Signs your game has gone HORRIBLY WRONG

[Hiroshi Mishima]

Gods, what can I say that hasn't already been hit on at least once?

Major props to Ghostrider, though, for saying something which I've been ranting about for years. Why stick in all these gods-damned useless "challenges" to unlock something that will have NO purpose once you've unlocked it? Or conversely, why make it so that the "real" ending requires you to no only master the game, but adopt an asian (or someone between 13-18) and have them beat it for you? I am of course referring to games like Mario Galaxy with it's Purple Coins or Sunshine with it's "haha no waterpack although the game is made around it" areas. Or perhaps I am referring to games like Banjo Kazooie where you complete minigame (and I'll get to that shortly) only to be told you have to complete it AGAIN only harder for another quest item.

Next.. Minigames, gods am I SO sick and smegging tired of friggin' useless minigames in a game that is NOT a minigame based title. The biggest offender of late has been Zelda with it's rediculous archery minigames, or it's racing the clock minigames, or it's "you have 10 seconds to catch something that doesn't actually stop moving with a net that doesn't land where you point it" minigames. And this is especially true of ANY smegging game which includes the RACING minigame. Oh. My. Gods. I just want to murder someone when I run across one of these. Not only race, but complete objectives AND avoid getting hit, sometimes. I'm looking at you, Sonic Adventure 2, and also YOU, Spyro.

And please dear gods don't get me started on fake difficulty. Or maybe I should say confused difficulty? Where the Easy or Normal modes play like Hard with one or two less enemies in the level? Hey, Megaman 9, where's the damn Easy Mode? No I don't wanna by a god-damned Extra Hard Mode! The stupid game is obnoxiously hard as it is! Oh, and achievements? Why yes, I can't wait to take on the whole game under an hour with no damage only my Mega Buster AND on my first life. Spikes all over the walls and stuff cause you can't design games anymore? Why sure! Why resort to making a Megaman era game when you can make an 8-bit Megaman X game with outdated controls, AND you can remove two features which became well known in the series YOU ARE EMULATING.

Oh gods, I need to stop typing, it's just making me foam at the mouth. Lazy design has no excuse, and neither to timers on TIMED MISSIONS. Oh gods, don't get me started on the Parasveki Worm (or any of those X challenges) in Trauma Center... I've already got carpel tunnel from 1 year in an MMO.. that'll teach me to never play the wastes of time again...

 

[krseyffert]

What annoys me to no end is when you are at a LAN (PC LAN) and you want to play a game that clearly states Co-op on the main menu, so your friend installs the game so you can play, only to discover that the Co-op is only available in split-screen on the same PC. this is all fine and good for a console, but for a PC, i feel any game that has multi-player/Co-op should be LAN playable, mostly because split-screen is more annoying than an 6 year old constantly poking you with a plastic spork. but maybe that's just me.

 

[zehydra]

when it's calling the sprites out of the wrong parts of memory. (anybody who's played an old worn out NES game (on the NES, not merely a rom) will know what I'm talking about)

 

[The Heik]

I was playing Ninja Gaiden II, and as I played, I became frustrated.

Not with dying (But I'm sure you assumed that). I became frustrated that the camera was being uncooperative whenever I either fight a boss, or fight in a crowded area. The camera seems intent on making sure everything in the game has gone HORRIBLY WRONG.

So, what do you think are the signs when a game goes absolutely wrong on you? Was it the controls? Or did the characters seem to have the character of cardboard boxes? And while your at it, what game did this to you?

Chromehounds, when you don't know what you're supposed to do while you're in the mission, and leave the mission to figure out what it is purposely failing the mission.

And on a more generalized note, when the legions of the undead are rising because of your frustrated swearing, mostly to tell you to shut up.

 

[FightThePower]

When the game focus more on the online rather than the single player

Thank you!

Modern Warfare 2, you stand accused.

Really? With all the glitches, broken matchmaking and game imbalance in the Multiplayer I would say the opposite.

 

[Skobvs]

Left 4 Dead, with a team of 3 people and one bot... Need I say more?

 

[Sir Kemper]

When you ealize, for a rookie army private, you tend to do alot of the hard grunt work alone.

Standing acussed:

90% of the FPS games on the market.

 

[Daniel_Rosamilia]

When you get a message like the one when you kill a major story-important character in Morrowind 3. Sadly, I can't find the text for it, but it finishes with 'or persist in the doomed world you have created.'

 

[RelexCryo]

I was playing Ninja Gaiden II, and as I played, I became frustrated.

Not with dying (But I'm sure you assumed that). I became frustrated that the camera was being uncooperative whenever I either fight a boss, or fight in a crowded area. The camera seems intent on making sure everything in the game has gone HORRIBLY WRONG.

So, what do you think are the signs when a game goes absolutely wrong on you? Was it the controls? Or did the characters seem to have the character of cardboard boxes? And while your at it, what game did this to you?

When a game sacrifices other, necesary aspects of game design for the sake of challenge. You don't NEED to sacrifice the other, important aspects for challenge- but many game designers get so hung up on making a challenge, that they run out of time and have to rush the other aspects, resulting in a lower quality game.

Some people say this is an example, but I am not sure: Silent Hill 2 and Homecoming. Homecoming had far more challenging combat, but was considered inferior to 2 by many fans, simply because it didn't do pacing and atmosphere as well. I still personally think Homecoming was a great game.

But my point is that more challenging is not necessarily more fun, or for that matter better game design overall. That's an oversimplification, there is more to a game than just challenge.

When a game sacrificies immersion and suspension of disbelief for challenge (such as Call of Cthulu: the Dark Corners of the Earth- where guns would just magically dissappear after you kill someone, pereventing you from getting ammo from them-but would not magically dissappear if they placed the gun down and walked away from it before you killed them.)

Or when a game sacrifices empowerment for challenge (countless examples, several in City of Heroes/Villians dealing with Archvillians/Heroes-NPC Heroes are so ridiculously powerful in comparison you sometimes can't help but feel like a sidekick or a lackey. They could just as easily force players to group by pitting them against multiple Archvillians/heroes ala "Maximum Carnage" or Justice league/Legion of Doom.)

When a game sacrifices necessary aspects for challenge, that, in my mind, is one of the greatest signs it has gone horribly wrong. Challenge is necessary, but it is just one of several necessary game mechanics, the specific necessity of which is based on game "genre" (i.e., what the game set out to accomplish.)

 

[Volafortis]

When you are capable of naming your game by filling in the blanks: "B_g R_gs: _v_r th_ R__d R_c_ng"

 

[WyattEpp]

When you run up against invisible walls.

When you try to make UFO:EU a third-person action game.

 

[RelexCryo]

snip.

literally i was playing a game of l4d2 earlier..and just wow. i literally watched with my eyes as they SHOT out of the bathroom, easily 100 of them literally, and a charger and jockey followed suit and not even 15 seconds later a tank comes out of the mens room super pissed off about not having toilet paper or something, he took out all three of us within 10 seconds

That....is hilarious. Why were 100 infected and 3 bosses sharing a bathroom?

 

[Fox242]

When I am killed by something and I haven't the faintest idea of what it was because the game will not show me. That's a great sign that the train has run off the tracks.

 

[MurderousToaster]

When this happens:

 

[fahbrock]

When a game has a set piece that is supposed to scare you or move along plot, but doesn't go the extra inch to make sure the camera is facing at that set piece.

Example: I was playing Doom 3 again the other day for the fifth or sixth time. There is a room near the beginning where I would pass through and hear children playing. I never took much notice to this the first few times I played through, but this time when the wav of children playing started, I also noticed bloody footprints walking across the floor. Obviously this goes along with the sounds of children, but, since I didn't notice it until my umpteenth play through, it made me wonder why it was there in the first place. Perhaps they should have made sure that the camera was facing the bloody footsteps. It might have had a better effect.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

When the game focus more on the online rather than the single player

But Team Fortress 2 is nothing but online, and it is great. Maybe it could be said that whatever a game is going for, it should stick to that and play to its strengths. A game built around multiplayer matches (like Unreal Championship 2: Liandri Conflict) shouldn't focus on making a single player mode that's vastly different (or at all different) from the modes the game is good at.

TF2 could have had a campaign mode tacked on there, but what would have been the point? It probably would have sucked.

 

[Aura Guardian]

When the game focus more on the online rather than the single player

But Team Fortress 2 is nothing but online, and it is great. Maybe it could be said that whatever a game is going for, it should stick to that and play to its strengths. A game built around multiplayer matches (like Unreal Championship 2: Liandri Conflict) shouldn't focus on making a single player mode that's vastly different (or at all different) from the modes the game is good at.

TF2 could have had a campaign mode tacked on there, but what would have been the point? It probably would have sucked.

I mostly care about games that had a great single player with a great multiplayer. Games like TF2 and Battlefield series don't really count since it's only multiplayer.

 

[Deadlock Radium]

Pretty much everything in GTA IV, because everything is so slooooooow.
And escort missions, damn you, escort missions!

 

[RanD00M]

when a boss or mini-boss hands you your ass on a silver tray in under 10 seconds.

And it doesn't help that in many games where the mini-bosses are super strong.The regular bosses are just some pussies in your way to victory.