Now appropriate game length has always been a debatable issue, but the general consensus is that of you tell a compelling story and have well-paced gameplay, your game can be as long as you like. But there also seems to be a waning trend in particularly lengthy games. 25 hours used to be short for an rpg, now its pretty much the standard. Action titles and especially FPS games often run short of 10 or sometimes even 5 hours. Now in some cases, this is a good thing. Lord knows there are plenty of solid titles with what feels like completely boring filler. But I'm pretty sure anyone who paid $60 for a game and didn't even get 10 hours out of it feels pretty ripped off.
And now developers are coming out and saying that games these days are too long and gamers don't enjoy 10+ hour titles. Which I believe is a huge fucking crock. There are tons of games that provide top-notch story telling and lots of gameplay that sell incredibly well. It's all about delivering a truly compelling experience. If gamers don't bother to finish because it's just "too long," well that's their loss. If developers start making games even shorter than they already are, that just smacks of lazyness and most certainly putting the almighty dollar ahead of any creativity. Would you want a Mass Effect title that takes maybe 15 hours to beat? The next Uncharted game to only take 5? If that's where games are heading, maybe I should start buying more books....
That's it for today, but I should have another post up tomorrow. Until then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Murloc RPG:SF
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