Game ideas that developers need to stop doing

[ZenMonkey47]

Somewhat PS3 specific, but being forced to use the analog sticks for movement. Is there a GOOD reason why I can't use the d-pad? Huh, little big planet?! IS THERE?!

*ahem* And generaly being unable to switch the control scheme around to my liking.

 

[742]

grind. bad badety bad bad bad.
the uncanney valley of linear/open world gameplay "wait... can i move that box... no... ok can i go through this door.... no... can i walk down that hallw-no... how do i get out of this room-oh, move that box" and too tired to remember the opposite of this, basically stay consistant, if players can destroy boxes, let them destroy boxes everywhere. dont make any plot essential stuff that looks like a box unless its there specifically to die.

important people, unimportant task "uh-huh, so, my dads the god of murder, im now the avatar of murder, and ive just had my soul stolen, remind me again: why the fuck am i being forced to escort this idiot around town? i have a backpack full of swords that individually must be worth more than this entire city, cant i pay someone else to do it?"

escort quests without EXTREMELY good AI. including context sensitive friendly fire scripts.

generic midevil england

"good" and "evil" having pretty much the same path through the game, being different in name only. ok yeah the bad guy gets to act like a badass in a cutscene halfway through the game, the good guy gets to save orphans, big deal. the bad guy gets ONE spell different, he gets damage instead of heal, oh yay, makes being good/evil worth it.

 

[Syphonz]

I usually dislike games that go into the whole 'Acient mystical cults' i.e Condemned 2.

Silent Hill series is really the only one franchise that seems to pull it off properly.

 

[Archemetis]

Space Marine type characters with perfectly Rectangular jaws would be a good thing to do away with.

I mean yeah, i'm all for a gun that shoots Chainsaws or whatever, but when it's in the hands of "Generic Space Grunt NO. 9001" it just takes it all away from the overall experience for me.
it's why i gre tired of the Halo games.

(also i wasn't making any reference to Gears then with the chainsaw gun thing, i've never even played gears, the space marine thing kicked in for me before that game)

I'd like to see more games set in a Steampunk variant of the 18th century, i just don't think there are enough games like that, at least none the come into current memory for me...

 

[LisaB1138]

By that logic . . . . Also, who's to say that every FPS is the same, but with different guns? You've got no regard for story-lines? Look at STALKER. The anomalies and artifacts and such are just negligible, and STALKER is just like every other FPS? Half-life had the gravity gun and an awesome (although not original) story, because the characters in it were so believable.

It's not logic, it's an opinion.

I don't enjoy the FP perspective. I don't find it immersive; I find that disembodied hand or gun reminiscent of "Thing" from the Addams family, and it's tough to get that image out of your head once it's in.

So yeah, they all look like Malibu Stacy with a new hat to me. I guess the mere fact they are their own GENRE with the complete essence of the game in the title of that genre sort of bears out the fact they're all pretty much the same: First-Person Shooter. I don't enjoy first person perspective, and I don't like shooting things to be the main objective. So no, I couldn't care less if any more were made. I confess some of the stories of games like Bioshock sound interesting, but again, I don't enjoy the perspective. I find it distracting.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Quick-time events, Escort/AI Friend Support Missions and the regenerating health all need to stop being used....

 

[Skarvey]

I would say neglect of original story and interesting dialogue is something I'd like to see drop off in gaming these days. We've made a few breakthroughs, but I'd like to see an industry wide epiphany on the matter.

 

[Iron Mal]

Military shooters: a few years ago I would have used the term 'shooter' to describe games like Turok 2, Duke Nukem and Doom since they were the most common and dominant variety. Games like Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six where your character dies in one or two shots and you were having to use actual military equipment/lingo/manevures were more specialist, and as such, were far fewer in number and less popular (and presumeably higher in quality as a result).

Nowadays, I can't look for a decent shooter thats been released in the last couple of years without having to sift through heaps and piles of Halo clones and Tom Clancy knock-offs.

Secondly, Snipers: It is only in recent times that I've grown to loath and despise sniper rifles in games, they are useually overpowered, require little talent to use and neglect to include the traditional vulnerability of the sniper, that being close range fights (I've been no-scoped far too much in the past). When was the last time in a game that the first gun everyone would run and grab was a machine gun or (God forbid) a shotgun? When did everyone develop a morbid fear of anything that doesn't fire hyper-velocity, 1-hit kill rounds?

Thirdly, Iraq: While I understand that games need to keep up with the time they are made and keep a certain level of topicality, why the hell are there so many games that are based on the conflict in Iraq or have taken design points from it? (let's face it, Gears of War was based on it, Rainbow Six had a couple of games set during 'the war on Terror' and am I the only one who interpreted the Covenant in Halo as being an intergalactic Taliban?). I miss tha good old dark and gothic settings of the 90's, Unreal Tournament had levels that were set in castles, cathedrals, ancient ruins and run down industrial plants (while more recent versions are all set in shiney, chrome space stations and occasionally you'll get a bit of rust), Turok 2 had you gunning your way through ruined cities, the Death marshes (and I think you even go through an occult underworld at one point).

Whats more interesting? Bombed out street with the occasional propaganda poster? Or something that looks like it was designed by Marilyn Manson and Tim Burton? (if you can honestly say the first one, I probably don't want to know you).

 

[ManiacRaccoon]

"This elevator is going to take a while to come down. Oh no, here are a flood of enemies to annoy the fuck out of you while you wait"

Honestly, can't I just take the stairs?

Depends on what game you are playing. In the future, stairs don't exist.

Well, I still like Lava and Sewer levels, but if you are going to take them away why not ice levels too? I still like those is well, but what makes them so much better than lava or sewers? Maybe the ice levels don't smell as bad...

I'll probably become very unpopular for saying this this, but I also happen to like quick time events. It's a nice change from the same actions you do throughout the game, like how you would ordinarily be unable to repeatedly slam someone's head in a helicopter door in "Mercenaries 2."

Whats more interesting? Bombed out street with the occasional propaganda poster? Or something that looks like it was designed by Marilyn Manson and Tim Burton? (if you can honestly say the first one, I probably don't want to know you).

And what about Bombed out street with propaganda posters designed by Tim Burton? Are those okay? Or a street designed by Tim Burton with propaganda posters?

 

[hippieshopper]

First, I love RPGs... so don't hate me for saying this, but:

There is no reason to have turn based battles anymore. Really, now a days, it seems like the only offenders are JRPGs, but I don't think I can ever go back to turn based battles in my RPGs.

Honestly, I miss turn based battles. It may not be realistic but who cares? Games are about fun not to be as realistic as possible. And not like Final Fantasy, more like Suikoden, having 6 people in a party kicked ass. It seemed like you could do a bit more planning in how things would go in a battle when you weren't spamming the X button to attack the nearest thing.

Secondly, Snipers: It is only in recent times that I've grown to loath and despise sniper rifles in games, they are useually overpowered, require little talent to use and neglect to include the traditional vulnerability of the sniper, that being close range fights (I've been no-scoped far too much in the past). When was the last time in a game that the first gun everyone would run and grab was a machine gun or (God forbid) a shotgun? When did everyone develop a morbid fear of anything that doesn't fire hyper-velocity, 1-hit kill rounds?

I could not agree with you more, it seems that shotguns and rocket launchers are being neglected, and so are flamethrowers. It's all about the "Point and click" adventures as Yahtzee said.

 

[Erana]

Only ONE touch will leave you infected with the horrible (insert disease here)! Only One. Little. Touch.

*Gets nom'd by monsters but doesn't get infected*

 

[SwampCandle]

I'm getting a bit tired of games about space marines. Though, to be honest. If it was a more closed in, fighting onboard orbital stations and space ships type of shooter I'd find it more interesting. Closed in, tight corridors, with a wide variety of weapons. And I don't mind being a super soldier/genetically engineered badass. It gives a basic explanation as to why you're the badass's badass.

So basically, make a console version of Space Hulk?
Or, Space Marines can be reserved for Warhammer 40K games, you know, where they come from after all.

But, what I want developers to do stop doing is just stop proclaiming a game as 'new' when it's exactly the same as they game before it. Looking at you CoD 4 and CoD WaW.
Also, I'd like for developers (aiming this one at Polyphony) to stop releasing an incomplete version of the game while they finish the proper version, a'la Gran Turismo 4/5.

I'd like to see more games set in a Steampunk variant of the 18th century, i just don't think there are enough games like that, at least none the come into current memory for me...

You and me both dude, which is why I am looking foreward to Damnation.

EDIT: Oh and realism, it's a game, not real life, so theres no point making it realistic.
And games like Gears. I.E have one piece of gimmicky crap that make people say "OMFG! THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVAR!"

EDIT 2.0: Oh! and using Trigger buttons in racing games to accelerate/brake, it's always been 'X' button (or nearest equivalent for other consoles), but now the triggers are the best thing, why? there's no difference in performance of the cars, so why bother?

 

[LadyZephyr]

Obligatory Love Interests. I like complex character relationships and if the game's writer can pull off something interesting, then more power to him. But when half the games I play, from Final Fantasy to Metal Gear Solid, introduce a Really Obvious Love Interest ten minutes in, it bugs the hell out of me. Because OLI will need to be saved and I'll do the saving and then we will admit our feelings right before going to save the world. OLI's make game plots hopelessly predictable.

That's why I always let Meryl die in MGS. Shake things up a bit.

(And speaking of that, I wish more games did multiple endings. Don't need a lot, just a handful that you earn based on your actions in the game's plot. It's good incentive to replay too.)

 

[laikenf]

By that logic . . . . Also, who's to say that every FPS is the same, but with different guns? You've got no regard for story-lines? Look at STALKER. The anomalies and artifacts and such are just negligible, and STALKER is just like every other FPS? Half-life had the gravity gun and an awesome (although not original) story, because the characters in it were so believable.

It's not logic, it's an opinion.

I don't enjoy the FP perspective. I don't find it immersive; I find that disembodied hand or gun reminiscent of "Thing" from the Addams family, and it's tough to get that image out of your head once it's in.

So yeah, they all look like Malibu Stacy with a new hat to me. I guess the mere fact they are their own GENRE with the complete essence of the game in the title of that genre sort of bears out the fact they're all pretty much the same: First-Person Shooter. I don't enjoy first person perspective, and I don't like shooting things to be the main objective. So no, I couldn't care less if any more were made. I confess some of the stories of games like Bioshock sound interesting, but again, I don't enjoy the perspective. I find it distracting.

Count me in. I find the first person perspective uncomfortable. First, I find it difficult to explore in that perspective because I can't get a grasp of my surroundings (I have to be constantly looking up, down, left, right) and you're character is basically striped of any, well, character, making it really hard to feel any kind of sympathy or attachment to him (or her). But my biggest problem with the FPP is kind of hard to explain; you see if I'm not able to see my character I feel a bit disoriented, my sense of depth is greatly dimished and it is also hard for me to have a sense of what is close to me and what not. This is due to the fact that being able to see my character allows me to have some sort of reference of where I am within the games space making it easier to locate my enemies and everything else surrounding me.

 

[Iron Mal]

I don't see what all the fuss about the first person is about, it's a basic transfer of perspective. Make a mental note of how you see things in the world every day, if you were holding a gun you would see your hands and forearms, you need a mirror to see what you look like and to see things above/below and to the side of you, you would have to turn either your head or body in the direction nessercary. It's not a hard concept to understand and since that's how we all see things anyway, it's not a novel or alien concept either.

 

[tobyornottoby]

I don't see what all the fuss about the first person is about, it's a basic transfer of perspective. Make a mental note of how you see things in the world every day, if you were holding a gun you would see your hands and forearms, you need a mirror to see what you look like and to see things above/below and to the side of you, you would have to turn either your head or body in the direction nessercary. It's not a hard concept to understand and since that's how we all see things anyway, it's not a novel or alien concept either.

But it's not entirely second nature... enough parents & girls I know that get dizzy from it >.>
Not that I mind

 

[wewontdie11]

Sandbox free roaming gangster games. I have honestly had more than my fill of them. I have had Saints Row 2 sitting next door for over a week now I think, and I still have no intention of playing it despite all of the rave reviews it's been getting.

 

[Hookman]

I dont know if someones already said it but being a fucking space marine or being in some kind of medieval Britain enviroment. Not that games like these are all bad but it gets boring playing as a master chief ripoff or being stuck in the middle of medieval yorkshire!

 

[BBLIZZARD]

Space Marines
Saving the World
Sword and Sorcery RPG's
Ultra Violence

 

[InsanityBaronOfAtrocity]

I have to admit I actually really like my big ass half-robot space marines. I think they look bloody awesome. Anyway what do you people want in their place? Puppies? Some freaky bloke who smells socks and refuses to wear clothes?

More on topic. Please, please, PLEASE stop doing fantasy MMO's. I am sick to death of them. Why can't they just accept the fact WoW dominates the market? Jesus...