Octopus Overlords

I know many people claim that games are too short, but I am actually looking for some short games. I don't have much free time these days and I actually have a ton of (backlogged games) games, but I am hesitant to even load up many, because of time constraints.

So I'm trying to find some short games that I can start up and have a hope of completing. I am not interested games like Civilization, where you can play a single game in a few hours, but rather a game that has a beginning and an end, so that when you finish it, it's done.

So, what have you played that was short

Oof, short ones. I tend to spend about twice as long on games as most people, so I am not a good judge of gameplay time. Honestly, though, if I wanted a short game, I wouldn't look for a full game - I'd play an expansion pack for something.

That Star Trek: Voyager FPS was really, really good and really short. Might be what you're looking for.

What are your expectations?
Do you want to finish in an hour? a couple of hours? 10 hours?

Many times gamers complain that a game is short simply because the liked it so much that they wanted more. The first KOTAR felt that way to me as did the Fallouts.

You mention civilization, how do you feel about campaigns and such in strategy games? FWIW I've been looking for a good 2 hour 4x game for years. What type of game do you want?

Most of the games I fit into "short time to play" bin are either arcady action games, or something like Pirates! that I can pick up and put down.

It might be easier if you list the games in your backlog. I put RunningMan's list of 100+ unplayed games into difficulty / length order for him...

Anyway...for recent titles...Armed and Dangerous, Riddick and Freedom Force are certainly games you could beat in the 20 hour range.

I think I got through Max Payne (#1) pretty quickly.

Bloodrayne 2 is another nice quick game. I've only played the Xbox version though. I find myself going back and loading up certain levels because they're so much fun.

i'm not sure how short you're talking about, but here's a few good ones from the last year or two that i think fall in the "15 hours or less" category that i enjoyed...

Splinter Cell
Splinter Cell - Pandora Tomorrow
Prince of Persia - Sands of Time
Call of Duty

all of those games can be completely finished in a relatively short amount of time. like godhugh mentioned, Star Trek - Elite Force was another fun FPS that didn't take long to play. it's a few years old now, but i'd say it should still hold up well. the Max Payne games are fairly short as well.

if you would be interested in a few games that you can easily pick up and play in short bursts, i'd recommend checking out something like UT2K4, the Tony Hawk games, or the GTA3/VC. those can take up a lot of time if you want to do everything, but they're also a lot of fun to play for just a few minutes at a time 8)

Most any game released in the last 4 years is a short game..take your pick.

Thanks for the replies. As far as time frame, 10 hours or less would be ideal- I am a slow and thorough gamer- the kind that likes to explore in FPS as opposed to just blasting my way through.

With respect to my backlog, well... they say the first step to curing an addiction is admitting it... so, I have probably 800 or so in my backlog (I like to think of myself more as a collector- at least that's what I tell myself to justify such an abomination). I probably have more than 100 games still sealed in their boxes. So a posting of my backlog isn't very practical (although being the compulsive person that I am, my games and manuals are alphabetized. Anyway, that is a topic for another post. (although, I could just post the A's or the B's or something ).

I did finish Max Payne, but that still took me about two weeks ( I would estimate 20 hours). I am currently playing the original Freedom Force and I love it, but judging from Kasey Chang's FAQ, I have a long way to go.

I like the idea of the Star Trek Voyager games, that may be a good place to start (I have both of those). I also have both the Splinter Cell games, I didn't realize that they were relatively short as well. In contrast though, I finished Call of Duty, but my perception was not of it being short. It took me quite some time to get through that (perhaps I am just a terrible gamer . I read people posting stories of blazing through FPS titles and I sometimes wonder if I am playing the same games).

Any recommendations for brief non-FPS games? I'm not choosy about genre, it can be strategy, rpg, adventure, etc.

Oh, and, thanks for the suggestions thus far.

Return to Mysterious Island is a short but clever (and, now, cheap) adventure title. Salammbo and Syberia are in this category as well.

I don't recall Painkiller taking a very long time to play, etiher.

In terms of recent games?

I haven't finished it, but Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault loks like it's short

The first CSI game was very short (I think I finished it in under 6 hours?). Various other adventure games can be solved in a weekend.

Syberia II was a fairly quick adventure. So was Post Mortem.

One of my short faves was Giants: Citizen Kabuto. It was probably 10 hours (not even sure anymore). It was cool looking, funny, and a blast to play. Oh it was an action game. Highly recommended.

The Preacher wrote:One of my short faves was Giants: Citizen Kabuto. It was probably 10 hours (not even sure anymore). It was cool looking, funny, and a blast to play. Oh it was an action game. Highly recommended.

Was that short? I loved that game but I seem to remember playing a while. Not too long but more than 20 hours. Weren't there 3 races with storylines?

Max Payne 1 and 2...

LawBeefaroni wrote:

The Preacher wrote:One of my short faves was Giants: Citizen Kabuto. It was probably 10 hours (not even sure anymore). It was cool looking, funny, and a blast to play. Oh it was an action game. Highly recommended.

Was that short? I loved that game but I seem to remember playing a while. Not too long but more than 20 hours. Weren't there 3 races with storylines?

I recall it being relatively short but perhaps that was simply because of my enjoyment. There were 3 races but I think there were only two dozen missions, give or take.

IGN says 20hrs for the PS2 version, not sure how that compares and reviewer on Amazon called it "medium in length". This review claims 10-15 hours.

I remember Medal of Honor: Allied Assault being so short I felt gypped. Same with Call of Duty... like 3 - 5 hours.

noughts and crosses.

The Preacher wrote:I recall it being relatively short but perhaps that was simply because of my enjoyment. There were 3 races but I think there were only two dozen missions, give or take.

IGN says 20hrs for the PS2 version, not sure how that compares and reviewer on Amazon called it "medium in length". This review claims 10-15 hours.

Either the story made it seem a bit more "epic" or I just sucked at it.

Oh, and Gorham, each race it totally different. It's really like 3 shorter games in one. You have your space marine type guys, your weird mystical sea creatures, and one lone huge-ass monster.

Actually, Giants sounds perfect. I have it and think I even started it a few years back. I love quirky games along these lines, things like MDK. If it's relatively brief it will be just the fix I'm looking for.

Kratz wrote:I remember Medal of Honor: Allied Assault being so short I felt gypped. Same with Call of Duty... like 3 - 5 hours.

Crap, I suck at shooters, don't I?

Nade: I will be distributing "I suck at FPS games" membership cards at your local livery this coming Thursday.

I remember Medal of Honor: Allied Assault being so short I felt gypped. Same with Call of Duty... like 3 - 5 hours.

It took me half an hour just to get through the tutorial...

I dated this girl for two days once. Really short game.

Astral Masters is a card game like Magic: The Gathering. There are three leagues and it took me under a week to get through them all. But ymmv depending on how long it takes you to put together a good deck. And it's very replayable, but I definitely got a sense of completion from beating the third league.

Tscott wrote:Pick up the Phone Booth and Die

How the hell can I do anything other than pick up the phone booth? Or is that the point?

If you've got a copy of Neverwinter Nights, there are some very good fan-made modules that can be completed in less than 10 hours.

A lot of RTS games can be finished in under an hour. There are even some turn-based ones that can be played speedily with the right settings.

Mahjong
Strange Adventures in Infinate Space
Diablo2 can be done for short spurts even tho it takes a long time to finish.

SuperHiro wrote:

Tscott wrote:Pick up the Phone Booth and Die

How the hell can I do anything other than pick up the phone booth? Or is that the point?

You can win. I hate to give a hint, because that'll ruin the whole game, but if you push me hard enough I may break down.

Accoring to the game, "I am a phone booth ********* extraordinaire."

That was indeed, short.

edited to remove spoilers.

Warhammer40k: Dawn of War. Each mission ~1 hour.

Tscott wrote:Pick up the Phone Booth and Die

Brilliant game! It did take some friends of mine several days to beat it, but I did it fairly quickly.

Is this one of those games where you are supposed to type in directions
as to what to do? Should they be one word?

You can type whole stentences. You won't need many.

I can't believe it took me so long to win that game.

That game was crap. But, it was short.