So you’ve finally done it. You’ve beaten the game. It took hours of sweat, blood and tears (though hopefully no blood), but you’ve done it. The credits have rolled. The game is over… wait, what’s this?
An evil little number peers at you from the main menu, taunting you with its seductive gaze. It dares you to grip your mouse (or controller), steel your gaze, steady your aim.
50% complete.
The fury builds within you.
“WHAT? Only halfway done with this stupid game?”
No, it’s not stupid. It’s genius. The game teases you with victory, only to show you exactly how much surface you’ve scratched.
Granted, there are good and bad ways to challenge players to ace (complete 100%) a game. The concept itself, of giving the player more game to play after he thinks he’s won, is beautiful.
Think about it. It’s a win-win idea. Let’s take the worst case scenario and say a player doesn’t care about side quests or finding all the little hidden treasures in each area/level/whatever. The worst thing they’ll do is look at that pitiful number that displays their total lack of dedication to the game… and just not care. They got their satisfying victory already. The rest doesn’t matter.
Now consider the other end of the spectrum – players like me who thrive off of showing every pixel of that game who’s boss. This is one of those things in games that I live for. I absolutely could not stop playing Batman: Arkham Asylum until I not only completed every riddler challenge, but got a gold medal on every extra mission. It’s a wonder I ever beat Doctor Octopus in Spiderman 2 (a FANTASTIC movie-game translation, incidentally) considering there were so many tokens to find and side challenges to complete!
Now let’s take a brief look at a good game that could have used more: Shank. Shank is a gorgeous, smooth, wonderfully-executed side-scrolling brawlfest that just doesn’t last long enough. It has two aspects: A single-player campaign and a co-op campaign (which is, of course, quite short). There’s very little to do along the way. There’s a few outfits to unlock, a few achievements to earn… but after beating both campaigns and getting nearly every outfit, I found myself wishing for more game to play. Shank has shamefully low replayability, although you have to give the devs brownie points for trying.
Incidentally, I will still be getting Shank 2 – hopefully there’ll be more reason to keep going after the final foe is slain. Let’s hear from you, though: are you a completionist, and what games have you found yourself hunting down 100% on lately?
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