Berry Bash: A Step Back... and in the Right Direction

Do you know what one of my chief reasons for playing games on Neopets is? To waste time. If I want to relax, or just lose myself in thoughtless activities, I play games. When I need a break from playing the stock market, collecting avatars, or surviving a hectic challenge in the Battledome, I play games. Now, this is only my opinion, and in no way am I attempting to tell anyone what a game is or is not . Now, these new games that have come out in the recent past – Piper Panic, Spacerocked!, Dungeon Dash, Let it Slide - have been disappointing in a few ways. Berry Bash on the other hand returns to the roots of many of the older games on Neopets. For this reason, Berry Bash is a perfect addition to the games library of Neopets. Why is this true? I will share with you my reason.

Now, there is only one reason Berry Bash is a perfect game for Neopets while the aforementioned games are not. Berry Bash, like older games on Neopets, has no end, but simply becomes harder and harder. Now this may not seem like such a big deal, but believe me it is. I ask you now to consider the following points:

One: Games like Berry Bash rely much more on skill to differentiate whether one is good or not. As the game becomes harder, those that are skilled can get high scores. Think about this. Would you rather get really good at Turmac Roll and get a high score, or would you rather get really lucky at Spacerocked!? Now for those who just have no skill at games, maybe Spacerocked! would be a better choice. But trust me when I tell you having a high score at a game that requires skill feels great.

Two: Games like Berry Bash are potentials for future avatars. Like the previous point, owning the avatar for a game represents being highly skilled at this game. When someone sees your Meepit Juice Break avatars or your Extreme Herder avatar (or nearly any other gaming avatar), it is a sign of great skill. Not only that, but trying to obtain those avatars becomes something worth pursuing, and people feel a great sense of satisfaction upon obtaining them. I now bring you the opposite kind of avatar, the one based entirely on luck: Typing Terror. Typing Terror plays by levels, much like Spacerocked!, Let It Slide, Dungeon Dash. No one likes trying for the Typing Terror avatar because really, it’s all up to luck. A perfect game will not net you the avatar no matter how skilled you are at typing. Spacerocked!? I won’t even start on that. Dungeon Dash? 5000 points is a joke, and it’s the absolute highest score.

Three: As mentioned above, this also has to do with skill. For this point, I am going to ignore the fact that there are many cheaters playing games. Neverending games show a diversity in score. This means that people who deserve trophies will get them. The people at the top of the high score list got there by skill, and deserve to be there. It isn’t just a matter of “Who can get 5000 in Dungeon Dash the closest to when trophies are handed out?”

Now Berry Bash is a step back towards the old school games. Maybe I’m completely off. Maybe Berry Bash does have an end, but I for one haven’t reached it. Playing this new game, I know that if I get a high score, the pride I feel will be worth something. Now for my final point as to why Berry Bash is a good game for Neopets, I will appeal to the fact that the whole point of games is to relax and waste time (though you may dispute my opinion on this).

Now, tell me, which game is a better candidate to pass time with? The one that goes on forever and gets harder and harder, or the one that is the exact same every time you play through, and eventually becomes beatable in your sleep? Believe me, I’ve tried very hard to waste time playing Piper Panic, but once you’ve memorized the levels, it’s just no fun (and trust me, rotating the levels around does not equate to different levels). At most, I can waste fifteen minutes of my time. After that, I would rather fall asleep than keep playing. Spacerocked! suffers from the same problem. I prefer a game that gets harder and faster to the point I can't handle it than one where I watch and watch... and watch... and watch... OH BETTER PRESS THE BOOST... and watch... and watch... and... well, you get the point. Remember, most games on Neopets are simple flash games. Because of this, trying to make a finite levelled game just doesn’t work very well. If I wanted to play a game like that, I would pull out my game console and play one that lasted 20 hours rather than 20 minutes.

And so for this new game, Berry Bash, I thank you TNT. I’ll admit, neverending games also get boring eventually, but that is precisely the reason why TNT should release more. That way, I can preoccupy myself with something that will take me weeks to get bored of rather than days. Now, I’m not saying TNT should never release games that end, but how about mixing them up. It seems like the current slew of games are all short lived thrills. Maybe It’s just me, but TNT is supposed to try and please all its users, right? So for pleasing me, I tip my hat off to you, TNT. Well, I’m off for some more berry bashing!