Video game Clichés that drive you NUTS!

[PKerr]

Just to clarify, some don’t drive me as nuts as others but can still be annoying.

These developers get paid pretty good money to come up with new games each year and year after year we see the same thing in video games.
Come on guys, use your imagination and come up with some new ideas.

1. The flashlight with weak batteries.
Devs, PLEASE if you insist on making your games so dark that I can see 2 feet in front of me please give me a working flashlight and not one I have to turn on every 30 seconds.

2. The liner path.
O.K. some I’m this Elite Commando or have this super cool suit of amour but I can climb over a fallen tree branch or 3 foot fence?
And in an office building it’s always a file cabinet or desk blocking your way.
Come on guys get creative.

3. The health pack.
Granted games have gotten a little better lately with the hide and restore your heath method but nailing heath packs to a tree in the middle of a jungle or in a cave in some dark corner is getting kinda old. Again be creative.

4. The ammo in the create.
Break create get ammo. Wash, rinse, repeat. Nuff said.

5. The exploding barrel.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love to blow $#!t up as well as the next guy but bad guys always taking cover behind the exploding barrel is kinda getting old as well.

6. The Elite commando that can’t swim.
Come on guys I have a guy that can jump from building to building and survive a 40 foot drop with nary a scratch (Assassin’s Creed) but drowns in 4 foot of water?
I get the fact that you want to make water a hazard our hero has to get around but wouldn’t it be better to miss the jump (or whatever) and make me climb out of the water and try again instead of dying and starting the level all over? How annoying.

Feel free to ad to the list.
Maybe we can compile them all and send them to all the Devs…lol

 

[Neeka Keet]

You might fix the grammar and tags in that since it makes it a little difficult to read. Other than that the post is true but I think you can't make every game that comes out revolutionary.

 

[Trekker4747]

The short brown haired, gruff speaking, burly dude as the hero.

 

[PKerr]

You might fix the grammar and tags in that since it makes it a little difficult to read. Other than that the post is true but I think you can't make every game that comes out revolutionary.

Fixed.
This new system also drives me NUTS!

 

[Gojirob]

Alright :

1 - The invincible T-Rex : In most games, if a T-Rex or like mortal creature shows up, they shrug off all small arms (and some large arms) and must be killed via a complicated Rube Goldberg method.

2 - The person or thing you must protect has a habit of very easily getting relative miles away from you, all so the game can inform you that you failed.

3 - Like many movies nowadays, the idea that a dark ending is by itself a good or gutsy ending has taken too deep a hold. Don't have to be Disney, but unless you've thought it through, don't try and be Romero or King.

4 - Likewise, don't think that making a task ridiculously complicated is a sub for real gameplay

5 - Lastly, the partner/guide who (SUR-PRIIISE!!!) turns on you!!! NEVER SAW that one coming!

 

[SlaveOfSeven]

RPGs could probably do with taking a break from elves and dwarves. And (space) marines really do get tiresome after the thousandth iteration.

It might just be "things were better in my day" syndrome kicking in, but it seems to me that games are a lot less diverse than they used to be. It's the incessant reiteration of settings rather than basic game mechanics that really bothers me. I don't mind the unlikely placement of a convenient health pack; what gets me is that it's a space marine health pack sitting next to some biomechanical computer that's joined to the wall by large numbers of pipes and wires. I have no idea whether Quake 4 was actually an enjoyable game or not because I was so sick of bloody space marines by the time I played it I would have hated it no matter what.

 

[backstept]

the rubber band effect in racing games . . . no matter how much faster your car is, or how far behind the AI is, one wrong move and you're in last place

the double-jump in platformers . . . seriously how can you jump if you're already in the air?

one shot kills . . . in the foot (I'm lookin' at you Goldeneye)

 

[dragunzng]

Here are all the powers you'll have at the beginning of the game. Whoops! Now they're gone... go get 'em back!

To be fair, some of fave games do this (Symphony of the Night and God of war 2) but come on now.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Cheapness is never a good substitute for quality A.I.

I’ll try to explain.

Take Blackjack, for instance. (Not the best example by any means, but it’s easy to relate to.) Instead of programming the A.I. with the proper “decision” making logic formulas and If/Than statements, it just makes it so it gets 20 or better every time. So, it isn’t difficult, it’s just inherently lucky.

I hope this makes sense.

 

[TemporalFlux]

Hehehe I remember when the biggest cliche's were the conveyor belt and the lava level. Maybe they should start adding more of those back into first person shooter games.

 

[Garrett]

Escort quests of various types. They wouldn't be so bad but the AI usually seems hell bent on suicide. The example that immediately comes to mind is in Guild Wars, where every npc being escorted loves to run into packs of mobs while crying out "Help! They're too strong!" Well maybe you shouldn't be attacking every single one you come across.

The abundance of cutscenes in game. I want to play, not watch. This especially annoys me when I'm robbed of a finisher in a boss fight so I can watch kewl clip. Same thing when the character does something stupid that also happens to be uncontrollable, like when Leon does that roundhouse in one of the early RE4 cutscenes. Especially when I'm using the Chicago typewriter and will kill the dude in 5 seconds later on.

Heavily scripted linear games also annoy me. Though, it depends on how intrusive the game appears to be. Valve is pretty good about making linear games, while usually leaving the player to solve puzzles and what not so it doesn't feel as linear as it actually is. It also helps that the story is entirely told from your perspective as Gordon.

I'm sure I'll think of more later.

 

[SlaveOfSeven]

Same thing when the character does something stupid that also happens to be uncontrollable...

My favourite example of this kind of annoyance is when your vulnerable mage character is plucked from behind his meatshields and dropped in the line of fire just so he can exchange some poor dialogue with the boss. Quite, quite annoying.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

The forced stealth section in non stealth games. I've gone through the game slaying everything that gets in my path, and now all of a sudden I'm afraid of them and have to sneak past them? And since this isn't Splinter Cell, the controls are all built for an action game, and not for stealth.

 

[firehawk12]

Any variety of enemy spawns. The most famous, of course, is the "turret rush" that happens the moment you get on a turret.

 

[Krisno]

I hate it that chairs and tables are indestructible in the gaming universe.

 

[backstept]

enemies are color coded according to their level of difficulty

 

[Garrett]

Any variety of enemy spawns. The most famous, of course, is the "turret rush" that happens the moment you get on a turret.

Yeah. Enemy spawns are another annoying one. That's one of the things that's killed the Call of Duty series for me since Call of Duty 2. When they keep spawning in like that, it ruins the fun of killing them for me. It's no longer clearing the level. Besides that, you can often just sprint for the next checkpoint and they'll stop.

Elite Force did that, as well. They stopped after a bit, but it was just move to the next room, clear enemies until they stop spawning, move to next room and repeat.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

All of your enemies have perfect aim from a mile away.

All of your squad members are total idiots that only exist to get in your way and get themselves killed and blame you for it.

 

[PKerr]

Escort quests of various types. They wouldn't be so bad but the AI usually seems hell bent on suicide. The example that immediately comes to mind is in Guild Wars, where every npc being escorted loves to run into packs of mobs while crying out "Help! They're too strong!" Well maybe you shouldn't be attacking every single one you come across.

The abundance of cutscenes in game. I want to play, not watch. This especially annoys me when I'm robbed of a finisher in a boss fight so I can watch kewl clip. Same thing when the character does something stupid that also happens to be uncontrollable, like when Leon does that roundhouse in one of the early RE4 cutscenes. Especially when I'm using the Chicago typewriter and will kill the dude in 5 seconds later on.

Escort quests.
GRAW and Dead Rising come to mind.

GRAW. That stupid Mexican President.
I hid the guy behind a wall and he runs out into the open with 900 guys shooting at him.
I still can't get past that part of the game.


Dead Rising. The stupid peaple that want to flop on the floor and pitch a fit.
I just say "oh well, Zombie bait for you my friend".




The abundance of cutscenes in game.
I don't have as much of a problem with that but i agree, Don't rob me of my victory.

Army of Two comes to mind.
You never kill the final boss, a cut scene does it for you. Pissed me off.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

5. The exploding barrel.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love to blow $#!t up as well as the next guy but bad guys always taking cover behind the exploding barrel is kinda getting old as well.

This is one cliche I've always loved, in fact, I get upset when a barrel doesn't explode in a game.