10 out of 10 stars, Best Game of the year! A joy to play...
Meaningless....
Gamers are always looking for the next big thing. We want a bigger battlefield with more guns,
more tracks with better cars or an open world to conquer in hopes of quenching
our RPG fantasies.
Forums will burst into flame leading up to a new game release. Sides are chosen, armies formed and reason goes out the window. It seems like everyone's got an opinion and none of it is free from a fanboy bias.
Determining whether a game is good or not isn't an entirely
subjective process, however. There are
criteria to help you get past the hype.
The first thing you need to know is that opinions are like
thumbs, everyone has one and nobody's is any better than yours. Ignore the rabid fans of a franchise that
will bestow accolades regardless of proof to the contrary. Even in a rough economy, some people have
more money than sense but you don't have to be one of them.
Games have one and only one purpose... to entertain.
That seems obvious but there's a multi-billion dollar industry
predicated on making you suspend your better judgment. I don't trust the business of video games so
I don't put much stock in what it has to say about them beyond a release date.
if you can accept the premise that a good game is one that
can transcend the sum of its parts then I can give you a few tips to choosing
one that doesn't disappoint.
1. - Never, ever buy
a game on pre-order no matter how good it looks.
The reason is that pre-orders are a sucker bet. Promises of early access to DLC and
exclusivity pale once the hype has worn off.
Those extra few maps and a week or so of playing before everyone else won't
make up for that sinking feeling you'll get when the game goes on sale for 50%
off a month later. Pre-orders benefit
game publishers looking to dazzle their investors not the players. Pre-orders are nothing but an extension of
the hype publishers like to build up around a new game release. EA is facing a lawsuit from its investors
because of broken promises based on hype.
If that doesn't convince you nothing will.
2 - DLC should never be the reason you buy a game
DLC or downloadable content should extend an already good
gaming experience not be the reason you buy the game. A good personal example were the DLC
expansions for the original "Borderlands" game. The core game was entertaining and the
promise of more of the same was appealing.
I'm always suspicious of new releases that include DLC in the
announcement. It's not unlike those
free-to-play games that make you buy upgrades to complete them. Borderlands 2, Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield
4 are all guilty of this. Luckily, most
of them are good games otherwise but not because of their DLC offerings.
3. - Do your homework
Don't just check out the ads for a game, check out the developers. If you can
find an earlier game by the same development team you can get a feel for what
to expect from the new game. For
example, does Battlefield 4 look interesting to you? Then you may want to check out Battlefield 3. It's by the same developer, Dice, and it's
gotten as cheap as $10 since it's a 3 year old game now. You should also make sure you know what
you're getting into. Some games like
World of Warcraft are less about the game than the community. People have literally held weddings and
funerals within the game environment.
We're talking about real events not virtual cosplay type affairs. WoW has become more of a social network than
a game. If that's what you're into, go
for it. Otherwise you're just paying a
monthly subscription to play an RPG with graphics from 2006 with a bunch of
strangers that are going to slaughter you at every chance.
4. - Watch out for console ports
You'd think this would be less of a problem with the new Microsoft
and Sony consoles being based on PC parts.
Thing is, console games are still written with limitations in mind. That includes controls, graphics and an all
too common reliance on calling home to the mothership. You can make the argument that PC games do
that too and it was the downfall of the SimCity and Diablo 3 launches. The major problem with most console ports is
that sales volume trumps quality. There
are good console games that can take full advantage of the sandbox but that
rarely translates to other platforms.
5. - Make sure you can actually play the game
This one's obvious but there's more than one factor you have
to consider. If you pick a game that
requires Internet access you may want to upgrade from that 2Mbit DSL connection
you've had since the Bush administration.
Whether it's PC or console you're not going to make many online friends
if their game's getting screwed up by your 450 millisecond ping. Building on that, Don't expect your five year
old gaming PC with an 8800GT to play Battlefield 4 with any quality or at all
for that matter. It requires Direct X 11 (to look right) which means you'll have to come into
this decade with your hardware. Check
the system requirements if you're a PC gamer and don't get excited over an Xbox
1 exclusive if you're still rocking a 360.
6. - Try before you buy if you can
Some of the best (and
admittedly worst) games I've ever played never cost me a dime. If you find a good free to play game that
doesn't require you to pay anything to enjoy it take advantage. It's not uncommon for new and even
established developers to try out a new concept using the free-to-play
model. Some good examples are Star Trek
online and Warframe (both available on Steam.)
If you like the game you can throw a few bucks their way to show your
appreciation. If you don't all you've
lost is a little time.
7. - The more hype there is the less I'm interested
This should be rule #1 but since I've been alluding to it
throughout the article I figured this was a good time to drive it home. Look, the squeaky wheel may get the grease
but you have to remember that something was wrong with it in the first
place! The more noise a publisher makes
about a game the more likely it can't stand scrutiny. Games like Battlefield 4 had a built in
market based on its predecessor but the game was relentlessly hyped for over a
year. When it finally launched it was
plagued with crashes, server outages and continuing issues so serious that it
affected EA's share price when sales didn't meet expectations.
Those are some generalized rules of thumb for selecting a
game no matter what the genre. They are
the metrics I use to make a buying decision.
Time is short and money isn't that easy to come by anymore so a little
legwork can save you a lot of both.
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