Standing the test of time

By Dave Snell
GameZone.com

Generally, the ever-evolving landscape of game releases lends itself to something of a throwaway business model, whereby most games get played once and then traded off or left on the shelf to gather dust. The reasoning is that by the time you have finished with HyperFPSShooterDeath Part 3, not only have parts 4 and 5 been released, but also several clones and alternative versions, which have stripped the bits that work and implemented new ideas in the process. This lends itself to offering a never-ending stream of new experiences within certain genres (generally the ones that are most popular at that time), and in some ways this is a good thing: keep the titles rolling in, keep the purchases turning over and keep the gamer interested in the genre.

Gordon Freeman: Legend, mute, master of replayability
However, every now and again, a title comes along that turns the model on its head by offering a title that not only gets played every few months, but most gamers wouldn´t trade for anything. For example, there are very few FPS gamers who don´t have a copy of Half-Life 2/Orange Box gracing their collection, and still dig it out every few months: I am currently on what must be about my 13th playthrough. Starcraft still pulls in the RTS crowd, any Civilization game still captures the imagination of the 4X gamer. Street Fighter 2 (although in no small part thanks to its spiffy HD makeover) is still enjoying its place as a master of the fighting scene, and despite new titles gracing the Zelda franchise, most gamers will tell you that Ocarina of Time is untouchable.

So, what is it that sets these titles apart, blowing away the idea of a quick game turnover in favour of lasting appeal? Why are certain games universally held as near-perfect, and warrant replay long after the graphics look dated, the AI is superceded and support has dwindled to a near trickle?

Well, we can factor in several reasons, and we can start with the biggest: nostalgia. Remember the first time you played Halo 2 online all night? Or when you got attacked by the Colossus of Rhodes at the start of God of War 2? Or how about that first sub ride into Rapture? The general feeling can be summed up with “Oh, wow…” or similar, and that´s the feeling the developers hope to recreate in some small way every time we play their game. That intense rush of discovering not only something new (or at least done in a new way), but the sheer sense of involvement as you play your part in something so well crafted it surpasses many other things on the market at that time. This is especially true after playing a series of poor titles; you need to reconnect with the reason why you enjoyed the genre in the first place. One word – nostalgia. It may have only been a few months, but it won´t be long before you dig out that copy of MW2 that has been put to one side for a while…

Secondly, the quality of the title factors in quite largely. Storywriting in FPS and RPG titles is very important, and needs to be coupled with a good combat system. RTS usually needs a nice balance of building and combat, and ideally needs to offer different (yet well-matched) adversarial sides. Sports titles need to make you feel actually part of the contest, and sim titles need to offer a fine blend of control and expansion to keep the ardent gamer interested. Rarely is poor quality a factor in replay quality (except the odd cult title). Just look at the titles cluttering up your local game trade center and compare it to universal scores to see why. But if the control scheme works, there is a spark of ingenuity in the way the title is presented, and the characters and background work well together, a title can offer a good playing experience for many years after its initial release.

Sackboy: to know him is to love him, and go back and play again and again
Finally, we move onto the second hardest word to explain in gaming (after “Gameplay”) – Replayability. This word sums up the previous two points, but adds a bit more too. Replayability points towards the actual ability to pick up the game and play it once again after finishing. So, for example, a game with a good multiplayer component will offer more replayability than a straightforward single player experience. A game with branching storylines and multiple ways to play will offer more than a more linear experience. At the risk of starting (yet another!) flamewar, to put it into title terms, Dragon Age: Origins offers more replayability than Prince of Persia: DA:O offers several different character types, with changing storylines based on your decisions whilst you play, whereas PoP puts you in the shoes of the titular Prince, then leads you by the nose through a pre-prescribed tale which plays the same every time you run through it.

One important thing to remember is that the ability to play old games is in the eye of the beholder: for every die-hard supporter of Chrono Trigger, there will be another person who will tell you it has been surpassed several times over. There are a very few select games that nearly all gamers will agree on, but even then would be dismissed by people who aren´t fans of the genre. But, to summarize, if a game can offer innovative gameplay that works, an intelligent campaign or multiplayer mode, and a spark of care and attention from the developer, it stands a shot at being a long-term favourite. It can often be a second part to a series, which allows the creators to learn from their small mistakes from the first title, but just as often it can be a new genre entirely. LittleBigPlanet offered us the first example of custom development in an easy-to-use package, for example, or Mario 64 was the first true 3D platformer that worked. But often, it is purely a title that offers us a connection with the character we play, the world around them, and our involvement in it – a truly complete experience which we crave to recreate every time we pick up the controller.