My thoughts on the many elements that go into creating a memorable game play experience.
Introduction
Judging the enjoyment of a video game (or any medium of art for that matter) is mainly a highly subjective endeavor. However I do believe there are different ways you can judge the overall quality of a game in a relatively subjective manner. For me, the three major factors to take into account when looking at a game subjectively are Influence, ambition, and execution.
Influence
Influence refers to the impact a game had either on the games industry, or society in general. While influence does not necessarily equate to popularity, it can certainly help when judging how many people were able to connect with that title. As with any of these three criteria, It is important to look at the game relative to what was coming out at the time. It is important to take this into account (with influence especially) as most of the games in the first generation of gaming would inherently be the most influential. With this in mind there are still many titles to choose from. A great example of influence within gaming would no doubt be Metal Gear Solid for the original PlayStation. This is one of the first games that tried to use it’s 3D environment to give a cinematic feel. It tried to incorporate long cut-scenes, with interesting cinematography. It almost felt like a hybrid between a film and a game. The effect this had on the industry is apparent, considering how cinematic animation evolved in the future generations. The original Super Mario Brothers pretty much sold the NES on release, the console that almost single handedly saved the video game industry. Above them all however, I feel Tetris is easily the most influential game of all time. Being the best selling video game of all time certainly helps, but it was also one of the first games to feature a truly addicting game play loop.
Ambition
Ambition refers to the goals the game would try to accomplish relative to other games at the time. Truly ambitious games create experiences that are unlike anything within their generation. The original doom was one of the most ambitious first person shooters of all time, despite not even being the first. It was able to create a 3D looking environment, with different levels of elevation, adding verticality to the first person shooter for the first time. This is especially impressive considering doom is not even a 3D game. It uses an intricate ray-cast system to scale assets relative to the player.
Execution
Execution relates to a game's ability to achieve the goals they set out to accomplish when developing the game. Games with extremely good execution are often simpler titles with a ridiculous amount of polish. For me, Chrono Trigger is one of the most well executed games of all time. The art direction was done by Akira Torriama, a staple within Japanese entertainment (especially during the 90s). The soundtrack was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, a staple of video game composition, that would go on to be regarded for his work on the Xeno series. The game was very technically impressive, looking almost like a PlayStation game despite being on the SNES. Even to this day, it has an engaging world, characters, and story.
Conclusion
Many of the games mentioned previously achieve all three of the criteria to some degree of relative success. However I feel the game does not necessarily need to achieve all of these elements to be a great game. If a game wants to focus on one or two elements, it can still be fantastic if it truly excels in those elements. That being said, are there any elements that are essential for a game’s quality?
Considering how many types of games there can be, I feel like the baseline changes depending on what the game is attempting to be. For example, for a game like Tetris to be successful, it must function entirely as intended. Most people don’t really care how Tetris looks, they mainly care about it’s addicting core game play loop. For a game like Chrono trigger however, the core game play is important for supplementing the story and characters. For a turn based game like Chrono Trigger, the story is an element that is really important for making an engaging game.
Currently we live in a patch based landscape. Nowadays, a bad game does not have to stay bad forever. The biggest example of this in recent times, is No Man’s Sky. The game started out as a barren landscape of tedious tasks. After several free updates to the game, it has added so many elements to the core game-play loop that it became what the game was originally supposed to be.
While marketing can certainly help with a game's influence, it leaves almost no impact on the other two elements. Because of this, I don’t really think marketing and hype leads to a great game. However it can allow a great game to be noticed by the general public. Regardless of if it was popular or not, Undertale would have still been a great game in the eyes of those who played it.