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games that are too.."in your face"

S

Salsa

Member
Having trouble thinking about other examples, so this might be an isolated issue, but bear with me:

I replayed both Max Paynes earlier this year

imgmax%20payne1.jpg

chose this pic on purpose

and hell, i love some aspects of the writing as much as ever, brilliant stuff, but the game just wouldnt shut up about how NOIR it was.

i know it can be on purpose some times, but the game doesnt come off as being a "parody" at any minute, so it just feels weird.

"it was like a NOIR vision of.."

"it felt like i was in a NOIR version.."

there's even a place called NOIR York City.

we get it Max Payne, you like old movies and you enter the room like Humphrey Bogart, but we dont need you to keep reminding us this every second of the game.

So yeah, disclaimer: i love the games (of course the first one a tad more), always did, but just after replaying the game it hit me that the game tried a bit too hard.

Any other examples?
 
John said:
metroid other m has themes of motherhood!
Click to expand...

That wasn't just in your face. That was attached to a metal bat and smacked upon your face repeatedly until you're bleeding to death.
 
Bulletstorm might've done that a tad bit. Really good gameplay though.

On the other hand, I actually thought some of the stuff brought up towards the end of the game was quite interesting, mostly stuff about the cost of leading men to battle and being able to sacrifice your subordinates as a leader/soldier, but that was just a tiny bit, and it totally didn't gel with dick tits.
 
Would Metal Gear Solid 4 count according to the OPs criteria?

Given the lengthy amount of cutscenes, and how it repeats and reinforces so much of the convoluted story.

Halo 3 during the 'Cortana' level.
 
tbh, I find Max Payne's original constipated face more endearing now than ever. The noir stuff is definitely in-your-face though. I personally enjoy it because its so over the top, but I definitely see where you're coming from.

For me a game that was too in your face was the first time I played Call of Duty 4. I couldn't get over the feeling that I was being told to do things instead of feeling like I was doing things of my own will. I've gotten over that hang-up, but CoD4 was really a turning point. I actually hated that game's SP. Max Payne isn't less linear, but the game still let you play it at your own pace. CoD4 paced itself strictly, and if you deviated you either died or had to wait. My frustration was constant, and I would say, In My Face.
 
SalsaShark said:
a tad bit?? it was the whole point!

Bulletstorm gets a free-pass cause that was basically the whole idea
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I know! But I thought some parts at the end were semi interesting, so it clashed with the whole going-too-far-on-purpose thing. Once they tried to inject some actual substance, the whole thing lost a bit of it's shine for me.
 
Seems like every Korean RPG (and I suppose the post-nuclear Tokyo games) I play starts off with some spiel about how the terrors of humanity and the horrors of the human spirit led to some downfall or endless war. Asking rhetorical questions about why humans fight eachother, etc, etc. We get it, Korea.

NBtoaster said:
Bayonetta.
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This is good. I loved all of it, but I can see how someone could find the constant lengthy sexual pose cutscenes a little annoying.
 
Dead Space 1-2 (ESPECIALLY 2) really overdoes it with the jump-scares, the creepy things scurrying around corners and across windows, the words scrawled on walls in blood, the dead bodies, the audio logs with some dude in mortal danger reading their script without subtlety... every 10 frickin' seconds something "scary" happens. It's just irritating. They have no concept of how to pace a good horror experience.
 
revolverjgw said:
Dead Space 1-2 (ESPECIALLY 2) really overdoes it with the jump-scares, the creepy things scurrying around corners and across windows, the words scrawled on walls in blood, the dead bodies... every 10 frickin' seconds something "scary" happens. It's just irritating. They have no concept of how to pace a good horror experience.
Click to expand...
Dead Space is less paced around being terrifying than just being consistently agitating. The game aims to keep you on your toes. The sounds and environments strongly suggest what is about to happen, but never answers the question directly. There is always enough left in the air that you get a sense of tension. I love where the game aims for your mental state to occupy.

Amnesia is more designed around giving you a sense of terror. A sense of defenselessness, and being faced with powers far stronger than your own. And you don't ever conquer them with anything more than cowardice and thought.
 
Would the stylish photoshoots of EVERY unlocked car in NFS: HP be applicable here? I adore the game but I have to sit through a ton of shit anytime something is unlocked. I get it already.
 
When I was writing an article about noir in games last year I had a bit of a revelation about Max, particularly in Max Payne 2. At one point Remedy shifts the game's perspective to Mona, and suddenly Max's rambling, overdone inner monologue is gone. And that's when you realize that he's kind of fucking crazy.

Very cool storytelling technique that ties the character's psyche into the presentation of the game.
 
There are a lot of games that do this, but Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time frustrates me by always showing you what you have to do at each obstacle, rather than figure it out for yourself.
 
GTA 4. I felt they took most of the subtlety of the humor out. All of the jokes are so in your face now. Almost like a bad episode of South Park or Family Guy. Especially after San Andreas.
 
Fimbulvetr said:
Tales of Symphonia

If I hear Lloyd talk about his ideals one more time I'm gonna pop a blood vessel.
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Dwarven Vow #1: Let's all work together for the sake of a peaceful world.
 
Fimbulvetr said:
Tales of Symphonia

If I hear Lloyd talk about his ideals one more time I'm gonna pop a blood vessel.
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In all fairness, he's nowhere near as bad as the blue haired kid from Wild Arms 5.

"You can do anything as long as you don't give up! You can do anything as long as you don't give up! You can do anything as long as you don't give up!"

SHUT UP, Dean. Just shut the fuck up.
 
Bioshock 2 was so desperate to convince the player that Sophia Lamb was as cool an antagonist as Andrew Ryan that their aggressive retconning quickly became obnoxious.

"Hey player, remember how memorable Ryan was? Well, Lamb was his equal, and rival! No, really! Here's an audio log of Ryan talking about Lamb that proves it! And another with Lamb talking about Ryan! Oh, and here's one of the two of them having a public debate! Lamb is preeeetty damn great, huh? Right?!"
 
I've only played one "in your face" game and it was Beat Hazard. Thankfully, it was a demo, because I wanted to give it a beat down. Just hated it.
 
Vanquish

I mean that as a positive. The story and way characters act is hilariously over the top but also within the realm of something like Gears.

btw, the Max Payne games (and Alan Wake) are funny too. Some of the lines are so stupid that they feel right out of bad mystery fiction, but the writer seems well aware. Lines like "logic is such a liar" are hilarious.
 
eshwaaz said:
Bioshock 2 was so desperate to convince the player that Sophia Lamb was as cool an antagonist as Andrew Ryan that their aggressive retconning quickly became obnoxious.

"Hey player, remember how memorable Ryan was? Well, Lamb was his equal, and rival! No, really! Here's an audio log of Ryan talking about Lamb that proves it! And another with Lamb talking about Ryan! Oh, and here's one of the two of them having a public debate! Lamb is preeeetty damn great, huh? Right?!"
Click to expand...


yes, this...
 
Bulletstorm. Only played the demo because it was so obnoxious, IMO. The gameplay was great, but I didn't want to have to put the thing on mute to enjoy it. And yeah, I get that the point was to be over-the-top.
 
revolverjgw said:
Dead Space 1-2 (ESPECIALLY 2) really overdoes it with the jump-scares, the creepy things scurrying around corners and across windows, the words scrawled on walls in blood, the dead bodies, the audio logs with some dude in mortal danger reading their script without subtlety... every 10 frickin' seconds something "scary" happens. It's just irritating. They have no concept of how to pace a good horror experience.
Click to expand...
While I agree with the general sentiment, they do know how to pace a good horror experience (
revisiting the Ishimura in Dead space 2
is a good example). I just don't think 'a good horror experience' would have sold as well as a bombastic horror-third person shooter, sadlly. (i still liked the game).
 
FF13

lightning: "i hope that after the 23rd time i spit a terrible one-liner and walk away (not that i actually go anywhere), you understand that i'm a troubled character."

rest of the group: "geez lightning why you gotta be like that aw geez"
 
I didn't understand the thread topic at first. I always thought "in your face" gameplay was a good thing where a game grabs you and never let's go. Like Sin & Punishment 2, NFS Hot Pursuit, or Resident Evil 4.

But I understand what you mean. Some games do over do it like Snow and Hope in FFXIII.
 
Bayonetta's entire joke was that it was in your face, so I don't really get that one.

I'm not a fan of Assassin's Creed's constant conspiracy shit, but I think the biggest offender is Metal Gear Solid 4. The gorgeous soundtrack was way too dramatic for some of the silly stuff that was happening in that game. The depressing theme at the beginning is immediately made giggle-worthy by giant human-lady-leg robots that yell "MOOOOOOOOOO!"
 
Resident Evil 5 and the whole "partner" theme. It was everywhere, and the word "partner" was repeated all the time: in cut-scenes, in gameplay ("Thanks pahtner!").
 
nano machines....


a game too in your face game for me would be dante's inferno,
It was trying to hard to be better than GoW that it actually came off as mesy, uninspired and boring to play..
it's also so in your face about sin and morality and just seems ott about the way it handles it, the sin and damnation part could have been so disturbing to the player if handled correctly, but the way it was done was so stone faced that it turned into amateur dramatics/laugh out loud bad....

or practically any game by game loft they don't hide who the are paying "homage" **cough cough**, meh I may have missed the point about the OP but i just woke up lol..

HoTD:OK was so in your face but in a completetly ott and awesome piss taking way.. i loved it
 
Mr_Zombie said:
Resident Evil 5 and the whole "partner" theme. It was everywhere, and the word "partner" was repeated all the time: in cut-scenes, in gameplay ("Thanks pahtner!").
Click to expand...
Lol, I remember this and it didn't help with the way Sheva said it either:
"Padna!"
 
I Push Fat Kids said:
Heavy Rain

*CUE DRAMATIC MUSIC*
Click to expand...

JAAYSUN!!

Nah, a game that was too much "in your face..." Modern Warfare2. Cod4 had some genuinely great scenes of player character deaths, but MW2 just went overboard with the ridiculousness. At some point in the game I started to just rub my forehead in disbelief at the bullshit on screen. We get it, that General is an asshole, and Makarov as well...

Maybe Mass Effect 2 as well, but that game seemed more like to be a schizophrenic in its violent phase, but Jack stands out as one of the worst characters in history. Angst, Rage, Angst, Rage, crappy poem, ...
 
I think that Final Fantasy X has some things that are pretty obvious/don't add anything worthwhile to the story,but yet they spend a whole cutscene,three or four minutes,talking about it.
 
harriet the spy said:
While I agree with the general sentiment, they do know how to pace a good horror experience (revisiting the
Ishimura
in Dead space 2 is a good example). I just don't think 'a good horror experience' would have sold as well as a bombastic horror-third person shooter, sadlly. (i still liked the game).
Click to expand...
Dude, what the fuck. I'm playing Dead Space 2 right now and you just spoiled the shit out of that bit.
 
Came in expecting fast and the furios 'now i'm in your face'.jpg and left disappointed.

Sometimes i feel this way about gears of war, other times i kind of enjoy it's 'in your face attitude'.
 
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