Modest Proposal in Action

So I just finished playing through Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath twice. Time to put my formulae into action.

Q_gp:

I: I'm gonna give this a 5. The mix of FPS/3rd-person adventure styles is pretty cool, and the whole "bagging baddies for bounty" aspect is kinda fun (though not really original). What really boosts this game's Innovation factor is the critter-based ammo and plot/setting. It's kinda like Firefly, what with the whole futuristic-old-west thing going on. Plus, the plot is pretty darn cool, although a bit disjointed. About halfway through, the game switches gears to a completely combat-driven model, which is kinda weird, like two different teams were working on this game and had two completely different ideas as to how it should turn out, so they compromised by putting both in. But the plot twist(s) are neat.

C (again, out of 10): Over the character, I'm gonna say a 7. I like the whole running-on-all-fours thing -- makes for fast and less tedious travel. But there are times when I kinda screamed at the TV 'cuz he wouldn't jump when I told him or would walk around aimlessly while he got shot. Over the environment, I'm gonna say 2. Very linear gameplay, no sidequests, no real chance to alter the environment or take control over the reality of the game at all. Total Control score: 5.

R: 1. The experience of the game is very enjoyable, and it may be worth playing through more than once just so you can ogle at the cool scenery and FMVs again. But it's short, and the aforementioned linearity doesn't really help. It's a renter.

G: 1. Reasonable level of difficulty, gets pretty tricky at times. May be a bit on the easy side for some people, but I was still getting my ass kicked at points even on the second playthrough.

Q_gp = (5 * 5)¹ / 1 = 25

Q_e(again, out of 10) = 7. It's a short game, so there's a short ending. But it's satisfying and cool to look at. The tone is a bit strange, though -- it's very dark and sad, while the rest of the game is upbeat and silly. Plus, it's open-ended (i.e., implies there's a sequel), which always pisses me off, 'cuz you never know if there actually WILL be a sequel. And sometimes, there isn't, so the game feels incomplete. I call it the "Beyond Good and Evil" syndrome.

T (in hours): 6. Like I said, short game.

A = (25 * 7) / 6 = 29 1/6

So, uh, I don't know what that means yet, but Oddworld has 29 1/6 Units of Awesomeness. I think I'm gonna have to crunch the numbers on a few other games to get a frame of reference. But that no replay-value thing really hurts its overall Awesomeness. Well, that makes sense, in my mind -- replay value is really important to me. All in all, I'm glad I only spent $5 on it instead of $50. Still, definitely worth renting. Very amusing.