What Makes You Buy a Game?
April 5, 2009 by Amy Tucker
Filed under Gaming
When I buy a game, I always consider the game’s replay value. 
If it’s a cut-and-dry RPG then I go into the purchase knowing that I’m probably not going to replay it and I just hope for a really long game. If it’s a FPS then there had better be some good on-line play going on.
Call of Duty:4 is a good cross between the two.
You have a great story when you play the game from start to finish AND you have a solid [and addictive] on-line component.
When I bought Fallout 3, I knew that it was made by the same people that made Oblivion.
I LOVED Oblivion and even though I’ve technically finished the game, I know that there are tons of things that I’ve missed. Also, with Oblivion, you have different “types’ of characters that you can play so the replay value goes up a bit.
With Fallout, I can’t imagine going through all that I’ve gone through again.
Sure, my base stats may change but my character will stay essentially the same and the story progresses about the same.
Also, a key difference between Oblivion and Fallout 3 is the “could this happen in real life” quotient.
Do I expect an Oblivion Gate to open up nextdoor?
No.
Could an atomic bomb be dropped in the near future and the US resemble Fallout’s “Wasteland”?
Well…yeah…maybe. And that’s a hell of a lot closer to home than the Oblivion Gates.
Maybe that’s why I can’t imagine playing Fallout 3 again. Heck, I haven’t even finished Fallout yet and I’m already commiserating the end.
I know what I look for when buying a game. What do you look for?
Image|Bethesda
Before I spend $59.99 on a new game I think to myself; “How much time am I going to have to commit to this game?”. In other words, how much time will I actually have to play the game. If it’s a game for my son that I know he’s going to like, I go for it…if his grades are doing well. I see a lot of games that I would like to buy and play but price vs. time put in to the game is always a factor. I also think I’m very hesitant to buy a game when it first comes out in fear of disappointment, as I’ve been extremely disappointed with many games in the past. With my first Xbox it was bought in Korea and totally modified to be able to play burned games and copy rented games right to the hard drive, so that wasn’t a big issue. If I rented a game for $7.99 I would normally copy it to my hard drive and take the game back when it was due. If I found that the game sucked I would simply delete it. This saved me a lot of money and disappointment.