Thanks to a certain high-profile game clocking in at just a handful of hours, there’s a great big gaming debate bubbling about the importance of game length, and its value to a consumer. Games are, as we know, becoming increasingly expensive for those of us outside of the $60 bubble. Here in South Africa, “next generation” games are starting to hit prices that border on the obscene – and it makes sense that consumers would want to extract as much value out of those games as possible.
Here’s the thing. I’m not all that hung up on game length. In fact, as I get older, saddled with more and more responsibility (which is, as you know, inversely proportional to one’s free time) I start looking forward to shorter games. I love it when there’s a game I can plough through in an afternoon or two, because it means I’ll actually get to finish said game without sacrificing family time or sleep and reneging on my paternal duties.
Take a game like Vanquish. It was sold as a full priced game, and it too could be done and dusted in an afternoon. But man, what a rush that game was. It’s almost infinitely replayable too. I never tire of taking on two Argus’ at the same time. And I’d certainly rather play a 5 hour game that keeps my knuckles white than something that’s drab and plodding for dozens of hours.
While playing through The Order, I never once thought “Man, I really wish this game was longer.” I’d have certainly liked if it was better though. Game length isn’t actually very important to me – as long as the game itself is good.
But what about you, the average consumer? How much does game length matter to you? How much does that factor in to your purchases?
Last Updated: February 20, 2015
Avi
February 20, 2015 at 10:32
” I hope people who do like these kind of games [games with short length], do play them. But I also want to be in an industry where me as a gamer, I’m given the choice to do that. I’ve played games that lasted two hours that were better than games that I played for 16 hours. That’s the reality of it. Gameplay length for me is so relative to quality. It’s just like a movie. Just because a movie is three hours long, it doesn’t make it better”[4]
Ru Weerasuriya, Founder of Ready at Dawn
Thats what he said and i agree with him 110%
Hammersteyn
February 20, 2015 at 10:33
No girth does.
Darren Peach
February 20, 2015 at 12:09
Duuude. It took me awhile. LOL.
Hammersteyn
February 20, 2015 at 12:13
XD
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 10:35
TOTTIE!
Tot waar? TOT HIER!
Mossel
February 20, 2015 at 11:12
xD
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 20, 2015 at 11:20
A-Z?
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 11:21
Geoff size, AZian
WitWolfy
February 20, 2015 at 11:42
http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/136492707-and-z-keys-on-keyboard-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=vsTZjj2WK4amQuOupY6iV40dTLzAvMy42SX7kD1Lkq7LiGhD6oyYrzyKBc7n2rw3
Thats pretty short…
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 11:45
Hence the AZian joke ;P
Ranting Raptor
February 20, 2015 at 11:48
I forgot all about this joke hahahahaha
Jac7
February 20, 2015 at 10:37
When I was young, I once asked my brother how long an inch was. He told me all I had to do was look in my pants. It was a good burn. I had to fucking kill him though. But seriously, in a world of open-world games, it is a relief to have something linear and not so overwhelmingly expansive to play.
Mossel
February 20, 2015 at 11:12
I tend to agree with this. Although I’m playing the shit out of FC4 at the moment, it is fun to just be told what to do sometimes, just relax and see where the story takes you.
Jac7
February 20, 2015 at 12:26
I absolutely still enjoy open world games tremendously/ I find myself revisiting Skyrim far more than should be considered sane, but I literally have to be unemployed to fully appreciate the expanse an open world game coul provide.
Hammersteyn
February 20, 2015 at 10:37
Seriously though, there are a long list of shortish games that is more fun to play. Transistor, Vanquish, Limbo, Spec Ops: The Line, heck even COD has a action packed on rails shooter for those that want to take a break from the MP.
Darren Peach
February 20, 2015 at 12:12
Spec Ops : The Line was under appreciated. My short length guilty pleasures that are kinda average are Kayne and Lynch + Army of Two.
Hammersteyn
February 20, 2015 at 12:13
This! A thousand points to you sir.
Umar
February 20, 2015 at 10:38
Depends on what you want out of the experience. Just because it’s longer doesn’t mean it’s gonna be more fun. You can have equally as much fun with something that’s shorter. People put too much expectation on all the details besides the most important one, will I enjoy it? It’s all about length and how it looks, but if it plays well, then why stress over length? Play it, before you judge it. Would you rather have an action-packed but shorter experience or a long, dry and tiring one?
Her Highness the Hipster
February 20, 2015 at 10:38
Batman Arkham Asylum vs Batman Arkham City is my best example. The first one was easily completed in a weekend, but ended up being a far tighter experience – every minute was awesome instead of the bloated City. I love long games, but they have to be worth the hours.
if i’m going to pay full price for a game, i expect it to offer a quality experience that’s worth the money. It’s not just about the length of the game, although that can be a factor.
Captain JJ the crafter
February 20, 2015 at 10:41
I completely agree with you on the Batman games.
RinceThis
February 20, 2015 at 11:18
Totally agree.
Matthew Holliday
February 20, 2015 at 10:41
when you’re paying upwards of R500 a game, even for PC games nowadays, if your gaming budget is pretty tight, you tend to want to get your moneys worth.
Draco Lusus
February 20, 2015 at 10:41
Would you be happy with an INCREDIBLY good isometric RPG like Buldar’s Gate / Pillars of Eternaty / etc and it was only 10 hours long, with 5 hours side quests? I think not good sir. But I agree with you, I enjoyed the COD single player campaigns, even tho you could do it in an afternoon.
Uberutang
February 20, 2015 at 10:55
Thing is cod is mostly about the MP, so there you pay for that. Does anybody pay full price just to play COD SP?
Draco Lusus
February 20, 2015 at 10:56
I don’t really play the MP part, so I sure as shit didn’t pay for those 4-6 hours of play. I played my friend’s copy.
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 11:02
I’d like to pay less if you can only get the SP element
Uberutang
February 20, 2015 at 11:04
I would then actually buy it. 🙂
(or if the MP has local servers like blops2 did).
Captain JJ the crafter
February 20, 2015 at 10:43
It actually doesn’t matter that much to me. It just needs to really capture me.
I spent 7 hours on some games that really left me with such a great feeling and other games took me 12 hours to really get into and I was left unimpressed.
It HEAVILY depends on the type of game too.
Open World games will keep you longer, because of the freedom. Linear games won’t. That’s where a good story makes the difference.
hairyknees
February 20, 2015 at 10:44
It doesn’t phase me that much. What does make me sad is when a game is SO good that I don’t want to play it because I know I’m getting closer to finishing it 😛 in that case, I want it to last forever! That’s a very scarce experience lately though 🙁
WitWolfy
February 20, 2015 at 11:44
Thats how I felt with Mass Effect 3 man….
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 10:46
(the first one to tl;dr this is a poepsak)
To take example of “length” in a brilliant game, SpecOps: The Line, looking back at hours spent on it, it was not the longest game, but it felt long because of the severe emotional impact. The EXPERIENCE was amazing. I believe if it was longer, it would have had less of an effect. It would have lost the impact.
The Walking Dead Season 1 I played over 5 nights, and after each “episode” I felt drained, and over the course of the 5 days, the whole experience was amazing. Considering the time/length of the game, I too feel that it was enough to leave a lasting expression.
I take it that it depends on the game. Sure, the Order is not that long (1886 MINUTES lol), but I believe, that if done well (in this case, not so much) the length can be justified. However, the price cannot, but that is another can of worms.
Where do we draw the line between length and value? Is it with price, or with the experience? I know the Destiny guys has spend a lot of randelas, but, I think they got value. Take myself, playing Planetside 2, not having spent a single unit of cold hard cash on that game (yeah, true fact) and take that I have had sooo much fun playing that, and still do, make me want to consider membership. So there is another example of value (since length is not applicable here, THE WAR NEVER STOPS!!!)
Let’s take Skyrim for example. I paid full price for that game, and even bought the legendary edition on a glorious Steam Sale, and the amount of hours spent on that is immense, however, that is being used as escapism, (SP MMO type thingamabob)
I’d say, if you can make a good, nay, excellent game, with a SP element of less than 10 hours, this might be justified. But at what price man, what price?
Anyway, The Order is not the best example of this, both Battlefield as well as Call of Duty (yes, the Admiral has played a few of them) single player campaigns are too short, and far too MEH to consider value, but then again, they have the MP segment.
Fluit fluit my lang storie is uit
Hammersteyn
February 20, 2015 at 10:50
Planticide 2! Kill all the flora!
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 10:53
Oh you.
Also, I’d play that
Hammersteyn
February 20, 2015 at 10:56
Also FTL never stops
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 11:00
True dat, yes you beat the boss, but you want to try with other ship/subsystems/weapons/tactics/etc…
HvR
February 20, 2015 at 10:57
Agree with all your points.
What matters more than length is the game’s position on the Moly scale.
Promise vs Delivery
For instance CoD you always get promise of a SP experience but then you get 4 hours pew pew meh .
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 11:00
“Moly scale”
Man I laughed at that, thanks
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 20, 2015 at 10:59
I’ve spent over 400 hours in Warframe now, playing the same missions over & over again. But I enjoy it because I’m constantly leveling up equipment & only play it in short bursts most days.
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 11:01
Indeed, and remind me how much you paid for that again?…
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 20, 2015 at 11:04
While F2P, I’ve spent around $40 over the year or so I’ve played.
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 11:06
Yeah?
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 20, 2015 at 11:07
I bought the Hunter pack on Steam during the previous Xmas sale after playing for a while, chip in with the odd platinum purchase every couple of months. When I get 75% off of course 😉
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 11:09
XD
Loftus
February 20, 2015 at 10:46
My first gaming experience in relation to cash is when for
20c/50c you could play arcade games at the corner café. The correlation of how good you played
translated how long you could play, but even then one had limited time to play.
With the heavy research I put into this game and all the
negative reviews, the one though I had recurring to me was “rather judge for
yourself”.
Ultimately this game gives me an experience I want : playing
a movie, if this be a good movie then I would replay it again, much like if you
find out a new movie is all of sudden your new favourite movie you would
rewatch it
Darren Peach
February 20, 2015 at 11:56
I never really liked that, Playing Pac Man at the little winkle. It seems dodge by todays standards.
Loftus
February 20, 2015 at 12:01
Donkey Kong and the first Mortal Kombat, wasted many a 20c/50c trying to beat Shang Tsung!
But true that cafe shop arcading is dodge these days
Umar
February 20, 2015 at 10:48
What I want to add as well is that, sure, open-world games are supposed to last longer, but look at AC and even DA:I, when will we move past pointless collectibles and fetch quests. If a game is to be longer, how much of it will be padded. I still prefer a longer game, as long as it’s engaging. I’m not one to squeeze ‘value’ out of a game because of it’s price. Padding is padding and superficial lengthening of a game is in no way a means to add more value to it.
Captain JJ the crafter
February 20, 2015 at 10:49
Very true.
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 10:49
Agreed, fetch missions add no value
Darren Peach
February 20, 2015 at 11:57
If you think about it, ife is one long fetch mission.
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 12:19
Haha, that is one way of putting it
Darren Peach
February 20, 2015 at 20:12
Ife, lol.
Nikola
February 20, 2015 at 11:18
Very true same with Far Cry 4 took me 35 hours however LOT of the time was spend just fetching collectibles which are pointless if you think about it so you very right when you say sometimes that length is not really filled with ‘value’ content and the game seems and feels longer when it really is not!
Umar
February 20, 2015 at 10:51
Would Alien Isolation not have been a better game if it were shorter?
WitWolfy
February 20, 2015 at 11:45
Yea heard on the reviews that it has A LOT of backtracking unfortunately…
Darren Peach
February 20, 2015 at 12:22
The game did have bactracking but the sheer discomfort made it ok up untill a point .
Geoffrey Tim
February 20, 2015 at 11:46
Yes, yes it would have. It would easily have been a 9 from me if it had trimmed the fat a little.
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 20, 2015 at 10:52
For me it all depends on the game. As long as I’m doing something that feels meaningful while I’m playing, I’m happy. A game is something I choose to spend money on to entertain myself, I only have so much time & money, and I don’t want to waste either so the value I get out of it matters to me a lot.
I don’t mind a short game, but I do mind paying a lot for it; and especially if it’s not that good a game to being with. I loved Deadlight, which I finished in less than 3 hours and it has zero-replay value. I got it in special for $5, if I’d paid $20 I’d have been unimpressed.
I’d rather a game is shorter than contain hours of meaningless fluff too. Like collecting feathers in AC which is dull & meaningless, but I like doing the Riddler stuff in the Batman games because I find those interesting, even though they’re basically the same thing.
Then you get the games that just drag out content. In KoA I spent 70-odd hours completing it – if it had ended around the 40 mark I’d have been so much happier with the game because it got same-y. I spent 100-odd hours in Skyrim & never got bored, even though I didn’t like the combat that much, because I felt like I’d be seeing or doing something new every time I played.
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 10:54
Deadlight was short, but intense, after finishing it, I really did not want to play it again, not that it was bad, just that I had the experience, and did not want to go through that sad ending again…
CAE9872
February 20, 2015 at 10:53
Its an impossible debate because the value proposition, on which this entire thing hinges, is so different for each person. I agree with Geoff that as I get older (and of course wiser) with more responsibilities the thought of 30 hours can be a little off-putting. But then paying R800 or more for a 5 to 6 hour experience doesn’t sit well either.
I know for me personally that this game [The Order] would need to be R400 or less before I bite; and even then its going to be difficult to part with said cash.
Loftus
February 20, 2015 at 10:54
The real question here is with everyone knowing so much about the game and the length of it whom amongst the forum people will actually buy this game ?
i for one am going to win this game *holding thumbs* with the Lazygamer give away.
If not then yes i am going to buy this game. Simple YES i am buying this game or NO i am waiting for something better
Darren Peach
February 20, 2015 at 11:58
I am buying it today, Zero impulse control.
Loftus
February 20, 2015 at 12:07
a couple of pizza and cold ones, killing human puppies…perfect start to a weekend!
Captain JJ the crafter
February 20, 2015 at 10:54
I bought 7 Days to die on Steam for something like $10.
80 hours in and I haven’t even explored most of the place.
Being able to play with friends also adds a lot of value.
But once again, it’s open world, so it’s to be expected.
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 11:03
I should get that, seems like an awesome game
Captain JJ the crafter
February 20, 2015 at 11:10
It is. Lots of crafting, mining, building, mining, cutting, mining, chopping, mining and some killing. And some mining. 🙂
We destroyed our 30 floor tower last night, the thing was casting a shadow on our new castle.
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 20, 2015 at 11:04
Do you play with Llew? tee hee
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 11:05
Lol
Captain JJ the crafter
February 20, 2015 at 11:09
Hahaha.
He dies every 7th day. Like clockwork.
Uberutang
February 20, 2015 at 10:57
With games (as with ‘other things’) length is just part of it. What you do with the time is important and it looks like this game dropped the ball there also.
it is a significant game due to how it ‘looks’ but that is about it.
Ranting Raptor
February 20, 2015 at 11:11
” But man, what a rush that game was. It’s almost infinitely replayable too”
You’ve hit on the single point on whether a game is too short or not. If it’s replayable then it’s all good.
A game clocking in at only a handful of hours, that can only really be played through once AND is almost R1000 is not value for money.
I also enjoy a game I can finish but I want it to last more than a single afternoon. I also have responsibilities and a new baby too. But that just makes it even more important that a game will last me!
I can now afford to buy 1 game every now and then. I can’t buy monthly anymore. So what? I spend a boatload of cash on a game that lasts me 1 afternoon and can’t be played through enough to last me another 2 months or so? I’m sorry but no. That’s ridiculous. Game length is vitally important and can’t simply be that short.
Mossel
February 20, 2015 at 11:11
An epic fps game: I would be happy with about 10-12 hours. A big story driven shooter maybe about 15-20 hours. RPG or openworld type games about 30hours.
Viking Of Science
February 20, 2015 at 11:14
length should be determined by the narrative and mechanics.
Spec Ops The Line, 8 hour Campaign, Narrative driven. It needed that time to tell the story, without it feeling bloated. They could’ve squeezed an extra 2 – 4 hours in there, but then the mediocre nature of the Mechanics would start getting to you. and you might not finish.
Kingdoms Of Amalur was, for me at least a 40 Hour Experience. Which is fine for the type of game and story it was telling. And I could arguably burn another 40 Hours on it.
And Then I look at Dragon Age Origins. Twice now, It’s Taken me 9-odd hours to get one of the towns to send forces. And I stop, because the Story feels so dragged out by the gameplay that I couldn’t be bothered.
Give me a tight experience like Bastion or a Sweeping Epic Mass Effect 2. As long as the content is focused. The length doesn’t matter.
Final note: Look at Burial at Sea episodes 1 & 2 together, about 3 hours of playtime, and is the best Bioshock Experience since OG Bioshock…
Pieter Kruger
February 20, 2015 at 11:16
“Game length isn’t actually very important to me – as long as the game itself is good.” I guess if you don’t need to fork out R900 then sure, but at those prices value for money, of which replay ability/or just plain time spent is the main contributors, is a huge factor!
Geoffrey Tim
February 20, 2015 at 11:18
I bought Vanquish and Bayonetta. I REGRET NOTHING.
RinceThis
February 20, 2015 at 11:19
Games that are long just for the sake of being long.
Axon1988
February 20, 2015 at 11:19
I think an example of a game that was too long story wise might be Boishock Infinite. After about 8 hours of it I started to get a little tired. But if you only play single player game then you want it to be worth it.
In the end I think it is the kind of person that you are that matters. Game companies try to cater for everyone. I tend to go for games that I can play for long periods. Lately it’s been Space Engineers. But every once in a while I get the itch for a first person shooter that’s got a good campaign. That’s where a game like COD suffices for me. But this itch happens rarely.
Travis
February 20, 2015 at 11:21
Really, know I think it was perfect. Bioshock 1 FTW though.
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 11:25
Have you played System Shock 2?
Travis
February 20, 2015 at 11:30
No, whats it like
Travis
February 20, 2015 at 11:32
Just read up about it, sounds like it was awesome in its day, but probably a bit dated now, Thanks for the info though.
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 11:36
If you liked Bioshock, you’d love System Shock 2
Travis
February 20, 2015 at 11:38
Problem is I am bit of a graphics whore, and that game is old now. Was hoping The Black Glove would reach its Kickstarter goal, but it failed miserably
Axon1988
February 20, 2015 at 11:27
Bioshock one felt great to me. But I really wanted to take my time with Infinite. And about 8 hours in I started to rush through it all because it started to feel really tedious. Go here, shoot them, go there, save her.
Mossel
February 20, 2015 at 11:25
Bioshock Infinite is perfect dmmit! Don’t you dare talk bad about it!
Travis
February 20, 2015 at 11:40
Upvote
Dutch Matrix
February 20, 2015 at 11:44
Is that the one with the cover of the guy that looked like the school teacher from Vampire Diaries?
Mossel
February 20, 2015 at 11:46
lol actually yes! Cannot unsee.
Travis
February 20, 2015 at 11:49
You mean the guy who has come back from the “other side” lol
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 20, 2015 at 11:50
Yes, another fan! I mean… um….
Travis
February 20, 2015 at 11:53
I actually love that show, and The Originals
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 20, 2015 at 11:55
Me too, except for Team Stupid. ie Bonnie & Jeremy.
Haven’t watched The Originals.
Nikola
February 20, 2015 at 11:22
Game length really does not matter much to me unless it is an RPG it has toooo be long I don’t know why but I like to lose myself in them. Lat of US was not really long amazing game, Tomb Raider, Spec OPS the line just to name a few of the top of my head but they were all a LOT of fun. Also some games can be too long sometimes most recent example I can think of is Evil WIthin I think the game was a bit too long honestly it got kind of tedious by the end it felt like it should have been shorter!
Dutch Matrix
February 20, 2015 at 11:26
My main gripe with this game is the amount of cash being required. R900.00 is simply put, too much for a game that will entertain me for an afternoon or a day at most. In all honesty, R900.00 for any game is too much. Even if the game was on par with Skyrim for length.
Moreso if the game is lame. I am sorry, but quick time events in a game annoys the crap out of me.
Greylingad
February 20, 2015 at 11:32
You know…. A few days ago I walked into a gaming store, thinking, maybe I’ll buy Borderlands the after prologue, looking at the price, for the PC version, R600 and thought “Oigh… Bargain bin it is then” when a guy behind starts calling out PS4 games from the guy at the counter, as I turned around I saw a small stack of games, which two years ago would have amounted to about two to three thousand rand, and I realised there and then how expensive they had become… It’s bloody scary…
Dutch Matrix
February 20, 2015 at 11:38
Let me tell you: I recently started having serious panic attacks. So in attempt to get out of the house a bit more, I started looking at doing day trips with my fiance. I was shocked to find what I could do with say, the price of two games. (or in The Order’s case, 1 game)
A trip to the Lion Park, for example will forever be one of my wow moments in life. Seeing those big cats up close and personal?
No game comes close to the majesty of it all. (Sorry if this was a bit soppy)
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 11:44
WHIPPED!
😛
Dutch Matrix
February 20, 2015 at 11:52
Meh. I can live with that.
Admiral Chief
February 20, 2015 at 12:48
XD
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 20, 2015 at 11:44
You know what would be even better? Taking your Vita with & playing on that while there. Win win! …. right? O_o
Dutch Matrix
February 20, 2015 at 11:47
Hey. I am going again soon. Come along. We can toss you to the lions for food. 🙂 Oh no wait. That would be animal cruelty…
Blood Emperor Trevor
February 20, 2015 at 11:48
lol, ja you don’t want to overfeed them. 😀
Greylingad
February 20, 2015 at 12:11
^^ That is exactly what I’m talking about, for instance, years ago I went bungee jumping for about the exact same price at the Orlando towers, I paid for me and a friend for that price…Ok I’m not sure what the prices are today, but I’m sure it wouldn’t have gone up by that much…
Darren Peach
February 20, 2015 at 12:00
That is the key issue, Pricepoint.
Greylingad
February 20, 2015 at 11:28
Length doesn’t matter as much as entertainment value, for instance if I enjoyed the hell out of something like beatlefield or CODwars, and paid the full $60 I won’t mind, but if the game in question disappoints I would be rather upset… A good comparison would be that of Watchdogs, beside the fact that the game was ok, not awesome like it was portrayed, but long and had these millions of things to do, and then still some more, I didn’t enjoy it as much, but COD AW* was also (in almost as much) the same, though on a different level, brilliant Kevin Spacey performance, but lackluster for the rest. A game I quite enjoyed revisiting recently was actually Max Payne 3, brilliant monologues carried by an amazing performance done by James McAffree himself, AWESOME gameplay that still makes me cringe when a bullet strikes a knee or an elbow or…. well anywhere really, but I’m quite sorry to say this, but there hasn’t been much in the last few years that have been able to spark that much enjoyment (even though it did manage to depend largely on a pill popping alcoholics’ rage), but still… I haven’t played a game as memorable as that in the last 3 years, which is sad and now I want pancakes…
*Disclaimer: COD AW was the first COD game played in a Very long time by me….
Dutch Matrix
February 20, 2015 at 11:44
Call of Duty is one of those games I love playing the Single Player campaign of. Yes, it is short, but fun. Plus the Infinity Ward games really creates a battlefield you can believe you are in the middle of.
Greylingad
February 20, 2015 at 12:14
Exactly! I’ve always seen games as interactive entertainment, which, if I lose myself in the game, it’s definitely worth it, if I don’t, well then it should be a bargain bin sale…
Ross Woofels Mason
February 20, 2015 at 11:32
Applauds on that header lol.
For me the problem with really short games comes in when there is no re-playability to the game. Like thats for coming here are your 3 – 8 hours done and now you’re never going to touch the game again, should not be sold at the full price.
Yet you take something like Bayonetta 2 which I finished in roughly 8 hours. However i’ve played that game twice now since it’s release. Same with Shadow Warrior, my time to finish that game is also 7 – 8 hours but I’ve played it 3 or 4 times because there is a lot of replayabilty to them.
As for the longer games, I don’t really have much time for them these days. I used to love the digaea series, I clocked 500 hours in number 1. However these days if the story starts to break the 25 hour mark I start to loose interest pretty rapidly.
For me a good balance is between 12 – 20 hours.
WitWolfy
February 20, 2015 at 11:43
This game will have to wait until payday, I dont have cash anyways.
Darren Peach
February 20, 2015 at 11:51
As much as I love this series, COD was arguably the first game to start the short game thing.
Lardus-Resident Perve
February 20, 2015 at 11:56
Honestly, it really depends on the game. RPG needs to be immersive, fun, binding, needs to pull me in, and have a decently long length. Action games need to pull me in and be a fun adrenaline rush, but with a decently medium length. For example how good would Spacemarine have been if it was more of an adrenaline rush? Not too long a game which is fine, but needed a bit more “energy”. ME needed to be long, but it didn’t feel long because of how immersed and invested I was/am in the game. So, ja, depends on the game.
Kensei Seraph
February 20, 2015 at 12:06
It depends on the game type.
I expect a R300,00 game to keep me entertained for at least a month (and that’s easier now that I have lost 4/7ths of my free time) but that does not mean it needs to be long.
A game with excellent gameplay and high replayability will take more of my time than something that is simply “long” and is thus worth more of my money.
That said, I value a good storyline highly and most short games are lacking in the storyline department.
GTVDAD
February 20, 2015 at 12:16
We (my son and I) look at the fun factor of games and not length.
Due to time constraints a 5-8 hour game would probably take me two to three weeks to play. I do not sit down and play a game to see how fast I can finish it
We very seldom replay games and usually swap it with a friend or sell it on BOB when we finish it. i try and get a new game each month. In that way I only pay R200 or R300 for a game per month.
Greylingad
February 20, 2015 at 12:25
We(exactly as above) sit in front of the PC and while I play with the keyboard and mouse, my little one plays with the steering wheel with ferocious atrocity, whether it be a shooter or racing game, it also takes about the same time to finish them and I agree in full, the more fun you have the more value!
Darren Peach
February 20, 2015 at 12:36
Here is my arguement. On the business side of this wonderful “lifechoice” , there seems to be a rigid business model that works in the consumers favor and against it. The pricepoint on new release triple A titles remains the same. We get 100 hour rpg games and then we get this sort of short experience. How do publishers justify this. It is a very objective medium to the consumer. What are we paying for ?
Hendrik
February 20, 2015 at 12:48
Reminds me of that joke where two guys asked a girl:” so what do you prefer, a long thin one, or a short thick one”, to which she replied: “what is wrong with a long thick one?”
Galbedir
February 20, 2015 at 12:54
Honestly I very rarely buy a new release SP game at $60. For the 8-10 hours you get from most games these days, I don’t feel its worth it. However If a game can supply me with hundreds of MP fun, I’d gladly spend the asked $60.
Lukas De Kock
February 20, 2015 at 13:37
Replay value outweighs length IMO.
That beings said replay value = something you want to play again.
Its pointless having a 50 hours game when you wish it ended on 1 hour.
Tbone187
February 20, 2015 at 15:53
RPG type of games like Monster Hunter can and should go on forever…:) but these story based games really shouldn’t. I reckon Far Cry 3 was perfect…Tomb Raider wasn’t bad either but then the experience was entertaining. Can’t imagine finishing a poor game for the sake of it.
Allykhat
February 23, 2015 at 09:33
I don’t mind a short game, I really don’t as long as it provides a good experience. HOWEVER, Gaming for me, recently, has turned from focusing on length or hype to focusing on entertainment value.
So lets say you are paying R800 for a certain game that has orders for 18.86 and getting 5 hours of solid play out of it works out to R160 an hour. A movie with the GF with popcorn and drinks costs around the same for 1.5 to 2 hours. Based on that, I’m not quite sold on the game yet.
A FULL day at Ushaka Marine World costs the same too per person, but that is a FULL day. So in cases like that, I tend to wait for the game to go cheaper.
Now we have GTA V. I spent R500 on that. The main story clocks in at around 30 hours. Rounded up it’s R17 an hour and that’s not even including all the time i’ve spent on GTA Online already.
Destiny as well, listed as an example of mediocrity in the Oxford Dictionary, has sapped away 100+ hours of my life already. I paid R800 for the limited edition. R8 an hour so far and I still have DLC coming which should be another 10+ hours. I see that as amazing entertainment value.
I haven’t even touched Dragon Age yet but I paid around R500 for that and should be getting at least 60 hours out of it.
Sorry for getting so technical, but I believe in getting what you pay for and waiting a few weeks for the game to go second hand or on sale isn’t a bad thing, especially when you have a backlog of games to finish first.