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Is there a game that just epitomizes everything that's wrong with gaming for you?

I really enjoyed the game, but still I have to say Tomb Raider 2013. Fat too much killing, collectibles, XP, weapon upgrading, etc. All completely unnecessary.
 

DukeBobby

Member
I would say Syndicate. It is, at best, a middling shooter that was trading on the name of a classic of an entirely different genre. Visually it was unspectacular, it tried to ride on the (hopefully dead) wave of dubstep with its trailer. The game itself is merely "mediocre" but the idea and intentions behind the game are just sinful.

The saddest thing is that it was developed by Starbreeze, who create some of the best story driven games in the industry.

A massive disappointment. It's a shame they couldn't do the series justice.
 

Deadbeat

Banned
I would say Syndicate. It is, at best, a middling shooter that was trading on the name of a classic of an entirely different genre. Visually it was unspectacular, it tried to ride on the (hopefully dead) wave of dubstep with its trailer. The game itself is merely "mediocre" but the idea and intentions behind the game are just sinful.
Multiplayer Coop on the other hand is great.
 
Assassin's Creed. Automated "hold down two buttons to climb a building" gameplay that requires no actual skill or meaningful input from the user. It's meant to make the player feel like a badass for doing absolutely nothing. That's exactly why it's popular and also why it's complete garbage.
 

Randdalf

Member
New ARTS/MOBA/LOMA games that come out and try to apply modern game designer logic (i.e. dumb down everything because it must be accessible) to it.
 

Munin

Member
Tomb Raider

* Removed the game's signature play-style (optional tombs that are now the size of rooms) and chose to focus on violence as the core gameplay.
* Added gruesome execution animations. Because how are we supposed to sympathize with a character if we're not plunging pick-axes into skulls?
* Platforming has been simplified to the point of being almost fully automated.
* Shoe-horned multiplayer nobody asked for.
* Shoe-horned crafting and skill systems.
* Focus on trial and error QTEs to add cinematic flair and tension.
* Overuse of the running-away-as-everything-falls-apart-around you schtick.
* All DLC is multiplayer versus content nobody asked for.

Its a gorgeous, immaculately crafted set of environments, but in terms of gameplay its less than mediocre. In terms of Tomb Raider gameplay its criminal.

I know plenty of people love it, but I can only imagine what they'd say if one of their favorite single player series got the same treatment.

It's such an awful game. I don't understand why it gets so much praise. So linear, god-awful writing, but the worst is really the whole over-gamification and collectible/upgrading bullshit, whereby Lara sits at campfires and can buy/upgrade her weapons, when the whole game tries so hard to be "realistic" and survival-focused. Absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention the HUD messages like "Hidden tomb nearby". I mean, just let that one sink in for a minute.

What the shit. Terrible game. In all fairness Uncharted is guilty of much of the same but at least it tries to be fun, no angsty emo shit.
 
Multiplayer Coop on the other hand is great.
It really should have been the entire game. Just a fully fleshed out co-op.

Loved every bit of my time with co-op, except for the escort-the-robot objectives on the harder difficulties. But man the core movement shooting, the intensity of the fights, and the layers to the progression system were all top notch and addictive as hell.
 

JAY the BIRD

Neo Member
Assassin's Creed III.

Unpolished, messy, down right broken mission design.
Depthless and pathetically easy combat (when it actually works).
Convoluted narrative built up on a foundation of nonsense.
Unlikeable main character.
Extremely poor PC port. Good luck getting 60 fps in the city on ANY setting. (7970 for me)
Fucking U-Play.

And this is coming from someone that actually liked Brotherhood and Revelations (aside from that god-awful tower defense mode and some down right silly missions.
 
Assassin's Creed III.

Unpolished, messy, down right broken mission design.
Depthless and pathetically easy combat (when it actually works).
Convoluted narrative built up on a foundation of nonsense.
Unlikeable main character.
Extremely poor PC port. Good luck getting 60 fps in the city on ANY setting. (7970 for me)
Fucking U-Play.

And this is coming from someone that actually liked Brotherhood and Revelations (aside from that god-awful tower defense mode and some down right silly missions.
Another good candidate.
 

kadotsu

Banned
It's a tie between Bomberman Act Zero and SimCity. I just cannot decide if "mature rated games for hardcore gamers" or forced social with DLC slots is worse.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
Assassin's Creed the topic

- Yearly franchise
- Shallow gameplay
- buggy as hell in quite a few games
- tons of DLC, even if some of it is actually really good
- the dreaded season pass with the new one
- available on 10 different platforms (some of the photoshops from that other thread were fantastic)
- crappy handheld iterations (really didn't like the vita game)

It's a textbook example of how to take something fun and sorta unique and run it into the ground before a full generation has passed.
 
I think I would point to Spec Ops: The Line.

It's got some really great setpieces and some really excellent narrative, but the sloppy cover mechanics are the very antithesis of fun. The game's so busy trying to get you to the next amazing, thought provoking segment, but it stuffs the rest of the game full of these generic linear shooter segments that do nothing interesting mechanically.

The game would have been thematically stronger if it had been fun to play, but I was actively cursing how terrible the shooting is. It distracts from the strengths of the game and weakens the whole package. And this seems to be a pattern across all genres and budgets, including indie games.

EDIT: What it epitomizes is that cool story ideas are happening in games while gameplay mechanics become actively worse.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Call of Duty post 4.

Edit: No, wait. Mass Effect 3. Mainly how Bioware handled the backlash.
 

lmpaler

Member

Diablo 3

Complete disregard for the series traditions and history in attempt to create a cash cow. And this is after teasing us for years. Most of the extra time probably went to reworking the combat system a dozen times and creating the infrastructure for the bull shit RMAH.

diablo 3 and simcity take the cake here. ridiculously cynical, blatant cash grabs by EA that resulted in busted games, just because

Diablo 3. No question about it. Completely fucked over their core audience before ultimately treating them like beta testers for the eventual console release. Disgusting. Add to that the always online requirements, little replayability and eternally high price and it becomes an even worse joke.

Tomb Raider

* Removed the game's signature play-style (optional tombs that are now the size of rooms) and chose to focus on violence as the core gameplay.
* Added gruesome execution animations. Because how are we supposed to sympathize with a character if we're not plunging pick-axes into skulls?
* Platforming has been simplified to the point of being almost fully automated.
* Shoe-horned multiplayer nobody asked for.
* Shoe-horned crafting and skill systems.
* Focus on trial and error QTEs to add cinematic flair and tension.
* Overuse of the running-away-as-everything-falls-apart-around you schtick.
* All DLC is multiplayer versus content nobody asked for.

Its a gorgeous, immaculately crafted set of environments, but in terms of gameplay its less than mediocre. In terms of Tomb Raider gameplay its criminal.

I know plenty of people love it, but I can only imagine what they'd say if one of their favorite single player series got the same treatment.

Tomb Raider 2013

Trying to copy games that made money in hopes of cashing in but feeling flat instead.

Shitty story and some of the worst written characters ever

Intrusive elements that destroy exploration (Listen Mode highlighting collectables, game tells you when close to a tomb, etc.)

Waves of enemies with obvious spawning mechanic

Lack of fun weapons (the bow was the only thing that made it bearable)

Also, more in the story category, but that ending was ridiculously stupid.

Add Hitman Absolution to this list and we are good.
 

RMI

Banned
God of War III

this game is the definition of adolescent male power fantasy. It's incredibly crass and tasteless, and the gameplay isn't all that hot either. I remember most of the encounters being checkpointed so that you would have to fight a few waves of really insignificant minions before fighting the real threat, and then have to do it all over again if the real threat killed you. Super annoying. Why even have those minions there if they're going to be so pointless? Just a time waster IMO. That's bad design.
 
Final Fantasy XIII-2:


-People has criticisms of the first game? Rather than improve on anything, we'll just chuck the entire thing out. Original story line? To hell with it! Throw in time travel, paradoxes, and loony crap and nobody will care! Original cast? Cameos for the unpopular ones (everyone but Lightning and Hope), exposition role for the semi-popular one (Hope), and fanservice the shit out of the popular character (Lightning) without giving them any meaningful development or screen time! Upgrading system? Chuck it! Eidolons? Chuck em!

-Add in shit tons of QTE's in the effort to be cinematic.

-Look to other popular games to add in half-assed mechanics like a dialogue tree that has no effect on the actual story; QTE's that don't punish for failure; alternate endings that are basically non-sequiters; add in a horribly unbalanced monster hunter mechanic that act as more glorified QTE's; and crank down the difficultly so that you don't even have to watch the screen to win since that's what everyone else is doing nowadays.

-Add in a poorly designed, completely superfluous platforming section because "people complained about not being able to jump around freely"

-Haphazardly add back in all of the stuff you took out with as little effort as possible. Seriously, it's like they had a laundry list they were just checking off.

-Pad the game as much as possible with shit tons of backtracking.

-Cash in with as much DLC as possible with over $70 worth of DLC in under 5 months.

-And while were at it, we'll break shit we did right the first time around: throw out all semblance of gameplay balance; difficulty; cohesive set pieces; etc! And let's actually engage in some of the most criticize aspects TEN FOLD! MORE RELIANCE ON THE DATALOG AND OUTSIDE MATERIAL FOR EVERYONE!

-Churn this game out a quickly as possible (well under two years... they actually had to chop entire game mechanics because they didn't allow themselves enough time)!

-Oh, and while we're at it: Let's make Serah Farron the goddamn "protagonist".


Words cannot express how much I loathed this game.
 
Sim fucking City 2013. $60 I paid for "Come play with me, m'Lord" dynamics and as stable as a crack whore, EA and Maxis can go gobble on a knob.
 

monlo

Member
honestly, most of this gen has been pretty much a money grab from every single major player.

  • if you put out a yearly sequel (cod 2011, cod 2012, cod 2013, madden 2011, madden 2012, etc etc)....
  • if you force players to download/unlock things and spend more money after the original purchase (street fighter x tekken).....
  • if you copy already existing franchises (Playstation All-Stars) and exploit psychological defects of the brain for the sake of earning more dlc sales (Zynga shit/Farmville; nostalgia, pay2win bullshit)...........
  • to a lesser extent, remakes/fan service titles to prey on nostalgia alone (some Nintendo titles come to mind, Duke Nukem is a key example).........
  • punishing legit customers by limiting what they can do with your product (hi, EA-Sim City, Ubi-everything)........
  • if you make the game super easy to play -- with no thought required on behalf of the player --- especially on-rails shit (Tomb Raider, Uncharted).......

There are still great devs out there. But lots of them are doing some/all of the above. And I find big publishers (EA, Activision) are the worst offenders.
 

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
Mass Effect 3. I liked a lot about the game, but they also did a loooooottt of things poorly:
  • Dumb down all the mechanics in the series to make it more accessible.
  • About half a dozen actions all grouped into the same button, leading to super clunky combat.
  • Dumb down the plot. This situation is hopeless! Oh wait, I just found the solution!
  • Shoehorn villains. Cerberus! Kai Leng! Oh wait, they're not good villains? Too bad - here are dozens of scenes where you are fighting them instead of the Reapers anyway.
  • Shoehorn someone from IGN as an in-game character! Why?
  • Running around collecting things as "sidequests" for padding.
  • Throwing in incredibly lazy multiplayer maps full of enemies and try to pass them off as sidequests.
  • And of course, the ending and how it was handled.


CoD: Black Ops campaign.
The tenth time you lose control into a scripted sequence where:

  • a bomb explodes near you, you fly off your feet, time slows down and your ears ring
  • you lose your balance and fall/slide somewhere, land hard near enemies and have to grab a nearby weapon to defend yourself until someone saves you at the last second
  • have to do needless QTEs like "press Mouse 1 to take off"
  • lose consciousness due to someone hitting you or something exploding
  • get into a vehicle and shoot people as you rush into or out of danger
  • have to do a running jump to grab on to something or someone
...you really start to realize that this whole "cinematic gaming" thing is getting really fucking stupid.
 

Coconut

Banned
Quantum theory. It takes everything that's awesome about a good shooter and pretends that they don't exist, puts in a cover mechanic that is clunky, the difficulty in the game is all over the place even on lower difficulty settings, and wraps it up with a shitty anime JRPG story. Oh, and while I love shooters we really don't need a pepe trying to make one if they aren't committed to it which is the current state of games right now. Cookie cutter shooters that aren't even trying a little seething to separate themselves from the glut of other shooters.
 

Steroyd

Member
Not necessarily gaming as a whole, but this generation of consoles in general.

Grand Theft Auto IV - Good game when playing the campaign, after you're done with it... nothing absolutely fuck all to do in the game, they took out the police missions or changed it beyond recognition, they axed the ambulance missions, no casino to mess around with, it's like they gutted out all the fun extra stuff you could do in GTA San Andreas and released a barebones game content wise, and this isn't the first game to do this compared to it's previous generation counterparts. Honorable mention goes to Final Fantasy XIII.

Need for Speed Most Wanted/Dragon Age... basically EA - Here's an in-game NPC with a side quest with actual dialogue that you read through then at the end of the text BAM you can't activate the actual quest until you pay for the DLC... same with NFSMW and certain cars planted all over the map fffffuuuuuuu--

Bayonetta - Brilliant game... QTE's during cutscenes where you need faster reflexes than The Flash to get first time... really!? (and this is coming from someone who doesn't mind God Of War's QTE's).

RE5/6 - A prime example of the single player game getting shittied up by virtue of the game being centered around co-op... don't get me wrong, both games are a load more fun when playing co-op... and that's the problem when going solo...

Call of Duty - because everyone is now chasing the golden elixir of sales and you can feel the waves felt in other games (Irony being GTA III's open world influence on gaming was a positive one).
 

Platy

Member
For the ones I played, I think Metal Gear 4 or Final Fantasy 13

The way those games want to be "as cinematic as possible" almost makes me ANGRY on how bad gaming has become =/

Gaming it is it's own medium, if you want to make something cinematic make a GOD DAMN MOVIE !
 

Amir0x

Banned
For me, there are two games this gen that greatly define what is wrong with modern game development.

One of them is Uncharted 2, and the other is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (since the initial game).

I wrote up a bit on it in another topic:

Amir0x said:
Uncharted 2 is a decent game for me. I don't mean to imply it's bad. I feel, however, it is fairly emblematic of the problem with modern game design: it's about a developer's ego getting in the way of every opportunity for a player to meaningfully interact with a game.

Everything must be spelled out. ledges must be super obvious, no exploration or effort required to find where to go next. Platforming plays itself, you might as well not even interact with it at all with how basic and simple it is. You basically have to actively try to kill yourself on purpose for there to be any chance of death. The windows for jump timing are so ridiculously massive as to be pointless. There is no tension when ledges or windows or whatever break, because you know you're never in any danger for your character; it's all scripted nonsense meant to look cool, not actually play cool.

The same extends to every aspect of U2 that isn't the shooting itself. And the shooting suffers from typical game problems - enter an arena, take out a set number of guards, then move on. At least the gunplay itself was actually quite solid, or else there'd be nothing from the gameplay to latch onto.

These are part of cinematic game experiences where everything is basically a long elaborate hallway with little-to-no deviation so you remove the joy of exploration and the skill related to discovery in of itself; you remove any challenge of platforming thus subverting any tension or enjoyment one can get from navigating obstacles; your puzzles are comically simple to the point of being borderline insulting to one's intelligence; the shooting is the only gameplay related thing in U2 I can praise.

The visuals are spectacular, the soundtrack wonderful, and the shooting can be engaging from a mechanical perspective. But so much of the time is spent by the developer holding your hand and just pretending to allow you to interact, it's just like someone with the world's biggest ego got into a game and kept squealing everytime somebody dared stray from the cutscene-setpiece-cutscene through hallways set up.

And this basic format, which is also partially Gears of War's fault, continues to now play itself over and over in game after game. It has destroyed Tomb Raider forever, ruined countless games.

I want a few simple thing from games: rewarding and skill-based gameplay, the ability for a game to respect my intelligence and not spell everything out for me, the ability not to be forced to sit through your miserable story that reads like some elaborate fanfiction by some cocaine-addled 7th grader.

Modern game design is improving the visual direction but is so regressive to old game design in so many ways it's almost shocking. Like one developer said, commenting only about FPS but which could apply to most genres: 'Back in the day [games] were often mazes of brilliantly designed and intuitive rooms and arenas, but no doubt they were much uglier. [Games] today are gorgeous and over-the-top and explosive, but most of the time you spend it going through pop-and-stop hallways with little to no regard for level design."

There is also a lot to be said about what going down the path of games like this means for the fucked up economics of game development and the desire to emulate hollywood even though it's extremely out of their league (as a business model and as a pure talent/competency issue), but this is a good start.
 
D

Deleted member 8095

Unconfirmed Member
I wish people posting things like Uncharted and TLoU would explain why.
 

kubus

Member
Dead Island

- Full of (gamebreaking) bugs
- Repetitive gameplay
- Lazy porting
- No/bad quality check (stuff like trees floating in the air instead of attached to ground)
- Broken gameplay (kicking = god mode)
- Misleading trailer
- Constant re-use of assets (sewer level that just loops)
- Stupid stuff like releasing the Dev Build instead of the normal game
- Feminist Whore

I could go on... Still finished the game. I'll never get those 20 hours back.
 
Image21.jpg
 

Amir0x

Banned
the new tomb raider. it's everything wrong with this generation in one package.

While I totally agree, I believe we need to go deeper for the source of the problem there. That was all aping game design from games which already staked the claim to 'everything wrong with this generation' ;)
 

Azriell

Member
Most recently, Ryse. If that doesn't count, Gears of War (series) where all it really is is cover, shoot, cover, shoot, cover, shoot, and then we put a pretty bow on it.

All the NPCs fighting and all the shit going on around you, and all that really mattered was the waypoint icon telling you to ignore all the other shit. And then there were the QTEs, but that's secondary to the problem I have with modern (triple-A) gaming.

So much time and attention goes into making these games look like movies but the end result is that with so many of these things you can just swap the skin and get anything else. If you took away the visual flair and looked at the actual mechanics of what's going on it'd be the most boring, pathetic thing imaginable. There isn't enough attention being paid to the systems and mechanics of these games. There isn't enough attention being paid to the ways in which we actually interact. It's why I've been playing so much 3DS lately, because the technical budget isn't there to waste resources on this superfluous glam and instead attention is directed toward the gameplay.
 

Wazzy

Banned
MGS4.

Horrible long cutscene's that go on forever. Also managed to kill my love for the previous three games with how bad the story and characters were.
 
While I totally agree, I believe we need to go deeper for the source of the problem there. That was all aping game design from games which already staked the claim to 'everything wrong with this generation' ;)
Haha, this is a good point. But I'd argue its worse in the case of Tomb Raider. Uncharted is what it is and always has been. Tomb Raider literally shed what made it unique in order to make itself an even *better* Uncharted clone.

That's just so wrong on so many levels.
 
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