I have a broad spectrum of things that draw me to games, although a lot of them bleed into each other, such as the first three I'm planning to list. There's going to be a lot of repeat game mentions, as these are features that make up some of my favorite games.
Or at least a large quantity of good to mediocre boss battles. My enjoyment of a game is largely linked to how many boss battles there are, likely stemming from the fact that a lot of my early gaming experiences were games like Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, and the like where difficult levels were topped off with a difficult boss battle. If I go into a game knowing that there is going to be no boss battles at all, I can quickly lose interest entirely. Games that give their bosses lots of flair and things like extravagant titles like in 3D Zelda games and the Souls series are welcome additions in my book.
There's a lot of different examples of this. My forefront example of this is always Alien Soldier for the Genesis and Megadrive (Actually I think it was never technically released on the Genesis). The game is almost entirely boss battles peppered with small runs of enemies in between solely for the purpose of replenishing your health. Its predacessor, Gunstar Heroes, was very similar, but it had fewer bosses and more standard enemy waves that had more difficulty to balance it out.
There are many other kinds of Boss Centric games, though. Games where there are a small number of huge bosses as main events that have very few in-between elements in the game like Shadow of the Colossus and the Monster Hunter series are a must. Even Punch Out could be considered somewhat similar to this concept, because it doesn't necessarily play like a traditional fighter, feeling almost like you are battling giant monsters in the boxing ring, so to speak.
Another good example is the No More Heroes series. In the first game, you have to rise ten ranks in the top ten assassins, and sure enough, there are exactly ten incredibly satisfying boss battles throughout the game. The sequel expands it even more, although you do not technically beat EVERY ranked assassin as a boss, but that's understandable as you are rising 50 ranks instead of ten.
This is kind of a hard thing for a game to advertise as it is usually an endgame bonus, but if I find out there is a Boss Rush mode in a game I usually pounce on it like crazy. One problem with some games I have, especially longer ones, is that if I want to refight a boss, I'd have to replay the entire game, and if I wanted to have access to them as much as possible, I'd sometimes make multiple save files just to have the chance to fight them again.
Boss Rush modes allow me to have access to the whole experience of bosses whenever I want, and it is a feature I wish was in more games. I know this is considered a sometimes irritating feature, especially when it is a mandatory part of the game, such as the ending of the Mega Man games. In those cases I enjoy it a lot, though, because when you have access to all weapons and knowledge of a boss' weakness, it is superbly satisfying to mop the floor with their sorry asses for all the trouble they put you through.
However, there are games where there is no real progression in player power, and the player is the same power at the end as they are in the beginning. An example would be Shatterhand for the NES, where you have to fight rematches of the bosses in the final level of the game, and you have limited lives (and continues? I forget). If you lose all your lives, you lose all your checkpoints and restart the stage, and there is NOT a checkpoint after each boss, and the bosses can be difficult. I can understand not liking THESE kinds of boss rush modes... but for some reason, I still love them.
The best examples of Boss Rush modes by far can be found in the Kirby and Castlevania series of games. I find it almost disappointing that Symphony of the Night, which is one of my favorite exploration-based Castlevanias, doesn't have a boss rush mode, as that didn't become common until closer to the GBA era of Castlevania.
It's no surprise this is on my list given my obsession with From Software's series. Demons' Souls, Dark Souls and Bloodborne are all games I have played multiple times through (Well, in the case of Bloodborne I am partway through my second playthrough now, I just got it recently). The first playthrough is a gentle tip-toeing through the mechanics of the gameplay, learning the intricacies and nuances of the game bit by bit, being punished for silly mistakes and being rewarded for exploration and intuition.
Like with Boss Rushes at the end of Mega Man, going into these games with foreknowledge of what you are up against gives you an advantage and makes you feel accomplished when you slaughter an enemy that originally slaughtered you countless times. You learn from your mistakes and become stronger in the context of the game.
Other games, rather than relying on foreknowledge of what's to come (although it certainly helps), rely on twitch reflexes and quick thinking. The Donkey Kong Country series is a good example of that kind of difficulty curve, Diddy's Kong Quest being labeled as one of the harder entries in the series, and is my personal favorite out of the original trilogy.
I even have love for games that are obnoxiously hard like Battletoads. I've never beaten the game ever in my life, but part of me loves the game to death. I have fond memories of just trying level after level (usually with level skip and infinite lives cheats to alleviate stress), and I've beaten every level in the game at least once, just not in succession.
I don't get as many chances to play with people I know as I used to when I was younger, but I love to play games with friends whenever I can. The games can range from Mario Kart or Mario Party kinds of games, to fighting games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. A solid multiplayer experience is a big draw to games, and sometimes I buy games anticipating having a fun time with a group of friends.
The main reason I am drawn to them is because, for one, you're able to just have fun with friends, and the second reason is it is usually a fun way to create funny stories. For example, I once found out that I was able to beat my friend who plays at fighting game tournaments at Street Fighter IV with Blanka against his second best character, but after wrecking him he double perfected me with his best character and we both had a good laugh. Another example happened this week, where me, my sister and her boyfriend were playing Mario Kart 8 in an effort to get Triple Stars on 200cc courses, and the race was so close down to the wire at the finish line against the computer that our shouting and laughter startled the man delivering a pizza for us that night. Things got real, bro.
My favorite multiplayer experience ever was with the SNES game Metal Warriors. It had a split-screen multiplayer mode where you could select any playable mech in the game and duke it out one on one. My brother and I put HOURS into that when we rented this game. The mechs all played differently with different perks (some more overpowered so we had sort of sibling arguements about which were off limits to play), and battles were heated, down to the wire, and loads of fun.
While I have appreciation for all kinds of music, it's the music that gets my blood boiling that brings me to the gaming table. It's no surprise that Boss music is a big draw for me, as that tends to be the most pumped up music in a game. The Dynasty Warriors series is a good example of the kind of stuff that I like, with an overabundance of electric guitars and drums and such.
However, it doesn't have to necessarily be overbearing to be pleasantly energetic. I love jazzy, upbeat music as well, a good example being the title theme to Mario Kart 8. That sax is to die for.
Another game feature that is difficult to advertise because it is THE endgame reward, New Game Plus should pretty much be labeled as "hours of replay value". A concept that I was most liberally introduced to in my time with Chrono Trigger, New Game Plus is a satisfying experience because you are able to butcher earlier elements of a game that might have originally given you trouble, just for the street cred. It also allows you to play through the game and pick up items you might have missed, or maybe allow you to make a new choice at a pivotal moment that changed events in the game further down the line.
This is also a feature of the Souls games I love, but in those cases the difficulty exponentially rises each time you play through again until it finally balances out about 10 playthroughs in. I think I've played my longest running Dark Souls file about 20 times through completely before my PS3 broke, and I had other characters too that I usually beat several times over.
This can be manifested in a number of ways. On one hand, you can have one character with a tremendous amount of abilities, like Kirby, who sometimes has whole movesets within his already extensive power list (most prominent in the Superstar and Deluxe style of Kirby games). The key is to have the ability to go back and replay certain stages while utilizing another ability you might not have had in the past, allowing you to approach the stage in a different way and see it in a new light.
The next is a wide range of character customization options, achieved either through editing character options at the start of character creation, or having access to a wide arsenal of weapons as the game progresses that all play differently. In Secret of Mana and Legend of Mana your main characters can wield a large range of weapons that all play differently for the mostpart, adding replay value by encouraging you to play through the game again utliizing a different set of weapons to approach a situation. Castlevania games are also good examples, where you have a wide range of equipment that serve different purposes, from quick jabs to slow, powerful arcs. One of my favorite games with character customization is Cocoron, where you play in a dream world and construct six heroes from a variety of heads, body types that play differently and weapon types that have different arcs and trajectories, all with a whimsical, dream-like feel.
Finally, you have games that have multiple playable characters that either play entirely differently, or have subtle nuances. Super Mario 3D World is fun for me to go back to and replay stages using a different character, knowing that the physics will be different with each one by a slim, but noticeable margin. Going back to Symphony of the Night again, it pretty much nails this entire section by finishing off with an unlockable mode where you play as Richter Belmont. Instead of having numerous equips and leveling up, you have only the Belmont ablities (expanded from the original style of games with new attacks for ease of exploration), but you also have to survive with less health, because only Boss fights will give you health bonuses since you cannot level up. There are even versions of the game where you can play as Maria, pretty much making it the finest example of character variety options I can think of.
Some people argue they never want to "watch a movie" rather than play a game. I'm not in that school of thinking. If a game has an enjoyable story, I will most certainly enjoy it, and I know what a game is offering going into it. If I wanted to avoid heavy story, I'd know what to play and when.
Now it's not hard to get me super invested in something. As cookie-cutter as it was, I found the ending plot of Pokemon X and Y enjoyable, and I'm also able to get emotional over the nerdiest things, like when Dinobot died in the middle of Beast Wars (slightly unrelated to gaming).
However, when a game tries hard and tells a really engaging story, I get hooked. Final Fantasy Tactics is one of my favorites, having a sort of Game of Thrones meets Final Fantasy vibe to it years before Game of Thrones even existed. There is this magnificent web of intrigue, deciet, dissent between social class, trust, betrayal, the whole shebang. However, the game suffers from the fact that after a major story character is brought into your party, their dialogue options and impact on the story suddenly become DRASTICALLY limited. In fact, by the final act of the story the only one who is really interacting with other characters is Ramza, because all the other major story characters are now in your party and don't have dialogue options because there is a possibility they won't be in your party. Although, there IS one of the first moments of post-party dialogue that is available, which is by far my favorite, where Gafgarion ousts Ramza for lying about who he really is, but despite his deception Agrias, who he just saved in the last mission, has no doubt in her mind that he's trustworthy based on what lengths he went to save them.
Then there is a more light-hearted kind of story that draws me in, such as Kid Icarus Uprising. It's cheeky, self-aware, well written, but it isn't afraid to take a serious note when it calls for it, and all in all has a very nice balance of funny and serious by the end.
Bravely Default is a fantastic example of recent years. I could not put that game down, and I played it through on Hard Mode within the first two weeks of playing it. The characters were playful and likeable, but had real moments of emotional and moral dilemas as the plot grew. And what's more, the characters all grew exponentially as the story went on. My favorite arc in the story follows Ringabel, and although I can argue that I found parts of it predictable and that I guessed certain parts of what was going to happen, how and WHY it happened the way it did and who he became by the end was just phenomenally done in my opinion.
In almost the opposite end of the spectrum of the last section, I find game stories that are not told in a traditional way or that leave a lot up to the mind of the player to be equally pleasing. Shadow of the Colossus is a nice example, which leaves a lot up to interpretation, and not a whole lot is revealed until the ending, which even at that point is somewhat vague.
Then there are games where the story is broken up in unique chapters that can be approached more or less at the player's leisure. Legend of Mana has I THINK around 50-70 "chapters" within it, and although you have to unlock certain ones to get access to others, you are able to do one part of one story, and then take a break from it and completely divert yourself into the plot of another story and take everything at whatever pace you wish.
Then there is story as told in the Souls games, where you have a basic overarcing plot, usually with some sort of booming voice over, but then you are left to your own devices to explore the world, and depending on HOW you explore, you may find certain dialogue or subtext that will reveal interesting or even startling aspects about the world you inhabit.
Metroid is the most prominent example of this, where you are able to begin the game at one point and sort of explore the world to your leisure until you can find a way to progress. Castlevania copied the formula to great effect, sort of overshadowing its original roots, for better or for worse. Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are two of my favorite games, so games that follow this sort of exploration formula are good in my book.
One of the earliest examples I had played myself (considering I never got to rent Metroid, I've only ever played it at a friend's home once when I was young) was Clash at Demonhead, which I love for all kinds of reasons and is even the source of my screenname here. The exploring factor was a big draw, though, because you could avoid certain areas and bosses to come back later when you had more weapons or armors that would help you out. There is also a satisfaction after you've completed the game and you go back to it, because you know what route to take to beat the game as quick as possible.
Dark Souls follows that formula, to an extent. Demons' Souls, Dark Souls II and Bloodborne do as well, but not nearly as much. With those other three, there are linear paths imposed upon the player a lot more often, especially in Demons' Souls where there are 5 linear paths quite literally. In the original Dark Souls, the world is a lot more organic, bleeding into areas much more often than the other games in the spiritual series. The areas split into linear paths much later on, and even then they are still peppered with intersections. The two most linear sections are the Catacombs and the Library, but the Library is so far into the game that it is certainly forgiveable.
This is the biggest draw for me to any game. If you have gameplay that pits you against tens, hundreds, even thousands of enemies at once with incredible feats of acrobatics, power and devastation, you have my attention from second one. The finest examples of games that will hold my attention for years is the Dynasty Warriors series, including spin-offs like Gundam and Hyrule Warriors, Castle Crashers, and to a lesser extent various shooters.
One example of a gameplay style that I like is Kingdom Hearts. I love almost every game I've played in the series... but I think the story is incredibly dumb. Fanfiction levels of dumb, because really that's what it feels like. You have watered down versions of Disney plots (LITERALLY the same plots and dialogue) with awkward moments where an anime character is like "Hey, I'm here too, I've been here the whole time!", and the plot somehow becomes MORE complex than Metal Gear Solid and makes less sense by miles.
Despite that, I love the gameplay of the series. Quantities of enemies are high, and the variety of enemies and bosses is phenomenal. I enjoy the flow of battle and the acrobatic ability you are given. The games become even more free-flowing as they go, Dream Drop Distance introducing mechanics of being able to grind on rails, bounce off walls and fly almost at will, which is a very enjoyable mechanic as you slaughter countless enemies, or sometimes find yourself whittling down a new enemy you haven't prepared for.
As much as I love the gameplay, I have a funny story at the end of Dream Drop Distance. I was trying to finish the game, because I was loving the bosses I was fighting, so I would skip groups of enemies that I think the game meant for me to defeat so I would have proper level progression. However, I avoided them at all costs for the sake of fighting bosses. By the time I got to what I believed was the final boss, he was so hard that I was RAGING over skype with Gors. No joke, I was literally dying in one hit to almost all of his attacks, so I had to engage him in a perfect run of avoiding bullet-hell levels of attack patterns AND his ability to heal his entire health bar. And to top it all off, by the time I beat that boss, he wasn't the last. There were like three more after him.
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