Playability

[Parrot of doom]

Yesterday I downloaded the demo of that new Clive Barker game on Steam.

Gorgeous graphics, nice maps, nice effects, good sound - but completely and utterly boring as hell.

Whereas I can load up any episode of HL2 and be inspired enough to play the entire thing through.


What is it that makes one game playable like this, and another game just boring? I have similar thoughts about Bioshock, which is why I haven't bought it. The last games I enjoyed playing were F.E.A.R. (which became a bit repetitive), and the one with the Native American bloke walking on walls (too easy).

 

[soulslicer]

I would sum it up as the storyline and gameplay, for my case that is. Storyline and gameplay is all that matters in a game. Detail also adds spice to the curry..

 

[Krynn72]

If you think bioshock is going to just be pretty graphics while being "completely and utterly boring" you need to stfu and play it.

As for what makes a game playable... I'd attribute that to how inspired it is. If its just a remake of all the same gameplay elements and features, and stories that we have seen so many of already, then no matter how much polish the developers put on it, it wont be interesting. Half-life does innovative things with each installment, plus has a new and interesting story for us to see.

 

[mchammer75040]

:\ hey I was actually looking forward to that game. Anyways I think its the variety of gameplay and the immersion of the story that attracts me to the hl series. I remember reading an article and gabe talks about interviewing and observing gamers as they sit down to play, noting where they seemed to be bored and go back through to that area and change it. Thats really a great design philosophy and you can see it in how they constantly challenge you with new situations. Even if its just run & gun it usually has some twist to it. As far as the storyline, Im suprised not many game developers have picked up on how valve never takes you out of the game to tell the story, which is what makes it so damn immersive.

 

[Bad^Hat]

What everyone else said.

It's the little things, too. Like the weapons, I'm bound to like a shooter alot more if the weapons look, feel and sound cool. May seem a little finicky but since you're probably going to be spending the majority of the game shooting, it becomes important

Half-Life 2 is a good example. Even though the combat is fairly straight-forward most of the time, the weapons all look and animate well and have some really great sounds. Also there's a very tactile and definite feel to the way they fire and hit things. Especially the shotgun, which I will never get tired of blasting things with right up close and personal.

On the other hand, I played the demo for CoD4 tonight, and I didn't get a great feeling from those, which put me off alot since there doesn't seem to be much more to the game than shooting. They look and animate really well (especially the reloading), but the sound and feel is very weak for most of them. Which is kind of weird since the CoD series has always had really great effects, I thought, but these sound like toys...

Edit - Oh, and shouldn't this be in games?