Axel Strohm European Correspondent	Recent Favorites: Onimusha 2, Worms Blast Most Wanted: Project Ego, Medal of Honor: Frontline, Stuntman

Is Gameplay Really All That Matters?

Poor graphics, stunning game: Tetris sold way more than 70 million times in total.

When this industry pretty much took off in the 8-bit days, we had poor graphics displays and probably even worse graphics designers, considering that most programmers did the graphics for their games on their own. Games started with an idea, and the graphics and music were focused on making that idea come to the screen. This process has become radically different. Sometimes even a graphic style can make a game sell, or fail, regardless of how well it plays, simply because many people who buy video games don't read magazines or Web sites. Particularly around Xmas, the disease of buying blindly is omnipresent, since many parents are buying the gifts for their children. And as sad as it sounds, they still look on the backside of the box to see how the game looks, even though touched-up screenshots often are a step that most publishers are willing to take. It probably also is a matter of definition. When we talk about what makes a game sell, graphics might be more important, at least in the shops. When people read game magazines or Web sites like ours, they most likely won't fall for a game that has pretty graphics but no gameplay. When we look at it from the point of what makes a game fun, then it's needless to say that good gameplay is the only indicator for that. But what if a game has great gameplay but kinda sucks on the visual side? Wouldn't you consider laying your joypad to the side earlier than normal simply because every level looks the same? And wouldn't you sometimes keep going if each level were to offer the same gameplay but always great new graphics? There are several elements driving game players, and each player has different motives for playing a game. Graphics, progression, and story are some of these. I don't think someone will take great sound effects as a driving force for continuing playing a game, but it doesn't mean it's not important. I'm the last one to say that game music and game sound effects are not important. In fact, they're equally important when you actually play the game, but unfortunately, you cannot hear game music on the back of the game packaging.

			Do you think that gameplay is more important than graphics? Yes, by all means A game that doesn't look good isn't really fun Good graphics can support gameplay but can't stand on their own

Go buy Ico. Please. It deserves your attention.

To get back to the question that opened this column, I believe there is no straight answer to the issue of whether gameplay is more important than graphics or vice versa. Because at the end of the day, it's the balance that counts. And I truly think that while some developers think that their great graphics can make a game sell, there are also those developers who think that only the gameplay counts--and then they ignore the visual perfection that a game should have nowadays. As we all know, not even 10 percent of the titles on the market can achieve good gameplay or good graphics, but they fail in both. Those 10 percent, though, who really make us play a game for endless hours, got it right. They reach a good balance of gameplay and production values, which then delivers a great overall impression of a game. And with still no end of the technology race in sight, there will still be those developers who focus on technological perfection and those who focus on gameplay, but maybe that's not even a bad thing, since it will continue to further evolve all genres.