Entertainment to Rent – Part 2

Back in June, I wrote about my expedition into the world of game renting. Sick of receiving bad Nicolas Cage movies (are there any other kind?) and Judd Apatow comedies (on Blu-Ray, for no decipherable reason), I ponied up the extra cash and told LoveFilm to start sending me games as well.

And so far, I’ve found the experience pretty enjoyable. It’s absolutely pot luck if you’re going to receive Borderlands on launch day or get Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard instead, but it’s a great way to play games you might otherwise never have bought, try new experiences and test out games you’re unsure of.

Here are my top tips for renting games:

1: Don’t judge a book by its cover

When the only thing you’re wasting with a bad rental is the opportunity to rent something better, there’s no real worry about receiving a complete stinker on your door mat. You can try out games you might otherwise never have played and find redeeming features in games that reviewers can’t otherwise recommended.

Like 50 Cent: Bulletproof. Not being the biggest fan of Mr Cent’s musical output, I didn’t really want to buy the game, but was happy to indulge in a few hours of mindless gunplay. But after swapping out the never-ending 50 cent backing music to some more palatable custom soundtracks, I found myself having a pretty enjoyable time! It’s a little derivative, mixing Gears of War’s cover mechanic and The Club’s point racking system, but it’s a fast paced shooter with no petty limits or narrative constraints. You’ll find yourself regularly launching rockets into people’s faces and setting terrorist goons alight with incendiary bullets, all with reckless abandon and a giant Cheshire cat grin on your face.

There’s even a button to make 50 Cent “taunt” enemies post kill (for extra points!), so not only are you humiliating and intimidating enemies by filling them full of lead and wiping them off the face of the earth, but you call them a “pussy bitch” or insult their mother afterwards. And Curtis (50 Cent’s real name, if you’re curious) is a big fan of endless profanity, which just makes everything even funnier. He’s too hardcore to say “fire in the hole” when tossing a grenade at some treasure stealing shmucks – it’s got to be “fire in the motherfucking hole!”

2: Research before you rent

If you start renting games, you’re not going to stop buying them all together. Certain types of games will be ideal for renting and others with be more suitable to purchase. As I said in my previous blog, games with lots of replay value, good multiplayer modes and long campaigns make terrible rentals.

Like Need for Speed: Shift. I rented the game only to find an interesting a compelling career mode that rewarded different types of driving and had a lot of variety to the races. I realised that if I played through the entire career, without wearing out my 360’s steering wheel through overuse, I’d probably still be renting it now. So I popped it back in the post and bought it instead.

I still think fondly about blowing up Martian prefabs and demolishing enemy bases in Red Faction: Guerrilla, only to paw futilely at the empty space on my shelf. There are some games that you’re going to want to revisit time and time again, so think carefully about how much enjoyment you gleam out of certain genres before renting them.

3: You won’t be playing the newest releases

This is less of a tip, and more of a revelation that I can pass down to you. I am not playing Borderlands right now; half of Ready-Up is cooperatively looting and killing on my Xbox 360 friends list, and I’m not. Instead I’m renting Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard and the Blu-Ray version of Hot Fuzz.

There are some ancient rules and laws you can practice to truly master the art of LoveFilm queue manipulation, but it’s pretty much a full time job. If you’re as impatient and easily motivated by online hype as me, then maybe renting isn’t for you. When the Ready-Up forums and Twitter is ablaze with Batman: Arkham Asylum love, and LoveFilm gives a pathetic “there is likely to be a long wait for this title,” you might find yourself standing in Morrisons with a brand new game in your hand.

But there are some games that are completely immune – short experiences that you’ve no interest in repeating (WET, Wanted, 50 Cent), franchises you’re unsure of (Halo: ODST) and genres you rarely touch (Dragon Age). As long as you’re willing to wait a few weeks, you can dabble in some new games and try some brand new experiences, without breaking the bank.