Ignoring the Smorgasbord

I’ve heard a lot of praise recently for Shadow of Mordor, a stealth-action game set in Tolkien's Middle Earth. In general, I think the praise is mostly well-deserved, and the game delivers a satisfying experience.

It’s just that, with some six or seven hours played, I’m done with it.

This article isn't really a critique of Shadow of Mordor, and shouldn't be seen as such, but I'm going to use it for a few minutes to illustrate a broader point. I used to be of the mind that seven hours with a game was a pretty satisfactory amount of time. I’m not sure I’m entirely ready to back down from that position, particularly if I’m getting something really unique out of that time. A relatively short Brothers or Gone Home experience, despite not being particularly time consuming, is completely worth the price of admission. But when I think about Shadow of Mordor, I’m hard-pressed to think of anything really that unique about it. As a result, it felt like once the patina washed away I was left with a nugget of a game I’d played plenty of times before.

I don’t necessarily mean that as a criticism. Not every game has to be some hothouse orchid, a rare and beautiful thing. After all, some of the greatest games ever made are really just extremely polished versions of collected ideas gathered from mediocre games that had come before. That Shadow of Mordor is just a Batman game recast in the land of orcs as seen through the lens of Assassin’s Creed doesn’t mean it doesn’t do a damn fine job of being that.

But given the depths to which I’ve plumbed some games over the past year, my context for being satisfied by just playing a game for six or seven hours has changed.

A lot of new games this year have felt less like events and more like interludes to me. The upshot is that I actually haven’t bought a lot of new games this year. Even as I look at the rest of the fall season, I only have a few dates circled where a purchase is all but assured.

I’ve been watching some pre-release Beyond Earth footage recently, for example. This Firaxis strategy game that is definitely-for-sure-absolutely-not-a-sequel-to – Alpha-Centauri (*wink*) was on my highly anticipated list from the word "go." But, as I watch more and more footage, videos that should absolutely be stoking my anticipation to a fever pitch, I find myself thinking about giving it a pass, at least at first.

I probably won’t, mind you. It seems highly likely that despite my misgivings I’ll buy it as soon as it's available, because I’m exactly the kind of impatient consumer who makes poor choices that the industry so dearly loves. But what I’m looking for in the game, an experience that will enrapture me for a whole-number volume of hours measured in three digits, doesn’t seem particularly likely.

In a way, I do miss the sampling of the smorgasbord which has defined my gaming habits for several years. There is something to be said for dipping your toe into a world, taking a quick stock of what that world offers and then moving on. Yes, it’s not the most economical approach, but in the end you get the opportunity to try so many different things, enjoy so many different experiences, that it’s worth it in its own way.

Lately, though, that’s not been what I’ve been looking for. The stories of my countless hours spent in just two or three games over the past year is well documented, but I don’t know which came first, the chicken or the egg. Did I commit so fully to just a few games because they were so unique that they changed something about the way I play games, or did the way I want to play games change, and a few games happened to come along that supported that? I suspect it to be the latter.

I have no reason to think that within another year I’ll shift back the other direction. I’ll get seven hours into Shadow of Mordor and be ready to crown it my game of the year in a different, but familiar kind of mindset. I’m certainly not prepared to endorse one style of playing games as greater than the other, but at least for now I can’t help but walk away feeling slightly disappointed by a game that in the end can only hold my attention for the span of your average workday.

Comments

FWIW, I'm still playing Minecraft. You monster.

I understand this sentiment entirely. Over the past few years I've started to play certain games for longer, and I've had far less interest in games I know that I will play for ten to twenty hours and then put down.

While part of it is the price, the part of it is feeling that a lot of those ten to twenty hour experiences are not that unique. And if it's not that unique, why shouldn't I just play Diablo 3 or Destiny or Civilization, which I already enjoy and understand?

Now I do like Shadows of Mordor, but I also never play any of the games its compared to except Arum Asylum. And even so, I can feel my interest come and go. I'm at about 15 hours. Will I go further? Will I finish it? It's hard to say at this point.

Paradox is the Devil.

I love the Devil.

After all, some of the greatest games ever made are really just extremely polished versions of collected ideas gathered from mediocre games that had come before.

Spoken like the Blizzard fan I know you are.

As someone who only played the first two Arkhams and Assassin's Creeds I am not worn out by their respective systems yet so I'm having a jolly good time with Mordor which will probably last longer than your 7 hours. However I share your sentiment when it comes to GTA clones. Having plowed through all the PC GTAs, Mafia 1 &2, Just Cause 2, Sleeping Dogs, Saboteur, Saints Row 3 and oh so many others this particular formular has become VERY stale to me. To a point where I only managed to put a couple of hours into GTA5 and SR4 before putting them down till whenever. I too have noticed though that as a whole I am putting less and less hours into individual games. Having a combined backlog of games across various systems that borders closer to four digits than I care to admit to myself, I made it a rule to have to finish 5 games before buying 1 new game. While I am making a serious dent into the pile I realized that it comes at the price of only finishing the main stories in most games. Which makes me feel like I'm missing out. So I've come to appreciate the little (read: shorter) gems. Then again I've just put 60 hours into Divinity with my fiancee so not all is lost (but she's the driving force here so I'm not ready to count this yet). Man I don't know. After 25 years of gaming this is the first time I'm in a rut with my most beloved hobby. As a last side note: this year marks the first time that I am using and actively activating Auto Aim (something I frowned upon for as long as I can remember) because sometimes just want to be told a story (I'm talking Max Payne 3 here). Changes huh.

I'm relieved when I can get a solid, enjoyable experience in a short chunk of time and move on. It took me a year to put in the 16 hours I needed to wrap up Bioshock Infinite.

If I think a game is going to eat more than 10 hours of my time, I'm almost afraid to start.

I really enjoy long-haul games. They're comfort food that you develop a relationship with. A comfy warm robe & pair of slippers. You learn fine minutia about them over time. You grow to appreciate presentations & systems you might gloss over with a cursory play though.

Sandbox titles have given me great joy over the past couple years. Minecraft, Farming Sim, ETS2, and Paradox's CKII & EUIV have dominated my gaming attention on a likely scale of 10:1 compared to everything else. It's been extremely satisfying getting to know these games on a dozens to hundreds of hours level.

Sean I find it interesting that you wrote this article, yet you've dumped hundreds of hours into EUIV and Diablo 3.

I'm not calling you a hypocrite at all, but maybe it's just that your expanding experience with games is making it harder and harder for those magic titles that just click with you and devour your time to appear?

Aaron D. wrote:

I really enjoy long-haul games. They're comfort food that you develop a relationship with. A comfy warm robe & pair of slippers. You learn fine minutia about them over time. You grow to appreciate presentations & systems you might gloss over with a cursory play though.

I agree, and they are especially nice when going through stressful periods of RL. I'm the same way with books too.

I'm also very good about not feeling like I need to play a whole game in one sitting. If a really long game lasts months, then there's no problem if I'm still having a lot of fun with it.

ThingumBob wrote:

I'm relieved when I can get a solid, enjoyable experience in a short chunk of time and move on. It took me a year to put in the 16 hours I needed to wrap up Bioshock Infinite.

If I think a game is going to eat more than 10 hours of my time, I'm almost afraid to start.

I feel the same way; however, there are games that I expect to be played for short periods of time that I end up playing for much longer. I'm looking at Rogue Legacy and FTL where I expected nice, short indie games but ended up putting 20+ hours into each without hesitation.

My steam pile of shame keeps growing with the story-based games that I know I'll enjoy playing but having to make the commitment of 8-12 hours to see the story to the end stops me from picking those up.

I agree with the sentiment as well; however with Shadow of Mordor, you don't really even get to taste thoroughly what actually makes it unique by only playing 7 hours of it. The full scope of the Nemesis System isn't really available and apparent until towards the later end of the story. There really is nothing quite like it in any other game (yet).

Sean I find it interesting that you wrote this article, yet you've dumped hundreds of hours into EUIV and Diablo 3.

But that's exactly it. For whatever reason those games are the ones I'm looking for that I can dump hundreds of hours in. We may have different perceptions of their value or their originality, but for whatever reason D3 and EUIV have a spark that Mordor simply didn't come close to having for me.

I usually try to finish games that I start (if the word "finish" applies to the game) even if the game begins to seriously bore me. I'm glad I do this, because then I can give the game a good look as a whole afterwards.

but, even though I'm glad I do this, it really makes me appreciate the well done 8 hour title, because some games severely wear out their welcome.

L.A. Noire was a particularly heinous perpetrator. the game was too long by half and I could have done without the DLC entirely.

Clearly taste and stamina differ. But, I think that the amount of time it takes to beat a game is something that needs to be seriously considered when judging the game as a work of art.

Some games that have endings are just too darn long.

As I get older i tend to be spending less time on more games. Dlc or expansions never get any attention when im done with the game. Of course EUIV is a pretty big exception to that. And Dark souls... and that new wow expansion looks pretty nice...

Btw it is spelled "smörgåsbord".

Elysium wrote:
Sean I find it interesting that you wrote this article, yet you've dumped hundreds of hours into EUIV and Diablo 3.

But that's exactly it. For whatever reason those games are the ones I'm looking for that I can dump hundreds of hours in. We may have different perceptions of their value or their originality, but for whatever reason D3 and EUIV have a spark that Mordor simply didn't come close to having for me.

Sometimes it comes down to what grabs you personally. There are going to be games that just don't provide the elements that make a game fun and engaging for you. I'm not a loot guy or a planning and strategy guy so D3 and EUIV leave me cold (I doubt I'd get seven hours into either of them ;)) I do love game series like Halo, Batman and Assassin's Creed because they have those moment to moment fights with multiple opponents that force me come up with, and change, tactics on the fly. I suspect I might enjoy Shadow of Mordor when I'm eventually dragged, writhing and hissing, into the blinding daylight of next gen consoles.

It's worth having a long break from a game when your enthusiasm lags and then giving it another go later. I enjoyed the heck out of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag but, half way through, I just didn't have any desire to play on. I played other games for a few weeks then I popped AC:BF back in just to see if I cared any more. After a few minutes of sea shanties and rolling seas my enthusiasm was back and I finished the game.

Sometimes I'll put a game back in, load up my last save and realise have no desire to play on. That's equally valuable. I can put it away for good so it's not sitting next to my console and making me feel mildly guilty whenever I spot it out of the corner of my eye.

If you can move away from the Smorgasbord (or, as I like to think of it, the conveyor belt of current releases) it's a good thing. You can take your time and properly enjoy games in your collection and it's nice to buy or not buy games free of the tidal wave of hype that accompanies their initial release.

Hawcan wrote:

Btw it is spelled "smörgåsbord".

It certainly is spelled that way in Swedish, but we're writing in English here, so an anglicized spelling is appropriate.

Hugs 'n kisses,
The Editor

That Shadow of Mordor is just a Batman game recast in the land of orcs as seen through the lens of Assassin’s Creed doesn’t mean it doesn’t do a damn fine job of being that.

The best quote I have seen to describe this game thus far.

Everybody knows it's really spelled smorgasbordorgasbordorgasbord.

Shadowmordorasbord.

Now I'm hungry.

Where's an IKEA when you need one.

That Shadow of Mordor is just a Batman game recast in the land of orcs as seen through the lens of Assassin’s Creed doesn’t mean it doesn’t do a damn fine job of being that.

Elysium wrote:
Sean I find it interesting that you wrote this article, yet you've dumped hundreds of hours into EUIV and Diablo 3.

But that's exactly it. For whatever reason those games are the ones I'm looking for that I can dump hundreds of hours in. We may have different perceptions of their value or their originality, but for whatever reason D3 and EUIV have a spark that Mordor simply didn't come close to having for me.

Some people really like smacking monsters and watching loot come out; some people really like sneaking up on orcs and stabbing 'em in the throat.

That's probably okay.

I tend to have gamer ADD lately. Between hearing about so many interesting games through forums and podcasts, and just browsing Steam, and all the Steam sales, I feel like my attention doesn't stay with a specific game too long. this is unfortunate because I want to really get into a game again. for the past year or so, I have played a lot of games, but haven't felt truly sucked in to anything. I miss the days of finding that one game, and staying hooked on it for weeks, if not months. FEAR, Oblivion, and Left 4 Dead are a few examples I can think of right away.

I have liked many recent titles, but haven't been consumed by any one game for a long time. Part of this could simply be that I don't play as many games as I used to, especially during the week. Often I find myself preferring to kick back with a good audio book, rather than looking at another screen when I get home. I do want that one game again, that one game I can't put down or stop thinking about while at work.