What makes a good video game sidequest? The optional diversions in big games like Mass Effect 2 donāt always delight players. Sometimes, they even tick them off. The New York Times, reviewing ME2, seems conflicted:
Most of the game is spent on a series of side missions in which you build and strengthen your team of fellow adventurers. Those side quests are well constructed, and a few of them are quite emotionally poignant. But in the big story of attacking and defeating the alien menace and saving humanity, they can feel like endless throat-clearing and busywork.
āThroat-clearingā and ābusyworkā? How would you like to be able to describe sidequests in the games you play? Sadly, I suspect most of the side quests Iāve played over the years ā bear in mind I havenāt played Mass Effect 2 ā did indeed feel like busywork. There are exceptions, like the wedding quest in The Legend of Zelda: Majoraās Mask. But it rings true in this review that sidequests could be the drag on the momentum of an entertaining game.
Dragging Out a Galaxy Rescue [The New York Times]
