How Many Games Is Enough? Is There Enough Time?

Are we, as modern gamers, spoilt for choice? Hell, yes. When the latest titles for the PS5 cost £70 for a digital game, we should be a bit more selective with our purchases – unless money drips out of your bumhole. 

Does that mean consumers heavily rely on game reviews? Apparently, not so much these days, but you never know. I’d say my purchases are 50/50 – I buy a game blind based on the developer/publisher or the genre. Alternatively, I weigh in on the reviews from a variety of sources. That means from critics, but also the comments section too.

I typically buy a triple-A every other month or so – maybe a little longer. They’re expensive, and they aren’t typically games to finish in one go. When covering several review titles, there isn’t the time. 

But surrounding those bigger purchases are plenty of indie titles, sales from Steam, the eShop and the PlayStation Store, plus the odd haul on retro games. There was a drought during the lockdown, but having returned to CEX, there’s no shift in their obscene prices (a markup on used controllers that cost more than brand new!?). 

However, these games literally pile up. Review titles are different as that’s ‘work’ and there are deadlines, but to leisurely play Yakuza 7... well, two months later, I’ve hardly made a dent. The same with Steam. I currently have 25+ games I’ve purchased, downloaded, then uninstalled as I haven’t had time to play yet. It’s almost like OCD in having to have everything to hand.

The same applied back in the days of DVDs. I was single and rent-free, purchasing more than 20 odd films a week. Granted, they weren’t all brand new as they used to be £20 a pop. Still, hundreds later, and I’d wager I watched no more than half of them (though a lot of them were films I’d seen and wanted for the collection).

How about games, then? They aren’t the same as a film as you can’t just pick up and play a game like Fallout for an hour – you have to play for at least six, or is that just me? 

Reading some of the comments on the big boys’ site, it appears that many people play on Game Pass. I don’t have access to that, nor particularly want it (time factor), but it seems excellent value for money. But you never own the game, right? We could go all out on digital versus physical, but not today. 

For me, I like the freedom to pick up a game and play when I want. Looking at the physical cases stacked up on my shelves, it’s great to sift through the covers to pick a game, pop in a disc or cartridge and play a game without having to download anything. Then again, instant access to 600+ games on the Switch is so convenient – the same as Steam, though larger filesizes. The downside of these digital versions is they can be updated with content removed at any time (Superhot being the latest to get stick for it).

Retro gaming is expensive. Prices have gone through the roof. I remember getting a fully boxed SNES in immaculate condition for £30 a few years back; now, it’s almost triple. The SNES Mini isn’t that much different in price – if you go to CEX again. So, are people resorting to emulators again?

I don’t use them but have in the past, and once again, it becomes a case of collecting titles, then faffing about with artwork and never actually playing them. I meant to argue this point to my dad, who has far too many films, but for each I’d randomly pick, he’d rattle off what happens as he’s seen them all. I don’t have the time, and I’m sure that applies to most of you too.

Do you 100% every game or play for an hour with the view to play at a later date? That seems to be my process for PS+ monthly games. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron got about 20 minutes of play, A Plague Tale: Innocence is still sitting on the PS5, and I haven’t even played the intro. Wreckfest was ignored until it became review work, and I ended up enjoying it!

If you could strip it back to just one game, like when a lot of us played Super Mario All-Stars to death – or even Alex Kidd in Miracle World (as it was built-in), could you handle it? What would be on your list – Call of Duty? Final Fantasy type games or maybe classic arcade games like Crazy Taxi or even Space Invaders? I wrote a feature on my games on loop a while back that covers some of my favourites. 

Variety is the spice of life, but sometimes you can have too much choice.