Unlockable content in games good or bad?

[kroogur]

Awhile back i wrote a review on another site about the Atari Classics Evolved game for the PSP. The biggest gripe i had with the game was the nigh impossible hoops you had to jump through to unlock the 2600 games, with that said I offered a solution to the problem of locked content in games.

 

My solution was arrange a way so that the people who made the game only get 68% percent of their paycheck then they have to complete some inane tasks to get the rest I would think that would put a stop to this nonsense very quickly. I paid full retail for the game therefore the entire contents of my purchase should be available to me from the start. I don't think it's clever,cute,or fun to withhold content that i may never be able to access.

 

So what are your thoughts? Do you enjoy having to jump through hoops to unlock content you have already paid for? Or are you sick of this practice?

[Chickybaby]

I enjoy the challenge of unlockable content in games to an extent. If more content is unlocked the further you progress in a game then it's incentive. If for example, it's an online game and I have to pay more money to get the extras for each and every little thing, heck no. I just won't play that game.

If I have to "jump through hoops" and it is nearly impossible or I keep dying and have to constantly repeat the entire thing, then no. I'll most likely stop playing that game for good and not go back. I won't use cheat codes to have to get through something just to access extras either because that's not fun to me, it's frustrating.

What might be a good compromise is to have a temporary code for each unlockable item, extra, or hidden part of a level, or if it enhances gameplay in some way. So, if you get to a point where you are frustrated beyond anything and ready to give up then it can be accessed for that individual duration of time. This way, if you want to play the game again you can try to do it yourself or re-enter that particular code. If it's for mini games etc, then I believe a code should be available as well since you paid for the whole game. You shouldn't have to dig through websites to find it online. It should be included imo. Because ultimately it's like you said, we paid for it.

 

I'm exhausted and hurting badly, so I hope you know what I mean.

[2600FunTimes]

Depends on the game, and it depends on the content..

 

..for example, if getting the content takes longer, or even in some cases, double/triple/etc. the amount of time it took to play the game itself, it better be HORRIBLY worth the effort.

 

...Also, I can't stand extra content where you get it, and then you use it for like.. ten minutes, and then go "alright.. ..so.. now what..? I'll play another game now I guess"... that sucks!

 

Here are some examples..

 

"worthy" content:

 

Final Fantasy X: Going to a temple where you have to fight a seemingly hard creature in order to get the aid of one of the most powerful summons in the game.. ..can easily help on final battles.. ..not to mention that he looks cool, and is also the prime summon of the games arch-villain. Increases game play time, value, and overall challenge.. ..if you want one that is.

 

"Unworthy" content:

 

Metroid Fusion (and other Metroid titles): Having to go through and re-play the game in certain amounts of time, and not missing a SINGLE power-up within that amount of time, just to see a lowsy picture of a near-but-not naked cartoon girl... which is probably uploaded by the millions on the internet already.

[Artlover]

Do you enjoy having to jump through hoops to unlock content you have already paid for?

No, I don't.

 

Or are you sick of this practice?

Yes, I am.

 

So what are your thoughts?

Mostly, I'll just echo what others had said..

 

If it's reasonable to achieve and the results are worth it: It's not so bad and can be fun and add play value.

 

If it's so damn hard that only the very best of the best can do it and it even takes them several trys: No. Not fun, ruins the game. Particulaly in the case of multi-player games where it creates an uneven play-field. Where if you don't consider it a second job and spend every waking/non-working second of your life obsessed with it, you can hang it up, and are better off just not bothering to ever play it at all.

 

If the results aren't worth the effort, regardless of how easy it might be: No, no fun, wastes my time and ruins the game. Unlock something, damn it. I don't want a stupid worthless picture or some other dumb crap for my effort. Unlock a hidden level, give me a new weapon, or an upgrade or something.

 

If I have to pay for it: No, with a capital NO, and the designers can go choke on a #$%@! Greedy, arrogant, self important %[email protected]&*@^$*. It's even a bigger F-U to players when they pull this crap on multi-player games and effectively create an uneven play-field, where spoiled brat rich boy always wins and everyone else might as well just crawl under a rock. Sadly, this is happening more and more, even on XBL.

[2600Lives]

I LOATHE most unlockable content. I don't care about stuff like art galleries and the like, toss that in for me to unlock as I play through the game, and that's cool, but when it's actual game content, hell NO. Stuff like that was why Pro Action Replay was invented. I love giving a huge middle finger to the designers by popping in my PAR and just unlocking everything right from the get-go.

[+Ransom]

Unlockable content is OK if done well, like anything.

 

But we all know how that goes, so I'd rather they just leave the locks off. I bought the darned thing, just let me play it. Which is a bigger gripe I have about modern games in general. Ever game should have a "I'm bored now" button these days. If I'm not having fun, let me push that button to get past the current challenge. Then I can get back to having fun with the game I bought.

[+HammR25]

I don't mind unlockable content as long as they also provide a cheat code on the net.

 

Oh and this is hilarious:

My solution was arrange a way so that the people who made the game only get 68% percent of their paycheck then they have to complete some inane tasks to get the rest

Edited April 11, 2009 by HammR25

[roadrunner]

I'm not a fan of unlockable content. I always use cheat codes or a codebreaker disc to unlock unlockable content.

Gran Turismo 4 has way too many cars to unlock in Gran Turismo mode so i can use them in arcade mode.

I still haven't finished all the endurance races.

[retrorussell]

I'd say it comes down to the opinion of the gamer. Some people like uncovering sound tests or credits (which I think is lame), some want to get every weapon in the game, some want to find a bonus area.. etc. If you want to know whether an unlockable trick is worth it, look up a gaming website and it should tell you what your reward is. If you think it looks interesting by all means spend some time trying to get it.

 

In Resident Evil 4 I spent plenty of time trying to beat the Professional mode so I could get the P.R.L cannon. Boy oh boy was it worth it! I had to cheat to get the Handcannon (used Action Replay) and it wasn't really worth it. Just depends on where your interests lay. If you wasted x amount of hours trying to unlock some code that wasn't worth it, just remember that life isn't really THAT short. And now you can tell your friends not to bother trying to unlock the item/weapon/bonus round/whatever, and save them some headache.

[Reaperman]

I want it *ALL* from the beginning (within reason).

 

I don't mind having to unlock, say, advanced championships in a racing game, but when a buddy and I would buy one for some quick split-screen play and we only had 3 of 20 tracks available--that wore REAL FREAKING THIN.

 

on in DDR to unlock the last 5 percent of songs took...years... what the hell?

Edited April 11, 2009 by Reaperman

[+Random Terrain]

I hate unlockable content. If a game must have unlockable content, let it be art galleries and useless crap like that. Do not hide stuff I want to play. For example, I bought Spy Hunter a couple of months ago for the PS2 because it was really cheap and it said two players could play at the same time. Sometimes we have a need for two-player games, so for less than 3 dollars, it seemed like a good game to have. Brought it home and found out that you have to beat the one-player game to unlock the two-player game. The idiots who thought that was a good idea need to be beaten with a baseball bat covered in razorblades. I should be able to immediately play a one-player or two-player game without unlocking anything. It wouldn't be so bad if they had cheats so you could skip right to the two-player game, but there are no real cheats, only crap you can put in to see stupid concept art and videos.

[moycon]

Brought it home and found out that you have to beat the one-player game to unlock the two-player game.

 

Wow that is pretty stupid. Some games I don't mind unlockables. Like Burnout for instance. You play the game. you unlock better cars. Would seem kind of silly to buy the game and have access to the most powerful cars right off the bat.

[Artlover]

found out that you have to beat the one-player game to unlock the two-player game.

It's not the only game like that.

 

The idiots who thought that was a good idea need to be beaten with a baseball bat covered in razorblades.

Rusty razorblades, and the whole thing needs to be dipped in salt, or lit napalm.

[Reaperman]

Brought it home and found out that you have to beat the one-player game to unlock the two-player game.

 

Wow that is pretty stupid. Some games I don't mind unlockables. Like Burnout for instance. You play the game. you unlock better cars. Would seem kind of silly to buy the game and have access to the most powerful cars right off the bat.

I can see that as being okay for single player. But in multiplayer, all or most content should be available the first time you sit down. Racing games are horrible for holding back 2-player content until advances are made in single player that that's the single most wrong thing I can imagine. You and your buddy bring home a new game, fastest cars and all tracks should be there.

 

Because there's no way to unlock anything in your new game while your buddy is there--unless you trade off the controller and that's just lame.

Edited April 12, 2009 by Reaperman

[AtariLeaf]

Can't stand it. Its a stupid artificial way to extend the life of a game. If a game can't stand on its own merits, unlockables won't change that.

[atarian63]

I really hate it, When I find a game is like that I usually won't buy it, or just find the cheat. A dumb idea. I want to be entertained not challenged. I get enough of that at work.

Edited April 12, 2009 by atarian63

[moycon]

You and your buddy bring home a new game, fastest cars and all tracks should be there.

 

Yeah I agree with that.

[potatohead]

Progressive content isn't bad, given the progression to get there has value.

 

If it's just a time delay, or busy work, or cryptic to encourage guides and such, it's a big turn off.

[jhd]

I hate unlockable content. If a game must have unlockable content, let it be art galleries and useless crap like that. Do not hide stuff I want to play.

 

Well put! More than once I have purchased games based on the information on the packaging, only to discover that the content I wanted was locked and inaccessible. Fortunately, cheats are usually available to unlock things.

[JamesD]

Unlockable content can be kinda cool but it's usually tied to some near impossible task I have no interest in trying.

It ranks up there with many of the XBOX 360 achievements.

Complete level X on insane difficulty without losing any lives or firing any bullets even though the final boss is impossible to beat without bullets!

I say whenever the programmers come up with this crap we make them play the game until they can do it. No food, no drink, no bathroom... no more crappy unlockables or achievements.

[JamesD]

Btw, 'Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects' is a prime example of annoying un-lockable content. You have to go through the entire story mode to unlock most of the characters just so you can use your favorite one in a beat em up match against a friend.

[S1500]

Crackdown has way too much advertising for "purchasable" unlockable content, ie cars, game modes in certain areas,etc.

[JamesD]

Crackdown has way too much advertising for "purchasable" unlockable content, ie cars, game modes in certain areas,etc.

Purchasable downloadable add-ons don't bother me. They usually come later. But putting content in the game you have to pay extra for bothers me.

Hey, how about selling a game for $5 and make the user pay for each level if they want to keep playing?

[2600Lives]

I say whenever the programmers come up with this crap we make them play the game until they can do it. No food, no drink, no bathroom... no more crappy unlockables or achievements.

 

You, sir, have just became my new favorite person on AA. Though that is perhaps a tad too soft. Make them sit on broken razor blades while they play, maybe?

 

On the subject of micro-purchases such as paying tons for new levels, etc. Every time a company chooses to do this, the pirates get a little more prolific. Stuff like that is why pirates live, to circumvent it.

[shadow460]

Sometimes it's okay for something to be locked up under a really hard challenge. If it's a super tough course, like the Zone courses in wipEout purE, then yes, it definitely needs to be locked. Get real, you're not going to win that last Zone course until you've played the game some. The Zone ship is locked under the last course. Sorry, but if you can't win Zone courses, you haven't got the skill necessary to pilot the Zone ship. It's too fragile and you won't last even one lap with it. Practice and learn the game, though, and that ship becomes deadly to your opposition.

 

It's also okay for some new stuff to be unlocked under "normal" challenges, however, I don't want to be required to set the difficulty to max or earn the highest score *ahem* Rodney A Greenblat are you listening? Someone mentioned Gran Turismo 4, and that is a good example. If you played any Gran Turismo until you had the skill to beat certain levels with the cars available, it would take you 100 years. However, by completing different races, you get a feel for all the tracks and modes, and you can unlock the car you need in order to win. In Simulation mode, you can run simple events until you have enough money to buy a nice car (like the 787B), or you can take a little more challenging path through the game and unlock that 787B as your first S class car much sooner than you could have purchased it. From that point, you can get into the S class competitions.

Another GT example of this is GT3, where you can take the time to earn all gold on the B license exams, thereby winning yourself a Mazda Miata. Next you play through the IA exams so you can have a license to enter the Apricot Hill endurance race. You haven't spent a single dime at this point, so you can use your 18,000 credits to buy super slick racing tires and hit the 'Hill. Two hours later you have a shot at a Formula 1 car (not the wimpy one, either), you have 100,000 in your bank account, and a win to your name. You can trade the old Miata off for the new one and race again unless you got a Fomula car, or you can sell whatever you get and spend all the money on upgrades to the Miata. You can sell the Miata and buy a nicer car if you like. No matter which way you go, you will start winning races. I personally wnet for the Pennzoil GT-R both times I played through, as it's a very powerful car and it will get you through a good chunk of the game. I think it can win most of the Endurance races with little effort.

 

What's ridiculous is to lock up cool stuff that doesn't require skill to use under an insane challenge. Goldeneye's invincibility mode is one of those things. Invisible mode is almost as powerful and tons easier to get. At least let me have a second way to get it, like Perfect Dark does. Can't get All Guns in Goldeneye? Sorry, you are SOL. Can't get it in Perfect Dark? Track down a Transfer Pak and the game boy cart (both can be had under $20), plug it in and let the guns blaze!

extreme-G is also ridiculous with unlocking that Neon bike. I played the stinking game fair and square to unlock Roach, then I used that to complete the game again. It gives me some trash talk about using a real bike to win if I wanted Neon. What!? I beat it fair and square, now gimme my reward! At that point I just put in a code and went from there.