Quantcast


Spectator games: When watching is more fun than playing photo

As we all know, the one thing that sets videogames apart from other forms of media is interactivity. Being the catalyst for your own adventure is something that makes gaming more interesting to me than any movie or book. With videogames, one can stop being a mere passive observer and actually be a part of the action.

That said, if there's one thing I may have done more than playing videogames, it's watching videogames. Whether patiently waiting for my turn or being astounded by the skills of a superior player, sometimes it's more desirable to be a passive observer. 

Certain videogames, I feel, cater to that perfectly, and as such have become what I call "spectator games." These are titles that I can just as easily watch as well as play, sometimes even preferring to leave the controller in another's hand while I sit in the passenger seat. Read on for what I feel are the best examples of these spectator games.

Metal Gear Solid:

The Metal Gear Solid games are naturally the first choice, if only for the fact that even playing them can feel like observation more than action. The lengthy cutscenes and movie-like quality to the narration makes this game perfect for watching, and I am just as happy enjoying the story and allowing someone else at the controls as I am with my own hands on Solid Snake.

To me, MGS has always been about story first, gameplay second. Some may argue that this is the wrong attitude for a game to have, but it doesn't mean that, regardless of whether you're holding the controller or not, it's one great franchise. Metal Gear Solid represents a game that more than one person can experience at the same time, even though there's only one player.

Some of my best MGS moments have been spent watching instead of playing. The twists and turns of the game's exposition don't require anything but eyes and an easily confused brain to enjoy. 

Resident Evil:

The original game may have been single-player all the way, but you're a fool if you think you can play this game solo. The first Resident Evil is so deliciously stupid that it needs multiple people in the room to truly get the best from it. With awful acting, laughably unscary zombies and some of the most classic dialog ever to grace a game (Jill sandwich, master of unlocking, living things, etc.), you're cheating yourself if you don't have somebody to laugh with. 

It helps that the lift-truck controls and dodgy handling of the characters don't make this the easiest of games to get to grips with. Old school survival horrors aren't the most pleasant of games to play, and while that's the point, it can be preferable for many to just watch events unfold. The cheap scares will still make you jump, and the crazy arm movements in cutscenes (that continue long after a character's stopped talking) will still make you chuckle.

Dance Dance Revolution:

While one can also include games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, there are few spectator games more about performance than Dance Dance Revolution. Whether you're good or bad at the game, you're going to provide entertainment for an audience. Either your fleet-footed skills will dazzle and amaze, or your flabby flopping and gasps for air will delight and amuse.

Final Fantasy:

This is more personal than my other choices, since I have fond memories of watching my brother play through Final Fantasy VII and IX. Again, this is a franchise where story is incredibly important and as such, I happily watched them before I ever played them, reading the many, many text boxes and simply enjoying the tales unfold. 

Of course, thanks to grinding and endless, repetitive minigames, this game might not be considered a good spectator title -- after all, nobody wants to sit and watch someone leveling up for hours. However, therein lies the beauty of the RPG. With many spectator games, the rule is that one must not play without the other(s) there to watch it. With an RPG, you can still play solo without angering the person watching -- grinding and acquiring items and breeding chocobos while they're at work actually earning money while you waste your life playing games on the couch. 

Final Fantasy, and indeed any good RPG, makes for a win/win spectator game. 

LittleBigPlanet:

Although LBP is a game about creating and having adventures and all that jazz, there are a number of reasons why Media Molecule's big sack-themed game makes for spectator viewing. Chief among them is the fact that, as a platformer, the whole thing is a frustrating mess with physics and switching 2D planes that confuse and infuriate more than anything else. 

LittleBigPlanet looks about ten times better than it plays, and if you're not the poor sod with the controller in your hand, you can have a lot of fun looking at the cute little sackpeople bouncing around and getting squashed, spiked, set on fire and electrocuted -- provided you pay no attention to the guy on the couch chewing his DualShock and cursing the game's very name. 

By all accounts, the game looks breathtaking, and will seriously impress anybody watching. They just won't be tapping their feet anytime soon, waiting to have a turn. 

Street Fighter II

This wouldn't be an article about spectator games if it didn't include at least one title with a ridiculously hardcore tournament scene. Street Fighter II is a title played for public consumption, and you only have to scour Youtube to find videos of wild crowds joined together to jeer and scream at the finger athletics of two Metallica shirt-wearing combatants locked in a deadly game of cat and mouse. 

The important caveat here is that this game does not work as a spectator title if two people insist on being Ryu all the time, as would happen with the people I knew. He is a boring character and hadoukens are rubbish. 

Ikaruga:

As with Final Fantasy, Ikaruga is being used more as a blanket example of a genre. I am of course talking about Shmups, but only Shmups done well. Most honest gamers will tell you that they are not really very good at Ikaruga and its hail-of-death ilk, and secretly harbor a burning desire to be the next Topher Cantler, dancing a most beautiful dance with bullets and lazerbeams. A shmupper who knows what he is doing is as enchanting as a ballet dancer, and is probably dressed slightly better.

For chubby-fingered, worthless sacks of feces like me, we can but watch in silent envy at these displays of digital dexterity, watching a small spaceship flutter and fly among endless, impossible screens of death. We watch, but we can never be.

Nearly everything on the Wii:

Ultimately, the best games are the ones that make you look stupid, and nothing is better for that than the Wii and the deluge of humiliating nonsense that the White Box o' Waggle brings. You want to know why Nintendo never focused on HD graphics this generation? It would be a waste of R&D with everyone too busy looking at their grandmother making a complete arsehole of herself.

Whether it's Wii Sports or Raving Rabbids, the point of most Wii games is to make an example of their players. Wii games make great spectator games because, first and foremost, any sensible person would be much happier watching someone act like a tit rather than do the titty acting. 

Of course, these are just my personal examples of games that can be watched just as enthusiastically as played. I'm sure there are many more out there that you can recall, so feel free to share.








More gaming stories around the web. Got news? Submit yours to tips@destructoid.com

Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize. Likes PS2, iPod Touch, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid, Dynasty Warriors 3 Meet the rest of the team



Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:

Comment with Facebook





Click connect and comment instantly!

Comment with Dtoid





New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds

53 comments | showing # 1 to 50
prev
next 50 comments

Shirley Temple's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:16
Shirley Temple
idk, Jim. The first thing people do when watching LBP is say "let me play". Play it more than a couple of times and you won't find yourself burning or being electrocuted so much. Because you stop expecting every jump to be perfect, so you prepare ahead of time. And you really shouldn't have done an article like this. You're gonna get flooded with comments on "you forgot this game" or "how come that game isn't on there". There's too many "spectator games" out there for such a short list.
Magesx's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:20
Magesx
Am I the only one who doesn't think LBP's gameplay is some kind of horrible abyss of platforming?

Is it really that hard?
Red TheHaze Veron's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:21
Red TheHaze Veron
I was just introduced to the Raving Rabbids games over the holidays and those games really are a hoot to watch. A lot of really funny and clever bits are in those games and are sometimes easy to miss if you're the one holding the controls.
Loogibot's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:23
Loogibot
I've had moments like that in MGS too. Ah, good gaming times indeed.
Tubatic's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:26
Tubatic
oi already with the negative nancy. Jim, Do you bathe in hate-nip?

ANYWAY . . . Soul Calibur's a game that I really enjoy watching. Especially the first one. There was actually a spectator mode that would allow you to setup two AI apponents against each other. It was great fun to watch, because it strung together like an actual fight, instead of two guys trying to bust out their cheesiest/cheapest moves. I'm not sure if the XBLA version has it, but I'd be more inclined to pick that one up if I found out it does.
gamadaya's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:33
gamadaya
I agree with RE, and I'd like to add Oblivion. I played about 180 hours of that game, and watched my friend play about as much, and I had way more fun watching than playing. I also agree with Final Fantasy, but I don't really like to play that anyway.
dmgi's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:33
dmgi
LittleBigPlanet isn't that hard until you start tying to Ace levels and you get to the third-to-last level which ensues in a few broken controllers and shouting obscenities at your television and cursing Media Molecule to hell.

To try to be relevant, I think that Resident Evil isn't the best example because people tend to backseat game so hard that it is just frustrating.
grafkhun's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:34
grafkhun
Diablo 1 and 2 for me, I remember watching my cousin play that game a lot.
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:35
Jim Sterling
"And you really shouldn't have done an article like this. You're gonna get flooded with comments on "you forgot this game" or "how come that game isn't on there". There's too many "spectator games" out there for such a short list."

From the article:

"Of course, these are just my personal examples of games that can be watched just as enthusiastically as played. I'm sure there are many more out there that you can recall, so feel free to share."
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:36
Jim Sterling
I should also point out that I love LBP. I just think the physics are ridiculous.
covah's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:38
covah
When I was younger I had much more fun watching other people play SNES than playing, cus I would suck BAD
Daxelman's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:49
Daxelman
Yeah, the Physics in LBP are ludicrous.

I think everything is a spectator game. I've spent as much time watching people play games as I have played them, to the point where I've sometimes become the "Back Seat Gamer".

I love being the "Back Seat Gamer". The only thing better than mindlessly shooting zombies is criticizing someone on there ability to mindlessly shoot zombies while screaming in fear at the same time.

Good Times.
drocinktown's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:52
drocinktown
I remember watching my brother play dragon warrior for nes
AKK's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 19:59
AKK
GTAIV is pretty fun to spectate. It's not even remotely fun to play, but watching people just go around killing people is oftentimes entertaining.
Gyrael's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 20:03
Gyrael
Ha, I also find FF a spectator game because I'd watch my brother play through it as a kid. It was so exciting :)
dollrapist's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 20:06
dollrapist
Wow, you are so cool Jim because you bash the Wii. That is totally original and hip. How can I be way more like you, and less like myself??!?!?!

List:

Nachos
Soda
Cake
Ice Cream
Burritos
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 20:17
Jim Sterling
Appreciatin' that personal attack there, dollrapist. <3
Dan CiTi's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 20:17
Dan CiTi
I love playing Ikaruga and LBP. Maybe because I'm good at them. Well not so much Ikaruga. Do Don Pachi is more my game.

Fallout 3 was fun to watch. Playing it was OK.

I agree with the Wii thing. It's great for watching. Sometimes good for playing also. Like No More Heroes or Super Mario Galaxy.
Red TheHaze Veron's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 20:17
Red TheHaze Veron
LOL @ Wii defenders. Geez, take a chill pill. Your hate just gives Jimmy more power.
gatorsax2010's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 20:33
gatorsax2010
When my brother was younger, sometimes he'd watch me play a game like Zelda, and I'd do different voices for the different characters (or I'd do the voices while he played and I watched). We had some pretty good times that way.
falinter's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 20:38
falinter
I watched Mirrors Edge and had more fun that playing it.
I also watched Star Wars Force Unleashed and had more fun than playing it.

Certain games are better off watched than paying full price for them.
EvilCheerio's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 20:46
EvilCheerio
I think they missed one. It's fun as hell to watch someone get really frustrated in I wanna be the guy. You character is just watching along, then he explodes, everybody laughs, press r and repeat
Vhaius's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 20:54
Vhaius
Watching my older brother and our friend play through NES and SNES titles was a fun experience, especially watching them go psycho playing Ninja Gaiden.
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 20:55
Jonathan Holmes
My favorite games to watch are one where death is always imminent. The first time someone plays Mega Man 9, the first time someone first runs into the chainsaw guy in Resident Evil 4, anyone playing Donkey Kong past the first level, all great sources of excitement.

It's also fun to watch someone speed run Strider or Strider 2. I don't know why people didn't like Strider 2. I thought is was awesome.

As for watching the people who are playing a game, I'm going with Loco Roco. Something about that game makes people think that the farther they physically lean, the farther their in-game character will move in that direction. It's like watching someone play a Wii game with a broken controller, which only adds to the stupidity of the whole event.
Gen Eric Gui's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 21:01
Gen Eric Gui
->Final Fantasy
->have always been about the story

...what?

And am I really the only one who actually -liked- RE-style controls? They worked better for me than most of the shitty controls schemes in other action games of the day, and even most of the ones used now.
F Whipple's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 21:08
F Whipple
The only game I could ever stand watching someone play was RE4, and that was because I had already beaten it. I just enjoyed watching my roommate's reactions to things I knew taht were coming. Oven man was particularly fun. Otherwise I can't stand to watch people play games. I guess it's people don't think or play them like I do. I want to play the games on my terms. Even with games where you take turns it still drives me nuts when waiting.
AgentMOO's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 21:18
AgentMOO
This was my impression of LBP exactly. The controls are ridiculous, but it is a hoot to watch the sparks fly in a good user created level.
gamadaya's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 21:36
gamadaya
What about games we hate watching other people play? I personally hate watching people who are worse than me at a game play that game, because I'm not learning anything new, and it's hard to not say anything if they are screwing something up.
eternalplayer2345's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 21:56
eternalplayer2345
I have to say that the way I got into video games was by watching my uncle or parents play and attempting what they did.
AClockWorkMelon's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 21:57
AClockWorkMelon
Jim, you shouldn't have done an article like this. It gets fucking stupid readers like Shirley Temple to post about how you shouldn't post articles.

Oh. Wait. ;) I liked it.
noxious's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 22:09
noxious
I really enjoyed watching Bioshock - though, admittedly, it did take some of the wind out of my sails when I ended up playing it myself. ;)
ShoveTheJayOhBee's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 22:13
ShoveTheJayOhBee
I love watching Sierra adventure games when I was a kid, especially space quest.
Das Inchworm's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 22:15
Das Inchworm
i was one of those RE watchers when i was little. Also, the nes megamans.
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 22:23
Jonathan Holmes
Anyone else have a childhood where they were too poor to play arcade games, so they just had to watch the pre-game demonstrations over and over again?

I've probably stared at the Street Fighter II blonde dude (Cody maybe?) punch that poor shirtless black man in the face more than one million times.
akathatoneguy's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 22:40
akathatoneguy
This was a great idea for an article. It really brought back some memories.

--I never really got into the first Resident Evil OR the first Tomb Raider because I watched my Dad play dozens of hours of the two combined and afterwards, felt like I had already played it.

--My first roommate in college (who was a football jerk, by the way) got FF VII and played it NONSTOP. What's the worst is that I would leave the room at like 10am and get back several hours later and his two jock buddies would be sitting there watching him play, having not moved the entire time.

Also, @ Jonathan Holmes-

I ABSOLUTELY identify! There was a Happy Joes not far from where I lived that had a four or five game arcade area and SF II was one of them. I never had quarters! But I watched quite a bit.
Ballistic's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 22:59
Ballistic
I just so happened to see this article right as me and my friends are spectating a game of Super Smash Bros Brawl, haven't gotten to read it, but yeah, I will say that some games are great to watch.
zockroach's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 23:06
zockroach
"we watch, but we can never be" made me almost throw up.

hillarious. awesome list.
zockroach's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/04/2009 23:07
zockroach
oh and @ shirley temple, whore mouth.
manta's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/05/2009 00:22
manta
100% agree with MGS. The whole series in fact.
Drach's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/05/2009 00:40
Drach
My better half likes watching and commentating on me playing Fallout 3. "AHHH!! a Zombie!! KILL IT!!" "LOOK OUT!!" lol I didn't think I would see anyone enjoy just watching, but I find myself doing this as my pal plays MGS4. And I've had entire rooms of people memorized by Resident Evil, and it's bad acting/cheap scares (then again that was back in like 96).
Cough's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/05/2009 05:39
Cough
Silent Hill.

More watcheable than Resident Evil.
xe-cute's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/05/2009 07:52
xe-cute
I remember playing Legend Of Zelda Orcarina Of Time when I was at university on my N64 with all my house mates crowded around the TV watching me play and trying to help me solve different puzzles etc.


Was great fun when not playing Goldeneye.
Corak's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/05/2009 09:58
Corak
The only time I remember watching other people playing a video game was in arcades when I was growing up. Watching someone play Mortal Kombat, or The Simpsons and Xmen arcade games anxiously waiting for my turn. Now I would watch someone play say Rock Band/Guitar Hero or a Wii game and that's pretty much it.
smang's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/05/2009 10:43
smang
i like it when girls play with the wii. all the jigglings, i can watch that shizzle for hours yo.

on a serious note pro evo turns me and my friends into raging football hooligans.
flabzilla's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/05/2009 11:38
flabzilla
Yeah I agree with the RPGs I watched my younger bro play through most of Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 and I would always call him in during an important scene in Lost Odyssey or FFIV, maybe be they should include an online spectate mode in them from now on.

Could be an odd experience having random strangers pop in to chat with you during your solo RPG adventure ha ha.
smurfee mcgee's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/05/2009 13:19
smurfee mcgee
lol "hadoukens are rubbish" I've seen that match plenty of times.
fighting games are fun to watch, especially if one player doesn't quite know everything. I love watching someone hand out beatdowns.
I also like staring at people playing singstar cus it makes them uncomfortable.
smurfee mcgee's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/05/2009 13:20
smurfee mcgee
lol "hadoukens are rubbish" I've seen that match plenty of times.
fighting games are fun to watch, especially if one player doesn't quite know everything. I love watching someone hand out beatdowns.
I also like staring at people playing singstar cus it makes them uncomfortable.
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/05/2009 14:06
Holyetheline
My fiance loves to watch Fallout 3 and Dead Space.

I watched the first two MGS games on PS1 so I know where you're coming from with that one for sure.
akathatoneguy's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/05/2009 15:38
akathatoneguy
@Holyetheline-

My wife doesn't seem as interested in Fallout 3, sadly. I think I bored a couple of people who happened to come over when I was at tail end of a Fallout 3 session, because the last thing I ever do before I save is head back to my house in Megaton, put things in my locker and repair with or sell off the rest of my loot that I earned while I was away. Nothing says boredom like inventory management!

But I do enjoy taking a slow-motion head shot or two while someone is in the room, that always gets a good reaction!
C4NT1's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/05/2009 22:07
C4NT1
I remeber my little bro watching me play MGS, when we were younger. ^_^
prev next 50 comments

Comment with Facebook





Click connect and comment instantly!

Comment with Dtoid





New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds

Comments policy

Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?

Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!