IGN REVIEW - The Unfinished Swan Review

[Kresnik]

I think my perception of value for games has changed immensely lately.

To use two examples: Final Fantasy XIII v Heavenly Sword. One I have spent 30 hours in so far (and counting); the other I spent about 10 hours in and completed.

My enjoyment of Final Fantasy XIII has been slightly above average. I enjoyed bits of it, but much of it has dragged and been rather tedious. I've probably thoroughly loved about 6-8 hours of it so far.

I played and enjoyed 10 hours of Heavenly Sword. I fell in love with the story; the combat; the visuals; everything about the game pretty much from the start. It was a very short but wonderful game.

Obviously all this stuff is subjective, but the point I'm trying to make is - value differs from person to person. And person(ally!), I'd rather have a shorter & more memorable experience (a la Portal; Journey; Heavenly Sword) than a long and weary time playing a game but making sure I got my money's worth.

Of course, it's not like this for everything. There's plenty of games I buy purely because I know they'll last me a long time.  Final Fantasy VII lasted me something like 60 hours and I enjoyed pretty much every minute of it.  WipEout HD Fury lasted me for 40 hours through the campaign + online and it was great.  I've just ordered Sims 3 Pets to keep me busy for the next few weeks.  There's nothing wrong with that. But I am looking forward to playing Unfinished Swan whether 2 hours or 20 hours as long as I feel like I've got a full amount of quality from it.