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Not necessary (Destiny)

by Cody Miller @, Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Thursday, May 25, 2017, 16:01 (2500 days ago) @ Korny
edited by Cody Miller, Thursday, May 25, 2017, 16:05

When Titanfall 2 came out, this one dumb reviewer complained that the campaign was only five hours long. He loved it (and the pacing), but he said that he wanted it to be at least ten hours long, (and I quote) "but not with filler, but more great moments". That was actually one of his biggest knocks against the game as a whole, and it was asinine, but game length is important to people.

There is such a thing as a game being too short while still being good. This happens when your game is so short, that it doesn't meaningfully explore enough possibilities set up by the rules. There is a critical mass.

If Super Mario Brothers were just world 1-1, then yeah. You could easily say that the game is fun, but too short. This is because there is so much more you can do with these rules; there are so many challenges you can give the player.

A game like PaRappa the Rapper is too short. You have six stages, but the first few are very easy and pretty much the same, and in the last two you begin to get some semblance of diversity and challenge. There is no hard mode either. Rap is very diverse, so it should have been easy to craft each song as a cool new experience exploring a different style. Instead, it is over before you even have to apply yourself.

Contrast this to Gitaroo man, which has ten stages. You wouldn't think 4 more songs would make the difference, but each song is completely different in style, and gives you a unique set of challenges. Plus, it has a master's mode.

PaRappa is to short, and Gitaroo Man just right, even though both are fun. It is certainly possible to like Titanfall 2's campaign yet think it is too short, but I don't really agree with the reviewer there. It too was just right.

When you say a game is too short, you have to prove that it left ideas unexplored, and did not hit its critical mass. What you don't do is throw out bullshit numbers like 10-12 hours and score it by checklist.


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