Dig it to the center of the Earth!
Heya folks! I'm new but I'm awesome, so let's just get down to talking about games again:
I was recently called upon to defend Drill Dozer for the GBA, and I couldn't articulate very easily why it I enjoyed it so much. It is a platformer by Game Freak that didn't seem to make much of an impact in the states. I picked it up for $10 over the summer and I had a good time playing it.
And really, that's about it, but I'll elaborate for those of you who haven't heard of it. The character design isn't anything spectacular. You play a little girl in a giant robot, and you have some colleagues but they don't really matter. For the most part, the game play isn't really that spectacular either. But it is good. The drilling mechanic involves holding down the R or L button to start your drill, and then tapping the appropriate button again to shift into a higher "gear" for more power. You start out with 1 gear, and gain the 2nd and 3rd during the course of each level. It is a slightly more inventive way of attacking a dealing with environmental obstacles than simply punching or jumping, so I have to give Game Freak credit.
I've been burned out on platformers so a long while, so I was rather surprised when Drill Dozer managed to hold my interest. But if you asked me to spell out why, I don't think I could tell you. It is just a rather enjoyable, light-hearted, low-stakes experience. It isn't mind blowing, but not every game has to be.
One More Final: Someone (on these very internets, no less!) complained that it lasted less than a week. Is that really what it is about? Does length make a game better? I submit that if you eliminate dealing with the cost (which is a major factor for me personally) it doesn't matter at all. I paid $50 for Metal Gear Solid 2 Demo Featuring Zone of the Enders when it came out, and I felt cheated after my 2:10 completion time for Z.O.E. But then I looked back on what a fantastic experience it was (for the time...) and realized that complaining about the length had me missing the entire point.
And Shaq-Fu, you guys: I wouldn't want to play a platformer for more than a week anyway.
2 comments:
My roommate and I call this argument (that length makes games good) the Donkey Kong 64 argument.
That game was huge: it had 5 playable characters and tons of levels (which, to complete the game, you had to separately bring all 5 of your characters to.)
Gamespot gave it a 9.0, essentially because it was long.(http://www.gamespot.com/n64/action/donkeykong64/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;score).
However, the game stank. It was just 5 bad games rolled into one worse game.
A few posts ago, I pondered the old adage that gamers demand new experiences. I think the adage of "gamers demand long games" is also pretty false.
Super Metroid was made to be beaten in under three hours, but no one complains about that.
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