How long does it take for a game to "grab" you?

[rwprice]

When you pick up a new game and play it for the first time, do you know right away whether it's a winner, or does it have to grow on you? If a game isn't fun immediately, do you keep playing for a while in the hope that you'll get the hang of it? I enjoy checking out a lot of games, but very few feel as fun as they look to be on the box. Are the really good games obvious, or am I just missing something?

[Skanky Burns]

Depends on the type of game.

Some of them take a while to grab me, normally while I'm learning the controls and how to actually survive in the game it isn't as much fun. But once I've got that down sort of comfortably, then I can start exploring the game-world and actually have some fun.

Then with others I can just start playing them instantly, and have fun. Or realise that the game sucks and delete it.

I normally don't even look on the game boxes any more as the hype they put on it really doesn't tell you anything about the game beyond what style game it is. (ie: strategy / FPS / etc ).
If a game seems interesting to me, I'll take a look at what other people are saying about it first, and if theres enough good stuff about it, only then will I buy the game.

[Grumbold]

It depends on what makes the game awkward to get the hang of. I'll persist for some time with games like EU where you can feel that there is something really worthwhile behind the awkward interface. Sure enough when you click it becomes a lot of fun. When you try something like Squad Leader though where it becomes painfully obvious that the game is poorly programmed and the AI sucks there's no point in persisting. That sort of thing is not going to improve with familiarity!

[Adagio]

I'd say if I have played a game for about five minutes, then I know if the game belongs to the trash can or not, but that doesn't mean that it's the best game around, cuz with many games I have endless of fun the first two weeks, but after that time the game is just boring (e.g. Tropico, The Sims)

But after a few days I know if the game is a game I could play for years or not!

[General Ludd]

For me, it's more of a question about how long it'll keep me in it's grasp.

[November Adam]

One of the problems I have is too many games, too little time.

[Urban Ranger]

Usually not long. After about five minutes mucking about with the interface, I can usually tell whether the game is well designed.

If I have to fight the interface, the game goes straight into the circular file. Otherwise, I'll try the game out a couple of times to see if there's solid game play behind it.

[Cookie Monster]

Well I can usually tell right off the bat if I like a game or not. However for those games with clunky interfaces it may take longer. I'd say that 90% of the games I buy I keep.

Now "Reach for the Stars 2" was a real dud. That's one example of a game that's been permanantly banned from my hard drive.