Metal Gear Solid 4 was a game that defined the previous generation of consoles for me it's one of my favorite video games of all time, and at one point, I had finished it on the hardest difficulty in under 4 hours, having replayed it almost 14 times. They created emotional connections, characters we cared about, and story endings we yearned to see but were disappointed to witness end. Then, built on the shoulders of these excellent games came one of the pinnacles of the linear, story-driven experience: The Last of Us.Įach of these games was more than worth the price of admission at the time, usually around $50-$60. The pacing of the moment-to-moment story was perfected, the development of heroes or villains was rich, the enjoyment of their sequences was unmatched.
Many of these games held as many intimate moments of reflection as they did blockbuster, screen-bursting action sequences. They were relatively short, but they were packed to the rafters with quality and care. My point is, these games reached the height of their success because of the work and love that was invested into their single-player campaigns. Even looking towards the hype around Halo 3 to "Finish the Fight" or the moment Dom sacrificed himself in Gears of War 3 , these were emotive moments that resonate even more strongly because we weren’t bombarded with fluff we were given handcrafted moments to fondly remember. We as a community still get goosebumps from the simple phrase of “Would you kindly?” and how it dramatically altered our perception of video game autonomy. I still distinctly remember *that* reveal moment at the end of Spec-Ops, so integral to its core concept it was woven into the fabric of its run-time.
Excluding their multiplayer and co-op components for a moment, these games delivered a linear structure of single-player action that I don’t personally feel has been matched since. Take the universally glowing reputation that World at War’s campaign received, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves being considered one of the best games of its generation, BioShock: Infinite with its unforgettable twist ending. The end of this time period also saw some of these franchises arguably reach their narrative climax.
In the span of these six years, we were delivered remarkable adventures in the shape of the BioShock franchise, various Call of Duty campaigns, the Killzone series, God of War 3, the Uncharted series, and even underappreciated gems, such as Vanquish and Spec Ops: The Line, to name but a few.
SPEC OPS THE LINE PLAYTIME PS3
Coming fresh off of the heels of the goliath which was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the PS3 and Xbox 360 era saw the release of an incredible roster of tight, compact, and relatively short video game experiences. The years between 2007-2013 saw the linear, roughly 8-12 hour video game reach its established peak. I wanted to explore this shift in how current-gen games have a vastly different design compared to previously, and see if we may be due a resurgence for shorter, more compact and more compelling experiences than we are being exposed to presently. Frequently requiring us to dedicate our restricted number of leisure hours, they can be a daunting demand in comparison to a few years ago, a period when games could be enjoyed more leisurely and with less required of us to embrace them. Most games now are behemoths, requiring a huge amount of commitment of both our time and our energy.
While this may seem initially fantastic - and for many people, it really is - for others like myself, it’s starting to take a real toll on my enjoyment and satisfaction from playing, despite offering exceptional value for the price. A lot of games releasing can average roughly around 30-40 hours of playtime minimum to witness and complete the majority of the their content, and some can frequently eclipse 80-100 hours. Today, a large proportion of video games are large-scale, open-world giants with a huge amount of content and massive time sinks for our limited daily hours. The gaming world as we know it today is a very different phenomenon than what it used to be.
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