Forum > Gaming Discussion > Identifying Broken Games
Identifying Broken Games
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Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:17:46
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I'd be interested to hear from those of you who go out of your way to beat games, much as I do, on this topic.

When do you know it is time to walk away from a game?  I'm playing a game right now, which has a fair amount of merit, but is also pretty shoddy.  I'm about halfway through, but I'm not sure it is possible to finish it. (Red Dead, but that's beside the point).

Technical breakdowns are very rare, that's not this game's issue, and if it were I'd be long gone.  This is the kind that is subjective.  Poorly placed checkpoints, AI bullet-sponges, one-hit kills at the end of a long, non-checkpointed sequence...

When do you "cut bait"?

Or, as I just read, how Steel put it:
"How many layers of fail do you have to lick to reach the center of win?"

Edited: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:20:57

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Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:01:19
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this will sound simplistic but ... if it's no longer fun then leave it and move on to something else.  if it's feeling like hard work then it would depend on the rewards whether it's worth it or not, and as you said that is pretty subjective.

i remember when i was at school most of my english teachers would say "try to finish a book even if you don't think you're enjoying it so much because you're bound to gain/learn something from it", then came Mrs Watson and said "...that's a load of rubbish.  if it's not fun, don't read it.  there are plenty of books you will enjoy there's no point wasting your time."

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Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:18:33
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If it's too much like hard work and it doesn't feel worth it.

Seriously there are some games which just do all they can to piss you off with stupid things like difficulty spikes or poorly placed checkpoints. Or just get repetitive.

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Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:19:55
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If someone with my amount of experience doesn't like the game, it means it's broken.
Edited: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:20:08
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Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:47:20
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Er, if it's not fun don't play it. Broken or not, it's clearly not for you.
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Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:50:50
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All games are broken until proven otherwise.

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Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:58:34
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here's a hint (check center court)
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Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:52:02
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Ravenprose said:
All games are broken until proven otherwise.

Heh.


Agnates said:
Er, if it's not fun don't play it. Broken or not, it's clearly not for you.

gamingeek said:


If it's too much like hard work and it doesn't feel worth it...

bugsonglass said:

this will sound simplistic but ... if it's no longer fun then leave it...

Yeah, but that is the old me from 3-4 years ago, where I'd "stop having fun" on usually every game after a couple of hours.  Now I plow through the boredom, and 8 out of 10 times it pays off.

The thing that gets me is that, with a game that is seemingly broken, like Eat Lead, there is nothing you can do.  It's not a matter of grinding, or developing skills, or practice, it's just a dead game.  But then there are other games, where it may have gotten 7's and no-one really has gone on record saying, "this game is a piece of shit", so you do wonder if it is just you, and maybe you should struggle on.

I forget which game I recently beat, I went and looked up the gamefaq -- there was none, and there were no comments in the forum.  No reviews.  I wondered if I was the only person on the planet that actually beat the thing.

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Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:08:49
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I have no consistent reason for a game I don't complete.  Once in a while, I just don't care to play a game I'm not enjoying.  Other times I get distracted by something else.

I suppose the number one cause all-time would be getting stuck.  Maybe a lack of direction, missed a key item, or whatever it is that I don't want to bother wandering around or looking it up on GameFAQs, and never do.

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Fri, 26 Mar 2010 03:50:26

angrymonkey said:
here's a hint (check center court)

LOL

That is just plain awesome!

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Fri, 26 Mar 2010 06:18:51

Foolz said:

angrymonkey said:
here's a hint (check center court)

LOL

That is just plain awesome!

Check the recently resurfaced gaf thread for more laughs at this buggy mess.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=379298

and here's a good baseball one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr9sy37GIRc

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Fri, 26 Mar 2010 07:56:53
LMAO.

God damn I want both games now.

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Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:16:31
Tricky question... I'm usually quite persistent with games (you can convince yourself with the number of hours spent on EO2 and I'm still not even bored yet!), usually I quit a game definitely because the story is boring or not in my taste. Exception would be plateformers, I just plainly sucks with this genre that it's shameful. Usually I just don't play them but if I get tricked into one, I stop playing it when I feel like breaking something (usually the controller I have in my hands)
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Sat, 27 Mar 2010 19:59:49

Mekere said:
Tricky question... I'm usually quite persistent with games (you can convince yourself with the number of hours spent on EO2 and I'm still not even bored yet!), usually I quit a game definitely because the story is boring or not in my taste. Exception would be plateformers, I just plainly sucks with this genre that it's shameful. Usually I just don't play them but if I get tricked into one, I stop playing it when I feel like breaking something (usually the controller I have in my hands)

 what did you play back in the day when half the games were platformers? (and the other half space shooters)

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