Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Demophobe]

Wrapping up my vacation gaming, a few things have come to bother me....immensely.

Of course, these are qualified; I typically only play 1st/3rd person shooter/stealth games, and the following may not apply to other genres.

1. Timed missions. An NPC told my character to get some grind work done while he does whatever. A timer appeared; I guess the NPC is on a schedule. Unlike the bomb I had to defuse, and took hours to get around to it without repercussion. Sometimes the bomb has a timer and this is reasonable...once per game. Otherwise, keep the timers off or use them sensibly.

2. Scripting. Half-life 2 was so guilty of this, and as a result, had no replay value. Scripting was an early development in gaming, and created some classic moments: remember coming back down the long hallway in Unreal after turning of two generators and the lights start going off one by one? Classic. And scripted. Fine...for 1998 or in a potentially highly memorable moment, but these days, it's just lazy and an out for lacking AI.

3. Escort missions. This goes back to AI: the guy you have to escort from danger is a total dunce and as a result, keeps getting himself shot/blown up/hacked to death. These missions should either be cut altogether or get the AI to at least stay close, take cover or be able to be issued simple "wait here", "Go there" commands.

4. Team-based games (where the AI is lame). Similar to #3, but this time, it is your teammates that are the idiots. The Rainbow 6 series was bad for this; they would enter rooms on their own accord or walk in front of any nearby firing weapon, like moths to the light. SWAT 4 was better in that they wait and do what you say, but the team were pretty much morons once inside the room. "Man down!"; rinse and repeat. Then the game has the nerve to blame me for lazy programming with a low mission evaluation.

5. Open world -> single goal -> grind to goal. Yep, that summarizes Far Cry 2. The game rewards doing the same three grind missions again and again with meting out a dribble of information every twenty missions. No thanks. Make every action count or mean something or don't give me the option to do it.

6. Main character inconsistency. Sure, this may sound trivial, but why does the character in a long-running series have so much variation? Didn't the last artists see the previous incarnation? Sam Fisher is a classic example; the character either has frequent plastic surgery or has a horde of half-brothers in reserve. Thief 3: Garrett changes from cutscene to cutscene and each of those iterations is wholly different from the in-game render. Either keep the character consistent or don't give him a face at all, like the HL series.

That's it...things that have been bugging me. And there is no reason for it anymore. Games are not the 500MB, single CDs that they were; GTA IV was a 15GB install and while I like sharp textures and such, there is no making up for poor AI, poor art direction, lazy game sequencing and half-baked ideas. Seems "realism in gaming" means the buildings look good: the NPCs still can't navigate around a milk crate on the floor, but they sure look life-like, walking on the spot.

Clipping should also be on the list, but it seems that this is present in every game, making me thing that to solve all clipping issues would take a lifetime. Don't get me wrong; I have many screenshots with characters twitching violently in their rag-doll state, half embedded in the wall or with a staircase lodged in their waists, but still...kind of annoying.

Well..that's it. Summer vacation is done and time to get back to the trinity of teaching: Publisher, Power Point WMM. Shelve the games for another 4 months and hope the Christmas roundup is a little better.

[Underwaterbob]

7. Severe lack of decent, effective storytelling. There have a minor handful of artfully handled games, the other 99% are cliched garbage. (Though not really a requirement for something like street fighter.)

[tsm174]

Play Mass Effect then... in my opinion one of the greatest games ever made.

[Gnawbert]

[Demophobe]

[cubanlord]

[E_athlete]

will any of you be getting starcraft II at the end of the year should it come out?

[Gnawbert]

[Demophobe]

[Gnawbert]

I've really enjoyed DEADSPACE on the 360.

Given, it gets a little old in the variety of missions (it's usually Run Here, Activate This, Go Back, Activate New Thingy, Go Back OMG EXPLOSION, Find New Way Back, repeat) but the atmosphere is great and it has some really freaky moments. Kind of like a love child of EVENT HORIZON (the good parts), THE THING, and SILENT HILL. I still haven't finished it but it's been great fun throughout.

BIOSHOCK is just such a thrill to replay. My girlfriend is slowly playing it and seeing her reaction to the abilities one gains, as well as the levels ("OMG DID THAT GUY EXPLODE INTO RED BLOOD THEN TELEPORT BEHIND ME?!?!?!WTF?!") makes me remember what a great game it was the first time through it.

I wish NINJA GAIDEN 2 had a story that actually matched the awesome fun of the gameplay. Too bad it's just so cheesy and absurd to take even remotely seriously.

CONDEMNED 2 was great fun as well and pretty disturbing but inconsistent. Kind of like Max Payne meets Silent Hill. Some parts were awesome, others just seemed imported from another game.

[pkang0202]

I think Halo and Halo 2 were done really well. The Call of Duty series is also excellent.

I hate the things that the OP mentioned. Some of those are enough just to stop playing a FPS altogether. Nowadays the eyecandy gets all the press, so if a developer spends the time to make a game with awesome gamplay, the graphics engine has already been outdated.

[eamo]

[Demophobe]

I had an absolute blast playing Saints Row 2, even though it was way behind the curve, graphics-wise. You bet...give me average graphics and great gameplay before the reverse.

I still have Unreal 1 loaded on my comp. Anytime I want to remember what a great, classic game is, I fire that up for an hour.

Wolfenstein does this for me as well lately. Its a bit of nostalgia/sentiment for sure, but like COD, while not revolutionary, is solid and a great gaming experience without being pretentious.

Call of Juarez...any thoughts? I played about an hour...dunno....doesn't do it for me.

[OneWayTraffic]

[cubanlord]

Damn, 80 million different games listed here. I have the time to play a lot of games, but, I always find myself limiting my own damn options to 2 or 3 different games.

Street Fighter IV
Left 4 Dead (L4D2 is coming!!!! hahahhahahha)
Final Fantasy IX

And now, as of late, I purchased Metal Gear Solid 4 for PS3. I have to start playing it soon ,