There's nothing worse than a bad cliffhanger. If I spend anywhere from five (which is lame in itself) to twenty five hours with a game, I expect some closure at the end. They can be done right. Gears of War 2 is a perfect example. It closed the story completely and had an epic ending scene, but a short statement after the credits left you hanging. This didn't bother me because the story begun in the game ended within the same game. Saints Row is an example of the opposite end of the spectrum. The game just stops with no real ending and there is more character development after the final mission than before. I had a blast with the game, but was so pissed off by the ending that I refused to play the sequel.
I thought this was as bad as it could get, but this weekend I was proven wrong. I played through the new Prince of Persia only to be treated to an ending that showed nothing being accomplished during the course of the entire game. To make matters worse, there is DLC that adds another level to close out the story. So they are trying to tell me that I paid full price for most of a game, but to see the ending, I need to pay more? They couldn't squeeze another couple hours into the retail package? That is just greedy. I'm a very story driven gamer and I have come to expect more than this. I really don't think it's unreasonable to expect a beginning and ending to my games.
Comments
I haven't played GOW2 yet, so I can't comment on that. If you haven't played the new Prince of Persia, stop reading... spoilers ahead. Yes, POP does end with a cliff hanger, but nearly every gamer should know that the Prince series is going to be a trilogy just like the Sands of Time trilogy. With a beginning, middle and end. That said, you could even argue that POP does have an ending. The Prince fell in love with Elika over the course of the game, that when she died, he decided to undo everything he had worked to do and release the evil in return for getting her back. It was a moral and emotional decision he had to make.
This ending is a cliffhanger only if you assume he's now going to do it all over again. (Which he will... because we know there will be a part 2.) But you could take the story as-is and leave it at that. I can't really comment on the DLC for POP, because I have yet to play it. Though since POP is one of my favorite games, I do intend to purchase it. In my eyes, it's worth it.
So... in the end, I guess it's all a matter of point of view.
I just finished the DLC for PoP and it just about destroys everything the game did right. Even with my complaints about the ending, I still loved the retail game (I promise my review won't be as harsh as this blog). The DLC contains a single, underground dungeon that can be completed in under two hours. The rest of the game was an almost open world environment that contained impressive views and short spurts of platforming between objectives, so the change was disappointing and the short length even more so. The involving and often hilarious dialogue between the Prince and the Princess (no relation) that was in the main game is gone. Every single conversation went the exact same way. The princess says, "We're doomed." The prince says, "No we're not." Princess, "Yes we are." Prince, "No we're not." Over and over. I wanted to slap the crap out of the princess by the end, which is particularly bad since the rest of the game made her such a great character. Oh, and it ended with more or less the same damn cliffhanger, meaning nothing happens during the course of the DLC. This means if you don't think less than 2 hours of gameplay that doesn't resemble the original game is worth 800 MS points, then you can start the sequel when it comes out without missing much. There is one interesting scene near the end that affects the story, though, so you'll probably want to see that.
PUREPL7YA
But for games such as Prince of Persia, which rely so heavily on storytelling, it does seem like a crime for the developers to come up short in this department and not include a decent (or alternate) ending of some kind with the retail package. Good luck reviewing the game!