The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
I don't know about you but I love getting surprises! Just sitting at home on my big lazy backside and suddenly being given a thrilling gift makes me feel good ... makes me feel great in fact!! But don't start envying me because unfortunately this rarely (if ever) happens to me. The only kind of surprises I get in my house is my brothers stealing my stuff, my sister making up stories about me to my parents and damn pointless business promotion letters through the post. Admittedly, these aren't the kind of surprises I long for...
...Anyway, forget Christmas, Birthdays, Easter and all that mumbo jumbo, because they're not the only occassions we get good surprises. Often, games have surprises as well, and in most cases this is one of the factors hat make a game that little more enjoyable.
When the word "surprise" is mentioned you think of presents, gifts and good will to others, not the bad things like receiving income tax and outrageous phone bills. This is because we all wish for the GOOD suprises not the BAD. Whoever wishes for the bad has something seriously wrong with them ... there's no other explanation!
What better way to get such suprises than in games. Games allow the perfect opportunity for the best surprises, but some more than others. However, surprises in games aren't the same as surprises in real life because most of the time you have to work for the surprise or what also can be called a reward. Although, sometimes when you do a good deed for someone thoughtful they might return the favour with a surprise ... wish I had mates like that!
The best games are those that reward you with something that does the game proud. Say if the game started off as average and then suddenly it pulls something off that you never thought it would or could ... this is just a good surprise. But the BEST surprise is when a game you've long anticipated plays well from the beginning and leaves you thinking "that's the best it can do". Then it does something even more impressive like adding more fun challenges and tasks, or even better movie scenes. Little things like these make the game more appealing.
If you're the RTS kind of gamer you'll prefer to receive useful gifts like weapons that do "cool" things and help you through the game. And talking about RTS, when you get more things you can use to help make your base look that bit better for you, it's a very good surprise .. and I'm a witness of that.
You'll find that most games today are full of surprises nowadays. Not only with the rapid improvement of graphics, gameplay and so on, but what actually lurks deeper within the game. Rewards can be mostly associated with such surprises in games. For every genre, as you progress you find yourself rewarded all the more, and the ones that offer justiful rewards are the best of their genre e.g. football games giving more stadiums and teams as you complete certain competitions with the given average teams - or - action games that unlock new characters and weapons the better you progress through the game. Games that don't offer room for a challenge and just gives its goods all at once are the ones that don't rate well in magazines and so on. They don't leave room for arduous gameplay neither would they contain much replay value.
Even little things like unlocking behind-the-scenes footage gives me a "feeling good" sensation. It makes us feel like we've actually achieved something...and when does the feeling of achievement ever hurt? Never!
Being rewarded in life isn't such a thrill when you're given something like a sock or scarf, but in games the majority of its rewards DO make you feel good! The good thing about games is that they don't leave much room for disappointing surprises, which means more surprises for us!
A good tip for developers and big people part of the industry would be for them to add more surprises in their games ... believe me, their sales would rocket! I know this as a consumer myself because just like in real life ... I LOVE SURPRISES!!!
:)
Party on people and thanks for reading
PK
...Anyway, forget Christmas, Birthdays, Easter and all that mumbo jumbo, because they're not the only occassions we get good surprises. Often, games have surprises as well, and in most cases this is one of the factors hat make a game that little more enjoyable.
When the word "surprise" is mentioned you think of presents, gifts and good will to others, not the bad things like receiving income tax and outrageous phone bills. This is because we all wish for the GOOD suprises not the BAD. Whoever wishes for the bad has something seriously wrong with them ... there's no other explanation!
What better way to get such suprises than in games. Games allow the perfect opportunity for the best surprises, but some more than others. However, surprises in games aren't the same as surprises in real life because most of the time you have to work for the surprise or what also can be called a reward. Although, sometimes when you do a good deed for someone thoughtful they might return the favour with a surprise ... wish I had mates like that!
The best games are those that reward you with something that does the game proud. Say if the game started off as average and then suddenly it pulls something off that you never thought it would or could ... this is just a good surprise. But the BEST surprise is when a game you've long anticipated plays well from the beginning and leaves you thinking "that's the best it can do". Then it does something even more impressive like adding more fun challenges and tasks, or even better movie scenes. Little things like these make the game more appealing.
If you're the RTS kind of gamer you'll prefer to receive useful gifts like weapons that do "cool" things and help you through the game. And talking about RTS, when you get more things you can use to help make your base look that bit better for you, it's a very good surprise .. and I'm a witness of that.
You'll find that most games today are full of surprises nowadays. Not only with the rapid improvement of graphics, gameplay and so on, but what actually lurks deeper within the game. Rewards can be mostly associated with such surprises in games. For every genre, as you progress you find yourself rewarded all the more, and the ones that offer justiful rewards are the best of their genre e.g. football games giving more stadiums and teams as you complete certain competitions with the given average teams - or - action games that unlock new characters and weapons the better you progress through the game. Games that don't offer room for a challenge and just gives its goods all at once are the ones that don't rate well in magazines and so on. They don't leave room for arduous gameplay neither would they contain much replay value.
Even little things like unlocking behind-the-scenes footage gives me a "feeling good" sensation. It makes us feel like we've actually achieved something...and when does the feeling of achievement ever hurt? Never!
Being rewarded in life isn't such a thrill when you're given something like a sock or scarf, but in games the majority of its rewards DO make you feel good! The good thing about games is that they don't leave much room for disappointing surprises, which means more surprises for us!
A good tip for developers and big people part of the industry would be for them to add more surprises in their games ... believe me, their sales would rocket! I know this as a consumer myself because just like in real life ... I LOVE SURPRISES!!!
:)
Party on people and thanks for reading
PK
Nice Posh!
Unpredictability is always welcome in games. A twisting-and-turning storline; stumbling across an outrageous weapon; unlocking a secret mode of play - it's all good stuff.
I don't know about you but I love getting surprises! Just sitting at home on my big lazy backside and suddenly being given a thrilling gift makes me feel good ... makes me feel great in fact!! But don't start envying me because unfortunately this rarely (if ever) happens to me. The only kind of surprises I get in my house is my brothers stealing my stuff, my sister making up stories about me to my parents and damn pointless business promotion letters through the post. Admittedly, these aren't the kind of surprises I long for...
...Anyway, forget Christmas, Birthdays, Easter and all that mumbo jumbo, because they're not the only occassions we get good surprises. Often, games have surprises as well, and in most cases this is one of the factors hat make a game that little more enjoyable.
When the word "surprise" is mentioned you think of presents, gifts and good will to others, not the bad things like receiving income tax and outrageous phone bills. This is because we all wish for the GOOD suprises not the BAD. Whoever wishes for the bad has something seriously wrong with them ... there's no other explanation!
What better way to get such suprises than in games. Games allow the perfect opportunity for the best surprises, but some more than others. However, surprises in games aren't the same as surprises in real life because most of the time you have to work for the surprise or what also can be called a reward. Although, sometimes when you do a good deed for someone thoughtful they might return the favour with a surprise ... wish I had mates like that!
The best games are those that reward you with something that does the game proud. Say if the game started off as average and then suddenly it pulls something off that you never thought it would or could ... this is just a good surprise. But the BEST surprise is when a game you've long anticipated plays well from the beginning and leaves you thinking "that's the best it can do". Then it does something even more impressive like adding more fun challenges and tasks, or even better movie scenes. Little things like these make the game more appealing.
If you're the RTS kind of gamer you'll prefer to receive useful gifts like weapons that do "cool" things and help you through the game. And talking about RTS, when you get more things you can use to help make your base look that bit better for you, it's a very good surprise .. and I'm a witness of that.
You'll find that most games today are full of surprises nowadays. Not only with the rapid improvement of graphics, gameplay and so on, but what actually lurks deeper within the game. Rewards can be mostly associated with such surprises in games. For every genre, as you progress you find yourself rewarded all the more, and the ones that offer justiful rewards are the best of their genre e.g. football games giving more stadiums and teams as you complete certain competitions with the given average teams - or - action games that unlock new characters and weapons the better you progress through the game. Games that don't offer room for a challenge and just gives its goods all at once are the ones that don't rate well in magazines and so on. They don't leave room for arduous gameplay neither would they contain much replay value.
Even little things like unlocking behind-the-scenes footage gives me a "feeling good" sensation. It makes us feel like we've actually achieved something...and when does the feeling of achievement ever hurt? Never!
Being rewarded in life isn't such a thrill when you're given something like a sock or scarf, but in games the majority of its rewards DO make you feel good! The good thing about games is that they don't leave much room for disappointing surprises, which means more surprises for us!
A good tip for developers and big people part of the industry would be for them to add more surprises in their games ... believe me, their sales would rocket! I know this as a consumer myself because just like in real life ... I LOVE SURPRISES!!!
:)
Party on people and thanks for reading
PK
...Anyway, forget Christmas, Birthdays, Easter and all that mumbo jumbo, because they're not the only occassions we get good surprises. Often, games have surprises as well, and in most cases this is one of the factors hat make a game that little more enjoyable.
When the word "surprise" is mentioned you think of presents, gifts and good will to others, not the bad things like receiving income tax and outrageous phone bills. This is because we all wish for the GOOD suprises not the BAD. Whoever wishes for the bad has something seriously wrong with them ... there's no other explanation!
What better way to get such suprises than in games. Games allow the perfect opportunity for the best surprises, but some more than others. However, surprises in games aren't the same as surprises in real life because most of the time you have to work for the surprise or what also can be called a reward. Although, sometimes when you do a good deed for someone thoughtful they might return the favour with a surprise ... wish I had mates like that!
The best games are those that reward you with something that does the game proud. Say if the game started off as average and then suddenly it pulls something off that you never thought it would or could ... this is just a good surprise. But the BEST surprise is when a game you've long anticipated plays well from the beginning and leaves you thinking "that's the best it can do". Then it does something even more impressive like adding more fun challenges and tasks, or even better movie scenes. Little things like these make the game more appealing.
If you're the RTS kind of gamer you'll prefer to receive useful gifts like weapons that do "cool" things and help you through the game. And talking about RTS, when you get more things you can use to help make your base look that bit better for you, it's a very good surprise .. and I'm a witness of that.
You'll find that most games today are full of surprises nowadays. Not only with the rapid improvement of graphics, gameplay and so on, but what actually lurks deeper within the game. Rewards can be mostly associated with such surprises in games. For every genre, as you progress you find yourself rewarded all the more, and the ones that offer justiful rewards are the best of their genre e.g. football games giving more stadiums and teams as you complete certain competitions with the given average teams - or - action games that unlock new characters and weapons the better you progress through the game. Games that don't offer room for a challenge and just gives its goods all at once are the ones that don't rate well in magazines and so on. They don't leave room for arduous gameplay neither would they contain much replay value.
Even little things like unlocking behind-the-scenes footage gives me a "feeling good" sensation. It makes us feel like we've actually achieved something...and when does the feeling of achievement ever hurt? Never!
Being rewarded in life isn't such a thrill when you're given something like a sock or scarf, but in games the majority of its rewards DO make you feel good! The good thing about games is that they don't leave much room for disappointing surprises, which means more surprises for us!
A good tip for developers and big people part of the industry would be for them to add more surprises in their games ... believe me, their sales would rocket! I know this as a consumer myself because just like in real life ... I LOVE SURPRISES!!!
:)
Party on people and thanks for reading
PK