STAR T TO FINISH

Is the beginning of a game
more important than the end?

OFF
YES Hook me from the start, or
even a great ending won’t matter.

TYLER: Games are like relationships. At the end, they get more difficult, more explosive, and more memorable, but the beginning—when it’s all fresh and sexy and stuff—is actually the best part. If the first act fails to woo me, why should I stick around for the dramatic ending?

FACE
NO Save the best for last—the ending
needs to be a reward worth fighting for.

DAN: I love a strong start as much as the next guy, but it’s wasted without a stronger finish. How many times have you been sucked into a great game, only to walk away with the bitter taste of a lame, BioShock-style finale in your mouth, tainting the entire memory of the experience? End a game with a spectacular, Mass Effect 2-style nail-biter, and you’ll forgive its mineral-mining warts and look back on it as an amazing gaming experience.

DAN: No part of a game should suck, but here’s the cold, hard truth: unless you bought a game for a handful of buttons and pocket lint during the latest Steam sale, you’re already in for $50. Even if the beginning isn’t the best part, you’re gonna keep playing past it just to try to extract your money’s worth of entertainment out of it. It doesn’t have to be anything special.

Revie ws Editor Dan Stapleton’s least favorite movie is The Never Ending Story.

TYLER: Sure, you’ll trudge forward out of buyer’s remorse, begging the game to get better, but at that point it has already failed. Don’t cram the best stuff behind a barrier of blah! Introducing a universe and setting a plot in motion is the most difficult narrative undertaking— do it right, whet my appetite, and I’ll eat up whatever flashy dessert comes at the end, even if it’s a profiterole. I hate those things.

TYLER: It’s about the journey, not the destination, Dan. My whole experience isn’t instantly tainted if the ending doesn’t blow my brains out my nose. I remember BioShock fondly as a whole, especially for its awesome introduction. If it hadn’t sucked me in immediately, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it enough to be disappointed by the ending in the first place.

DAN: Can’t you see that people like you are destroying everything gamers hold dear? This front-loading of all the cool stuff is what created the four-hour game— shooters in particular. Putting all the best gameplay up front makes the rest of the game boring by comparison, so the solution is to not make “a rest of the game” at all!

Associate Editor Tyler Wilde thinks this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Whom do you agree with? Be heard at letters@pcgamer.com.

DAN: Nonsense, it’s all about escalation! What if Star Wars had blown up the Death Star after the opening crawl, and concluded with a Star Destroyer chasing the Tantive IV? What if Frodo had thrown the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom in the first chapter, and the rest of the Lord of the Rings trilogy had been about walking back to the Shire? The opening should just hint at things to come—it’s the finale’s job to actually deliver them.

TYLER: You’re nonsense! I’m not saying the narrative structure should be reversed, but that the opening most significantly impacts the overall experience. Remember the ending to Half-Life Nope! But the incredible beginning made the lackluster conclusion worth seeing.

TYLER: Can’t you see that you’re completely wrong in every way? You only get to make one first impression, and if I’m not hooked, the ending is already neutered. If, however, a game blows me away in the first hour, it only ups the stakes for the rest of the game—I can’t help it if the designers lazily peter out later. But hell, I’d rather play a shorter, fully-realized game—like Portal—than a game that doesn’t matter until the end.

DAN: As legendary showman PT Barnum once said, “Always leave them wanting more.” Games and circuses have that much in common: a powerful, coup de gras ending keeps gamers thinking about it for years, recommending it to their friends, and on the edge of their seats awaiting the sequel.