The RPG vs The FPS
The last game I completed was Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway. Before that it was Mass Effect. Prior to that I finished Eternal Sonata for the second time, and previous to that, I put 110 hours into Lost Odyssey. Currently I’m nearing finishing Mass Effect for a second time (racing my best friend to 1000 points… and currently winning!), and next on my agenda is Fable II. Four out of those five games I’ve mentioned are RPGs!
Usually I can’t stomach any more than one RPG - two if I’m pushing it - before I’m thirsty for some mindless shooting. So I tucked into some Brothers in Arms’ WWII FPS action very eagerly, thinking the change of pace was not only welcome, but very much needed. But I had this sense of being unfulfilled all throughout Brothers in Arms. It’s a great game, and one of the better WWII shooters I’ve played. At the end of it, however, I was thinking “That’s it? 40 bob and that’s all?”.
The fact is that the length of the Brothers in Arms campaign is absolutely conventional, and then of course you can factor in Multiplayer (which you don’t usually get with RPGs), and the fact you unlock the Authentic difficulty upon the completion of your first playthrough. So in theory there’s plenty to keep you occupied. Admittedly I haven’t touched online with Brothers in Arms, mainly because I’m not big into Multiplayer gaming, unless we’re talking Rainbow. But I have played through the campaign twice in full, and I still don’t feel 100% satisfied.
I think this comes from my recent - and rather excessive - foray into Role Playing Games. I have fallen head over with that genre, and am now craving more meat from whatever else I invest my time into, such as those ‘mindless’ shooters I used to love so much. A linear path of ‘crouch here, shoot there’ just can’t compare to open world environments where exploration is key, and quests pan across multiple hours worth of gameplay.
Maybe it’s the Scot in me, but shooters can often leave me feeling I haven’t had my money’s worth.
Tomorrow sees Fable II make its way onto the UK market, and I’ve planned a trip to Tesco to secure a copy of my own (note that I usually only condone shopping at Morrisons). I’m hoping to spend the next several weeks moulding my character into the hero I wish him/her to be, and satisfying the geek in me by leveling up my skills accordingly. If the game is everything I desire it to be then I’ll no doubt end up putting endless hours into every quest and every sub plot (despite the main quest supposedly only spanning across 12 hours), not to mention exploring the world to pick up rare items.
As for Brothers in Arms, well I loved every minute of my quick and dirty run-through. But I’ve since nabbed all the single player Achievements, and I have no plans on joining the ranks of idiots on Xbox Live for some Deathmatch. So I guess that means it shall forever remain tucked away in my gaming drawer, only to see the light of day if a friend wishes to borrow it.
I’m hoping that the next shooter I’m really looking forward to - Call of Duty: World at War - has enough substance to keep me satisfied. As a wise friend of mine once said (the same friend who’s eating my dust on Mass Effect), “it’s like eating a salad when you’re downright hungry”. Fair enough, he wasn’t talking about shooters when he offered that analogy to me, but it actually feels pretty apt to how I’m feeling right now.
It took me ages to get around to playing the original Mass Effect, but as soon as I did it was a case of “Why didn’t I do this sooner?!”. I’ve been looking forward to the sequel ever since, and it’s not disappointing. What can I say? It’s good to have Shepard back in my life.
Sam Brown