A friend of mine has a rating system that he uses mainly for tv and movies (no, not the -90 to 90 scale that many of us here are fond of.) He rates them on a scale of 1 to 5, but not necessarily on quality. To briefly summarize as best I understand it, A 5 is a great piece of work, that is very well put together, innovative, and enjoyable. A 4 is a good movie, that was well done, but is just missing a piece to make it a 5. A 3 is a completely average movie- nothing great, nothing terrible. A 2 is a bad movie.
And that leaves the most interesting rating, the 1.
A 1 is a solidly bad movie, in that it is so bad that it is enjoyable. The scale sort of “wraps” in a way- a 1 can be recommended, even though it is (spectacularly so) not well acted, well put together, etc. Movies like this often enjoy “cult status.” This summer’s biggest 1 isn’t even out yet- but the concept is such a “1” concept that it has enjoyed cult status for months now. Of course, I’m referring to “Snakes on a Plane“. It has all the tropes of mass-market hollywood action movies: a wildly unbeleivable plot, a badass big name action star, and nothing particularly innovative in terms of production. (Though the way the Snakes are done may be a first in moviemaking.) However, ever since the movie’s creators started to realize what was on thier hands, the movie has avoided being pretentious in any way or thinking it is more than it is. For many of us, it represents what could be the ultimate cheesy popcorn movie. We’ll see soon enough if it hits those notes.
There are plenty of other classic examples. “Rocky Horror Picture Show” is a classic cult film that is solidly a 1. Nobody’s acting in that is spectacular, and the songs are so completely absurd that you can’t help but get them stuck in your head. Many lines of dialogue are so ridiculous that it stays with you: “He must be in… the Zen room!”
By now, you know what type of movie I’m talking about. But is there an equivalent in games? Video games, for one, probably don’t for the most part. I find that the truly horrid games just end up being unplayable and can’t really grab that 1 rating. The only exception I can think of is “Extreme Paintbrawl,” which ends up wrapping around due to completely ridiculous AI. Many of the other factors that make it bad detract from enjoyment (installation failures, crashes, etc.)
Tabletop games are another matter. It’s tough to rate many board games, card games, and roleplaying games in the first place because of the diversity of how people approach gaming. It feels like there is more of a common ground in watching tv and movies than playing games. Also tv and movies have been much more extensively studied and critiqued as a field… games, not so much (with the exception of some professors at MIT and… well, me.)
I like to use several critiquing factors on games: simplicity, elegence, amount of interesting decisions, and fun factor. While I could spend several columns explaining why I use those and what they mean (and in fact probably will do so in the future), for the purposes of this we need only look at the last one.
Some people have fun with a game simply because of theme, and that’s not what I’m referring to. For a game to be a 1, it would have to have a lot of luck (to the extent of what you choose doesn’t really matter) Elegence is probably still somewhat important, but not paramount. And simplicity is certainly still important… though there are some exceptions.
What would qualify as a 1 for me? Fluxx is a great example. It doesn’t pretend to be more than it is, and it’s a fun ride. Since it’s a game with lots of ever-changing rules, it’s hard to say it’s elegant- though every card saying what it does works in its favor there. It’s pretty simple too. There are some choices to be made, but mostly, what you do doesn’t matter a heck of a lot.
And, while I’m in no way endorsing it, Monopoly is a 1. Some strategy, lots of luck, the main strike against it being that it takes freakin’ forever, and most people don’t play with or even know all the rules. But there’s something undeniably fun about running around gaining money, staying in hotels, having people stay in your hotels, and having your friends land in jail. There’s enough satisfying elements in it that cements its place as the #1 selling board game.
Certain “action” games probably classify as 1’s: Crossfire and Hungry Hungry Hippos come to mind. (Loopin’ Louie, on the other hand, is a solid 5.) And the game that first came to me when I thought about 1 games? Star Trek, the Next Generation: Klingon’s Challenge vcr board game. But that’s cheating, since part of the reason it’s a 1 is because of the tv aspect.
Are there any “1” games that you enjoy?
Well, in terms of video games I’m going to have to go with Ninja Turtles for Original Nintendo. The play was baffling, the difficulty absurd consdiering the audience, and the characters were barely balanced (you just couldn’t lose Donatello or it was game over) but I’ll always love the time I spent proverbially beating my head against the wall of that one.
Oh yea, the original TMNT game was totally in this category. It seemed somehow convincing that the game made sense most of the time, but it really…really didn’t!
I had no patience at all for the first TMNT game. Even when I got past the first level without being killed, I couldn’t figure out where to go. Never made it any farther… and I might still own the game!
Not a ROM that’s going to be making it onto my PDA, I’ll tell you that.
A few sports games (I know, I know, you all hate sports… but too bad) on the Nintendo come to mind.
First – Tecmo Bowl. The game was a pretty unsatisfying football game that was extremly fun to play. The reason it was fun was due to the ridiculous 80 yard plays that could happen on a whim. Also… Bo Jackson. In Tecmo Bowl, Bo Jackson was simply unstoppable. He could run through ten tackles straight to the end zone for a touchdown while carrying the eleventh defensive player on his back. Ridiculous? Yes. Great? Yes. A ONE!
Also, Ice Hockey for Nintendo. This was probably THE MOST RIDICULOUS concept for a hockey game ever. You choose a country for your team (Olympic style), then choose five players for your team. Your choices of players consist of fat men, average/medium men, and skinny men. Fat men are slow but strong, average men are average/medium at speed and strength, and skinny men are fast but weak. These blobs on your screen are what become of your hockey team (a team that floats around your screen moreso than skates). As if that was not absurd enough, the players of opposing teams would occasionally collide on the screen and initiate a fight. The winner of the fight would NOT have to go the penalty box… only the loser. Hilarious… I love it.. .a one!
Oh… and Loopin’ Louie definitely get a one from me, which is why I love it so.
I really liked the first TMNT game too, but I don’t think I could have told you then or now what the plot was, or if there really was one.
Also, regarding the Original Ice Hockey… the players bore a striking resemblance to two Italian plumbers of Nintendo fame.
Gavin sez:
I’d give lunch money a 1. though it’s a grey line: is it monopoly (and just fun to exicute) or is it just the theme people love? Then again, monopoly has theme in some ways too — the money collection, and jail. It is a very grey line i think, but for me, if monopoly qualifies, lunch money does too.
I don’t agree with drscotto’s classification of Tecmo Bowl as a solid 1. By today’s standards certainly, but compared to the competition in its day it was an awesome game.
A better example would be the 3 Stooges Nintendo game. The game had a simple premise: Larry, Moe and Curly must work odd jobs and earn money to help keep an orphanage open. The game consisted of a series of mini-games, usually based off of episodes of the TV show. The game was absolutely hilarious, but also absurdly impossible, because the mini-games were fun but often very difficult.
One game involved Curly in a clam eating contest where you had to point and click the clams with the slow moving Nintendo pad. That one was tough. Another game pitted the stooges against some uptight gentlefolk in a pie throwing fight. That one was great really fun.
But the best game was the one where the stooges were racing after this doctor down the hall of a hospital, trying to collect the red crosses that the fleeing doctor dropped behind him (don’t know where this idea came from). Unfortunately, the game was much more fun if you ignored the object (to catch the red crosses) and instead focused on running into as many hospital patients moving down the hall as possible. People on crutches, in wheelchairs, on stretchers – if you ran into them they all wrecked to the ground in a hilariously animated crash sequence coupled with an appropriate noise! Priceless entertainement for a 10 year old!