Mini-Games Are Fun Games

I've lost count of the number of hours spent playing mini-games in titles over the years. Chocobo racing in Final Fantasy VII, Triple Triad in Final Fantasy VIII, fishing in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Professor Genki's Super Ethical Reality Climax in Saints Row the Third... Some games have something small, others have mini-games built into missions and others have them by the bucket load.

I got around to playing Watch_Dogs recently and was quite astonished by the amount of mini-games available. Some take the shape of augmented reality mobile games, others are 'trips' which see you piloting a Tachikoma-like spider tank. It came to me as I was knocking a train off of the tracks, that I was spending more time in mini-games than I was in side missions and - as I hadn't even met a member of DedSec yet, one of the early plot points - practically ignoring the main storyline.

I didn't even know I was SUPPOSED to meet someone!

What came to me? That mini-games are awesome. I've sunk about 12 hours into Watch_Dogs so far, most of it the mini-games. Sure, after a certain number of levels you get an upgrade, or clothes or something, but the work that's been put into these tiny diversions, even chess and poker, is quite wonderful. And it always is.

I remember the first time I played Final Fantasy VII (I've already written about it), and one of the things that stood out for me was being able to ignore the main storyline. Spending ages in the Golden Saucer was absolutely fantastic fun - except the boring carousel. Any game that has so much as a slot machine (no, not those horrible apps) gets a good ten minutes of my time just pouring money into them. Mass Effect had a bunch of slot machines - guess what I did for over half an hour?

I lost THOUSANDS...

I play a range of titles and putting a minigame in is one thing I always enjoy. They're not even as obvious as you'd think. Hacking or lock picking - mini-game. Driving an RC car full of explosives - minigame. Playing cards - mini-game. Why am I bothering to explain and extoll my adoration for such simple things, I could fit a hundred of such onto my phone? Because it's something a lot of indie titles are missing.

With launch failures from Ubisoft and a perpetual hatred of EA, gamers are turning more and more towards indie titles. Most of the games we review are crowdfunded and Greenlit, rather than from a big publisher, because there’s a lot more to gaming than the latest annual IP release. They're usually well made and easy to play, not to mention actually playtested: so there is a lot to love about indies. But they don't have mini-games.

For example...

No, I’m not turning on humble Miss or Mr Indie Dev! I already said they do great work, weren’t you reading? But I always play the main story - there’s rarely any diversions. Nice looking backgrounds and replayability are one thing, but a three hour story is going to take you three hours to finish the game. Game worlds can be excellently crafted, but with no poker tables or even lockpicking mini-games, the world can feel empty. Replay and procedurally generate it all you want, in the end you’re still left with the same experience over and over again.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but when there are titles chock-full of mini-games like Watch_Dogs, I don’t want to play a two hour game. Not when I’ve got two hours worth of chess puzzles and spider tank destruction to do.