Mindless?

[Project_Omega]

there are a few games out there that are consistently lauded for their gameplay value, however, have the stigma that they are just "mindless games" in that there is no cerebral action there or any sort of engaging story.

The two that come to my mind are Gears of War and God of War. Personally I've never played the latter and the former I've only played for a brief time. Because of this, I cannot justly make a decision to how true these stereotypes are, but am aware of them nonetheless. For those of you who have played them, is this assumption true?

Are there any other games you can think of that fall into the same category of great gameplay but lacking in story?

I am not going to even bother saying anything, just listen in to any chav/jock and you will know the answer.

 

[Dogstile]

Dynasty warriors

This game right here is a mindless game.

Run forward, hit wall, so run left or right.

Find enemy. Hit X, X, X, Y. Repeat until dead.

Run forwa-

 

[Vault101]

well by the looks of it it depends on what you define as "mindless" and also what you define as "fun"

 

[dead.juice]

I had this feeling with Prototype. The gameplay was awesome, but the story was extremely mindless. The whole main plot should have been excluded from the game, it's a waste of space.
OT: The flashbacks whenever you absorbed anyone was good stuff, and the overall voice acting (Alex Mercer and the enemy solders, mainly) gave life to the characters and NPCs.
A job the writing was supposed to handle.
It made the enemy radio chatter and Alex Mercer's "Get the fuck away from me!" lines actually sound cool.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I would consider MGS4 a pretty deep game, but was it fun? Not particularly

Not into sneaking around snapping necks?

OT: I can't find games fun if they don't have a good story line. Also gameplay mechanics. If the gameplay mechanics suck then it is a no go.

I really like stealth games.

I loved MGS3. It had a great story and great characters.

MGS4 was just a pretentious fanwank with a stupidly convoluted plot and between 30 minute cutscenes, there was enough quality gameplay to fill a Call of Duty campaign.

 

[Ravnican]

Gears of War is fun, but yeah I'd say its story is fairly mindless. The idea is fine, but I always find myself asking why they don't just open up a whole underneath Marcus Fenix's improbably armored ass and pull him under.

God of War, at least the original, is an entirely different beast. The original's story is smart, interesting, extremely well-told, and engaging. Most important of all, it establishes the antagonist as more of a bastard than the protagonist.

The second game and the PSP games were very fun and their story was understandable, but after finishing them I knew what it was like to play the badder guy. While I did enjoy the later installments, I think the franchise would have been better if it were left off after part 1 or 2. I haven't finished the third one but I know that its story makes Kratos a complete and utter bastard, at least until the screwy turnaround at the end.

Hope? Really? From Kratos?

I find ironic the fact that so many people harp on this without realizing it's keeping true to the original myth, although the way they handled it was damned stupid, I'll give you that (the whole near death revelation sequence felt like being *****-slapped). I agree with you on the first game being the best written, but I found the second to be the most fun to play.