Playing games without any real thought.

[Krion_Vark]

Have you ever played a game where you enjoy the game play so much that you don't really care much for the story? I have seen a lot of negative reviews for one of my favorite series of all time Sonic. I have not played any Sonic game recently because I don't really have money to get the games. The last Sonic game that I did play was Sonic Heroes. People always seem to complain about the story telling in the Sonic games as of late. In a nutshell the story is usually evil doctor makes robots tries to take over the world. I am not trying to be a fanboy but haven't games that have been around since the 2nd or 3rd generations of consoles all pretty much been about the same thing? I mean Mario is some giant Dinosaur thing creates havoc plumber must stop him. I think the biggest difference is that Nintendo still has a console to show off their golden goose while Team Sonic no longer has Sega making consoles that they know pretty much inside and out and can make a game that works well with the controls while also being able to write a good story for it. Well I think I have gotten a bit off track but any and every Sonic game I think of story as a background to the thing that I grew up on running through a level as fast as I can and seeing in how short of a time I can beat the game. I mean I have Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the 360 and I think that is the best 30 dollars I have ever spent on a game since there are A) so many good old games in it and B) I can run through Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and just keep going at that for hours without any real care.

So here is what I put out to you guys in Escapist. Are there any games (series and single games) that you can just mindlessly play for hours since you enjoy the way it flows and feels?

 

[Rylot]

I've been enjoying Ninety-Nine Nights II for just how mindlessly fun it can be. It isn't a great game and the story is only okay at best but I just enjoy turning it on for some mindless stress relief.

 

[Super Toast]

The Skate games. Don't like 'em? Well fuck you, because I do.

 

[Extraintrovert]

As someone who enjoys the guilty pleasure of the LEGO [insert franchise here] games, I think I can safely claim that I have played a game without consideration for the story. It certainly is a less fulfilling experience, but not something to avoid.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

Forza is like that for me. I can play it for hours without caring one bit about my background, or the story, or the motivations of my arch-nemesis. For me it's all about the gameplay. But that's just me.

...

 

[-Samurai-]

Pretty much anything before the N64 came out.

It was(and still is) nice to just run through punching people in the face or hitting them with baseball bats just because they're between you and the next screen.(Yay Streets of Rage!)

 

[DazZ.]

Torchlight, after completing it once and getting a jist of it. You only need a jist of it.

Titan Quest as well, didn't really read what anyone was complaining at me to fix, only where I had to go. Chances were they only wanted me to kill everything there and I planned to do that anyway.

Oh, I occasionally go mindless melee as a scout on TF2, it's mostly when I can't really be bothered to play but still want to feck about on the Escapist server. I've grown very tired of all melee only though, seeing as we used to play it about once a week, but if everyone else is using guns I like mindlessly attempting to rack up kills with my bat. Instead of thinking what the team actually needs and playing that in an attempt to help people, I'm very hypocritical that way.

 

[ultrachicken]

inFamous. Although I admittedly looked forward to the cutscenes, but mostly because I liked the comic-book style.

 

[AvsJoe]

Culdecept Saga. I love the gameplay but I hate everything else. I tuned everything else out for a while when playing but I don't enjoy a game if I'm not invested in the story. So I put it down and haven't picked it back up since.

 

[PurplePlatypus]

Yes I have.

Torchlight, Monster hunter Tri, Sonic Heroes, Mario Sunshine/Galaxy and maybe a few others I?ve forgotten. Well I didn?t ignore the stories for some of these, more dubbed them unimportant.

 

[Krion_Vark]

Pretty much anything before the N64 came out.

It was(and still is) nice to just run through punching people in the face or hitting them with baseball bats just because they're between you and the next screen.(Yay Streets of Rage!)

I prefer the piping more than the bat. But yeah Streets of Rage is a lot of mindless fun.

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

No More Heroes 2 and Killer 7.

It shows that I only played NMH for the gameplay, because as I said not too long ago:

Mind you this is a Suda 51 game, so the aformentioned Studio Gainax thing appears at the end, not because of money, or anything, but because Suda 51 hasn't ever wrapped up loose ends since Super Fire Pro Wrestling.

 

[Eren Murtaugh]

Well, I hate to be a broken record by countlessly posting this but SIM Theme Park for the PS1. Mindless fun once you got started. I loved making the carousel and Ferris Wheel spin so fast they broke after one ride. Also UFC Undisputed 2010. Don't care about the story, but I can beat on people for hours at a time.

 

[Ultress]

Ninja Gaiden 1/2, something about swords,tits and REVENGE!!!!!

 

[darktau21]

i would have to agree that sonic is an awesome game and the game that would go under this question would be sonic 2 for the sega

 

[Deathkingo]

Culdecept Saga. I love the gameplay but I hate everything else. I tuned everything else out for a while when playing but I don't enjoy a game if I'm not invested in the story. So I put it down and haven't picked it back up since.

Oh man, I loved the story in that game...but you know, not because it was good.

I would have to go with Sacred 2. Or Diablo 2. Mindless Hack n' Slash games never really get me invested in the story (usually because it sounds as if they made the story by randomly selecting ideas from a fruit-bowl).

 

[demoman_chaos]

There isn't any game I enjoy for the story, so pretty much every game I like falls into that catagory.

Here is a tip, avoid the newer Sonic games. I've played a good chunk of them and there are quite awful. The pixelated ones are by far the best.