If Only

[Adam LaMosca]

If Only

Were they the best games of the year? Maybe not. I'm not even sure they were my favorites, but in the end they met or exceeded my expectations completely. And yet I've no doubt that in the dark corners of the internet there are forum threads where frustrated gamers roundly vilify these same titles for their perceived flaws. Yes, you may be certain that somewhere, somehow, there are people that actually hated Portal.

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[p1ne]

Great article, I really enjoyed it. Very perceptive.

 

[BobisOnlyBob]

there are people that actually hated Portal.

I must say, I've yet to see anyone that genuinely hates it. A Google search for "I hate Portal" yields about 3 genuine comments that say "I hate Portal" in the context of the actual game itself and not "portal websites" or "portal memes" (like the song or the cake), and all of those are anonymous one-shot comments, all of which reference hating TF2 and/or HL2 at the same time (ie. people who wouldn't buy it in the first place). There's one of a guy complaining he didn't "get" it by Test Chamber 3, and in a later comment corrects himself, stating that he finished it and loves it.

I honestly don't think there's a person who has played over an hour of Portal and been able to say "I hate this game", except maybe "I hate this game because it's addictive".

 

[Frybird]

On the first page, i wanted to dismiss that article as the usual "People on the internet rather complain than game"-Text...until exactly that is adressed on the second Page. Great.

I just recommend, in order to enjoy these recent "if only" Games, to stay open minded about them and mix them up a little.


Yes, Assasins Creed IS repetitive, but i enjoy spending the 1 to 1 1/2 hours doing one assasination between extended sessions of Guitar Hero 3, Mass Effect and COD 4.

Yes, Mass Effect HAS an interface straight out of hell, but for every 5 Minutes of painstaking Inventory Organisation i get at least twice that time of solid shooter/tactical gameplay, fantastic dialogue and an engaging story.


I mean, come on, nearly all of the great games have annoying nitpicks, but as time goes on, we look at them with rose tinted glasses. Not that we should completely overlook the flaws of a game, but maybe we should pack out these glasses a bit earlier...

 

[tarantulaboy52]

Too true.

This is because publishers are too eager to get their hands on our hard earned cash to care whether games are enjoyable or even playable in some cases (ahh remember Enter the Matrix? That went into the bin after 5 minutes due to the controls making the game unplayable.).

This is partly because there are few developers with enough clout to say to tell their publisher : "Fuck off. It'll be ready when it's ready and not a minute before."

I miss the old days when games came out when they were ready and not before but, alas, these are very different times we live in. Perhaps the advent of internet content delivery (Steam and the like) will help re-dress the balance and put control back in the hands of the developers.

 

[Fire Daemon]

People have been saying if only forever.

Nice read.

 

[Zera]

None of these games were truly perfect, but that shouldnt stop everyone from enjoying them at least a bit. Good article on this perspective.

 

[SonofSeth]

So, there's Blizzard... anyone else shipping games that are fun, easy to get into and have as few bugs as it's humanly possible for that amount of code.

Calling Blizzard games perfect is far from what I'm trying to say, but I think they fit nicely into what the author is trying to say. A game that works and works well, simple enough to understand from get go and complex enough to start acting l33t after 700 hours play time. Is there other company still in buisness doing that thing too? Valve? Maybe...

 

[Lumberingoaf]

You can't have everything... Where would you put it?

- Steven Wright

IF you didn't have something to complain about not being in the game, they wouldn't have new stuff to put in the sequel.

 

[the_carrot]

I think Portal could have been done better. A little.

 

[nightfish]

I hate portal - simply because PREY did 'portals' and no one bats an eyelid...Valve do it and its OMG!!!!!

Credit to where its due please

 

[SonofSeth]

I hate portal - simply because PREY did 'portals' and no one bats an eyelid...Valve do it and its OMG!!!!!

Credit to where its due please

True, but I also read Prey was a realy poor game, didn't play it myself. GLaDOS is half of Portal and shows realy how far setting can go.