A Self-Conceived Guide to Sniffing Out Bad Games
by Nox Kreiker
How can you tell if a game is bad? Well, I am about to teach you using my self-conceived method I like to call the ‘Three Way.’ How the Three Way works is while you’re looking at a game, you ask yourself these three questions, and if they all turn up positive, chances are highly likely that you’re looking at a bad game.
Three Way Tip-Off #1: Does the game look good? Now, I’m not talking about some “Ya don’t judge a book by its cover” crap, I mean how does the game look graphically? Does it look good? If so, it most likely plays terribly. Here’s a simple economic way of looking at it. The more money a developer spends on graphics, the less they spend on game mechanics. It’s like drawing a picture for a school assignment, but getting so wrapped up in how pretty the picture is, that you forget what the assignment was all about and end up focusing completely on how the picture looks rather than what the point of the picture was supposed to be. The same goes for looks in a video game.
“Now hang on,” you might say, “That’s not true!” And you’re right… Sort of. There are, indeed, some exceptions to this claim. For instance, Epic Games’ masterful work known as Gears of War. Another example is Bioware’s artistic space odyssey Mass Effect. However, the benefit that a lot of these exceptional titles held was the fact that they were all kind of below the radar. Not that big, or hyped up. Proof being this question, and be honest: How many of you have even played Crysis? Or, how many of you bought Mass Effect the day it came out, like I did? (truth, I had no money, so I had to wait til Christmas, but I was, none the less, hyped for it) That’s what I thought. But this only brings me, swiftly, to…
Three Way Tip-Off #2: Is the game really popular? A lot of game developers and publishers make the same mistake Hollywood movie producers and studios make. And that is noticing a fan base. “But Nox,” you may inquire, “How is noticing how people like your product a mistake?” Well it’s not. However, seeing it as a way to save money, is. Here lies the fall of production. The bigger the fan base is for a game, the more the publisher and/or developer can count on that fan base to purchase their products, regardless of quality. What the publishers/developers do next is lower the funding for their next title. They do this to spend less money, knowing that when the game is launched, that massive fan base is going to collect by paying full price for it. Therefore, making a substantially larger profit.
Now to tick some people off… Ever heard of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2? Of course you have. Everyone has. Ever played it? Of course you have! Everyone has! Did you buy it? Of course you did! EVERYONE DID! Kicker, remember how many patches that game got? Of course you don’t. NO ONE DOES. Now, why would a game that popular need so many fixes? Because it wasn’t released in good enough condition. The game developer and publisher, seeing the massive fan base, didn’t bother putting too much effort into its production because they knew the countless fans (everyone) would purchase it regardless. And even though many new games have been released, countless people are still playing it.
Three Way Tip-Off #3: Was the game extremely advertised? This is an easy tip-off that a game is terrible. Look at Hollywood once again for a moment. When a studio senses that a film they just finished is utterly terrible, they tend to over-publicize it. Why do they do this? Well, it’s to fool the viewer into thinking it’s really good and to make as much money from admission tickets on opening weekend as they can before the reviews come flooding in saying it sucks. (Legion, 2012, Shrek 4ever After) The same goes for games too. (Dante’s Inferno, Red Dead Redemption, GTA IV, Call of Duty Black Ops) Developers and publishers push games out, pressing how AWESOME and FLASHY they are, but when it gets right down to it, they completely fall flat in the category that matters. The Game Play.
Ah, see what I did there? Yes, my Three Way system is the depiction of a vicious circle indeed. However, it doesn’t stop it from being any less truthful. My system works simply because I have the evidence of countless terrible (in my opinion) games on my side. (Resident Evil 5, Call of Duty, Dante’s Inferno, Red Dead Redemption, GTA IV, Crackdown 2, Guitar Hero World Tour+4, FInal Fantasy XIII, Silent Hill, Wolfenstein) So the next time you’re looking at a game to purchase. Remember my Three Way system. It could save you from an unfun experience.
And if you run into a game that doesn’t complete the Three Way cycle, don’t be afraid to refer to outside sources. Take the time to look at reviews of the game in question, THEN make your decision. See ya next time.
------Tags: advice, Square Enix
This is one of the worst gaming articles I have read in a loooong time. I had to leave a comment (yes I willfully took the flamebait). Your logic is deeply flawed, by trying to argue that good graphics, an established fanbase and good marketing make a bad game. WHAT? In what industry? This gaming industry. Ergo the really good games are the ones with bad graphics, no install base and no marketing – uhuh! Where you fail is where you have generalised with too broad a stroke, without distinction for those games of true quality where graphicla fidelity + good marketing + dedicated install base = a good quality gaming experience.
I notice that you do not reference any Playstation 3 exclusives. Have you heard of God of war 3, Uncharted 2, Killzone 2, Metal Gear Solid 4 etc etc etc games with great graphics, a solid fan base, and good marketing. These are not just good games, but excellent games.
You are obviously not a true gamer, as your last paragraph evidences. you state that your – “system works simply because I have the evidence of countless terrible (in my opinion) games on my side. (Resident Evil 5, Call of Duty, Dante’s Inferno, Red Dead Redemption, GTA IV, Crackdown 2, Guitar Hero World Tour+4, Final Fantasy XIII, Silent Hill, Wolfenstein)”
But then you go onto state that – “if you run into a game that doesn’t complete the Three Way cycle, don’t be afraid to refer to outside sources. Take the time to look at reviews of the game in question, THEN make your decision”.
You want us to look at reviews of the game before we make a decision? uhuh? Let me see…
Have you looked at the metacritic review scores for Resident Evil 5 (xbox 85% /PS3 86%), Dante’s Infreno (xbox 73%/PS3 76%)Red Dead Redemption (xbox/ps3 95%), GTA IV (98%), Crackdown 2 (71%), MW2 (94%) even the much maligned FFXIII has a metacritic score of 82%/83%.
The point is that all the games you have listed by no means classify as “terrible games”. You state that these games “completely fall flat in the category that matters. The Game Play.”
Really?! I mean Really?! With the diversity of games that you have listed (FPS, TPS, Action/Adventure, RPG, Open World) I challeng you to highlight 10 corresponding games, genre by genre, that have better gameplay than those “terrible” games which you have listed. For example which open world game has better gameplay that Red Dead Redemption? Than GTAIV? Which FPS has better gameplay than COD4/MW2? Which Action adventure game has better gameplay that Dante’s Inferno? You get my point!
However, bearing in mind your “Three way Tip-Off” you’re not allowed to include games which: 1) Look good; 2) Which are really popular 3) Which are extremely advertised!
No matter how you try and cut it, you will FAIL this challenge simply becasue your whole premise is FAIL.
Good Luck.
There are people that don’t just want to play meaningless fun games with no depth. GTAIV is the best experience available this generation imo. Lots of other people love it and games aren’t made just to suit your tastes. No other game comes close to gta iv single player in terms of development of the city (infamous, prototype, etc. are utterly laughable), the soundtrack (cant think of any other game that has radio programs even and there’s over 300 songs to suit all tastes), the characters and acting or the story (every character has a fleshed out personality that is both funny and interesting, 99% of games the characters lack personality).
Go back to “fun” wii games and leave the meaningful entertainment experiences alone. I spent 15 hours on the in-game internet alone. I bet you never even looked at it. It’s by far both the funniest piece of entertainment and the greatest single piece of social commentary that has ever been created. If you don’t like it then don’t play it, to say it’s a bad game is incredibly biased and nonsensical. It is the most expensive and most developed game ever made and it shows in the experience. I hate mario but I can’t say it’s a terrible game, it’s just not to my particular tastes. I will agree with you on FFXIII though, most disappointing game I have ever played.
What is it about gamers that makes them so lacking objectivity when judging serious games? I can look at a game, see the map design, the gameplay design, etc. and judge it accurately even if I subjectively don’t enjoy it. It is the medium which you can be most objective about, it’s a lot harder to do it with a movie where mostly it depends on your taste and opinion of the actors and director.
“to make as much money from admission tickets on opening weekend as they can before the reviews come flooding in saying it sucks…The same goes for games too. (Red Dead Redemption, GTA IV,”
How bad a writer are you? Did you even re-read your stupid article? Is this all a troll? Those 2 games are amongst the highest rated of all time and you say the “reviews come flooding in saying it sucks”. If anything is an example of that then it is the wii. The games are usually reviewed poorly and have huge advertising budgets because the development budgets are very small. Nintendo, like Apple, make demonstrably the worst products, yet have the most brand loyalty due to advertising campaigns.
[...] A Guide to Sniffing Out Bad Games | Inside AX [...]
it was very interesting to read inside.anime-expo.org
I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
Sure, go ahead.