The Five Most Annoying Game Mechanics

TalkXbox writes: "It takes time to perfect a profession. Law students attend school for nearly a decade just to be considered "amateurs." High expectations follow suit in the video game industry. Unless one's parents are Shigeru Miyamoto and Jade Raymond, they're probably going to err along the way. It's unfortunate when a fantastic experience is marred by simple mistakes. In an effort to insure this doesn't repeatedly occur, we've constructed a list of terrible game design ideas that continue to make their way into the games we play. In order to get rid of a problem, we have to identify what it is, so let's get to it..."

[morganfell]

Most annoying - 50% of everything in The Bourne Conspiracy.

[n9com]

good thing i never bought that, my friend was going crazy about it when he heard about a game being made based on TBC.

[morganfell]

I am a Bourne fan - first Ludlum and then the movies years later. Now Lustbader's novels. But this game was all over the map. It tried to be a prequel and a sequel. On top of that the fact that someone like Bourne that is so daring yet in game he can't leap across a waist high box. Then Bourne can pick a lock in nothing flat but every door locks behind him. He can't shoulder roll, leg sweep, or jump.

Worse, the devs violate a cardinal rule of game development. Never let AI do something that the player can't. I don't mean fly a plane if the player doesn't have the knowledge, but AI can wield knives and batons, pull off kick and punch combos Bourne can't. Bourne wields a baton, hits one guy and then drops said baton to fight two other people. The guy has an over bloated sense of fairness.

High Moon's resident idiot game designers should take a lesson from Uncharted.

Plain and simple if you want to go the route of the Bourne game just buy Stranglehold and you'll be much happier.

[poindat]

"Online Focus"

I really agree with this. With gaming becoming so online-centric, I feel like I am the only gamer that still enjoys the single player aspect of games more than the online.

[PirateThom]

You're not alone!

I'd much rather play a good, if short, single player than a tacked on single player with infinite online play.

It's just my play style.

My favourite two games last year?

Mass Effect and Uncharted. Neither of which even had online.

[morganfell]

Although I agree with you, Online Focus isn't a game mechanic but rather a game direction and design choice. Game Mechanics deal directly with player interaction with the game and game interaction with the player.

[mindedone]

I think that there are some games that were just meant for online. People don't buy Call of Duty or Halo or SOCOM for SP. If you buy these games for SP then you were clearly misinformed. However, what gets me is tacking on some lame online to a traditionally SP game. Most often it's just broken.

[schmeidenkamp]

i could care less if i get to play online or not. i like getting into the story and enjoying games by myself.

i have the orange box, never touched team fortress 2
cod4, sold it already
gta4, i play it to mess around by myself
mgs4, MGO sucked

[hay]

Lame jumping mechanic. Ninja Gaiden. Game itself was challenging, but not hard imo. The thing that pissed me off was not polished enough jumping mechanic.

[RealityCheck]

Pretty good editorial, there are some truths in all the annoyances mentioned. Now if only game designers listened instead of letting their ego get in the way.

[n9com]

Online is where it is at people!

[n9com]

guess we will have to keep wishing for a Bourne game done right. It has great potential.

[IRealityI]

Good article

[MiloGarret]

The only one I fully agree with is: "Designed to be Annoying", which is SPOT ON. The rest of the points can all be criticized: Difficulty--->play it on easy... daaa? Mandatory tutorials: Not everyone is a hardcore gamer and needs these kinds of things to be able to play the game properly, a much more annoying thing is when there isn't enough explanation, like Too Human were you basically have to figure most of the things for yourself. Online focus: First of, anyone who's played cod4 single player campaign knows that despite being extremely linear its one of the most intense SP experiences out there. Second, without a proper online focus a lot of games would lose pretty much all of its value after a very short time.
Can't really say anything about "Introducing a Mechanic, We Can’t Use" because I can't say I've ever experienced that.

[kapedkrusader]

-In regards to "Difficulty", he clearly is only speaking of games that don't have an "Easy" option, hence "no alternative."
-In regards to tutorials, he's not saying to get rid of them, only to make them optional.
-In regards to CoD4, he's basically saying that if you don't play on-line $60 is too much to pay. In other words, it caters mostly to on-line multiplayer.

[MiloGarret]

I'll admit the mandatory tutorials thing, but bringing up Ninja Gaiden as an example that doesn't have an Easy mode is incorrect, its called Path of the Acolyte and its very, very easy.
On COD4: How is it not enough to pay 60 $ (I actually paid over a 100 USD for it, EU resident) for one the best SP experiences ever? I know this is subjective... I bought the game for its SP, and I would have been satisfied with it had it not had MP.

But, whaaaaaaatever.

[n9com]

COD4 would not have got awards if it wasn't for its multiplayer.

[n9com]

"Mandatory tutorials: Not everyone is a hardcore gamer and needs these kinds of things to be able to play the game properly"

The keyword is MANDATORY - tutorials should not be forced upon hardcore gamers.

[morganfell]

Exactly. I picked up Brothers in Arms Hells Highway and you are presented with several tutorials. All of which you can choose to skip.

[bigman7387]

I agree that CoD4 was pretty short, but it was also ridiculously awesome. It was pretty intense as FPS single-player goes. Also shows people why nukes are nobody's friend.

[bigman7387]

Aw man I had forgotten about those stupid beggars in Assassin's Creed.

Oh, you're poor and hungry?

Well, now you're DEAD!

[n9com]

man i has forgotten about them, pesky flies!

[Bots Of A Feather Fl]

Guess so,make sure it's not the Flopbox version and you'll be fine

[n9com]

your attempt at starting a fanboy war are weak.

[Bots Of A Feather Fl]

Nope,it's quite strong actually