Actually that would be either 4 or 28 hours, right?

Oh yeah - oops. :D

This is a short but very sweet game. The graphics are obviously awesome, but it's the 5.1 that's doing it for me. Intense sounds during the firefights, and the heartbeats while in stalking mode are awesome.

So is it a 4 hour game or a 28 hour game? Somewhere in-between?

He said he put in about 12 hours.

Just got the game today and agree that it is a definite :thumbsup:

I would say it's a mix of Knights of the Old Republic and Halo.

Quoted because I'm still curious in people's opinion. Is there any real reason to buy this game? It sounds like an amazing rental, but even at $35, I can't imagine that it's worth a purchase without a lot of replay value. I could be wrong, though. Any thoughts from those who bought and love it?

I would never pay more than $15 for a 12 hour or so game, so know it's not worth a buy right now IMO.

By that reasoning, you apparently refuse to pay more than $1 per hour of entertainment. Does that mean you don't watch movies in the theatre (which average more than $3/hour of entertainment)? Maybe you just value movies more than games? Personally, I'd rather have an interactive entertainment experience versus a static one but that's just me...

Personally I would rather pay $50 bucks for a really good game than $50 for a game that's artificially long (i.e. some rpg's*) or a game thats long and not so good/bad. Now granted, I usually don't pay more than $20-$30 for games, but that's only because I have so many older games I want to play and I'm a fan of used games. By the time I'm finished with them I'm a year behind and all the current or close to current games are cheap(i.e. I just bought Panzer Dragoon for $10).

All that being said, I do splurge from time to time and will do so on Riddick (the demo is really fun). I love the 16bit Sonic games but they all can be beaten in an afternoon of solid gaming. Do I think they were worth there $50 (or so) price tag? Absolutely. Metal Gear Solid also was worth it's pricetag (eventhough this is far from being my favorite game). A lot of short games are. I just value the experience over a games length.

It should be said that I don't game as much as a lot of people on this board. I more of a casual type gamer. Playing less than 10 hours a week most times (unless I really get obsessed with a game and have to beat it...I'm looking at you Pikmin). On top of that I usually play a bunch of games at the same time. So a short game doesn't feel nearly as short to me as it would to some of you. I can see why some need longer games. Just isn't the case with me.

Of course neither of the above two posts address my actual question. I don't mind a game being short if it has some replayability or multi-player action. If it's a one-and-done deal and can be fairly easily completed in the span of a rental week, isn't that really the best way to go? I hate spending $6 to rent a game I'll plunk money down on later, it almost kills me. But if I know I'll get all my entertainment value on one rental, that seems like a good deal to me. Again, I'm undecided, but I can't be buying a lot of games right now. So if this is so awesome a game that I'd be a fool to pass it up, or if I'd be kicking myself for renting not buying it, I'll certainly consider making the purchase. But if a week-long rental is all you'll need to get all you're going to get out of it, I'm inclined just to rent it...

I don't think anyone mentioned this, but it's Live enabled, and supposedly more areas will be added, for what it's worth.

I enjoy movies WAY more than I enjoy video games (this is a DVD site, not a gaming site after all). Video games I try to stick to no more than $2 or so an hour for most games. Same with CDs, concerts and sporting events, I enjoy them much more than games and don't mind paying more.

Like you, I'm a very casual gamer. Thus I don't buy games that are too short even if they are great, until they drop to $20. And I never buy games that are medicore or artificially long.

With gaming being probably 5th or 6th on my list of hobbies, I only need a handful of games each year, so I just hold out for the AAA titles that I feel are worth my money and time.

Is that with or without bathroom breaks? How about food breaks? Do you have an active counter? Stopwatch perhaps? Do you ask for a refund if a game takes you less time than expected, and then drops below your value?

I read reviews and impressions here, and try to not buy ANY games that are stated to take less than 15-20 hours period.

As for the rest, your just being a smart ass but I'll reply anyway. :D

Time is time played, counting resets. Most games have a timer, and I can estimate how much I should add on do to dying and restarting. If a game ends up too short (i.e. shorter than I expected) I feel dissappointed and won't buy the sequel rightaway unless the reviews say it is much longer than the first.

But when EB and gamestop would take back open games, I did return a couple that were too short and I beat in a few days.

I thought it was just "Live Aware" like Prince of Persia. I don't think they were planning any content download, but I could be wrong.

I envy people who have the time to play through a 12-15 hour game in a 5 day period.

Well, I just beat the game, and still like it as much as before. The last level is a LOT of fun and seems to be aimed at making up for having to use a shiv or club for a lot of the game :lol:. Well worth the money spent, mo matter how long it took me to beat it :).

Well, I just gave this a rent today. Just scratching the surface so far, but HOLY $HIT! Was a cool looking game, the Vin shadow really makes a huge difference in almost all aspects of motion and orientation for a FPS. Impressive game, no doubt. If I can get it done in the week (which is seeming less likely since my daughter won't go to bed til 10 now and it's not the kind of game I want to play around her), I'll be very happy indeed.

Love this game, im hooked....

to all those foolishly not getting this game because it doesnt live up to their "15-25 hour standard" pppuuuuleeeeeze....you guys are missing out on one of the best games of the year!

Not missing out. I'll rent it when I have a week with a lot of free time, or buy it when it hits $20. I don't have time to play it right now anyway with some business trips coming up, and other games higher on my play list.

just adding my 2cents: I played this game for a few hours on tuesday, and finished it up in about an hour last night, so yes, it is very short. I got almost all of the smokes, but have no reason to get the rest (woot...production stills). The graphics are very good most of the time, but that blurring, jagged poop in the distance really gets ya sometimes. The worst thing about the game is that save system, or lack thereof. It only saves at the magical checkpoints, and you cant tell what save was a checkpoint, or just a random save until you quit the game...usually to find out it was not a checkpoint and you lost about 30min of work. All in all, a decent game, good rental, not a purchase.

Didn't check if it's already been mentioned, but Gamerankings has this at an 89%. Not a single review below 80%. Sounds like a hit (with critics anyway) to me. I'd say "I told you so", but nobody probably remembers me hyping this (last month :lol: ) like crazy after E3.

Sounds like discostu is saying he finished the game in 3 hours (even after having to repeat 30 minutes - so that's 2.5 hours). I spent 10 hours with Super Mario and never even finished it, but I've seen someone play that game from start to finish in like 11 minutes. Same story with Max Payne 2 which is supposed to be really short. I've played it for about 6 hours and am still probably about 1/4th of the way through. I like to take my time and look at stuff rather than just get to the meat of a game and finish it. Plus, I'll do a level or section over again if I think I can do it better. I don't think I can rely on how long a reviewer says a game is... I obviously play different from everyone else.

Amen brutha! I do that as well. I'll replay a section of a game right away (from like the last save) if that portion of the game was really fun.