All too often, especially in video games, there seems to be a need for the Big Finish: One big phallic situation to satisfy the player. So what if you've been sucked into this experience for ten plus hours, that's not good enough, no... there must be a Big Finish. A boss fight, a trench run, a shocking twist, a chance for every shade of pawn, night, rook and bishop to all be thrown at you in an attempt to make the player feel accomplished, no matter how over powered you may be.

Oh Jesus, he's bringing up Halo 3.


In the final moments of Halo 3, while I was riding a massive high, I couldn't help but to feel that the ending was unnecessarily playable. The race was exciting, don't get me wrong, I just felt that after all I had been through (several years, three games and insane amounts of CTF) that a cutscene or an introspective stroll to the frigate would have done the series justice. Playing through the fireworks left me feeling cheated, used. It did nothing for me.



It kills me to think that in an amazing game like Bioshock, continued to be rise in action after that amazing scene with Andrew Ryan. At the time, that was my highest of highs, my greatest achievement, I wanted to set the controller down and watch, but that old cliche crept in and the end was tainted by a boss fight.

But I suppose it's called for. Why can't we be satisfied by our actions that ~are~ that crucial first ninety-five percent of the game? I can only dream of a game to come along that embraces the idea. A game where what ever protagonist has struggled (or not) and suffered (or not) to the end and rather than having keys jingled in his face he can see the result of his/her actions or inactions. No big finish, just the answer to the questions you've been asking for ten plus hours.