Running through my backlog of games on Steam, I recently played and beat Resident Evil 5.
My praise for the title might be summed up with the phrase "There are worse games." But there were a couple of moments in particular that reminded me of particular designer tactics that, well, just need to get written out of the playbook. Sometimes these things even show up in good games, but they typically bring one's enjoyment to a crashing halt.
And now you're going to face TWO (or more) of those boss bad guys... AND an infinite number of mooks, "just to keep it interesting". Has this ever been greeted with, "Wow, what a brilliant re-use of game assets, I'm certainly looking forward to the enhanced challenge of this thoughtful and well-designed encounter?" It's the infinite mooks that particularly irritate me: it's not enough to have to worry about the typically ridiculous attacks of some mini-boss, but we have to waste time, effort, concentration and resources on enemies who aren't even counted as any sort of progress to defeat. Sometimes the cannon-fodder are used because they provide ammunition or resources necessary to the bosses' defeat; on that regard, it suggests the weapons or supplies the player is being granted for the task otherwise are significantly underpowered.
See also: The Suffering: Ties That Bind and others.
All those skills you've been honing are useless against this bad guy, who can only be defeated by doing something utterly un-intuitive.
Sure, he has a big glowing orange spot. But you know what it's going to take to kill him? Closing in on him and holding him so your partner can stab him repeatedly in the chest.
Yes, every scene in the game has suggested he was far too strong for any such a tactic to work, even before he grew half-again as large and sprouted enormous black tentacles.
Yes, the fact that every bad-guy we've seen sport the villain's latest transformation has become vulnerable to fire is now irrelevant.
Yes, he also has a close-range attack that means instant death if it hits.
Yes, the task of destroying the glowing orange spot is something that can only be done with a knife, as apparently a rocket propelled grenade is just too... I don't know, uncouth?
Long before this final encounter, I was already fairly certain that the multiple loving cut-scenes of UberBad beating the living snot out of our erstwhile heroes had made it clear that the game was rooting for the other side. But this was the point where any hatred I might have been generating for our villain was transferred to the people who designed his encounters. A desire to "mix things up" or make a confrontation more "cinematic" is a crap excuse for compromising game-play, and minimizing the abilities the player has gained in the course of play is bound to make the most explosive climax seem, well, anti-climactic.
See also: Gun (of course wearing a plate on your chest protects you from head-shots!) and others.
Your candidates for execution?
My praise for the title might be summed up with the phrase "There are worse games." But there were a couple of moments in particular that reminded me of particular designer tactics that, well, just need to get written out of the playbook. Sometimes these things even show up in good games, but they typically bring one's enjoyment to a crashing halt.
And now you're going to face TWO (or more) of those boss bad guys... AND an infinite number of mooks, "just to keep it interesting". Has this ever been greeted with, "Wow, what a brilliant re-use of game assets, I'm certainly looking forward to the enhanced challenge of this thoughtful and well-designed encounter?" It's the infinite mooks that particularly irritate me: it's not enough to have to worry about the typically ridiculous attacks of some mini-boss, but we have to waste time, effort, concentration and resources on enemies who aren't even counted as any sort of progress to defeat. Sometimes the cannon-fodder are used because they provide ammunition or resources necessary to the bosses' defeat; on that regard, it suggests the weapons or supplies the player is being granted for the task otherwise are significantly underpowered.
See also: The Suffering: Ties That Bind and others.
All those skills you've been honing are useless against this bad guy, who can only be defeated by doing something utterly un-intuitive.
Sure, he has a big glowing orange spot. But you know what it's going to take to kill him? Closing in on him and holding him so your partner can stab him repeatedly in the chest.
Yes, every scene in the game has suggested he was far too strong for any such a tactic to work, even before he grew half-again as large and sprouted enormous black tentacles.
Yes, the fact that every bad-guy we've seen sport the villain's latest transformation has become vulnerable to fire is now irrelevant.
Yes, he also has a close-range attack that means instant death if it hits.
Yes, the task of destroying the glowing orange spot is something that can only be done with a knife, as apparently a rocket propelled grenade is just too... I don't know, uncouth?
Long before this final encounter, I was already fairly certain that the multiple loving cut-scenes of UberBad beating the living snot out of our erstwhile heroes had made it clear that the game was rooting for the other side. But this was the point where any hatred I might have been generating for our villain was transferred to the people who designed his encounters. A desire to "mix things up" or make a confrontation more "cinematic" is a crap excuse for compromising game-play, and minimizing the abilities the player has gained in the course of play is bound to make the most explosive climax seem, well, anti-climactic.
See also: Gun (of course wearing a plate on your chest protects you from head-shots!) and others.
Your candidates for execution?
