Another Day, Another Woefully Short Game...

...I frequently rant like an old man about the good old days when games actually took some effort to complete and entertained you for more than a weekend, but sadly it's reached the point these days where style seems to take precendence over longevity.

My current target for abuse? Hitman: Contracts. The reason? I just completed it in under 12 hours.

If I'd actually bought it, that would have worked out at about £2/hour. Now admittedly Hitman has reasonable replay value, but that's somewhat besides the point. When I paid £35 for Final Fantasy VII several years ago, it worked out as being less than 30p/hour - and that's only for a single play through.

Not to slam Hitman completely - it's certainly a good game and a massive improvement over the last one. It looks great and there are always 2, 3 or more ways to complete a mission, but it's still far too short.

The only major PC game I've played that was shorter was Red Faction 2 (8 Hours) - excluding Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets, which I can do in under 3 hours.

I want more System Shock 2's, more Blade Runner's, more Monkey Island 2's - games that last, where you don't have to worry about replay value because they keep you occupied for so long the first time round.

Is that really too much to ask?

Spad.