More Fun Than Good

I don’t remember when it was, but do I remember being puzzled by Jeff Canatta on the Weekend Confirmed podcast when he claimed a game to be “more fun than it was good.” It took some explanation even to the rest of his podcast crew for them (and the listener) to understand his meaning. But since then, the coined phrase has practically become his moniker, and one that I have come to employ.

When it comes to games, you may be familiar with the term “Triple-A.” These are the games that are the flagship titles for publishers, games that get TV advertising, games that multi-sequel franchises are built upon. It doesn’t always mean that they are the best reviewed games, but they are often the most popular in their genre.

What about all those other games? Are there Double-A, Single-A games, etc.? Not really. In today’s environment, games are seldom developed deliberately to start their life as a second- or third-tier title. However, most games do live somewhere in the spectrum from struggling-to-make-a-profit to making-enough-profit-to-risk-a-sequel. When this happens, regardless of game quality, a publisher may start dropping prices early on a title that appears to be lagging in sales. Now, kids games, value-priced games, or games designed for a very specific audience (like hunting games or movie tie-in games) are somewhat review-proof. In other words, they are not always adversely affected by reviews when it comes to sales. Blockbuster games, however, are affected by reviews and word-of-mouth. When a title is priced down to move, it is not often perceived as a must-buy or even must-play experience.

This means that a lot of really interesting games can slip through the cracks. I seem to have a lot of these kinds of games in my collection. Well, it’s more like a pile. A pile that is far too tall, composed of games that have waited far too long to be played. However, from time to time, I get around to one of them. Some are indeed as bad as I feared—while others are little gems that I wish I could have championed at the time. Not surprisingly, these gems are often flawed.

One such game that stuck in my mind recently was Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

I’m not going to go into a review of the game. Others have done that long ago and far better than I could. I will tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It won me over. I found myself rooting for the game itself. “Hey, that battle was fun! Wow, that cut-scene made me feel for that character. . . . Keep being awesome!” Inevitably there would be a glitch or excruciating gameplay scenario in which I would come to understand . . . ”Oh, that’s why they didn’t love you.” But even in all that, the game was like a cute little puppy that did something very wrong. I just couldn’t stay mad at it for long. I was having too much fun in general to care that, at specific times, it wasn’t being very good. That’s when I understood what Jeff Canatta meant.

I almost wish “More Fun Than Good” was a rating, or a special sticker that could be placed on the box. This way, more people would have a chance at discovering and experiencing it. If they did, maybe we could better bolster the games that we want to play before they are lost to obscurity.

Anyone interested in an Enslaved 2?