I don't understand this. It's been going on for years and years and years. Why do developers make these cool little games (and some of them more elaborate) and leave them as a quick 'one-off' experiences? Why not randomize the events in the game? randomize where items are hidden? which doors you should unlock? and characters you would meet? and maybe the events of the story as well? this way there's sure to be great reasoning for multiple playthroughs. A perfect example is Sega's Phantasy Star Online, where they made up for limited dungeons by making the game randomize the layouts of the dungeons. And also the same with and older lesser known game like Burning Rangers. An anime inspired fire fighting game. It too had random characters to save, randomized events and levels to keep you replaying those levels over and over until you eventually unlocked all the civilians in the game (including secret characters). To go back even further, take a look at the classic board game 'Clue'. That's a game where the clues are shuffled and randomized, and when all is said and done, it's not always 'the butler that did it'.
Games like Haunt, and even Ghostbusters could of benefited from randomizing the events. Even if the devs wanted to maintain a certain story structure, they should offer the random replay value as a side mode. I'd love to explore a haunted house that'll keep me on my toes, where I wouldn't know that the exact same items would always be found in the same location, and the same ghosts or characters would always attempt a spook or haunting in the same areas. The first play through, sure it would be cool. But as it is right now, the second and third and fourth would be boring and dry because you know all there is to know of the game.
By now you'd think the developers would think more about these types of games!
Comments 1
Re: Review: Haunt (Xbox Live Arcade)
I don't understand this. It's been going on for years and years and years. Why do developers make these cool little games (and some of them more elaborate) and leave them as a quick 'one-off' experiences? Why not randomize the events in the game? randomize where items are hidden? which doors you should unlock? and characters you would meet? and maybe the events of the story as well? this way there's sure to be great reasoning for multiple playthroughs. A perfect example is Sega's Phantasy Star Online, where they made up for limited dungeons by making the game randomize the layouts of the dungeons. And also the same with and older lesser known game like Burning Rangers. An anime inspired fire fighting game. It too had random characters to save, randomized events and levels to keep you replaying those levels over and over until you eventually unlocked all the civilians in the game (including secret characters). To go back even further, take a look at the classic board game 'Clue'. That's a game where the clues are shuffled and randomized, and when all is said and done, it's not always 'the butler that did it'.
Games like Haunt, and even Ghostbusters could of benefited from randomizing the events. Even if the devs wanted to maintain a certain story structure, they should offer the random replay value as a side mode. I'd love to explore a haunted house that'll keep me on my toes, where I wouldn't know that the exact same items would always be found in the same location, and the same ghosts or characters would always attempt a spook or haunting in the same areas. The first play through, sure it would be cool. But as it is right now, the second and third and fourth would be boring and dry because you know all there is to know of the game.
By now you'd think the developers would think more about these types of games!