Whether it is Crystal Skulls in Ninja Gaiden 2, plain ol’ skulls in Halo 3, or pigeons in Grand Theft Auto IV, players today are expected to enjoy collecting things. However, the sense of achievement needs to balanced with a degree of fun. When looking at collectibles, there are three things to consider: difficulty, reward and thematic relevance.

Ninja Gaiden 2
Collectible type: Crystal skulls.
Number: 30.
Canonical/Relevant: No.
Unlockable(s): Yes.

Ninja Gaiden 2 is an extremely linear game. It is impossible to become lost (the monotony of the green tunnels aside) and difficult to miss extras. Some of them are tricky to get to, but with a good guide, it’s relatively easy to avoid becoming stuck. The real rewards are achievements (one achievement for every 10 skulls), although after collecting all thirty, you unlock a gamer picture (this is for your online profile, for those without an Xbox to call their own). This is a feature I haven’t seen nearly often enough. Rather than making the few willing fans pay money for pictures, include them as unlockables! Not everything should be about the easy buck, Microsoft. Good PR is probably more valuable than cash in hand.

The skulls, though they sit in your inventory and have their own, brief description, are entirely unrelated to the story. There is no reason for Ryu to collect them beyond his own greed or archaeological interest, there is no reason for there to be thirty, and there is certainly no explanation for why they are conveniently scattered along his path. They are, as with many collectables, unrelated to the narrative.

Halo 3
Collectible type: Human skulls.
Number: 13
Canonical/Relevant: No.
Unlockable(s): Yes.

Halo 3 also uses skulls, though there are far fewer: nine gold skulls and four silver skulls. Each gold skull gives you an achievement as well as a modification to campaign gameplay. They can upgrade the health or shields of enemies, make them less likely to stand on your grenades, or more inclined to rain grenades upon you. Additionally, each gold skull activated multiplies your meta-game score. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Halo 3, the meta-game is an optional score tally for the campaign. It rewards you for each kill, with a bonus dependent on the strength of the opponent and the method of slaughter, as well as a penalty for each time you die. Silver skulls don’t have achievements, or give a multiplier, but they do have in-game effects that are designed to make the game more fun rather than more challenging. Finally, every three gold skulls unlocks a piece of Hayabusa armor for use in multi-player. The thirteen skulls of Halo 3 are well spaced, well hidden and interesting to obtain. There is an instant sense of satisfaction and reward, as well as a long-term advantage. However, the skulls are completely outside of the storyline. They are never referenced, nor does it make sense for them to be in many of the places they inhabit. Again, collectibles without narrative significance.

GTA IV
Collectible type: Pigeons.
Number: 200.
Canonical/Relevant: No.
Unlockable(s): Yes.

Killing/collecting all of the pigeons offers three things: one achievement, 2.5% game completion (if you’re interested in 100%) and unlocks an Annihilator helicopter on the helipad in central Algonquin. There are 200 of the fuckers, spread across the five islands of Liberty City. Late in the game you are given the address www.whattheydonotwantyoutoknow.com, which you can visit in-game on a computer. This displays a number of maps, which mark things like armour, health, jumps and pigeons. Of course, this really is only useful for the cheating elite, who screenshot the map and upload it for guides. The average gamer can use the armour map to memorise a few key locations, but they are unlikely to refer to return to a cyber cafe up to 200 times in order to kill pigeons. Pigeons, though perhaps a staple of inner-city life, are not really thematically relevant. At no time do I recall a character wishing for their genocide. And even if they did, why would Niko, a man of some dignity and professionalism, agree to such a pigeon hunt? Furthermore, the pigeon’s butts glow red, like weapon pick-ups, which does make them easier to spot, but rather ruins the visual continuity. So, the difficulty is immense, the execution is dull, the reward is minimal, and there’s no fucking point. I should also point out that a cheat will spawn an Annihilator helicopter right in front of you.

This is the worst sort of collectible. It is for those die-hard fans who are all-together too keen for the 1000 gamerpoints and 100% completion, and who will continue beyond the lower limits of fun.

Crackdown
Collectible type: Orbs.
Number: 300 agility orbs, 200 hidden orbs.
Canonical/Relevant: No.
Unlockable(s): Achievement only.

The agility and hidden orbs of Crackdown emit a noise when you are nearby. This audible clue becomes louder, as does the radius in which it can be heard as you approach collecting them all. Each orb offers a bonus to your character, and using the cities as giant playgrounds is usually quite fun. However, the last 20 are rather painful, as you’ve no idea which island they’re on.

Bioshock
Collectible type: Audio diaries.
Number: 122.
Canonical/Relevant: Yes.
Unlockable(s): Achievement and story.

Bioshock offered narrative tidbits in the form of audio diaries. There are 122 of them scattered throughout the game. The diaries themselves are quite interesting. The voice acting is professional, and the voices have been treated to sound aged; as though playing from a magnetic tape. They offer information on characters and the backstory that precedes the game. They flesh out the world, in short. However, I searched every corner, every box, every bin, every nook and every cranny, and I still came up short by quite a few. Even though, like every pick-up in the game, the diaries had a yellowish glow to them, they were simply not easy to find. Without a walkthrough, I would suggest that it is extremely unlikely that anyone would collect all 122 and enjoy the process.

Assassin’s Creed
Collectible type: Templar Knights and flags.
Number:60 knights, 420 flags.
Canonical/Relevant: No/Yes.
Unlockable(s): Achievement only.

Unlike the pigeons of GTA IV, the Templar Knights put up a fight. In fact, they were the toughest non-boss enemies in the game. They could be found in the middle of a busy market, or standing behind a shack in the desert. Killing Templars makes some sense. It’s what your character does. There is even mention in the game of Altaïr killing “all” of the Templars single-handedly. Yes! A reason to pursue an optional quest! However, almost all of the gameplay in Assassin’s Creed is a reputation of a formula that you are sick of after two iterations. Climbing high points, rescuing citizens - you will do these things in every city section. The prospect of more mindless repetition in such a game is unwelcome. Flags… flags have no purpose. Although, they are, thanks to long draw-distances, easy to spot. And climbing on structures in this rather realistic world is enjoyable for a very long time. I myself collected all of the flags found in cities. However, one section, The Kingdom, which is usually traversed by horse, and is thereafter skipped over, is full of flags.

Dead Rising

The high-point of achievements for me was definitely met in Dead Rising. All of its non-story achievements are interesting and original. Things that, when you boil them down, are not simply “play the game the way it is meant to be played until you meet requirement x”. Things like, bowl over a dozen zombies with a giant umbrella. Or stick costume masks on zombies. Things that make you giggle, and that games rarely explicitly reward you for. The things you’re probably going to do anyway, because they are fun. Dead Rising had very few collectables and yet still offered unlockable content. Really, there was only the option to photograph every main character in the game, with achievements along the way.

Burnout Paradise
Collectible type: Superjumps, billboards and smashes (shortcut gates).
Number: 50 superjumps, 120 billboards, 400 smashes.
Canonical/Relevant: Kinda?
Unlockable(s): Achievements only.

Burnout Paradise has billboards that you can break through (after becoming airborne from ramps), shortcut gates to smash through, and super jumps to land. Quite a few of each, in the large free-roaming Paradise City. On the PS3 version of the game you can plug a USB stick into the console and download a record of your progress. Then, on the Criterion Games Burnout site, you can display a map that shows what you’ve missed. This means that 400th gate is -easy- to find, rather than a pain in the ass. Shame it’s only for the PS3.

Fable 2
Collectible type: Gargoyles, keys and Demon Doors.
Number: 50 gargoyles, 50 keys, 9 Demon Doors.
Canonical/Relevant: Referenced, but not relevant.
Unlockable(s): Yes.

Lastly, Fable 2. The dog is an ingenious concept. It follows you around, barks to point out chests and hidden items, growls at enemies, attacks, plays dead, and has specific quests where you are required to follow it. Because of the almost assured emotional attachment, there is still some satisfaction in having your dog sniff out treasure. I never stopped to think that the game was, through the dog’s A.I., playing the game for me. A mute guide is the perfect balance. Additionally, the gargoyles are a pretty cool collectible, as they are often hard to see, but constantly shout abuse at your character. As with treasure chests, your dog will point out keys, which also glow rather nicely. Keys and gargoyles unlock items at each interval of five (though the key-chests are not centralised). Additionally, there is a counter for each area, displaying the number of discovered keys or gargoyles out of the total in that area. I’m not anywhere near finishing the game, but so far I really value Fable 2’s system.

In Brief:

Marvel Ultimate Alliance has figurines that unlock new playable characters. It also had comic books which offered concept art that appeared during loading screens.

Spider-Man 3 had tokens (subway, gang and skyscraper) for little to no reason. They sucked, and really only filled out the achievement list.

Final Fantasy XII, much like its predecessors, I’m sure, had an insanely demanding system for creating the legendary weapons. A dozen or more extremely rare objects, dropped randomly by certain enemies, in certain places, sometimes under certain conditions (it had to be raining, or an area had to be cleared of enemies) had to be gathered up and sold, and then you had to purchase an excessively expensive and cryptically named item, which turned out to be the best bow, sword or axe in the game. As I said, demanding. However, I went to that effort.I spent 144 hours in that game, and at least 24 of those were devoted to the collection of awesome stuff. And, when I finally obtained those final swords, I felt a sense of reward and accomplishment that is rarely encountered in games.

I think by now, you can see my point. It seems as though some game developers view collectibles as something to be thrown in that lengthens the experience. Others attempt to flesh out their created world with minutiae. Still others use collectibles to ramp up the difficulty, encouraging hard-core fans to persevere.

If I’ve managed to retain your interest for 2000 words, then I feel I should justify raising this point. Reviews, more often than not, deal with the core gaming experience. The 6-12 hours you’ll spend completing the main story arc. More detailed reviews may mention the inclusion of side-missions, unlockables and the like, but it is rarely actively critiqued. That is what I am encouraging. The next time you collect tokens, keys, skulls, cards, documents or stones, stop and consider: Is this fun? Am I being adequately rewarded? Why the fuck is this item here? Awareness is likely to lead to discussion, which could again lead to improvement.

Personally, the ideal collectible should have an interesting mechanic relating to discovery, unlock in-game content that enhances the experience and encourages replay, be thematically relevant and/or have some back-story attached, and have a tracking system, so that the player is assisted in finding the final items.