Head to Head: Can story offset poor gameplay?
October 14th, 2009 | 
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This week’s head to head is a simple one: Are you willing to forgive average game mechanics for a great storyline?
The best example that jumps to mind for me in this instance is Mafia on the original Xbox, a game hard to get to grips with thanks to a somewhat awkward control scheme. In fact, in both my previous plays of the game, it took me a hefty slice of time to find myself in a position where it felt remotely natural to play. At many moments it just made me extremely frustrated, so it probably sounds a little odd to say that in the face of its issues, it’s one of the games I think most fondly of from the last generation. Hell, it’s still in my games collection despite it not being backwards compatible.
The reason I think so highly of it is purely down to the storyline and atmosphere put together by Illusion software. The writing was simply masterful, the characters felt real, and the turns the story took were interesting and added to an authentic experience. It was that quality of storytelling alone that drove me to the conclusion. If only the controls were tighter or matched the PC version’s standard, I could have been talking about a totally different game at this point.
So, what about you? Can you forgive shoddy gameplay for an enjoyable story? Vote (to the left or by reading the rest of this article), then share your examples in the comments section.
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Ultimately, for me, the story is the best thing about a game. Obviously I still love games like Geometry Wars where it’s just pure gameplay, but once a narrative is a central component, i will forgive almost anything shoddy about the mechanics so long as the story is well written and paced.
I think it depends on the game. For instance The Last Remnant has badly thought out game mechanics but I gotta say that it has one hell of a story that kept me intrigued. Then again, I could say that about any of my JRPG’s in my collection.
I prefer to see how the story in games unfold. Sometimes though, some games are unforgivable even if the story is a good. Certain FPS games give some good ideas in story telling but when you get to the nitty gritty you find out that the gameplay is so dire that you dont wanna find out what happens.