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For the most part, I do generally like it when video games are good, a statement that I don’t think is particularly controversial. Good games equals a good time! What’s there to lose! But these days, I feel like there are a lot of “good” games, rather than good. Do you know what I mean? No, of course not, that’s nonsense, so let me explain. Let’s take a game like Marvel’s Spider-Man. It’s a “good” game, the quotation marks there because by all accounts, it’s competent in what it does, the swinging feels tight, and the combat can occasionally even be fun. The problem is that it feels a touch too polished – there’s nothing overly wrong with it, but there’s nothing exceptionally right either.
It didn’t push the boat out, it certainly hasn’t revolutionised open world games, but I can’t really complain about it either (except for the Spider-Cop stuff, that sucked). In turn, it feels like it’s increasingly rare for AAA games to be kinda bad in some ways. Last month, though, saw the arrival of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, a game that was received very well by critics and fans, but had plenty of people lambasting its mini-games despite all of that praise. And you know what? I kind of love that they suck.
I’ve written elsewhere about how I love a 7/10 game, titles that maybe kind of annoy you a bit but you find joy in them anyway. This isn’t me saying that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a 7/10, I’m not the one to make that call, but if we’re being honest, a lot of the mini-games are kind of jank. Both of the rail shooter segments, whether it’s just the one with Barrett firing his gun-hand off the back of your newly acquired monster truck, or the more literal one where Yuffie gets to throw her ninja star, do not feel good, and they’re even a bit silly.
