Is there such thing as a perfect game?

[Alex79]

WARNING - THREAD CONTENTS ARE HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE!

As I come towards the end of Death Stranding I'm starting to pull together my final thoughts on the game, and one thing that keeps popping up is that it's really a fantastic game, but it's not perfect. Then I started comparing it to previous Kojima games, and wondered if I'd consider any of his games perfect? Then I wondered whether a perfect game even exists?

Sure, there are loads of games which are 10 out of 10's, I could name a dozen right now. But that doesn't mean they're perfect. Take Dark Souls for example. This is a 10 out of 10 game all day long, but the reality is that there are large sections of that game that just aren't particularly enjoyable. Or a game like The Last Of Us. Again, it's a 10 out of 10, but the beginning was awfully slow, and there are long sections where nothing really happens.

Then there are games which you really have to dig at to find a criticism. Hollow Knight is one of the best games I've played in my life. But is it perfect? Could it be improved in any way? I think so. Combat is repetitive, and you never change the weapon you're using throughout the whole game. It would have been interesting to be able to use different weapons. I think that would have improved an almost perfect game.

So are there any perfect games? I think so.

Super Mario World. This is legitimately the only game I can think of which could not be improved in any way, shape or form. This is a game, 30 years old, which is still better than any platformer released since. Super Mario World is a perfect game.

I honestly can't think of any other games which could have nothing done to them which improved the experience.

What do you think?

[Marlew]

I think arcade games are best placed to approach 'perfection' because at their best they're trimmed of all fat, a very focused execution of a specific idea or set of rules.

For me, something like OutRun 2 is 'perfect' because every single credit is wonderfully balanced, exciting, immediate, memorable, focused but gives me a degree of choice and freedom, as well as the chance to express myself. It can be played for a straightforward, satisfying clear but it also has an incredibly highly skill ceiling if I try to play for score. It's completely accessible for a beginner: Anyone can play a single credit, get the core concept almost immediately and yet it will draw you back again and again to attempt to master it. Music and graphics are entirely in the service to the emotion that the game wants you to feel. It's freedom, adventure, euphoria, a heightened sense of carefree cool and the vivid colours and breezy tunes sell it all the way home.

I'd say that Mushihimesama Futari Black Label God Mode is also perfect to me. It's so directly pleasurable, satisfying and deep that very few games even touch the sides any more. The scoring and mechanics are very simple but they're also an incredibly deep rabbit hole of execution and pure feel. I can spend hours experimenting and learning to point blank one enemy just off screen to boost my multiplier counter to get a bigger bullet cancel further along the stage. Despite the insane grind, precise and novel progress always feels more satisfying than almost any other game I could choose to play. Making a score breakthrough in Futari is better than almost any feeling in games for me. There's no narrative or great intellectual depth to it but the pleasure and satisfaction it gives me cut much deeper than any story or character.

[Jon Cheetham]

In terms of a game where I would not change a hair on its bonny head, Bloodborne comes closest for me, with only a couple of wrinkles like the annoying re-spawning enemies in Yahar'Gul and the Living Failures boss fight which I find to be pretty bad. But in terms of achieving what it sets out to do with atmosphere, art design, narrative, action and challenge it is monumental. I know there's a difference between "incredibly good/ a classic" and actually perfect, and I think my argument for Bloodborne being perfect lies in the fact it is so hard to imagine what you even would change if you could, what a sequel might be like or how they could ever improve on what they created. It just feels singular and timeless.

Also Into the Breach, helped by Sunset's "design by subtraction" philosophy, is perfect as a tactical puzzle game. You couldn't add anything or take anything away without significantly changing the way you'd play the game, it's endlessly impressive how tuned and rewarding an experience it is. They have spoken about how they worked on it for years iterating over and over and I really think that just helped refine the eventual product. It's the default thing I open if I don't know what to play or I'm just too tired to get into something more action-y.

[Flabyo]

As a developer you always strive for it, but I don’t think ‘perfection’ is possible. Every game ever made has things in it that the developer hates about it they’d love to do differently. That’s as true for games as it is for movies, books, high art, everything.

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

As a developer you always strive for it, but I don’t think ‘perfection’ is possible. Every game ever made has things in it that the developer hates about it they’d love to do differently. That’s as true for games as it is for movies, books, high art, everything.

You're absolutely right of course. I guess it's whether what we're looking for is objective or subjective perfection. The former is pretty much impossible as you say Flabyo, as there will always be even the tiniest element in whatever anyone creates that can be highlighted as objectively imperfect.

Subjective perfection though - the eyes of the beholder - can be found by all of us in the moment, every day. It's one of life's great joys, doing or experiencing things that you wouldn't change for the world, even if in reality you could pick them apart and find a myriad of perceived imperfections.

Video games that are 'perfect' to me - NiGHTS Into Dreams, Sega Rally Championship, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Halo: Combat Evolved, Streets of Rage 2, Street Fighter Alpha 2. Wouldn't change a pixel (and yes I know they remastered Halo, but if they hadn't I'd still be happy playing the original forever!).

[Jon Cheetham]

Eyes of the beholder definitely.

Heard a podcast/interview with the creative leads for Prey 2017 where they talked about how they would have happily tuned it for years and years...but at some point they had to actually release it.

[Angry_Kurt]

The example for me of a game which is perfect in that nothing could be added or taken away that would improve the game and that is the first Portal game. I think this is partly due to its length as it meant that there was no filler and meant that nothing in the game outstayed its welcome. Narratively it was also really cool. Even the end credits were amazing.

[stvnorman]

I immediately thought Super Mario World too. I can’t think of anything I’d change or anything else that’s improved on it (especially bloody Sunshine which is beating me senseless at the moment)! Maybe arcade Out Run as well. Struggling to think of any others. Interestingly, they’re both outside my top ten favourite games. Out Run only just, but Mario way outside!

[dezm0nd]

Super Monkey Ball.

There I said it!!

[andthenweplay]

I think perfect is really in the eyes of the player. I know a perfect game to me might be a video game someone else might dislike strongly. But if perfection is a personal opinion then there is such thing as a perfect video game. For me personally games like Final Fantasy X and XII, Odin Sphere Leifthrasir and DarkStalkers are a few games I would label as perfection in my opinion and this list probably differs drastically from every person

[Alex79]

For me personally games like Final Fantasy X...

But those trials in the temples.... God they were irritating Other than that, I enjoyed it. I'd say it was my 4th favorite Final Fantasy game that I've played.

[duskvstweak]

[raisinbman]

if you ask me, yes, if you ask the internet, no

[DomsBeard]

Street Fighter 2 and its iterations. I can only imagine the tens of thousands of rounds I've fought in and it is still great.

Super Mario World is also a good shout.

[duskvstweak]

In all seriousness, I've heard the term "perfect" used most in regards to Tetris and I tend to agree. Is a game nearly perfect? Probably has some Tetris DNA! Is a game not very good? It should be more like Tetris!

[Alex79]

Tetris is a great call, actually. Yeah.

[stvnorman]

I think I commented in the C&R Tetris podcast that it was just about perfect. Then forgot all about it here. Great shout.

[Angry_Kurt]

I think puzzle games are perhaps the easiest to perfect as they just need to nail the difficulty curve.

[andthenweplay]

For me personally games like Final Fantasy X...

But those trials in the temples.... God they were irritating Other than that, I enjoyed it. I'd say it was my 4th favorite Final Fantasy game that I've played.

I won't lie I loved those Cloister of Trials, but I know the is a minority opinion

[JadePhoenix]

This. Lttp is a game that does exactly what it sets out to do, in, for my money, the best way it's possible to do it.