Pleasant Surprise

I just finished playing Wheelman, a fairly standard looking GTA clone starring Virtual Vin Diesel. But while the game might look unnecessary on the surface, Diesel's luck with the Chronicles of Riddick games rubbed off on it.

I won't go into a full schpiel until I write the review, but suffice to say that Wheelman ditches a lot of what has bogged GTA down over the years, in favor of a straightforward action film script, and missions that do their best to constantly elicit the excitement of a good car chase. Oh, and it doesn't make you travel to your mission every time you attempt it. The game isn't as memorable as GTA at its very finest, but ends up being worthy by not being full of itself.

I find myself gravitating to this kind of game lately - something stupid and relatively quick that I can start and finish on the weekend. I like to have momentum with any game I am playing, and when the work week leaves you with little time or energy, this becomes difficult. I might log 15 hours into an RPG during a light week, only to find it collecting dust two months later, when I have forgotten where I was and what was happening, and ultimately do not continue. With a simple action game, I can usually beat it in a handful of sittings, and if not, it can probably be polished off with an or two on Monday night. Worst case scenario, I call it quits, and guess how the cliche plot ends. This leads into the other advantage - this system plays well with Gamefly. I can get a game on Friday, mail it back on Sunday, and get another one the next Friday. The games spend their time in the mail on the days that I can't give them attention, and arrive exactly when I can. Plus it means I can get my money's worth from the service, while spending less on purchasing games (which I will then not play).

Most importantly, I find myself getting tired with everything else. I have played too many RPGs with piecemeal plots or 50+ hours. Too many games with OCD driven tasks. Too many highbrow, artsy titles that aren't actually fun. I still believe in the medium's ability to be something bigger than cheap thrills, but most that shoot for this lofty goal still come up short, and I do not have the time for that anymore. Give me the cheap thrills so I can actually stop thinking for a brief period during the week, and maybe save some money to be spent on other areas of interest.

I'm not abandoning gaming, but when life changes, sometimes your hobbies have to adapt.