Replayability in Games and the Tacked-On Experience

There's been a continuing trend in video games that is designed to demonstrate replayability, or in the case of open world games, continued playability. Item collection for achievements or trophies should persuade the player to continue playing the game, no matter how absurd the collectibles may be or how connected, or disconnected, they are from the overall story or narrative of the game.

Video games such as Bioshock, Gears of War 1 & 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Crackdown allow the player to collect certain special items at their leisure. Notice that GTA IV and Crackdown are both open world shooters. Gears of War 1 & 2 and Bioshock are rail shooters, albeit providing freedom to a certain degree, but still requiring you to follow a set path to progress.

Collectible items in GOW 1 & 2 include pre-war newspaper clippings, military identification tags called COG tags, journal entries written by soldiers and civilians alike. These items fit the narrative and story of the game, and thus demonstrate purpose to the games emotional, as well as narrative progression.

Bioshock is another good example of these meaningful collectibles. Audio recordings of the residents of Rapture provide a newly formed emotional narrative. Which helps the already solid, haunting feel of the game. After hearing the crazed recordings of the plastic surgeon, and seeing the humanity in him, I didn't look at him the way I would a faceless enemy facilitated by propaganda, I saw his human side. As for the little sisters, nothing compares to the first time you save them or kill them, I guess I'm getting sidetracked by kissing the ass of majesty, I'll get back on it.

Grand Theft Auto IV on the other hand provides somewhat of a tacked-on collectible item, or killable as the case may be. The item, the bird, you're told to find and kill are pigeons. Pigeons do fit the industrial, gritty environment of Grand Theft Auto IV, but how they fit in to Niko Bellics story is a mystery. Well, woopty-fucking-doo. Maybe I missed the scene where a pigeon shit on Niko's head and everyone lived happily ever after in the end. Either way, they seem, to me like a cheap, tacked-on extra that is justified as a means to get your money's worth out of the game.

That's not to say I don't enjoy reducing the flying rats to a cloud of blood and feathers, I do enjoy it, really. But it seems as if these pigeons are meant to distract from the game. Because, at points, I'd rather go off on a pigeon hunting extravaganza rather than find out who facilitated the drop-off of the stolen cocaine on the Snow Storm mission. Which is the thing, it did what it's alleged job was to be, to distract me from the main game and narrative.

Crackdowns collectibles don't enhance the almost non-existent story, but they do enhance your characters stats. Agility orbs and secret orbs provide upgrades for your skills of driving, shooting, explosives, agility, and strength skills, but they don't move the story forward.

Collectible items are a good way to institute replayability in games. I know because I've done it more than once in more than a few games and I've enjoyed it, more times than less. But in some cases, GTA IV to name names, pigeon shooting and stunt jumps seem like an afterthought. But with Gears of War and Bioshock, the collectibles seem to be thought out carefully and put in the game for a certain affect, which they execute flawlessly. There are many other games I could mention, and at some point I will. But these are the prime examples of tacked-on and thought-out collectibles.

Then there's side missions. I won't go into it, but they’re always a nice touch to a short game. Just look at Fable II, well, and Fable I. Plenty of side missions and plenty of replayability, take those as examples of a well-structured game. And everything else in this, they are all good, and let's leave it at that.