facing fresh opposition with varying tactics to attempting to hone your own techniques and moves, one game can be wildly different from the last. For one, I find it incredibly tough finishing and so each break into an opponent’s penalty area is equal parts drama and excitement as I see whether I can hit the back of the onion bag.
Puzzle games, too, are seemingly endless with the perception that the only reason you failed the previous round was because of your own deficiencies. I have first-hand experience of this with my wife’s incessant Zoo Keeper habit.
Whether my strange insistence on constantly experiencing new is unique I cannot tell, but I doubt it. There are those on my friends list whom can play the likes of JRPGs for many months at a time without showing nary a sign of boredom but then there are those with a fresh game every Friday. For me there’s a happy balance. I may only play a solo campaign through once but co-op and multiplayer options will see a game nestle round my consoles for far longer periods than the Assassin’s Creed and Bioshocks of the world. Quality titles they both might be but you can never recapture that initial magic of Rapture the second time through.
I make my living as a programmer at a British games developer. In my spare time I try and spread myself between writing, gaming, drumming, goalkeeping, rolling dice and keeping my hair blue. Somewhere around that my wife fits in.
Disclaimer: the views expressed are my own and do not neccessarily reflect those of my employer. "
