Story
The Last of Us, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid – these games are known for great stories, and rightfully so. The Last Of Us tells us a compelling story of survival. Final Fantasy has delivered excellent stories on several occasions, and Metal Gear Solid tells one story throughout several games. If a story doesn’t deliver, then chances are you won’t ever replay that story again or even skip the next game in the series.
Lead Characters
Snake, Nathan Drake, Lara Croft – extremely likable characters that you love to play with; characters that made each game so amazing and memorable. If a game doesn’t have a great lead character, then it’s hard to even care about the rest.
Side Characters
Behind every great lead character is a great side character. Snake has Otacon, Nathan Drake has Sully, Joel has Ellie, but perhaps the most noticeable of the lot is Final Fantasy 7. Although Cloud was the main character, we loved all of the team, big bad Barret with a gun for a hand, a lovable talking lion, a robotic talking cat… Such great characters that made Final Fantasy 7 one of the greatest games ever made.
Controls
Bad controls can be frustrating. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons was a good game with a unique story, but the frustrating controls stopped it from being up there with the likes of Journey and Flower. Such a shame; something so simple can have such an effect on a game.
Audio
Horror/survival games depend on music to set the tone of the game – the sound of the clickers in The Last Of Us, the sound of being seen in Outlast. The story, characters, and controls define a great game, but audio is something that can help turn a 9 into a perfect 10.
Gameplay
Last but not least, the gameplay. What makes GTA 5 and Call Of Duty so popular is just how fun and simple the gameplay is. Games that you can just pick up and play without having to go through long tutorials. No good gameplay, no good game.
And there you go – six things that make a great game. Thanks for reading my first-ever blog. Like, share, and feel free to comment if you think I’ve missed something. Also, feel free to follow me on X @rhysbritton.
