Finishing Games

Finishing games can be hard at times; I for one have 10 or so top quality games sitting on my shelf at home that have either not been completed or need to be finished in full. Sometimes completing video games is not necessarily down to the difficulty level. There are many other things that come into play from game length to available time to complete. My day job definitely effects how much time I get to game.

As I’ve highlighted in many posts before there are a wealth of great games coming over the next few months with the likes of Battlefield 3, Skyrim and Arkham City all hitting stores before the year is out. I basically thought I’d give a quick run down on how to make sure you don’t get a backlog like mine.

Firstly the volume of games you buy can have an impact on your success at getting them done. I would suggest buying one game at a time and I for one know that it really is a hard thing to do. Every year around the holidays a million great games come out and I want them all. In fact the majority of my backlog came out at the end of last year and didn’t get completed before the next AAA title got released. Obviously if you buy a lot of games at once you’re going to have a hard time focusing on one. Then, without knowing it, you will start to play only a couple of those games and the rest will get neglected – sorry Dragon Age: Awakening.

My other major issue is that I read ever preview and trailer in the build up to game releases. This seems to make me hype up how good they will be without actually falling in love with the game itself.  Stop reading every preview and watching every gameplay video and you may have a personal view on the games coming out. I noticed lately that a lot of games come out and don’t live up to their original hype. It’s makes sense to know when a game is coming out, but don’t ruin the experience by refreshing your favourite gaming website every ten minutes, in pursuit of your latest fix. It’s possible to chase something so much–once you finally get your hands on it you will immediately lose interest.

I learnt many years ago that anyone with any interest in a story driven game should keep off of forums. Most people don’t post spoiler warnings or have hidden text in their signatures detailing plot based developments. If you have a game spoilt for you then chances are you will lose interest. It’s like watching a good movie and being told the ending an hour before it happens.

(Spoiler for Red Dead Redemption – I found out John Marsden died before then end and it was a chore just getting through the story then. I’d only just entered Mexico at the time too)

One bit point to ask yourself is what length of games you like. Do you want something casual that you can pick up and play for a while, developing the story too or do you want something that you can sink your teeth into for hours on end? If you want a short game then don’t pick up the RPG epics like Skyrim and settle for Call of Duty. Skyrim will take countless hours to complete and many more when you start taking on side quests, Call of Duty on the other hand usually has a 10 hour main game with multiple levels and a jump in and out multiplayer too.

Do not buy games just for their reviews! Always remember that reviews are just a personal opinion of a certain game, what may be loved by one person may also be another’s hell. The best way to put this is not to buy something just because of the hype especially if it’s not a genre that you personally tend to enjoy. I love Final Fantasy XIII for example but a lot of people boycotted its release due to it’s linearity. If you are curious rent the game first – you may find it isn’t your thing.

Try to make a deadline for beating a specific game. If you say something like ‘I want to complete Bioshock before this time next month’ then you are probably more likely to do so. If you really are a person who struggles to get through games then this is a great way of getting something finished off before the next AAA title comes out.

Gaming burnout is another completion killer. If you play games for 10 hours straight then you are likely to either get bored of the developing story or take a break for a few days. I know this sounds weird but I have found this happen to myself. The problem is taking a few days break can then turn to weeks or the inevitable months. If you do take a long break too it’s even harder to get into a game again as you don’t always remember all the plot or what the next task might be.

Finishing a game by sections is a great way to progress through to completion. What I mean is if you finish the single player of a game first gives you experience to play online at a reasonable level. I find jumping online too quickly can make me lose interest in the single player no matter how great it is. As so happened with my copy of Battlefield Bad Company 2.

The next two points come hand in hand, if you get stuck get help or if the difficulty is too much turn it down. What really is at stake? Your pride or your money? I know there are some people who refuse to read a guide or check a walkthrough but I for one will not losing half my game money because I didn’t notice a door tucked behind a wardrobe in a dark room at night. Sometimes you will just get stuck or turned around and it’s best to ask for help because there is always the chance that you’ll give up and add the game to the uncompleted pile. Also not everyone can play a game on the hardest difficulty, accept this, turn it down and move on. Some people like to be punished; others just want to have fun. Don’t feel pressured by others to play on the highest difficulty level. This could lead to frustration and a broken game. It’s not about bragging rights, at the end of the day all those trophies and achievements mean nothing. Having fun is what’s truly important. I’ve been playing an insanity Vanguard run on Mass Effect 2 ever since it was released and I’m still struggling. But I’ve finished the game before and I want the test. Trust me when I say that if I’d played this game straight through on Insane then I would have rage quit and never finished it.

I have 10 games in by backlog at the moment and these are the points I’m trying to remember as I clear it in preparation for the Christmas release cycle. Bring on Assassins Creed 2, Fable 3, Bioshock 2 and Dead Space 2.