Which Games Do QTEs Right?

[DoctorObviously]

The God of War series (mostly)
Mass Effect 2 (mostly)
Heavy Rain

There are probably more, but those are the ones from the top of my head right now.

 

[Geekosaurus]

I'm not a fan of them. Especially of the ones in Womb Raider games where they appear on the screen for half a second before she plunges to her erotic-sounding death. The problem is that you just don't see them coming. You don't have enough time to let go of your wang pick up your controller and start pressing buttons.

 

[Wintermoot]

probaly Shenmue it used it as its core game mechanic

 

[OliverTwist72]

QTE need to go die a horrible flamey death. Seriously I hate them in every game they are in, they are inexcusable (did I mention I hate them?). Most QTE are things that pop up that you are unaware of so you have to watch the whole GD cutscene again, where is the fun in that?

Edit: And after reading the Stolen Pixels article that is true as well. If the game has QTE you are watching the corner of the screen where the indicator is popping up half the time and not the actual cutscene.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Come to think of it - I guess the QTEs in MGS4 were ok - they were just additions to cut scenes, hit L1 or X to see a memory during the normal cut scene - I think that added something there, and there was nothing really lost if you missed the queue.

Those MGS ones to me are what QTE's are supposed to be like: no penalty when you fail them and a nice bonus when you succeed. Plus, they're not difficult.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I'd say not God of War persee, but just God of War 3. The main reason being that you don't actually have to figure out which button you need to press. They've cleverely put the button you need to press on the correct edge of the screen. You see something flash on the right? Circle. Bottom? X. That also means that you don't have to take your eyes off the glorious slaughter that revels before your eyes. QTE's at their finest.

 

[Smooth Operator]

The ones that don't have them, QTEs do not add anything to any game, only piss you off.

 

[Netrigan]

They work reasonably well for mini-games like hacking in Bioshock 2, but that's just "not sucking". Alpha Protocol had better hacking and lockpicking mini-games.

I liked how Assassin'sCreed 2 used them in cutscenes. Waiting for someone to being those Heavy Rain techniques to cutscenes so you can play them... but allowing you to do nothing and still get through them. I know I have a habit of tuning out cutscenes and would love to see some interactivity in them, so long as it's not Press Button To Not Die.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Bayonetta did them quite well in my mind. They only occurred during cinematics that were directly in the middle of combat anyhow and thus I was already quite ready to mash buttons in response to an enemy action. Plus, the such events were useful for accomplishing a feat that the robust combo system would have rendered all but impossible otherwise. I don't want to imagine what the button combo for kicking a church into a dragon might be.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

Ninja Blade

I was going to say this, with a qualifier: If you enjoy a good QTE, and don't merely tolerate them, then Ninja Blade certainly does them well, especially since they seem to be contextual, and not arbitrary (meaning that certain buttons will be used in certain circumstances, and it's not just a random button every time, so there's a bit of anticipation involved in that you can occasionally predict which button/move you'll need to make.)

Also, having spent a great deal of time in the first level messing up the QTE's, I like that it seems to always be the same pattern, so if you mess up, there's the comfort of knowing that it will get easier if you can remember the pattern; I also like that if you mess up, it doesn't kick you back too far, it's more like when you die in PoP and the game just "rewinds" and says "that's not how it happened..."

 

[Trolldor]

I hate QTE's because it relies on reaction time.

I've never had trouble with them, but I can't enjoy any epic battle scenes if I have to constantly glare at a single point on the screen for the goddamn prompt to pop up.

Metro 2033 did it right because it was never during a video scene, but moments in actual gameplay.

 

[binvjoh]

I'd say Resident Evil 4 did them pretty well. But back then they were still "fresh"

 

[Ordinaryundone]

God of War has always done them well. They are quick and easy, but still very visceral and exciting. Plus, they are well integrated into gameplay, giving you multiple options when dealing with enemies. I do wish their was more variation in the animations, but that isn't the fault of the QTEs.

Shenmue did them well too, in the same vein. I actually got to the point where I preferred the QTEs to an actual fight, simply because the QTE scenes were well directed and I enjoyed seeing them.

Bayonetta is a good example of a game that does them rather poorly. The torture attack button mashing is ok, I guess, but the mid-cutscene ones just come out of nowhere and are very easy to fail if you aren't paying enough attention. And failure usually equals death, ruining your chances for a good score on the level.

 

[tseroff]

BioShock 2 made hacking better then it was in the first game.

This. According to Yahtzee, it is the only QTE that has improved a game, and from my experience, I have to agree.

 

[CleverCover]

Shenmue games and Heavy Rain for me probably. Both of which are games that you know there will be QTE's in. Unlike other genres where you don't expect them, and consequently you are completely caught off guard.

That was it. Shenmue was the game that I enjoyed the QTE's in them.

And now brings the sad feelings....

 

[FalloutJack]

Wow, nobody mentioned this? Two words, Escapists.

Dark Cloud.

 

[ewhac]

Dragon's Lair.

 

[Flishiz]

It may be kind of strange hearing this, but I honestly think the best QTE implementation was in Lair, because it felt like you were really kicking ass on the back of a giant firebreathing dragon, and the controls felt pretty intuitive there too, as if to make up for the rest of the bullshit the game forced through

 

[Dexiro]

I thought Bayonetta did QTE's fairly well. They were few and far between, and the important ones were really easy/predictable. Their were just a few exceptions though where one would jump out of nowhere during a cutscene and give you an instakill or 2.

This is in contrast to Castlevania which I bought shortly afterwards, that game has QTE's every 10 seconds and they're all annoying as hell.

 

[suitepee7]

i'm sorry but i gotta say, GOW did do them pretty well, maybe not so much the boss fights, but the stronger mobs. ones where they aren't forced. so killing a minotour normally is fine, but killing with a QTE will grant you a health bonus and usually gets the job done quicker.

some of the worst used of them are dead rising 2, not when you get grabbed and shake the analogue stick, but when you get taken down to the floor and have to press a button at the right time to get out of it. also the ones in resident evil cutscenes. combat ones kinda made sense, i could go with them, but in the middle of a cutscene? fuck off...

EDIT: after looking at other comments, i think i should mention the hacking QTE in bioshock 2 was an improvement, and i liked bayonettas too ^^