worst parts of great games.

[Caine]

gamesradar had a great article about this, and i agree with every example to one degree or another.

so, they mention these games/series:
kingdom hearts
halo
gta 4
legend of zelda
dead rising
mass effect
mario kart

see which ones you will already know about first hand.  i knew about all but kingdom hearts.  what other turds in the pool have  you all seen in other games?

i'd add gotcha traps in the tenchu series.  nothing like being forced to replay an entire level because a GD pitfall was hidden in a cave on the way to the exit.

[Canuck]

That was a really fantastic article!

[Gratch]

i'd add gotcha traps in the tenchu series.  nothing like being forced to replay an entire level because a GD pitfall was hidden in a cave on the way to the exit.

Good call.  Man, I hated those.  I'd add the "reverse-the-controller-direction" final boss battle from Beyond Good & Evil.

[Knightshade Dragon]

No hate for the Raiden junk-holding level in MGS? 

[Torfish]

Worst part of great games to me is long intro hand-holding tutorials that you can't avoid.  Also, any maze type levels.

[Kevin Grey]

Final boss battle in Gears of War. 

[Harkonis]

The intro screens (that are unskippable) of any game on a portable system.

I liked the final boss battle in GoW, but that's probably because the first time I played it was on the hardest difficulty with a friend and we killed him right away   I still haven't played through the game though, I think I made it to act 3 myself then hopped into his game because he kept saying he was having trouble with that boss.  Sniper rifle made short work of him.

[Teggy]

Final boss battle in Gears of War. 

+1.  I think this is one of the worst boss battles I have played.  Story-wise it's bad because we don't really even know who General RAAM is.  He shows up in 2 cutscenes the entire game to do nothing more than kill someone.  Never says a word, and his name isn't even spoken, I don't think.  Gameplay-wise, every other boss battle in the game required you to solve a puzzle - make the Berzerker break stuff so you can use the Hammer of Dawn on him, shoot the Corpser in a certain spot to expose his mouth, etc.  But here, all you have to do his shoot the guy a bunch of times, and there isn't even any indication of how close you are to finishing him off.  You can hardly even see if you've done any damage to him, save for an occasional blood spray if you are zoomed in the the sniper rifle. Horrible.

Very surprised they left out Xen.

Totally agree on the Flood, with the exception that their intro scene in the original Halo is really a great moment in gaming.

Didn't realize there was so much hate for the Water Temple.  That is exactly where I got stuck when I played OOT on VC, and I haven't gone back to finish it off.

[ATB]

Lot's of people will say Hades in God of War (I'm not one of them). Others will say the Alma fight in Ninja Gaiden (I'm not one of those either).

I will say the hell level in the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer Game.

With regard to Gears of War, I will say that stupid part where you're in the car and you have to light up the nearly instant kill bats.  That car part sucked.

Also, nearly every underwater level of any game ever. Who thinks 'we need a swimming level in this game' for EVERY GAME?

Halo2/3. Any flood level.

I think it was the original Max Payne- but there was this sort of platforming level with invisible floors or something. It was awful.

[Misguided]

Every action sequence in The Longest Journey. Bleh.

[Teggy]

I think it was the original Max Payne- but there was this sort of platforming level with invisible floors or something. It was awful.

Absolutely. The dream sequences. The ones in Max Payne 2 were not nearly as annoying, although they seemed pretty unnecessary.

[Farscry]

What? They put the Ocarina of Time Water Temple in (which I actually thought was awesome and enjoyed) but they leave out that awful, putrid, pace-killing Grand Fetch Quest of Power from the latter part of Wind Waker?

I loved Wind Waker until I hit that point. Total pace-killer, it really pissed me off, the point I put the game down for almost a year and wound up grabbing a guide and plowing through that section of the game to get back to the fun.

[Gratch]

Every action sequence in The Longest Journey. Bleh.

I don't remember any action sequences in Longest Journey.   Maybe you're thinking of Dreamfall (which I would agree with 100%)?

[Destructor]

What? They put the Ocarina of Time Water Temple in (which I actually thought was awesome and enjoyed) but they leave out that awful, putrid, pace-killing Grand Fetch Quest of Power from the latter part of Wind Waker?

I loved Wind Waker until I hit that point. Total pace-killer, it really pissed me off, the point I put the game down for almost a year and wound up grabbing a guide and plowing through that section of the game to get back to the fun.

I agree. I don't get it either. I LOVED the Water Temple in OoT.

And go here for the 10 worst intros. And no, the fabled 'all your base' is NOT #1.

[CeeKay]

+ Infinity to the Flood mention.

[Caine]

a few more that royally suck.

forced stealth sequences in action games with instant death penalties for being seen.  add this with having crappy silent ways to get past guards.  luckily, i haven't played anything like this recently.  Viking could have been in this category but it's still possible to recover from being caught, and getting the whole camp after your butt is pretty easy to avoid.

timed sequences combined with checkpoints.  i quit bourne conspiracy for this one. 

[Gratch]

Since I'm currently stuck in it, I'll nominate the Modron's Cube maze from Planescape:  Torment. 

[Eel Snave]

Jedi Outcast - forced stealth section.  Look, I can take on any amount of troops.  Bring em on.  I have the motherf---ing FORCE on my side.  Don't give me that.

Also:

"You must gather your party before venturing forth.  You must gather your party before venturing forth.  You must gather your party before venturing forth.  You must gather your party before venturing forth.  You must gather your party before venturing forth."

[metallicorphan]

No hate for the Raiden junk-holding level in MGS? 

hmm,close...it was MGS2 but swimming underwater with Emma(E.E.),camera facing the oppersite way when you surface,so when you go back down your facing the wrong way and no doubt end up swimming back the way you just came...hate,hate,hate

[Big Jake]

Meat Circus from Pysconauts.  This discussion is invalid without a mention of that.

[Purge]

CoD4 Epilogue.

Timed Mission FTL.

[mytocles]

Escort missions, anywhere, any time. If the people needing the escorts weren't total idiots, the missions might not be such torture, but they never seem to be very bright.  They usually are poor fighters, fight when you don't want them to, and can't keep up with you - or get stuck on boulders, trees, etc.  Much as I loved Morrowind, I dreaded the escort parts. 

Also, I agree on the timed sections of games, especially without great maps and save-anywhere.  Phantom Hourglass and that horrible Temple of the Ocean King, I'm looking at you! 

Anything less than complete control over your character's motion and camera is a particular pet peeve of mine.  I'm finding the Wii version of Resident Evil 4 easier - I keep my left hand waaay off to the left to break that mental connection that the left stick should be moving Leon!  I was completely hopeless with the standard controller on the Cube.  And why is the horizontal camera different from 1st person view to 3rd person view, sometimes in the same game?  In FF12, I get the inverted vertical view which I like, but when I "look left," the character looks right. Grrrrr! 

Sorry about that last paragraph, it falls into the category of "you can't teach old dogs new tricks" - if you didn't grow up playing video games, it is really hard to play games with differing controls.  Sigh... 

[Windows95]

Their list seems pretty accurate for the games that I've played.  I still to this day don't understand the love of Halo mainly due to the Flood.

The only one on the list I'd disagree with is Mario Kart's Blue Shells.  Probably because I only play MarioKart in multiplayer with friends while drinking, so the competition isn't too serious.  In fact our goal when playing probably isn't to win so much as to annoy the other players.

[Farscry]

The only one on the list I'd disagree with is Mario Kart's Blue Shells.  Probably because I only play MarioKart in multiplayer with friends while drinking, so the competition isn't too serious.  In fact our goal when playing probably isn't to win so much as to annoy the other players.

Ditto (well, except I play sober, just not much of a drinker). I love the blue shells for that reason.

[Jancelot]

Great article.  I especially agree with the point about Dead Rising as well as Halo and Mass Effect.

My write in would be the Meat Circus level in Psychonauts.  I still haven't finished it and it was brilliant up to that point. *

Big Jake beat me to it.   

[Bullwinkle]

Great article.  I especially agree with the point about Dead Rising as well as Halo and Mass Effect.

My write in would be the Meat Circus level in Psychonauts.  I still haven't finished it and it was brilliant up to that point. *

Big Jake beat me to it.   

I thought the single save file was a bigger problem for Dead Rising, personally.

[EddieA]

Driving around Haven City in Jak 2 was horrible.  The streets were so overclogged with other vehicles that you sometimes just had to sit there and wait for them to move in order to get past.  Since you had to drive all over the city between missions, it became a chore to play.  All they had to do was decrease the traffic by half, and the game would have been great.  Thankfully, that's just what they did for Jak 3, and that was one of the best games of the previous generation.

[KC]

I hate jumping levels in non-platformers.  For instance, from Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance from the consoles.  Where did a platformer come into my hack and slash?

[only1]

The only one on the list I'd disagree with is Mario Kart's Blue Shells.  Probably because I only play MarioKart in multiplayer with friends while drinking, so the competition isn't too serious.  In fact our goal when playing probably isn't to win so much as to annoy the other players

AGREED!!!
To me, it came off as them being whiny lil biznitches.  If it was NASCAR, then, yeah, totally agreed... but it's a freaking party game... winning was a bonus, not the focus... effing up your opponents was! 
Hell, I remember when it first came out on N64, we would have a bunch of people over and play that damned game until 6 am.  GOOD TIMES!!!

[Larraque]

SSB:B - having to unlock characters that are advertised ON THE FREAKING BOX.

[Eel Snave]

Driving around Haven City in Jak 2 was horrible.  The streets were so overclogged with other vehicles that you sometimes just had to sit there and wait for them to move in order to get past.  Since you had to drive all over the city between missions, it became a chore to play.  All they had to do was decrease the traffic by half, and the game would have been great.  Thankfully, that's just what they did for Jak 3, and that was one of the best games of the previous generation.

I didn't play Jak 3 for exactly that reason.  After how good Jak 2 COULD have been, I didn't want to get burned.

[somoflange]

The 20 minute slideshow intro in Okami.

I had to restart the game 3 times due to bad savegame luck. each time I had to watch that intro I was mentally strangling the developers.

every cutscene and intro should be skippable. period.

[Larraque]

The 20 minute slideshow intro in Okami.

I had to restart the game 3 times due to bad savegame luck. each time I had to watch that intro I was mentally strangling the developers.

every cutscene and intro should be skippable. period.

But make it slightly more annoying to skip a cutscene than just pressing X. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to re-load a game because I reached a cutscene and accidentally skipped it.

[Purge]

Black and White bugs. I was loving the game until the food supply bug broke me; I didn't even get to the "shrunken pet" bug.

[Caine]

Driving around Haven City in Jak 2 was horrible.  The streets were so overclogged with other vehicles that you sometimes just had to sit there and wait for them to move in order to get past.  Since you had to drive all over the city between missions, it became a chore to play.  All they had to do was decrease the traffic by half, and the game would have been great.  Thankfully, that's just what they did for Jak 3, and that was one of the best games of the previous generation.

I didn't play Jak 3 for exactly that reason.  After how good Jak 2 COULD have been, I didn't want to get burned.

i quit jak 2 and was almost in the same boat as you are.  i got it cheap on the recommendation of someone here and i was very surprised.  it's a much better game than 2 was.  i really want them to make a ps3 sequel

[Bullwinkle]

Driving around Haven City in Jak 2 was horrible.  The streets were so overclogged with other vehicles that you sometimes just had to sit there and wait for them to move in order to get past.  Since you had to drive all over the city between missions, it became a chore to play.  All they had to do was decrease the traffic by half, and the game would have been great.  Thankfully, that's just what they did for Jak 3, and that was one of the best games of the previous generation.

I didn't play Jak 3 for exactly that reason.  After how good Jak 2 COULD have been, I didn't want to get burned.

i quit jak 2 and was almost in the same boat as you are.  i got it cheap on the recommendation of someone here and i was very surprised.  it's a much better game than 2 was.  i really want them to make a ps3 sequel

Man, I just started Jak II.  I loved it immediately, but thought the traffic was a little annoying.  Now I'm starting to worry that the minor irritation will turn into something that will keep me from finishing the game.  Sigh.

By the way, the social aspect of GTA IV is one of the most clearly defined horrible idea in a great game things I've ever encountered.  However, turning on Sleep Mode helps tremendously.  It's just irritating that you constantly have to keep turning it on.

[Kevin Grey]

I actually enjoyed Jak 2 more than Jak 3 (though both were really good).  I've actually played through Jak 2 twice. 

[Bullwinkle]

Lot's of people will say Hades in God of War (I'm not one of them).

I am one of them.  I just finished God of War for the first time and specifically hunted this thread down.  Man that was one annoying level.  I spent over an hour on the logs alone.

[pr0ner]

Meat Circus from Pysconauts.  This discussion is invalid without a mention of that.

A winner is you.

[rickfc]

Lot's of people will say Hades in God of War (I'm not one of them).

I am one of them.  I just finished God of War for the first time and specifically hunted this thread down.  Man that was one annoying level.  I spent over an hour on the logs alone.

That, and the Ares fight.  That was beyond ridiculous.  My brother-in-law and his annoying wife were over when I beat it.  I jumped up and started screaming, "yeah!  take that you fucking bitch!"  They weren't too happy.