It Would Be A Masterpiece! If Only...

[Kashagi]

I have been looking at my game library lately, playing some of my old little known favourites like Sniper Elite and Gungriffon Blaze, and I realised a thought that has plagued many games I have been lucky enough to play and enjoy. You know what I am talking about..

Those games that are fantastic, but get brought down by one major flaw.

It really is unfortunate when this happens, you fall in love with a game and find it brilliant, but then theres an issue. You still enjoy the game but one flaw dampens the whole experience greatly. This thread is for those games.

Off the top of my head, here are some games I can think of, I will add more later as I no doubt remember them.

Indigo's Prophecy - I loved this game, I loved how unique it was, even if so many of the tasks in the game were so small I didnt mind, I enjoyed it all the same. Right from the beginning the story gripped you in that suspenseful opening scene and you genuinelly became interested in how the whole mystery would be resolved, what would happen to all these characters. I really did enjoy so much about this game.

What really really ruined the experience greatly for me was the moment the lead character became fucking Neo. We had little hints about cults being involved in the story, and at one point the lead was attacked by monsters (though they were in his head). This game didnt need to go so supernatural in my opinion and it really hurt the game for me. The story really just got so cheesy in that last 40 minutes, as well as the sex scene between two characters who had barely met. This game would have been an absolute masterpiece if it hadnt become so over the top at the end. Really dissapointing to me.

The Beatles Rock Band - I love The Beatles, when I found out a game was coming out dedicated to their immense career and fantastic songs I got extremely excited. When I saw the first trailer I just about literally exploded, it looked fantastic, The Beatles looked a bit robotic, but their mannerisms were all there, the venues were all correct and the dreamscapes were fantastic ideas. This game truly was made by fans.

I loved the game, I still like to play it here and there. My problem with it? Only about 40 songs to choose from. When you get a band as huge as The Beatles who have hundreds of recordings, I expected a set list of maybe 80 songs. Although the release of 3 great albums for DLC helps a little bit, I still would have expected more. There are some really big and obvious songs missing such as Eleanor Rigby, Help!, She Loves You, Happiness Is A Warm Gun.

I still love this game, but it could have been so much more had they doubled the set list.

Gun - What a fun little game, a third person Western where you participate in plenty of gun fights, with cowboys and indians. As well as bounty hunting, horse riding, animal hunting. It is a fun enough game... If it was longer. You can beat this game 100 percent in just a few hours if you wanted to. I hope a sequel comes out one day as it was a fun game while it lasted.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Metal Gear Solid 4 would have been a masterpiece if it weren't filled with so many long, drawn out cut scenes. In some cases you watch a 45 minute cut scene, are asked to save, and then there's another one immediately afterward.

Plus they use cut scenes to hype the features of the PS3. I ALREADY FUCKIN' BOUGHT IT, DO I NEED TO REMINDED THAT THIS GAME IS ON A BLU-RAY DISC? OR THAT THE CONTROLLER IS WIRELESS? OR THAT IT HAS A HDD? No, i didn't, and found it most annoying that Psycho-Mantis' cameo at the very end of the game, was done purely to hype the console.

Gameplay however, is awesome. The Solid Eye, the sniper fight in the snow, fighting Metal Gear Ray in a battered Metal Gear Rex, and joining in with the mercenaries as well as the whole stealth aspect, made it a great addition to the Metal Gear Solid franchise.... shame they had to fill it with a billion and one cut scenes.

Seriously, i had a joint before playing the first time, and after 45 minutes of opening cut scene i was rolling up again. That's how stupidly long it takes just to get into the game. Of course they can be skipped, but the first time through you feel you need to hear and see the whole story, so you have to suffer as a result.

 

[Dave]

There is only one game that I think would be perfect, if it wasn't for one simple flaw.

That game is Gears Of War 2.

For me, the story of that game is simple epic, pardon the pun. However, there is a flaw that really managed to kill all of the momentum that it managed to create with it's campaign and that is the online multiplayer. This game really was a tale of two games. Firstly, you had a game that was awash with great storylines, graphics and playability. However, the darker side to the game really told when you played online.

The lag was incredibly bad and the gameplay was jumpy as the serves tried to level everyone out. The host had a huge advantage and more often that not, it was me because I have a great connection speed. However, it is far too easy to cheat the game and everyone was looking for new ways to accomplish that. Lag switches were everywhere and the game was destroyed after people started to do that. People get too wrapped up in winning constantly and just won't play the game. It was true of Call Of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2 and it is certainly true of Gears of War 2. Terrible online and that is what the game prided itself on. Outside of that, it was an excellent game.