Start To Crate

Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012)StC: -5 (Introcrate Penalty)Criterion’s latest (and currently an Origin freebie if you plunked down for SimCity), Need for Speed: Most Wanted, thumbs its nose at the Start to Crate staff by not only delivering a picturesque view of the crate-filled harbor district in the game’s handsome intro cinematic (under the studio’s title card, no less!), but then also making it impossible to re-view said video (to snap our scientifically rigorous screenshots) without re-installing the game.
We’ve got your number, Criterion.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012)
StC: -5 (Introcrate Penalty)

Criterion’s latest (and currently an Origin freebie if you plunked down for SimCity), Need for Speed: Most Wanted, thumbs its nose at the Start to Crate staff by not only delivering a picturesque view of the crate-filled harbor district in the game’s handsome intro cinematic (under the studio’s title card, no less!), but then also making it impossible to re-view said video (to snap our scientifically rigorous screenshots) without re-installing the game.

We’ve got your number, Criterion.

Batman: Arkham City (2011)StC: 2
Riddle me this, Caped Crusader… When is a safe not a safe? When it’s a crate.

Batman: Arkham City (2011)
StC: 2

Riddle me this, Caped Crusader… When is a safe not a safe? When it’s a crate.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011)StC: 0
Very clever, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, hiding those medical crates in your opening cinematic in the foreground. We thought you were better than this.
(We seriously did. But you can’t argue with science.)

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011)
StC: 0

Very clever, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, hiding those medical crates in your opening cinematic in the foreground. We thought you were better than this.

(We seriously did. But you can’t argue with science.)

"All games contain crates, therefore all games can be judged empirically on those crates.

Games can be rated and compared based on the shortest amount of time it takes a player to reach the first crate, which represents the point where the developers ran out of ideas.

This number is measured in seconds and is called "Start to Crate" or "StC". The smaller the StC, the worse the game."

With these immortal words, penned in the early year 2000, Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw birthed a revolution in the world of videogames through their website Old Man Murray.

Sadly, their experiment ended after 29 games (and the two now continue to contribute to the digital crate industry as Valve employees), but their legacy lives on.

If you would like to contribute to Start to Crate, or if you would like more information about crates or penalties, click the "I want to submit to StC!" button below. If you have a general question not answered elsewhere, click the "I have a question!" button.

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Start To Crate logo crate designed by
Michael "Rusty" Drake.