Replayability = Worthless?

What do you think a review means by replay value? It’s often cited as pivotal to a game’s overall quality. Many publications offer a replay value or “Lasting Appeal” rating that contributes to the final score. Whether they have a separate rating for it or not, you always get users commenting on replayability and how it affects their purchasing decisions. The length of a game’s single player campaign is always brought up, usually with someone saying “$60 for a 6 hour campaign!?” or similar. This is a complex and unusual review criteria for a number of reasons…

[Dovahkiin]

IMHO replayability makes a good game great, one major letdown in this area was L.A Noire for me.

Also if something is repetitive it generally takes away from the replayability.

[MaxXAttaxX]

thanks to its pacing and chapter based story. Also split-screen competitive and co-op matches are fun as well.

[MsclMexican]

I have played Uncharted 3 5 times so far and I have had so much fun on each run, it does not feel the same because enemies act differently each time plus the mp is ridiculously addictive.

But when a game is not easy to replay it feels repetitive. Look at Batman Arkham city after you beat the story and side missions..... then what? Find all the riddler trophies, but to do that you see how repetitive and annoying the game is. Find riddler trophy, usually guarded by inmates... you have no choice to fight them

But with Skyrim the infinite quests and ability for everyone to play differently is great for replayability.

[TopDudeMan]

Uncharted is fun to play again on crushing. You'll really get your monies worth then. Plus finding all the treasures is a task on it's own.

[mixelon]

I'm in the middle of a crushing replay myself and its a lot of fun, though in my case it seems more about pattern memorisation than skill.

I think i suck. If the enemies had any level of randomisation in where they came from i'd probably be screwed.

[HeavenlySnipes]

If the MP is fun enough to keep playing and the SP has things to make you want to play again. (like the hidden treasures in UC3)

[2fk]

sadly for me the MP doesn't tickle me fancy fancy on the other hand the SP is bloody brilliant.

[NYC_Gamer]

well,i play all my games on hard and feel there is no need to replay the story again if it's set path with no major choices/different endings.

[N311V]

When I first read the title I thought NO WAY. After reading the article my opinion has changed, the author makes a good point. Replayability is not worthless but trying to score it in a review probably is.

[3GenGames]

Not if it's done right. It's only worthless if the single player sucks. Haven't touched MW2's campaign twice, but I still play COD4s a lot. Then I also play my N64 a ton, SNES, and NES because the games are good. Probably on par with my Xbox when they're hooked up with my playing time. Especially N64, has so many amazing games.

[Alos88]

"Movies are completely linear, and it doesn’t detract from that medium."
The problem with that way of thinking is that movies and videogames are two very different mediums, and judging from the rest of the article you seem to be trying to suggest we should hold the same expectations of games that we do of movies, which is a simply laughable notion.

[mixelon]

That's some pretty selective reading.. I only brought that up as one question. Some games can be judged by their cinematic merits while others obviously can't.

[CanadianTurtle]

For me, replayability means that I can play a game over and over without getting bored, even if it's a linear game. The Resistance series is just amazing at making me do this. In the resistance games, there are so many ways you can get through your enemies with creative kills that its just addictive to find out and use new stratagies.

Also, just about any retro game has replayability for me x).

But I always play a game twice, and for some reason I enjoy them better on my second playthrough. Its because I've learned to accept the changes made the the game, and I've learned how to play it so I'll enjoy it more.

[Phantasm]

I'll play the Half-Life 2 campaign a couple of times a year.

[mixelon]

Awesome username/avatar! :D And yeah I used to do the same but now my backlog is so big i tell myself off for replaying things.

[GraveLord]

COD games have a lot of replay-ability. There's just so much modes. They're not just tacked-on either. They're well done and fun to play. Example: Spec OPs survival

[3GenGames]

LOL! That's multiplayer, that's supposed to re-playable no matter what. Main focus here is single player.

[mixelon]

Thanks for the comments people it's good to see everyone's most replayed games, and that some people don't do it at all. That was the main point of the article really. How do you rate something like that?

[M]

I haven't finish U3, i bought it when it first came out. I logged in about 100 hours in multiplayer.