The worst gaming ideas ever?

[paranoid marvin]

Every now and then , some game developer will come up with a new 'element' to challenge the gamer,but which in reality ,is really frustrating

My pet hate was the 'instant death' syndrome,where you could be walking along,and the floor would fall out from under you,or some other unexpected incident would occur which gave you no chance to avoid or anticipate it - a classic example being Rick Dangerous ,where you had to simply memorise the screen layout.Games are meant to be about testing the reflexes,not a memory test

Another was platform games which required you to make a 'leap of faith'
you literally couldnt see where you were jumping to ,and had to assume there was a platform above/below you - if there wasn't ,then back to the start of the level you go.Global Gladiators was an example,although there were many more ,esp during the platform crazy SNES/MD era

[SirClive]

Games are meant to be about testing the reflexes,not a memory test

Try telling that to Dirk the Daring!

[paranoid marvin]

Another favourite trick in SNES/MD platform games was to stick an 'ice level' in to make things interesting - what fun it was sliding along platforms
usually landing on spikes that killed you - soooo frustrating!

[necronom]

Having long levels with no restart points. I remember getting annoyed at shoot-em-ups doing this.

Not letting you type your name in with the keyboard. What is the point in making me spend 30 seconds using a joystick to type my name/initials, when there is a keyboard there?! It's not too bad with initials, but sometimes you can put your whole name in, which is too long winded with a joystick.

[paranoid marvin]

Having long levels with no restart points. I remember getting annoyed at shoot-em-ups doing this.

Not letting you type your name in with the keyboard. What is the point in making me spend 30 seconds using a joystick to type my name/initials, when there is a keyboard there?! It's not too bad with initials, but sometimes you can put your whole name in, which is too long winded with a joystick.

especially when you're usually on a timer

[Cabal]

Heres the best one - \"2D is soooooo old - lets make every new game 3D!!!!\"

Only problem with this was that some games DONT work in 3D...

[Browncat]

If your talking about actual games The Neighbours Game was a pretty bad one.

Bad collision detection always gets to me, even new games suffer from this, it breaks the game and I can't see how it gets through playtesting.

[paranoid marvin]

Heres the best one - "2D is soooooo old - lets make every new game 3D!!!!"

Only problem with this was that some games DONT work in 3D...

but for some publishers that really didn't seem to matter

[Cabal]

Yeah, tell me about it!

[The Penultimate Ninja]

The idea that every game needs a stealth section

[BennyTheGreek]

The Sims.
Why would anyone want to spend time moving a virtual chair to another part of the room?

Most of the tie ins that involve TV shows..........Eastenders, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Knight Rider, Street Hawk (both versions), Big Brother..........

Pokemon games

Text adventures that reset your speccy when you typed in FLICK OFF

The Legend Of Avalon - Spectrum.

[hey_jonny_park]

Pokemon games

I have to admit that whilst I was in the anti-pokemon camp when little kids where getting all excited, once the excitment died down I had great fun on Pokemon Blue for the Game Boy.

But I see the annoyance if you're drawing attention to games having hundreds of pointless sequels which are really just stat upgrades.

[Freshmetal]

Having long levels with no restart points. I remember getting annoyed at shoot-em-ups doing this.

I recommend that you avoid Black (PS2) then.

That game also has super-accurate RPG-firing enemies and enemies with "extra body armour" who can withstand an insane amount of ammo, including two close-range shotgun headshots! Grrr!

[will2097]

Having long levels with no restart points. I remember getting annoyed at shoot-em-ups doing this.

I recommend that you avoid Black (PS2) then.

That game also has super-accurate RPG-firing enemies and enemies with "extra body armour" who can withstand an insane amount of ammo, including two close-range shotgun headshots! Grrr!

...that's because they are wearing body armour and helmets.


(I Like Black...)

[DrBlue]

MMORPGs.

Sounds great in principle doesn't it, fighting hundreds of different enemies and players from all over the world.

In practice it is quite different. Find monster. Click 'Attack', sit back and wait for outcome.

Sorry but i'm not paying a monthly subscription fee for a glorified coint-toss.