ARTICLE - Ooo Piece of Candy

What makes a good collectable in a game? Collectables have been around in gaming for a number of years now. PacMan had to eat a stage full of them just to make it to the next level. Mario has his coins and Sonic has his rings. Collecting 100 of either gained you an extra life. (You know, back when games taught you that if you fuck up enough times you go right back to square one. Much like real life) Nowadays, thanks mostly but not exclusively to Ubisoft, collectibles are a way of making you search every square inch of a massive sandbox environment to find every little flag/totem/grain of sand. (I was being totally facetious with the last one until I remembered Ubisofts Prince of Persia reboot *sigh*)
Personally, I rather like a scavenger hunt. Maybe not to the extent Assassin's Creed thinks people like scavenger hunts but I can get into a "find 50 MacGuffins and receive this wicked new, totally OP weapon/armour set". Collectables you find should be interesting in their own right, however. There should be some skill or lore you earn from receiving your hidden treasure.

One of my all time favourite games is Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus for that very reason. In each level, there is a safe. To get into each safe you have to get a combination of numbers from bottles scattered around the level. In each safe is an item that grants you, aspiring master thief, a new ability. This is one of the few games I can remember starting and finishing in one playthrough. Countless deaths and a few tricky bottle locations notwithstanding that was about 9-10 hours of one day, that probably started at about 6 pm. As a PS2 title, I wasn't rewarded with a trophy for completing the game 100%. I didn't need that, the incremental reward system of the unlocking safes was enough to keep pushing on. Nothing makes me want to explore a game more than being handsomely rewarded for my troubles. The story and platforming are pretty great as well so, you know, play it. (The main antagonist is a giant mechanical owl called Clockwerk, 'nuff said)

Play the rest of them while you're at it!

The Bioshock series shares a piece of its universe with every collectable you find. I know what you're thinking, I just recommended a game where you fight a robot owl. Where do I get off writing this like an Edge article? "shares a piece of its universe"? Honestly. But I'm serious. Every log you find gives a tiny piece of the story from one of the many people that made up the world of Rapture or Columbia. They are there to immerse you in the story but you don't need to find them, or even pick them up when you do. I wanted to know more about these worlds though, from basic maintenance of an underwater city to the inner musings of a self-styled prophet. It's always interesting to find out the hows and whys even if it doesn't affect you as the character. It helps to populate sometimes stark environments with "real" people you could possibly relate to. I might even start leaving recordings of myself around the house. I don't know where they would fall in the "Underwater City Maintenance/Self-Styled Prophet" scale though.

Would you kindly play these as well?

 Now I'm not generally one to throw around any "shade" as the kids say but now it's time to focus on what makes bad collectables bad. The aforementioned Assassin's Creed series has had its fair share of tedious tat to pick up. Far Cry 3 onward has also fallen down this dark path. Congratulations, you've created an expansive open world for me to explore. The scenery is beautiful and the cities are fun to traverse. 50+ little flags you say? Whatever for, I ask. Just because and also a different skin for your character for your trouble. And an achievement, can't forget that. Excellent, I think to myself, so then everyone will know I spent 2 hours of my life looking at a guide online tracking down each and every one of the little bastards just to get that sweet 50G. Add it to the pile over there. Do I learn anything when I pick these things up? No, but I do get a wee ding/chime/whistle noise. My what incentive to hear the next identical ding/chime/whistle. Later Assassin's Creed titles have started leaning towards more side quests than random pickups, but they are still a Far Cry (sorry, couldn't resist) from being nearly as interesting as the previous examples. Don't get me wrong, I like both Assassin's Creed and Far Cry. I just feel it can do better than being a collect-'em-up with mild shooty/stabby bits to keep things interesting.

I'm not angry...

I'm just disappointed

I know, I write something about collecting stuff and don't mention Pokemon. Well, there's your mention. I have lost misplaced literally hundreds of hours of my life to that particular series of games and now I can't think why. I realise I'm in the minority in that regard. But anyway, this isn't a post on me realising I've tried and failed to be the very best like no one ever was. It's about certain game devs taking notice of what other certain game devs have done and us all enjoying a game that doesn't waste our time with "Dr Ravioli has lost his jigsaw puzzle while travelling around Germany, find all 1000 pieces and earn some artwork". Comment or something if you've had similar experiences with another game or if you think I'm totally wrong. RANT DONE! Cheers.