Getting Your Money's Worth?
Last Updated (Wednesday, June 10 2009)
These days money is a hot issue. With the global economy taking hit and major companies asking for bail outs from the government. They say the recession is here. Well don't tell that to the gaming industry. Publishers are spending an average of $15-20 million dollars for developers to create games now a days, so for me spending $60.00 bucks of my hard earned money instead of the old $50.00 bucks is no problem.
Gamers are getting a lot of bang for their buck these days when they purchase certain titles. With the HD graphics, surround sound, and online play on many titles, gamers are in for a treat when they purchase certain new titles. The question comes to mind often however...what is a game really worth? How many of you have asked a friend "Was that game worth the 60.00 bucks?" I know I have. For a game to get my money at full price it really has to be worth it.
(Sure it looks cool, but is it worth 60.00 bucks?)
(No...)
Some things I look for is how long am I going to play a certain title. Is it a game worth replaying? How many hours of enjoyment am I gonna get out of it? Is it multiplayer or co-op? Will it have downloadable content in the future? Are the visuals up to par? These are similar questions all gamers ask before putting down that hard earned money on a title.
One thing I LOVE about this generation of gaming is having the ability to download demos of certain games. I know that it is not available for all games...but there are ALOT of demos on the PSN and on Xbox live that let's gamers get a chance to wet their appetite on a title, or even see if they will like it or not. This option gives gamers a chance to try games they may otherwise overlook if they are on a limited budget.
With so many high flying titles out there these days the demos are a great way to advertise a game for publishers and developers. With a title like Castle Crashers...I would have probably passed it up just looking at the static image of it. But for free I gave it a shot to try the demo and fell in love with the zany game play. It was a blast and I bought the entire game via xbox live. (I highly recommend it!)
So I ask the question again...what makes a game worth 60.00 dollars to you? Here are some games in my collection that I feel are clearly worth the 60.00 dollar price tag.
Halo 3
The campaign offered a nice 8-10 hour slice of co-op action and the real gem was the multiplayer. The graphics are really under -rated when compared to other titles...but really take a close look at Halo 3 and tell me it isn't a good looking game. If you take a movie priced at 20.00 bucks on dvd and divide it by 2.5 hours~the time it takes to watch it ~that breaks down to around 8 dollars per hour of entertainment. Let's say you watch it around 2-3 times per year. That lowers the dollar per entertainment hour even more...On Halo 3 I have spent over 1400 hours since its 2007 release playing that game. That means I payed around 4 cents per entertainment hour for that game...Clearly a steal.
But wait...I almost forgot...50 bucks a year for a gold account and around 30 bucks for all the maps...so 60 for the game 30 for the maps and 50 for the gold account on xbox live adds up to $140.00 dollars. So in all I payed 10 cents per entertainment hour for Halo 3 a game I still find amazingly fun and addictive. I can say easily I got my money's worth and yes the game was and still is worth 60.00 bucks!
Metal Gear Solid 4
Some games deserve your money...I say this because when I look at a title like Metal Gear Solid 4 it brings Video gaming to new heights. I first played the game on my cousin's 40 inch LCD 1080p tv in surround sound. I only played the first 10 minutes before I had to leave his house...but in those 10 minutes I was witnessed to a presentation so grand and great...so carefully crafted...so magical...it made every other game I played in my life seem not as important.
Think about it...the first 10 minutes made me feel this way... all I did was run around and tried not to get crushed by robots...The game's engine is so silky smooth you don't know when the cut-scenes end and when it is time for you to play. It wouldn't matter how long this game was to me...it was and will forever be worth a 60.00 dollar price tag!!!
Oblivion IV Game of the Year Edition/ Fallout 3+ downloadable content
I will say this...any game made by Bethsheba will be worth your 60 bucks. Both titles have long fulfilling single player campaigns filled with twist and turns...character upgrades and amazing visuals. You could spend 100 hours on each and still have plenty to do. Then came the download able content. PS3 owners who bought Fallout 3 may be upset that they can't get the new chapters (They all look sweet) but be patient...Oblivion had a similar time-line of content on 360 at first then available on a game of the year edition. So I am just guessing here..but by Christmas there will be a game of the year edition of Fall Out 3 with all three new episodic content and the original game available.
I will pick it up for sure...and I already own Fall Out 3! If I made games I would really feel funny putting out a title that sits on the same shelf as anyone one of these 2 games...only because I would feel ashamed by the fact that there is really nothing coming close to games matching content for content as either one of these two games. Play these games back to back and all of your friends and family will wonder where you are for the next 2-3 months. These two games are still worth a $60.00 price tag!
I could go on and on...but I wanted to share 3 different examples of how games could be worth a 60.00 price tag.
Here is a quick list of titles in my collection that are worth the 60.00 bucks (in my mind at least)
Grand Theft Auto 4 -Sheer size and amazing game to play!
Bioshock- Ground breaking title
The Orange Box- How many games can fit on one disc?
Resident Evil 5- Great Co-op play ~Versus mode should have been included!
Gears of War 2 -Excellent Campaign & Horde mode!!
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune -Tomb Raider done right!
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare- Changed the front of the battle field...
Killzone 2 -Best looking First Person Shooter EVAR!!!!
Future titles coming this year that will be worth 60.00 bucks...
-Halo ODST
-God of War 3
-Mass Effect 2
-Assassin's Creed 2
-Modern Warfare 2
-Left 4 Dead 2
-Ghost Busters
-Splinter Cell Conviction
As you can see there are a lot of sequels on my list. I guess it could be because I trust the companies who make the games that I believe are worth my money.
Here is a list of good titles but I feel are not worth the 60 dollar price tag.
Army of Two: worth around 25 bucks....
It was a great co-op experience and some good visuals...but not worth the full price of admission. The hokey jokes and questionable shooting made me wait on picking this one up until prices dropped. I picked up a copy for me for 20 bucks and one for my wife for 17.99 used. For Army of two to step their game up they need to see what Resident Evil 5 did well...also they need to see Gears of War 1 and 2.
Dark Sector worth 20.00 bucks
Dark Sector was an amazing title. It was a mix between Resident Evil 4, Gears of War, and a little of Splinter Cell. The problem with game is a weak multi-player (there were a couple times when I went online to play and ZERO people were on the the network for Dark Sector!) One thing that annoyed me was the fact that after I completed the game I couldn't replay the game with all my leveled up weapons and powers. I put all this work into upgrading my character and getting some cool weapons only to be able to play them for like the last 2 levels...BOO I tell you! I played and completed the game twice but after that I haven't touched it since...it was fun...but not a killer must have at full price...they needed to refer to Resident Evil 4 to hit that ground breaking fun factor.
Any Madden or Sports title that comes out yearly...Why spend 60.00 dollars on a game year after year when in 4-5 months the price will be slashed...I would say price these titles at 40.00 bucks brand new!
I will finish this article with this question...do developers feel guilty when they release a game that doesn't fill up the dvd disc or blue-ray disc...and then sell down loadable content a short time after it's release. The most high profile case of this has to be Resident Evil 5. It released the second week of March, and even before it was released a versus mode was revealed but gamers had to pay for it...and extra 5 bucks...this was a horrible idea from the start...It turns out Vs mode was already included on the game..it was called Mercenaries mode..they just added 2 more humans to the mix and now you can shoot at them as well...
Wolverine Origins was a nice game. The campaign was around 7 hours long. Then they released a battle arena downloadable content. It was a nice touch...but clearly it should have been added to the game when it was released. Why charge for a feature that could easily could have been added to the game and easily fits on the disc whether it be blue-ray or dvd.
The same thing could have been said for Prince of Persia. Sure it was a nice game but the epilogue download (around 2 hours long) should have been free or included on the disc.
(Yeah..your pretty..but Epilogue should have been free!)
Many people already thought Fable II was a short game. It would have been a nice touch to add the download for free to customers who purchased a game that was already over priced.
Certain content should either be free or added to the game before release...I just hope with the new technology of allowing developers to add content "later" doesn't affect the "now" of what is included when the game is first on the shelves. Gamers should pay attention to how deep the content is and the time frame from the original title release to see if is justified. If the developers and publishers see us just buying some of these downloads weeks after a release of a title we may see this trend happening more and more often.
How wrong would it be to pay for an ending of a game via 800 microsoft points (10.00 bucks on PSN)to see the "real" ending of a game...I hope it doesn't come to that.
Message to all gamers...Money is a little tighter these days so spend wisely. Your purchases today shape what games are being made tomorrow. Look at this Holiday's Line up...it will be filled with sequels from the last 2 years. And people will be buying up those games with hopes of those titles are worth that $60.00 dollar price tag!
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