On Replayability Pt2

In a previous article I talked about several different games that I have played and talked about why they were so replayable for me.  It then occured to me that I missed a couple other games, and since that previous post is already WAAAAY too long, I decided to highlight some other games I forgot about, as well as talk about replayability in the horror genre overall.

So, I will talk about the replayability of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (LOKSR) for the PS1, and Halo 2 for the Xbox, in context of the different tactics available, storyline, and player rewards.

LOKSR
Tactics:  The player's tactics really don't change from game to game as much as from encounter to encounter.  Using the different elemental spells against enemies is an interesting trick, however, after looking at the cost to find the mana to use such spells, as well as the more fun I had fighting and impaling enemies, I hardly ever used the elemental spells.  As an action platformer, LOKSR does not allow much in the way of specialization.

Story:  The game does not alternate it's ending based on the player's choices during play.  The player follows a linear story, unlocking stages of the game as the player gains powers.

Rewards:  No rewards.  Playing the game does not give you a better score or any incentive to play the game again with a different mechanic or bragging rights.

Analysis:  This game was fun because I could conquer it, because it had a tight storyline with an interesting twist on the vampire genre, and because the graphics and gameplay were amazing.  I played it many times for all of these reasons, not because the game was altered or aware of the fact that I had played it before.

Halo 2
Tactics:  As an action FPS game, Halo 2 didn't offer much in the way of different ways to finish the game.  It seems that the designers actually created certain levels where you had to use  different weapons in light of the enemies you were fighting and the design of the level (like being given a sniper rifle to take out vultures, or vehicles to fight over vehicles and traverse over land quickly, or rocket launchers or other vehicles to fight other vehicles).  The player does not consistently maintain specialization while playing this game.

Story:  No alternate endings, no changes to the story based on the player's actions.

Rewards:  The player is given certain rewards based on which level the game was completed on, thus giving the player bragging rights.

Analysis:  I managed to complete this game on Hard mode, but legendary just seemed a little out of my reach.  The main attraction to this game, and the majority of the hours I put into it were from, its multiplayer support.  Obviously, I lack the technical skill to try to make a game that supports multiplayer, and I want to build a gae based on the specialization of a character, which means creating an MMO, which is another thing I do not want to do.

Finally a note about replayability and the horror genre: part of the scares that come from the horror genre is the use of jump scares as well as displaying the freakish, weird, or otherwise unnerving.  Replaying the game means the characters will inevitably be desensitized to the scares and to the unnatural.

I'm planning on creating an AI director, much like Left 4 Dead, that tracks the progress and actions of the player and adjusts the game accordingly.  I'm also not very interested in creating shock scares, so trying to make things new and refreshing in context of shock scares is not important to the development of this game.