Game replayability

[Superhuman]

Posted in "What is the point" by Quertas of Atlantis, he mentioned some games as to whether they were replayable or not. Since that thread is closed, I was thinking about it and thought I'd write something on the subject.

Everyone has their favorite games they like to play, whether they replay them or not. I have a nephew who loves Diablo I & II and has replayed them. He likes the RPG, and there have been some good ones on th emarket.

One of the games I replay with no problems or disappointment has been Final Fantasy VIII. I replay this one so much, I never uninstall it from my computer. Yes, the game ends the same way, has no alternate ending and you spend the game racking up HP via random situational battles. I love the game itself because I like the storyline, the graphics, the playability, and the characters involved. I think the only thing I'd change is giving Squall the choice of the three women he wants to be with. It would give the player three ways to go at the end.

A series I never tire of is the Myst series. I have all five games, plus the two Uru games. Love this series. Alternate endings, mind-blowing environments, great stories and interactive play I haven't seen in anything else yet. I'm hoping the creators change their minds and re-start this series.

I also replay the Star Trek: Elite Force games (both of them) as well as both Soldier of Fortune FPS games from Raven. Someone from Raven said they will be working on a third installment in the SOF series, and I can't wait for its release.

I like some sports games, mainly trying baseball games. Though I do have a strong like for the Championship Manager soccer games, I look for any top-notch baseball games. EA Sports had Triple Play, but once they delved into changing it into the MVP series, they added playability as manager and team owner. Being manager is okay, but I'm not sure about winning points for completing "missions" before season's end to "purchase" extras. Since they only have NCAA baseball for console, I've yet to play that, or their new Arena Football game.

Those are some of my choices. A game really has to catch my fancy for me to want to play it over again. Some of those did just that, and I always look forward to playing them.

Superhuman

[Joe Forster/STA]

As for Star Trek: Elite Force, Soldire of Fortune and most other 3D shooters coming out lately, they're just too sequential ([edit:] better to say: linear): you have only one way to play through the game, no possibility to wonder around via multiple paths and complete objectives in pretty much any order!

Which is why I keep collecting high quality addons for good old DOOM and play them with jDOOM (or other multi-platform DOOM engine). Those are much more fun and have a much better (re-)playability value (even if I barely have time to play them through even once)...

[Superhuman]

I do replay th eoriginal DOOM and have tried a bit of DOOM 3. Don't know of many add-ons for the games other than the expansion (Resurrection of Evil) for D3. I guess I'm an FPS fan, but only of certain genres (DOOM, and older games like Castle Wolfenstein and Spear of Destiny, which looks amazingly like Wolfenstein).

Still, I do find the ST: Elite Force games and Soldier of Fortune games replayable, andf enjoyable, even if it is limited in some of its missions. There's still a fascination for me to them, and Elite Force II does have a second alternate ending depending on which woman you choose to be with. A third and fourth if either the Enterprise is destroyed or Alex takes a bribe from a Ferengi earlier in the game, about mid-point.

If you really want a laugher from Elite Force, try this: In Voyager, kill anyone of the crew on board with a phaser. In EF2, take the Ferengi bribe. You become the renegade of the Federation.