How Long Is Too Long?

An article looking at when a game is too long for gamers to continue playing. Whilst some gamers would say that 10 hours is more than enough, other gamers complain when a title doesn't break the 60 hour mark. Also, does the addition of multiplayer in games such as Uncharted 2 or Call of Duty add to a game with a relatively short campaign mode. And so, Baxy-Z look at what, in their minds, think is the perfect length of the game. At the end of the day, is it about quality or quantity?

[madkrazygames]

I clocked in 15 hours on Uncharted 2 on hard mode, with only 30 treasures found, how is that short?

[baxy-z]

Compared to games such as Fallout 3, it is short. :)

[N4G king]

Fallout3 is an RPG and RPG's are usually long

but U2 is a 3rd person shooter
and compared to other 3rd person shooters it IS long

[raztad]

If game allows me, my first playthrought is on Hard. That way the experience is more challenging and last longer. 16 hours for an action game is spot on but 14 is quite acceptable. However is the intensity and not the extension what really matters. You spend 60 hours in a RPG doing sidequests, grinding and leveling up, you dont need to do that in an action game.

[Sm0k3y_Bac0n]

Main quest in fallout didnt take long. Didnt really like the game so I didnt keep playing it after. But it depends on how good the game is and how long it can keep you interested. Uncharted is a nice length and so is COD4. But theres not much more you can do in SP than replay the story. The GTA series kept me interested. Probably played around 40 hours on the SP. And Final Fantasy X kept me very interested. 60 hour game save on that and 2 other saves which are around 20 hours each.

[callahan09]

I came in at 11:30 with 39 treasures and 850 kills / 150 deaths (more than half of those deaths were in the last 2 chapters!) when I played Uncharted 2 on Hard (my first play-through).

[zeeshan]

It should be short even if it's entertaining, you are paying $60 plus taxes and I for one, wouldn't want to pay that much for a 6 hours experience. I like long games but the story has to be very nice and the gameplay shouldn't get compromised by doing the same damn thing over and over again -- Assassins Creed anyone?

I didn't like Mass Effect that much because of it's poor technical issues but the one thing that I liked was you could end the game without having to complete every damn mission.

I LOVED Uncharted: Drake's Fortune because the story was great, the gameplay was amazing, the characters were fantastic and the duration of the game wasn't that short either.

[theEnemy]

if this is a sarcasm, you might get away with it.

If not, then you obviously have no idea what you are talking about.

- -

I agree to your points on your article, it all depends on the quality of the game and how consistent the game proves to be.

MP adds a huge amount of playtime if you're into it. Hell I've seen players have 400+hours in MGO.

I've finished U2 for 12 hours @ Hard, platinum'd it @ 28, it maybe short if you compare it to an RPG but that 12 hours is probably the best 12 hours I've had on a single player campaign.

;)

[El_Colombiano]

Fallout 3 was SHORT compared to other RPG's.

Now Demon's Souls...I'm clocking in at 50 hours atm on my first play through and I am LOVING it!

[madkrazygames]

oh, but don't you think that is bad comparison, games like fallout 3 we were meant to be 50 to 100 hours long. Uncharted 2 is an action game, 15 hours sounds like the perfect timing for that type of game.

[baxy-z]

The article isn't comparing genres to other genres, it's looking at what would be the perfect length for any type of game. You're kind of missing the point of the article.

I admit, my previous comment was hastily posted and not thought out properly.

[PirateThom]

Hell, it took me about 13 hours on Normal with about the same number of treasures. To me, action games work better when it's in that sort of band. 12-16 hours because it allows a lot of action but also good story progression.

After that I still had to get all the weapon kill trophies, found all the treasures and began my hard playthrough. Still haven't really gone into the multiplayer.

[Timesplitter14]

25 hours is perfect for me

[Limited_Vertigo]

If it's FF I'm putting in over 100hrs. If it's Ratchet and Clank I'm putting in 15 tops.

[Limited_Vertigo]

The adequate length of a game all depends on the genre. Like raztad mentioned above RPGs offer gameplay unrelated to the story (grinding, side quests) and thus their open world mechanics lead to a long play through. Action/Adventure games like UC or Tombraider are full of scripted events and story heavy, I think it's commonly accepted that these type of games fall under the 20hr mark.

[Feral Gamer]

I've never heard of this site. Another blog and a topic which appears every couple weeks. Been there, read that a few times.

[Redempteur]

Rpgs .. at least 50 hours ...the usual is 45hours .. least than that it's short ...
For action games ( god of war , uncharted ) then 10 to 12 hours is ok ...it can go down to 6 hours if there is some co op mode or a good reason to replay it

For free roaming games i guess 30 hours is the right choice ... i spent 44 hours in infamous to get platinium it was great ...so were my 70 hours in GTA 4 ....

[execution17]

only reason it took me a long time to finish inFamous (plat) was i needed that last shard and making 7000xp to buy that one last move, which sucked because i've done all the missions

[Redempteur]

well i don't regret spending that much time in infamous ...

[nycredude]

It took me 13 hours to finish Uncharted 2 on Hard and countless hours on mp now before I go back and get my platinum. I don't know what it is about UC1 and UC2. Those two games are the most fun games to replay and get platinum for.

I also spent a ton of time in Infamous, another one of those games that I never got bored of.

But a 6 hour game is a shame and there should be no excuse for it these days, even if it had mp. You can't tell a good story in 6 hours.

[Nitrowolf2]

2D sidescroller at most 4-6 hr
FPS- 6-10
3rd person shooter that all action 10-15
games like FF, fallout, valkrie, +40 HR.

[mrv321]

I completed Fallout 3 in less than 35 hours, could have done it in less than half that without the side quests.

[Feral Gamer]

You must not have explored much.

I'm playing through again. I want some trophies and the expansions are available now.

I clocked in about 80 hours.

[execution17]

took me roughly 50hrs all the side quest, all locations, and bobbleheads

[mrv321]

Well I found quite a few, on my 60 hour on I've done every side quest and found every location except one which you can't find.

[DARK WITNESS]

A game has not really done it's job until it's got me in a state were I don't know how long I have been playing it for. Don't get me wrong, I always know when to stop and have a break and do other stuff..

but you really want a game to submerge you in it's story/game play.

[ShiNe-Box-]

As long as it's not an RPG, anything over 14 hours seems like a bit too much.

I remember Uncharted 1 took me about 9 hours and that seemed fine. However, RE4 (love the game to death) took me about 13 hours to complete, and it started to get pretty repetitive towards the very end.

[thereapersson]

I want as much content as I can muster out of a game, without having to artificially extend its life by having to jump online!

[UnSelf]

you seem to be the only one in here who gets the point.

A game shouldnt really have a length. I mean does that make sense realistically?

Forget what the genre is shouldnt u want ur game to theoretically last forever?

Of course im speaking in the hypothetical sense where the story never sways and the gameplay never gets boring. If a dev can do this then why should a game ever end? I want unlimited upgrades

[Killz79]

The longer the game is the better,I ain't paying 60.00 and taxes for a phew hours of game play...

[thereapersson]

That's why I'll never pay full retail price for anything Call of Duty or Halo related. The single player campaigns are WAY too short, and I'm not much of an online gamer when it comes to consoles. I just love a good single-player or co-op experience, which is why I've been playing the ever-loving crap out of Borderlands.

[nycredude]

Thereaper

Add me on your PSN if you want to play borderlands. Not many of my friends are playing it.

PSN: NYCREDUDE

[NecrumSlavery]

I put 12hrs 30mins into Uncharted 2 on Normal
I have 120hrs in Fallout 3. I've done 97% of everything and still need to put time into Point Lookout. But once I get all the trophies. I'll never play it again. I'll wait for Fallout NV or 4.

But Uncharted 2 had so much replayability its insane. The Co-op alone is better than every other co-op I've ever played. The MP and the Leveling/Store interface is stellar. You can easily sink 100s of hours replaying the game and playing online, plus new DLC is a plus.

With Batman or Bioshock
Those games are designed to give you a good story driven feel, but once the shock value is worn off and the challenges are done. They really have little replayablity.

I've realized that online really makes a difference, but it shouldn't be the saving grace of a bad campaign(halo odst).

I think anything action should be at least 10-14 hours.
Shooters can be shorter but need good replay features(break the game down to replay chapters and collect things) and should be 10-12 hours
RPGs that are linear need 40hrs min and open world RPGs(fable? Rofl) like Fallout/Elder Scrolls should have a longer mainstory of 30-40 hours. Fallout for the first time is a 20 story with 100+ hours of DLC, Marked/Unmarked sidequest. Most platformers should exceed 12 hours. And all Wii games need to start exceeding the 5-6 Hours mark. That's just ridiculous they're so short.

On a side note: I though killzone 2 was a little too short. I always wanted more in it. Felt like each chapter introduced something different but you didn't get to do it again in the game. You used a turret once, drove once, sniped once, RPGed doors once, etc. Oh wait you turn valves like 3x...lol

[TwistedMetal]

there are no vehicles in fallout 3 so you have to walk around in a big open world game and you dont move that fast. you get lost and attacked by creatures every now and then but its a lot of walking and talking to npc's.

[Smash Daddy]

The game took me under ten hours on normal. It's not short, though - it's well-paced and ends at a good time. Length isn't as important as pacing.

[dragunrising]

I beat Uncharted 2 in 11 hours and 22 minutes on normal with 29 treasures found. Neither too long or too short. Perfect. I will more than likely complete Hard and Crushing difficulty at some point, adding on an equivalent amount of time (probably more trying to find all the loot). Multiplayer wasn't a deal breaker for me. Uncharted 1 is still one of my favorite games of this gen. Uncharted 2 might be my new fav.

[Tex117]

Agree with article.

All depends on the type of game it is.

Uncharted 2 ended when it needed to with the pacing it was on. (Of course if we could ever casually explore and gather information on where to go next through NPC interaction...droool....it could be longer)

RPG's have always been designed to go flying over the 40 hour mark. Hell, its why I started to play RPG's to begin with. Some are worth 40 hours of your time. Some aren't worth 10.

[cygnuszero]

10 hours for Uncharted 2 is a joke. It's a strong rental a best. Some tacked on standard issue Gears knockoff multiplayer doesnt change that. GTA4 took me 35 hours to beat, and its not even an RPG. 10 hours is pathetic.

[Redempteur]

hé EINSTEIN ....

They are different kind of games Comparing GTA and uncharted on lenght is ridiculous at best ... downright stupid most of the time ...

[ForROME]

Depends what a games focus is, story, versus action , versus rpg just depends some games blend all some blend some

[ForROME]

Also some times single player if the game is good call of duty , uncharted etc, you play though it multiple times and try to beat it on each difficulty etc

Too many way to look at this to have a simple answer

[Guitarded]

The only time a game seems too long is when it gets repetitive and boring or is just plain bad. If someone could make a game that never felt repetitive, it could go on for thousands of hours and be entertaining. Games are limited by one thing more than any other, money. I'd put technology as the second most limiting factor in producing quality games with money also being a limiting factor in the tech available to those producing the games. Time plays a part because time equals money and limits the tech available at any given time.

Imagine what games would be like if there were no limitations of tech, time or money. Where anything you could imagine could be created. Almost where movies are right now(as far as tech is concerned). Of course that statement would be true of any human endeavor, but this is a gaming forum.

No it's not it's N4G! PS3 sucks because it imposes more of these limitations on developers, to a greater degree than their competition. ie: Time and money. Sony "enthusiasts" act as if developers/publishers have unlimited supplies of both.

[Whitefox789]

VALVE TIME!

I WANT HL2 EPISODE 3!!!!!