GrifEagle has 7 chronicles

1. Why are games so short now?
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Feb 02 2009

   Just a couple of days ago (Saturday), I bought Call of Duty: World at War, for my Xbox 360. Ithought it would take me awhile to finish it, but I was wrong! I finished it last night (Sunday).
   
   It was a good game and I enjoyed playing it, but still wish it was longer. Every game I've played recently, has been quite short. I'm not sure if this is because the story line of the game is an accessory to the online mode, but games such as Mirrors Edge was also very short and the only online play with that game, was leaderboards with time trials!
   
   Even after this moan Chronicle, I am going to give CoD:WaW Veteran a try...now that should take me awhile

   
   

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GrifEagle has 8 comment s on this chronicle.

1. Lord_Santa
   Posted On Feb 15 2009

   if one looks back at (for example) the NES days, there were few games, which had a "save" function (Curse you Super Mario!!)
   Thus the games "seemed" to last longer, since you had to replay from scratch, once you ran out of "lives".
   
   These days there are checkpoints, quick-saves, full-saves, and what-have-you-not.
   
   This is done because the games "are" in fact longer, then ever (Half-Life 2 comes to mind), but (as has been mentioned) the main focus these days is Multiplayer; that is when companies like Bethesda does "some"things right, by excluding the MP and putting emphasis on the SP.
   
   To bad that even though a game has considerable length, the quality of the content is not enough to satisfy the consumer.
   
   This is where modding comes into the picture.
   
   Modding has saved Oblivion, Fallout 3, Morrowind, Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Quake, Doom, etc., etc.
   
   The companies can only provide "us" (the gamers) with "so much" imagination in their projects, but upon releasing a SDK, they give "us" the opportunity to lengthen the experience; sadly this is not the case for CoD series (AFAIK), but "many" other developers have come to the same conclusion; "If you think you can make it better, here's the tools"
   
   THAT is what will save the single-player "niche" and THAT is what we have to strive for (Dark Messiah, severely crippled in the absence of an SP-SDK)

2. JackDaniels624
   Posted On Feb 07 2009

   It lasted me a bit, but only because I played in short doses. I seem to do that with games I really enjoy to keep the magic going. But yes, they do focus way to much on multiplayer...if they spent longer making BOTH that good, well, I may have actually bought WaW! Oh and congrats on the highest rated chronicle so far!

3. BigNeen004
   Posted On Feb 03 2009

   I agree that I'd much rather have a well planned and all-around awesome short game, rather than one that is dragged out and boring just to make it longer!
   
   I think it's great when the game companies work in more gameplay length (and story tidbits) for each difficulty level, even though I usually can't finish anything above average, so I get cheated out of it anyway!

4. KiloEagle
   Posted On Feb 02 2009

   I think that games are short because there is way too much emphasis on online gameplay, so it kind of under-minds the main story which on many games SHOULD be the best part, because the multiplayer for some games are just god awful.
   BUT saying that even the massive games like mass effect and fallout 3, the mission are just so long and tedious and i cant find it in me to keep playing. the game industry needs to gets its act together =]

5. Gvirus05
   Posted On Feb 02 2009

   I've noticed it with a couple games. Honestly, I hate when FPS are long, they tend to draw out a boring story line and make you work through tedious levels. I just hope RE5 has a good length and a healthy dosing of Wesker

6. Dynafire
   Posted On Feb 02 2009

   I agree with Ben that the focus of many games (especially First Person Shooters) is multiplayer gameplay. As such, single player tends to suffer a great deal. As an example of what a good FPS could be, take a look at Bioshock. It sacrificed multiplayer for a solely single player experience, which turned out to be very good. I believe my first playthrough lasted about 10 hours, which isn't a whole lot, but it was fun for the entire game, and it's definitely longer than most shooters that are coming out now. Also, length to me means absolutely nothing if the game isn't enjoyable. while I thought Call of Duty: World at War was very short (beat the campaign in about 4 hours on hardened), it was an enjoyable experience, (except for the stupid invisible walls EVERYWHERE) so overall, I was pleased. On the other hand, Command and Conquer 3's campaigns all put together equal about 18 hours, but I didn't care for it at all. I'd much rather have 4 hours of fun than 18 hours of crappiness.
   
   I think the perfect argument for quality vs. length is Braid. The first time I beat the game, it was a little over 3 hours. However, the game was very, very enjoyable. The same can be said of Portal. It was very short, but fun all the way through. I'd much rather play games like these than games that aren't fun, yet take a tremendously long time to complete.

7. BEN
   Posted On Feb 02 2009

   I think the online and multiplayer gameplay is the main reason behind this particular game's length, and I bet that's the reasoning behind other shorter campaign modes as well. It also doesn't help, that CoD: WaW was more of a CoD4.5 than anything else, haha.
   
   I couldn't guess why Mirrors Edge was so short, but it's enjoyable nonetheless and I haven't beaten yet, so I can't even complain about its length
   
   With me not usually even playing the single player modes, this factor doesn't bother me as much I suppose and let's get an online game going soon! I've unlocked my GT for you, so send me a FR on Xbox Live soon...

8. 
   Posted On Feb 02 2009

   I guess since the econmy is messed up everything is shorter and smaller. For example i was on my way to a volleyball tournament, and we stopped at mcdonalds and my biscut was way smaller. lol but i guess the econmy effcts every little thing!!