How do you know if a game is going to be good or not?

Hmmm, I normally like indepth, fun games (Normally RTS, FPS) I dont own that many space sims but have always loved em and am really looking forward to Freelancer <img src=smilies/icon_smile_big.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> I like games to be original, graphics dosnt bother me that much, sure its nice to have good graphics but i dont see the point of having great graphics if the game ends up being complete rubbish. Re-playability (If thats even a word <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>) is kinda important cause when i got the cash i can buy as many as 4 games a month for either my xbox or my pc, and if i play a game and i dont like it or I complete it and the game dosnt have good re-playability then i just will never play it again. I havnt come across many games that I still want to play again after i completed them, so i kinda like it when that happens. That dosnt count multiplayer though, a lot of games i like playing multiplayer even if im bored with single player. ok i kinda gone on a bit there <img src=smilies/icon_smile_big.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>

The first thing I think is most important in the game would be the gameplay. Which would be controls setup and how natural they feel. Second would have to be lastability. How much fun and how many different things you can try out while still having fun depends on how long I will want to play that game. Of course being able to play that game with friends adds to that. Graphics and sound would have to come after lastability but are still vary important. Great or mindblowing graphics and sound always add to the experience. Another important thing to have in games are options and a lot of them. Whether the options are different game modes or choices on what to do playing game they can give the game a lot more lastability. How I find out about games are either through my friends or through a website. Sites I often cheack would be IGN.com (for GC and PC games) or planetgamecube.com (for GAMECUBE games) <img src=´http://www.boomspeed.com/nash/Nashsig.gif ´> Edited by - Nash on 14-01-2003 23:12:41

Simulations of real planes, tanks, ships etc or simulations of imaginary planes / spaceships / mechs whatever. Good simulations, for me, are ones like European AirWar and the old Gunship 2000. Complicated enough to give you a sense of achievement yet not overburdened with too many commands to remember. I haven´t played an RTS that I´ve liked better than Total Anihilation yet but I do keep my eyes open in the hopes that I´ll find one I like. Many of the later RTS games look beautiful but don´t play well - mech commander was a good example. Adventures in the Myst / Zork / Monkey Island mode are fun if, like me, you have a partner who compliments your problem solving abilities and enjoys a good puzzle too. A playable game with mediocre graphics beats an unplayable game with beautiful graphics every time but a truly great game combines the two. Truly great games are few and far between. I haven´t bought a new game for over a year . . . Freelancer might be my next purchase. Ban REVERSE THRUST! Fly something other than a phoenix for a change!

The most important things for me are immersiveness (includes story) and gameplay. That´s why I loved Privateer. The playing area was huge and flying was great. Deus Ex also is one of my favorite games. Great story, great gameplay. Oh yes, and replayability is a big factor <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>. --------------------------------------- &quot;Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.&quot; --Albert Einstein Edited by - ZippyMJH on 14-01-2003 23:18:27

In order of preference: 1. Story 2. Gameplay/Interface 3. Replayability 4. Graphics

First and mostly, a game that´s challenging to play, but not challenging to learn. Great graphics don´t make a game. Aquanox comes to mind. Incredible to look at, a real yawner to play. It´s a dust collector on my shelf now. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- <b> The Next Thing I Say To You Will Be True The Last Thing I Said Was False </b>

My flatmates and I play games lanned at our house. Lately, we´ve been looking for games that we can play co-op. We LOVE co-op; as opposed to playing games just multiplayer, co-op is cool when you can find a game where you can play through the game campaign or story with ya mates, as opposed to just playing CTF or Deathmatch or whatever ( which are still cool, though ). It´s like you and all ya buddies being in an interactive movie or something, excellent fun. We played Starlancer co-op and loved that. Played No-one Lives Forever 2 co-op and really enjoyed that. I know FL won´t let you play through the campaign story in co-op mode <img src=smilies/icon_smile_sad.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> , but at least we´ll be able to just play at being a band of space pirates and so forth, that´ll be cool!

A good game to me is one that does something new and fresh. The graphics do not have to be the best ever but they do have to be good enough to give the feeling of another world. Personally I feel that to many developers are pushing graphics a bit to hard at the moment, where even gamers with the mightiest of machines are complaining about poor frame rates. But the most important of all is the gameplay and the immersiveness of the game. I like a game where I can take a break from the dreariness of bills, work and peak hour traffic and escape to another place for a few hours. But it has to be one that is not to hard and not to easy, some games are more frustrating than fun and others more boring than dry toast. Replayability is always a bonus for me, but isn´t exceptionally important. <img src=´http://www.flightsimnetwork.co…iles/3cf6134d2ddb0344.jpg ´>

I´ll be the odd person and say that I don´t have a set requirement that a game must meet, at all. Instead, I´ll just read about a game, and usually I´ll know from then on whether or not I´ll like the game, and generall I´m pretty much right. In fact, pretty much every game that I´ve picked and followed closely until it was released scored a 9/10 (or equivelant) or better. <img src=´http://tachyon15.homestead.com/files/tlrsig.gif ´>

one word: immersive! i want to play a game that sucks you into its universe... when you think you´ve only been playing 20 minutes, and you look at your watch only to discover it´s been three hours, THAT is an excellent game ...Just a random thought from a random mind

I would have to agree with that last comment... immersive: Civ 2 &amp; 3 is a good example... about the only strategy game I do play... and I replay often... time just wastes away. Morrowwind, and the old Privateer (even Priv 2) did the same... And all of these (bar civ perhaps) had or close met my requirements: 1) Gameplay, unique options, new ideas, interface, ease of use 2) Length, story, plenty of things to play with, interact with 3) Graphics &amp; Sound effects, more of those new ideas on how things work 4) Replayability, multiplayer options (especially co-op!) Infidel &quot;Only one human has ever survived an attack against a Mimbari Cruiser... he is behind me... you are in front of me... if you value your lives... be somewhere else!&quot;

Excellent way of putting it DethStryke, you know your playing a winner when you do that.

Again, immersiveness and open-endedness (is that a word?). I´m a huge fan of the single player game that is seems alive and goes on forever. I tried the MMO games, but never really got into them, there were too many people out there who had a lot more time than I to build up their characters, and they get too repetitive after a while, just go to point A, kill so-and-so, receive treasure. I like being the only or one of a few (small LAN) people out there. That´s why Priv series is still my favorite. Just to flying around and exploring for hours is sometimes the greatest fun after a hard day. I tend to look for long involved games, Priv, Morrowind etc. Even on console gaming I go for the longer games, like GTA, GT A-spec, Final Fantasy series. I think the best games are like the best books. You´ll re-read them because you like them so much, and even though you know how the story is going to end, you always discover some new perspective when you go through them again. &quot;If this is what you want to do, you´ll do it, no matter how long it take..........and usually the longer it takes the more fun you´ve had!

It depends. It has to be immersive, open-ended, and most of all addictive. If it has these three main elements, it is a good game. Also, some minor elements are the music(one of my favorites), good voice acting, and great story. I came. I saw. I conquered. And sometimes get conquered. Edited by - natrunner on 19-01-2003 01:14:42

A number of games appeal to me, both RTS, FPS, and sims (especially space-sims, since I´m not too good at, let´s say, flying a WWII plane - rudder control is the wrost thing since I have no pedals). The main feature of a good game is that it should be catching, i.e. oughta have a good storyline. Go-and-kill´em all is kinda boring (though sometimes good for relaxation - Soldier of Fortune, for instance). RTS is usually the &quot;blizkrieg&quot; type, though I liked Ground Control and Starship Troopers. ANd, yes, the main thing is replayability, that is, where there is no strict single-line scenario. That´s why I liked Starlancer - you can fail a mission (sometimes; sometimes you just get kicked out and have to replay it<img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>), and it reflects on future missions. Extensive RGP elements are so-so (I didn´t like the X-Beyond the Frontier for that - too much trading, buying things, etc. before you get a chance to fight). Real fight - that´s what rules! (Guess I should stop now or else I´d go for another 10 pages, he he)

Unless a developer has built up a reputation with me I generally wait to see the reviews of a game and then sometimes I just rent them. I can usually tell whether a game is my kind of game without playing it. I don´t have time or money to buy every game that looks like I might like it so I just follow the ones that I´m totally sure I´ll like. There´s probably a lot of good games out there that I´m missing but I can´t play them all. Let´s get those missiles ready to destroy the universe!!

Decided to un-lurk and post on this one... I look for games that are well polished, thoughtfully produced, slightly complex and imersive and have gameplay just slightly different from the throng of rubbish clones of once origional games. Hopefully they last a while, too. Aside from that, another BIG factor for me is that they make some sort of logical sense. Things like ´hit points´, ´levels´ and such stuff created without much justification other than they control the way the game is played merely for the sake of it, irk me. Examples would be: Thief 1 &amp; 2, Deus Ex, Max Payne (still play random bits of that, ´cos the combat was just cool), GTA3 (for a while, then it get a bit bland...), Privateer 1 (obviously) (&amp; maybe 2), Total Annihilation, Medeival: Total War (though it gets a bit too much later on...), monkey island 1... The list could go on for years... Basically, these days, I look for either something new and fresh or an old idea fleshed out and pulled off in a competent manner. Unfortunately, there are very few games that actually meet either of those criteria nowadays. Oh yes, and I also look for games based on game ideas I thought I´d come up with. Just to see how they turn out... Edited by - bsfjb on 18-01-2003 23:20:58 Edited by - bsfjb on 18-01-2003 23:58:24

Immersiveness is paramount, of course, but that means so many things as to not give a game developer a clear sense of what he needs to do. It´s a difficult question to answer without saying obvious things like good graphics, gameplay, storyline, premise, presentation, etc. And a lot of it just depends on what kind of games you do or don´t like. I tried to write up a big manifesto once, that outlined my position on what makes a good game, as a basis for starting a game review website. One of the major difficulties I came across was that some of my biggest criticisms were simply part of my particular biases. For instance, the fact that I think games like Diablo and Dungeon Siege suck. There wasn´t really any way I could build an objective foundation for what good gaming really was, if some of my beliefs merely boiled down to an irreconcileable disagreement. I guess the only major thing I can say besides good graphics, gameplay, etc., is that the game should give you a real sense of making progress. It´s not just about changing the scenery or the enemies. The game needs to give you the sense that the gameworld is changing because of your actions, and that you are changing along with it. Games can do this in different ways. For instance, Deus Ex puts a large emphasis on things you can actually do in the gameworld, such as run faster, see through walls, etc. Metal Gear Solid puts the emphasis on character development and dynamics, as told through the cutscenes. Likewise for the Wing Commander series. Privateer and Freelancer, I think, do both. I think this also partially explains why I hate Diablo and co., because while those games are pretty much all about progression, they´re put within an unimaginative, meaningless context. Hence, they don´t provide you with a &quot;real&quot; sense of progression. You can certainly debate that, as it´s up to you whether or not something provides a real sense of progression. But I think it´s safe to say that some games just straddle the line when it comes to what´s &quot;enough&quot;. Edited by - Bhurak Starkiller on 19-01-2003 01:44:25

I was skimming through this article and I have to agree with what DethStryke said: the immersiveness (?) of the game is key. A great game for me would be something that has fairly good graphics, but with replayability becoming a major factor. I´ve played a lot of FPS games in my time and they are beginning to get a tad boring, since everytime I play it contains the same thing (bring on Freelancer!!). Multiplayer is also a true highlight of a game. I love being able to test my game skill with fellow players. Customisation in an MP game is also a big plus. I must say that although I don´t normally play many space-flight games, Freelancer still manages to captivate me as a truly great game! <b>Travelling at the speed of light can be hazardous to your age. </b> Edited by - Barakmar on 19-01-2003 06:29:44 Edited by - Barakmar on 19-01-2003 12:20:28