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I think that most of you would agree, the little extras you get in games really make them more enjoyable to play. Whether it be a small mini game to make the plot flow a bit, or to gain extra items, or if its just a little initiative from the developers that makes you chuckle thinking that was good. Most of the better games are starting to have them now, and so have games in the past. Sometimes they are just used to lengthen the game though, which at times is good, if they are good games to play. Games that have extra little ideas though are games that you just like to play over and over again.
But what type of games usually use these extras? Well for me the most obvious game on Playstation were the Final Fantasy games. All of them had mini games scattered through it, and most of them were very fun to play, my favourite being the snowboard section on Final Fantasy 7. The good thing about FF games though is the fact that while these extras are used to lengthen an already long game, they are fun to play and also they are used to carry the plot on too. Sometimes by completing one you may get an item to use later on, or sometimes more of the plot is revealed which makes them worthwhile to play through. It just shows the pride that squaresoft put into there games, as some developers just put them in to add to an already possibly poor game, Tekken Tag springs to mind.
Over games like Resident Evil too have the extra mini games, and too they are used in the actual game. Nemesis for example had an mercenary game after where you could collect guns and ammo to be used if you play the game again. This makes the task easier but you can then get that better grade that you would like.
Games like Jak and Daxter too relied heavily on mini games, and it really used them well. These were some of the best mini games that I had ever played, they were fun and vital to progress through the game too. Not only that but there were dozens of them all over the game and none of them were ever poor.
As for using innovation in games, one game really springs to mind is GTA 3. This game had so many different things in it that you really have to play the game for some times to see where the ideas end. I have had the game since release and there are still things in there that I have yet to see, im sure. But the fact that Rockstar made all these extras into one game is amazing, on one CD they have managed to create a city sprawling with life which you can visit as much as you want, and you will want to a lot. Things like picking up hookers, steeling any car you like, becoming a Taxi driver or police man really open up how far games have come, and the amount of time developers are willing to spend on a game. These are the types of games that you come back to more than any other.
The only problem with extras though is that some developers use them as a get away to how short there games really are. How many times have we played a game that was very short only to find that a mini game was unlocked for you to play through? But not only that, the mini game has nothing more to offer you than beat your score ect. Games like these would be a lot better if they had the mini games that actually added something to the story, or like other games such as metal gear solid, give you an item to re-use in the game again. At the end of MGS you were given the stealth mode and bandana, depending on how you completed the game, and these could be used to complete the game again another 2 times. But doing this was not boring, the items actually added more fun to the game, being able to run around with unlimited ammo or in stealth mode really turned the game on its head and made the game that little bit longer. Hopefully MGS 2 will have this.
Also, there are many great games that are out now that with a bit of thinking could be improved that little bit more. Sports game for example. Tale Smackdown, if they were to add a function where you would tap X when using a stretch move to hold it for longer rather than the computer control it would improve it that bit more. Or in football games if they could get a random streakier to run onto the pitch and interrupt the game it would surely make some people laugh, though there would have to be an off button somewhere. But just little things like this could improve games that little more, and we would all be happy with that.
All I ask is that developers start to use their mini games in the actual games and make them worth something rather than just and excuse for a short game.
But what type of games usually use these extras? Well for me the most obvious game on Playstation were the Final Fantasy games. All of them had mini games scattered through it, and most of them were very fun to play, my favourite being the snowboard section on Final Fantasy 7. The good thing about FF games though is the fact that while these extras are used to lengthen an already long game, they are fun to play and also they are used to carry the plot on too. Sometimes by completing one you may get an item to use later on, or sometimes more of the plot is revealed which makes them worthwhile to play through. It just shows the pride that squaresoft put into there games, as some developers just put them in to add to an already possibly poor game, Tekken Tag springs to mind.
Over games like Resident Evil too have the extra mini games, and too they are used in the actual game. Nemesis for example had an mercenary game after where you could collect guns and ammo to be used if you play the game again. This makes the task easier but you can then get that better grade that you would like.
Games like Jak and Daxter too relied heavily on mini games, and it really used them well. These were some of the best mini games that I had ever played, they were fun and vital to progress through the game too. Not only that but there were dozens of them all over the game and none of them were ever poor.
As for using innovation in games, one game really springs to mind is GTA 3. This game had so many different things in it that you really have to play the game for some times to see where the ideas end. I have had the game since release and there are still things in there that I have yet to see, im sure. But the fact that Rockstar made all these extras into one game is amazing, on one CD they have managed to create a city sprawling with life which you can visit as much as you want, and you will want to a lot. Things like picking up hookers, steeling any car you like, becoming a Taxi driver or police man really open up how far games have come, and the amount of time developers are willing to spend on a game. These are the types of games that you come back to more than any other.
The only problem with extras though is that some developers use them as a get away to how short there games really are. How many times have we played a game that was very short only to find that a mini game was unlocked for you to play through? But not only that, the mini game has nothing more to offer you than beat your score ect. Games like these would be a lot better if they had the mini games that actually added something to the story, or like other games such as metal gear solid, give you an item to re-use in the game again. At the end of MGS you were given the stealth mode and bandana, depending on how you completed the game, and these could be used to complete the game again another 2 times. But doing this was not boring, the items actually added more fun to the game, being able to run around with unlimited ammo or in stealth mode really turned the game on its head and made the game that little bit longer. Hopefully MGS 2 will have this.
Also, there are many great games that are out now that with a bit of thinking could be improved that little bit more. Sports game for example. Tale Smackdown, if they were to add a function where you would tap X when using a stretch move to hold it for longer rather than the computer control it would improve it that bit more. Or in football games if they could get a random streakier to run onto the pitch and interrupt the game it would surely make some people laugh, though there would have to be an off button somewhere. But just little things like this could improve games that little more, and we would all be happy with that.
All I ask is that developers start to use their mini games in the actual games and make them worth something rather than just and excuse for a short game.
Well to my mind i felt that Jak and Daxter was one big Mini-game. Each 'mission' you had to do felt like that to me, like ride the air buggy or catch the fish in the net, oe even round up the cattle for the farmer. I felt that these were all classed as mini games in there self right. All though there were alot in this game, it used them very well unlike some games such as Spyro. Maybe we just have a different idea on seeing what is a mini game at times.
Well I think that mini-games are a very important part of any game. They add depth to games and if they are used correctly, they can really up the lifespan of a title. As devo said, if a mini-game feels like a game on its own but still manages to retain all the qualities of the main title, its likely to be successful. Ok the FF8 card game got too easy when you were on the last 2 disks, but it really did took up a lot of the game time. I for one kept looking for new cards all over the world and challenging almost everyone.
GTA 3 had a huge amount of extras that really enhanced the experience and it is still possible to discover something new about the game each day.
When mini-games are blended in well with the main game, they actually look like they have been lovingly created and put in the correct place. I am not quite sure where you managed to find "dozens" of mini-games in Jak and Daxter Dame, since there were only about 4 of them and the game wasnt "littered" with them at all. If you put too many mini-games in, the title will start looking more like a party game. This is why developers need to be careful about the mini-games and different extras they inlcude in their games. I say "Dont OVERDO IT"
GTA 3 had a huge amount of extras that really enhanced the experience and it is still possible to discover something new about the game each day.
When mini-games are blended in well with the main game, they actually look like they have been lovingly created and put in the correct place. I am not quite sure where you managed to find "dozens" of mini-games in Jak and Daxter Dame, since there were only about 4 of them and the game wasnt "littered" with them at all. If you put too many mini-games in, the title will start looking more like a party game. This is why developers need to be careful about the mini-games and different extras they inlcude in their games. I say "Dont OVERDO IT"
Mini games definitly enhance the game.
Always refreshing to take you out of the linear approach to the game, and somethin to do if you are bored or stuck at a certain point.
Zelda:OOT had loads of little things like this that you could do at any point during the game. YOur score/time was recorded so you could always try and improve on your prevouis try. Some of them were pritty damn cool. I remember one where you did horse back archery, shooting bottles with the bow/arrow and a little course to ride you horse(epona) around. There were loads more, but i just cant remember them all.
I think all Games should include mini-games. Some-times they are the best things about the game! Hows about little mini-games in things like football games! somthin like how many kick-ups you can do?
This definitly deserves a GAD for Pro evo. Good post.
Always refreshing to take you out of the linear approach to the game, and somethin to do if you are bored or stuck at a certain point.
Zelda:OOT had loads of little things like this that you could do at any point during the game. YOur score/time was recorded so you could always try and improve on your prevouis try. Some of them were pritty damn cool. I remember one where you did horse back archery, shooting bottles with the bow/arrow and a little course to ride you horse(epona) around. There were loads more, but i just cant remember them all.
I think all Games should include mini-games. Some-times they are the best things about the game! Hows about little mini-games in things like football games! somthin like how many kick-ups you can do?
This definitly deserves a GAD for Pro evo. Good post.
devo wrote:
> One of the best was the card game in FF8. Enjoyable in it's own right, but so
> well integrated with the main game, that it almost felt like a game running in
> parallel, rather than a subgame.
To be honest i never got the hang of it so i never used it. :D
> One of the best was the card game in FF8. Enjoyable in it's own right, but so
> well integrated with the main game, that it almost felt like a game running in
> parallel, rather than a subgame.
To be honest i never got the hang of it so i never used it. :D
I think that most of you would agree, the little extras you get in games really make them more enjoyable to play. Whether it be a small mini game to make the plot flow a bit, or to gain extra items, or if its just a little initiative from the developers that makes you chuckle thinking that was good. Most of the better games are starting to have them now, and so have games in the past. Sometimes they are just used to lengthen the game though, which at times is good, if they are good games to play. Games that have extra little ideas though are games that you just like to play over and over again.
But what type of games usually use these extras? Well for me the most obvious game on Playstation were the Final Fantasy games. All of them had mini games scattered through it, and most of them were very fun to play, my favourite being the snowboard section on Final Fantasy 7. The good thing about FF games though is the fact that while these extras are used to lengthen an already long game, they are fun to play and also they are used to carry the plot on too. Sometimes by completing one you may get an item to use later on, or sometimes more of the plot is revealed which makes them worthwhile to play through. It just shows the pride that squaresoft put into there games, as some developers just put them in to add to an already possibly poor game, Tekken Tag springs to mind.
Over games like Resident Evil too have the extra mini games, and too they are used in the actual game. Nemesis for example had an mercenary game after where you could collect guns and ammo to be used if you play the game again. This makes the task easier but you can then get that better grade that you would like.
Games like Jak and Daxter too relied heavily on mini games, and it really used them well. These were some of the best mini games that I had ever played, they were fun and vital to progress through the game too. Not only that but there were dozens of them all over the game and none of them were ever poor.
As for using innovation in games, one game really springs to mind is GTA 3. This game had so many different things in it that you really have to play the game for some times to see where the ideas end. I have had the game since release and there are still things in there that I have yet to see, im sure. But the fact that Rockstar made all these extras into one game is amazing, on one CD they have managed to create a city sprawling with life which you can visit as much as you want, and you will want to a lot. Things like picking up hookers, steeling any car you like, becoming a Taxi driver or police man really open up how far games have come, and the amount of time developers are willing to spend on a game. These are the types of games that you come back to more than any other.
The only problem with extras though is that some developers use them as a get away to how short there games really are. How many times have we played a game that was very short only to find that a mini game was unlocked for you to play through? But not only that, the mini game has nothing more to offer you than beat your score ect. Games like these would be a lot better if they had the mini games that actually added something to the story, or like other games such as metal gear solid, give you an item to re-use in the game again. At the end of MGS you were given the stealth mode and bandana, depending on how you completed the game, and these could be used to complete the game again another 2 times. But doing this was not boring, the items actually added more fun to the game, being able to run around with unlimited ammo or in stealth mode really turned the game on its head and made the game that little bit longer. Hopefully MGS 2 will have this.
Also, there are many great games that are out now that with a bit of thinking could be improved that little bit more. Sports game for example. Tale Smackdown, if they were to add a function where you would tap X when using a stretch move to hold it for longer rather than the computer control it would improve it that bit more. Or in football games if they could get a random streakier to run onto the pitch and interrupt the game it would surely make some people laugh, though there would have to be an off button somewhere. But just little things like this could improve games that little more, and we would all be happy with that.
All I ask is that developers start to use their mini games in the actual games and make them worth something rather than just and excuse for a short game.
But what type of games usually use these extras? Well for me the most obvious game on Playstation were the Final Fantasy games. All of them had mini games scattered through it, and most of them were very fun to play, my favourite being the snowboard section on Final Fantasy 7. The good thing about FF games though is the fact that while these extras are used to lengthen an already long game, they are fun to play and also they are used to carry the plot on too. Sometimes by completing one you may get an item to use later on, or sometimes more of the plot is revealed which makes them worthwhile to play through. It just shows the pride that squaresoft put into there games, as some developers just put them in to add to an already possibly poor game, Tekken Tag springs to mind.
Over games like Resident Evil too have the extra mini games, and too they are used in the actual game. Nemesis for example had an mercenary game after where you could collect guns and ammo to be used if you play the game again. This makes the task easier but you can then get that better grade that you would like.
Games like Jak and Daxter too relied heavily on mini games, and it really used them well. These were some of the best mini games that I had ever played, they were fun and vital to progress through the game too. Not only that but there were dozens of them all over the game and none of them were ever poor.
As for using innovation in games, one game really springs to mind is GTA 3. This game had so many different things in it that you really have to play the game for some times to see where the ideas end. I have had the game since release and there are still things in there that I have yet to see, im sure. But the fact that Rockstar made all these extras into one game is amazing, on one CD they have managed to create a city sprawling with life which you can visit as much as you want, and you will want to a lot. Things like picking up hookers, steeling any car you like, becoming a Taxi driver or police man really open up how far games have come, and the amount of time developers are willing to spend on a game. These are the types of games that you come back to more than any other.
The only problem with extras though is that some developers use them as a get away to how short there games really are. How many times have we played a game that was very short only to find that a mini game was unlocked for you to play through? But not only that, the mini game has nothing more to offer you than beat your score ect. Games like these would be a lot better if they had the mini games that actually added something to the story, or like other games such as metal gear solid, give you an item to re-use in the game again. At the end of MGS you were given the stealth mode and bandana, depending on how you completed the game, and these could be used to complete the game again another 2 times. But doing this was not boring, the items actually added more fun to the game, being able to run around with unlimited ammo or in stealth mode really turned the game on its head and made the game that little bit longer. Hopefully MGS 2 will have this.
Also, there are many great games that are out now that with a bit of thinking could be improved that little bit more. Sports game for example. Tale Smackdown, if they were to add a function where you would tap X when using a stretch move to hold it for longer rather than the computer control it would improve it that bit more. Or in football games if they could get a random streakier to run onto the pitch and interrupt the game it would surely make some people laugh, though there would have to be an off button somewhere. But just little things like this could improve games that little more, and we would all be happy with that.
All I ask is that developers start to use their mini games in the actual games and make them worth something rather than just and excuse for a short game.