A game that you just can't play.

[i7omahawki]

Guitar Hero or Rock Band... I would rather play a real instrument and get more fulfillment out of it by learning new songs or making my own. Aside from some of the good songs not even being the licensed recordings but rather covers (and bad ones at that) I've never really understood the draw of guitar hero-style games. I guess its the whole "I can be rockstar" angle.

Learning an instrument is definitely a more fulfilling activity, but I do think there's more to Rock Band (maybe not guitar hero) than 'I wanna be a rock star'.

Specifically for people who can't play instruments (I'd like to but University interrupted), it is really enjoyable as a listening exercise. Before I played it I could rarely pick up on individual parts of songs, especially bass parts. But after playing "Bass" on Rock Band I find that, not only in the game's songs but other's as well, I can hear it much more easily, which definitely enriches my experience as a listener.

I'd consider the new Rock Band Pro modes as quite a good learning exercise too, these do feature instruments that are real (I have the keyboard and it works as a MIDI controller too) and the tracks accurately represent the songs such that, if I repeat the notes I play in the game when hooked up to a keyboard, I am literally playing that part of the song. Obviously the dynamic is different in that in the game I am obeying commands essentially, where as real musicianship involves learning and producing the music at will. Nevertheless I think Rock Band does do something interesting at least.

Sorry for the long reply, I didn't take issue with what you said, but thought I'd perhaps offer up a couple of points which you may not have been aware of, and see what you thought of them.

 

[J3llo]

Okay whatabout a listy thing with games i cant play

Saints row (1)
Assasins creed (1)
Any splinter cell game
allmost every sports or racing game
Jrpg's
bioshock 2
halo wars
bionic commando (nes)
the darkness
brotherhood of steel
and last but not least (wont be getting any fans for this one)
Almost every Japanese game ever with exceptions for the more stranger games like killer 7 and katamari damcy

 

[Kevlar Eater]

Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines. Literally. I can't patch the game, and I can't even launch the client because it has almost no compatibility with Windows 7.

Ninja Blade. The PC controls are useless. Really, really bad console port. From Software should never do anything with the PC market ever again.

Assassin's Creed 1. Horrible console port, and it burns up my GPU, despite my PC being cooled with quality fans.

 

[kouriichi]

Farmville.
Im sorry. I just cant. Id rather watch every episode of MLP in a row while on a bad cocaine induced trip.
What little respect i had for my father literally melted away when he said, "My farm is the biggest of my 50 friends."

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Guitar Hero or Rock Band... I would rather play a real instrument and get more fulfillment out of it by learning new songs or making my own. Aside from some of the good songs not even being the licensed recordings but rather covers (and bad ones at that) I've never really understood the draw of guitar hero-style games. I guess its the whole "I can be rockstar" angle.

Learning an instrument is definitely a more fulfilling activity, but I do think there's more to Rock Band (maybe not guitar hero) than 'I wanna be a rock star'.

Specifically for people who can't play instruments (I'd like to but University interrupted), it is really enjoyable as a listening exercise. Before I played it I could rarely pick up on individual parts of songs, especially bass parts. But after playing "Bass" on Rock Band I find that, not only in the game's songs but other's as well, I can hear it much more easily, which definitely enriches my experience as a listener.

I'd consider the new Rock Band Pro modes as quite a good learning exercise too, these do feature instruments that are real (I have the keyboard and it works as a MIDI controller too) and the tracks accurately represent the songs such that, if I repeat the notes I play in the game when hooked up to a keyboard, I am literally playing that part of the song. Obviously the dynamic is different in that in the game I am obeying commands essentially, where as real musicianship involves learning and producing the music at will. Nevertheless I think Rock Band does do something interesting at least.

Sorry for the long reply, I didn't take issue with what you said, but thought I'd perhaps offer up a couple of points which you may not have been aware of, and see what you thought of them.

I understand how some people could enjoy the games and I see where you're coming from. I guess my main issue is that a lot of the people I knew who played those earlier versions (4-buttons and the "pick flap") genuinely thought they were rock gods because they could play Dragonforce songs on GH or Buckethead solos... as a former band member and guitarist/bassist it irked me to no end how they would go on and on about how awesome they were at music yet when I confronted them with real instruments they scoffed at them like it was some obsolete tool (one even referred to a 6-string guitar as a "baby's toy"). Rock Band Pro sounds interesting, but personally I'd use the money that you pay for those things on decent equipment and maybe lessons if I didn't already know what I was doing. But thats my personal take. I'm glad people have found joy in music, and in some respects I'm sure that the series has added to other people's musical tastes (a lot more people know about Buckethead now thanks to GH).
Its the same idea that I have with people who play FPS's that feature real guns who think because they play MW2 or BlOps that suddenly makes them war heroes or gun experts.

 

[hammelbamf]

Well, that makes me understand the "aim support" option I so laughingly turned off. Anyway, makes me even happier to use the more shooter-friendly controls of ME2.

 

[Oro44]

Fallout: New Vegas. My dog died from a brain tumor on the exact same day I did the quest to get the dog a new brain. Haven't touched the game since.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Red Dead Redemption.

Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic game, with a brilliant story.
I just can't play it.

I find it so boring and dry, yet I'm not entirely sure why I feel that way towards it. Even Undead Nightmare I found to be an effort to play. And it has zombies in it!!

This, oddly enough. I've played it all the way through once but I just can't bring myself to do so again. Which is really strange because I hardly even touched on half the content. I've downloaded Undead Nightmare but still haven't tried that. I just... can't bring myself to play it but can't think of a single reason why. Curious.

OT: I can't play Star Fox Command on the DS. The controls drive me mental and it really kicks my arse. Damn you, stupid game!

I won't be playing Tomb Raider 2 for a long time. I got SUCH a long way in and was so proud... until my save became corrupted and I lost it all. I'm NEVER doing that again. It kind of put me off completeing any of the original PS1 TR games too, sadly.

 

[RabbidKuriboh]

essentially all elder scrolls games, the UI is just to clusterfucky and having a hack and slash rpg also be first person is just bloody ludicrous

 

[Dragonforce525]

Any game set in the "Godfather" era like Mafia or L.A Noire, I just hate the style of the games, the cars are slow and ugly, the guns are shit, everyone's wearing different variations of the same suit and talking like they're doing a parody of The Godfather, the story could be incredible but I know I'll be playing the entire game hating every character, car and gun.

Oh and FYI, this isn't an "I can't play anything that doesn't feature space marines" situation, I love the Dynasty Warriors franchise and John Marston from Red Dead Redemption is literally my favorite video game character in the history of video games.

 

[wezzipooh]

L.A. Noire

Bought it on release day. Played it for about 6 hours over the course of a few days. Havent touched it since. I keep meaning to play it again but I have no desire whatsoever.

 

[NnyTheV]

I can't bring myself to play any Tales Of game. I don't know why.

 

[ICortezI]

I would say Brutal Legend. I own the game and I played it once, but I couldn't bring myself to play it again. There wasn't even really a reason, I just felt like I wasn't having any fun at all.

 

[Gerard Hughes]

LA Noire
that game is so boring
and i play puzzle games

 

[mastermerrick]

Unless the car is equipped with a rocket launcher, I ain't playing a racing game.

Have you tried Jak X: Combat Racing? It is literally Cars equipped with heavy firepower.

OT: Dragon Age: Origins and all the Rainbow Six games after Rogue Spear: Black Thorn.

 

[Sunrider]

Zelda games.

Well, I've only played twilight princess, but I hated it. I was all excited to try a zelda game for the first time, and I hated it. I forced myself to end, past all of those obtuse, illogical "puzzles", awful controls and lifeless game world right to about the 28 hour played time mark, and I still didn't like it.

I've tried to give it another chance since, but thought exactly the same thing.

Give me your copy then, I lost mine. =( I want to replay TP because I think it's an amazing game.

 

[i7omahawki]

I understand how some people could enjoy the games and I see where you're coming from. I guess my main issue is that a lot of the people I knew who played those earlier versions (4-buttons and the "pick flap") genuinely thought they were rock gods because they could play Dragonforce songs on GH or Buckethead solos... as a former band member and guitarist/bassist it irked me to no end how they would go on and on about how awesome they were at music yet when I confronted them with real instruments they scoffed at them like it was some obsolete tool (one even referred to a 6-string guitar as a "baby's toy"). Rock Band Pro sounds interesting, but personally I'd use the money that you pay for those things on decent equipment and maybe lessons if I didn't already know what I was doing. But thats my personal take. I'm glad people have found joy in music, and in some respects I'm sure that the series has added to other people's musical tastes (a lot more people know about Buckethead now thanks to GH).
Its the same idea that I have with people who play FPS's that feature real guns who think because they play MW2 or BlOps that suddenly makes them war heroes or gun experts.

Wow, shit...I had no idea that some people would regard guitar hero as a testament to their actual musical skill...and scoff at actual instruments. To be honest, when I'm playing it I often get the 'I could totally play this' feeling, thought usually a difficult drum beat or solo will come up and give me a thrashing, giving me a small perspective in just how difficult it would be and also making me more impressed at the compositional side of music. That said it has made me want to start learning a real instrument, and I already know that the game would actually be of little help in that process.

 

[badgersprite]

Gears Of War and Crackdown. I tried, but pretty soon I was just wondering what else was on.

I think I just don't like third person shooters when that's all they have going for them. They just need something more to them than "shoot a whole bunch of guys". I had the same problem with Red Faction: Guerrilla, which was "shoot a whole bunch of guys; with vehicle sections!"

 

[AssassinFisH]

Oblivion and Fallout 3. I just can't stomach the way bethesda make RPG's. No idea why, just makes me cringe.