What Makes A Good Game?

[Atrocities]

Over the years I have spent a new house on video games and the like and in all of that I have perhaps four or five games that I keep playing, not because they are good games, but because they are superior games.

I think that those games all share some common traits that most new games have seemed to over look. Important features that keep people interested in the game and make for a truly good game.

I believe that game play as much as depth of play are key points to any game. What sperates average games from good games are the details such as moddability, support, and replayability.

Most games are a once through then toss in the box experience while other games are consitantly played and replayed.

We all have our personal favorites so I ask you, what makes a good game good?

For me it has to be involving with strong replay desire. It has to be moddable and well supported. The game play has to be fun, almost captivating in nature, and above all else, the has to be sufficently designed as to allow for a new experience each and every time I play by having significant and affective customizable settings.

Games like Tribes and later FarCry provided for breath taking expansive game maps that allowed players to advance upon a target in multiple way thus providing for the onset of tactics and strategies. These games set a standard with their non-liniar, non scripted game play. The same can be said about Space Empires IV, no two games are ever the same.

I enjoyed being able to make maps and mod Tribes which gave the game an edge over most simular games of the time. SEIV also provided for moddablity on an unprecidented level which unquestionably has been a key factor in its lasting appeal over the years.

However, SEIV has gone way beyond the typical 4x game by providing for extended customizable races and game settings. Most 4x games have locked in, limited or token settings such as those in GalCiv or MOO3 as recent examples.

SEIV allows players to play as any race they choose and they can even make their own. No other 4x game in the last five years has given the player so much unobstructive game play.

If more and more game developers would recognise the value of making their games easy to mod, with sufficent cheat protection, and allow for customization of the game settings then more and more games would become good games over average games.

Lets face it, what characterisitics do all of your favorite games share? Mine were, customizable, moddable, replayable, addictive, and allowed for emerrsive reality forgetting game play.

Not many games can make the claim to have all, but thankfully I found a few that did.