Whats the most middle of the road game you've ever played?

[Jumpin]

I thought about it, and this is a difficult question to answer. At least not without some kind of reason for playing the game, for example - a game like Streets of Rage might be the perfect thing for me to play today - style, flash, and simple beating the crap out of people while progressing - or it might be the last thing I want to play for a variety of reasons.

Despite what Metacritic and such may make some people believe, there is no linear scale by which videogames can be measured on. Aside from situation, perhaps even mood, taste also accounts into it: for people who are great memorizing, have good problem solving skills, and a creative spark, Dwarf Fortress may be the best game ever - however, those who lack that will likely see it as garbage. I’ve come across this in Xenogears before where some describe the story as “convoluted” or “esoteric” and claim it’s a bad game - but that’s only because they’re not able to process such a large story, maybe they don’t read larger books, or have an academic background; but none of these criticisms are true for people who do have those skills.

Some people love repetitious experiences where they do the same thing hundreds of times and get better and better at it. Maybe it’s a game involving good twitch reflexes.

There are also different games for different needs. For example, if someone is in the mood for a quick round of gaming, they might pick up a casual game or play a few levels of TMNT or Super Mario Bros 3. If it’s an evening with a half hour to an hour free, it might be a game like Castlevania or Romancing Saga. Or with more time on the weekend with a desire to experience a bunch of story or deeper experience, it might be Xenogears, Witcher 3, Crusader Kings, or one of the more story focused Final Fantasy games. And the reasons for liking a game like Witcher 3 might be entirely different than those for liking a game like Crusader Kings.

But really, the point I’m trying to make is that there isn’t really such a thing as an average game unless you have some kind of objective scale of measurement. Changing the parameters of the scale means different centers. And most gaming fans probably don’t think of games in such shallow terms - subconsciously at least, as a lot of gamers do buy into the Metacritic paradigm even if they realize it’s not really accurate to their experience - and what I’ve explained above is why that is.

Last edited by Jumpin - on 26 February 2025