Some aspects of games are bad. Some are very bad. But it's when developers continue to put these fiends in despite the outcry of the community that it starts to get horrendous. Do developers even get these sections of games playtested? These are some of those conventions that deserve to die, although some just won't. Feel free to throw some more on the heap!
-Escort Missions- Babysitting anything is annoying, but when they fly towards danger like moths to light and refuse to fight back in any way, you've got a one-way ticket to the worst level in any game ever.
-Lack of Checkpoints- Hardcore games often feature massive sections of game in-between save points. This is not necessarily too bad, but if kicking the metaphorical bucket even once sends you back half an hour, you'll begin to hate the title, even if you loved it before.
-Sewer Levels- It's hard to explain why these are awful, but no-one can deny how appropriately crap sewers are.
-Unruly Cameras- So many great games have been near-crippled by awkward viewing points that you could make a stairway to the moon with them. With all the joy that 3D can bring, monstrous cameras are often lumped in too.
-Buying Saves- While I know of only one game (Maximo, you swine!) that has committed this act, the very nature of it earns it a place here. Saves are a gaming right, a reward for having gotten as far as you have. Being forced to spend your hard-earned riches on this most basic of features is unnacceptable, plain and simple.
-Lives- Perhaps worse than having no mid-mission checkpoints, lives are an outdated frustration from the arcade era that refuses to die. Why should I restart the whole level again instead of using the checkpoint five minutes back because I failed one too many times? Even fairly recent titles like Psychonauts are guilty of this.
-Cineractives / Quick Time Events- Ever since Resident Evil and God of War, there has been a disgusting tidal wave of games whose developers felt the need to steal a bad idea. While the worst of the fad is happily over, it should never have existed. Idea-thieving at its worst?
-Uncustomisable Controls- What if you prefer to use the triggers to shoot rather than the usual button? Tough, punk. No-one bothered to make the controls editable so deal with it. Some recent games still do this, which is insane considering that Timesplitters (a PS2 launch title, no less) let one fully adjust the controller setup. No excuses.
-Escort Missions- Babysitting anything is annoying, but when they fly towards danger like moths to light and refuse to fight back in any way, you've got a one-way ticket to the worst level in any game ever.
-Lack of Checkpoints- Hardcore games often feature massive sections of game in-between save points. This is not necessarily too bad, but if kicking the metaphorical bucket even once sends you back half an hour, you'll begin to hate the title, even if you loved it before.
-Sewer Levels- It's hard to explain why these are awful, but no-one can deny how appropriately crap sewers are.
-Unruly Cameras- So many great games have been near-crippled by awkward viewing points that you could make a stairway to the moon with them. With all the joy that 3D can bring, monstrous cameras are often lumped in too.
-Buying Saves- While I know of only one game (Maximo, you swine!) that has committed this act, the very nature of it earns it a place here. Saves are a gaming right, a reward for having gotten as far as you have. Being forced to spend your hard-earned riches on this most basic of features is unnacceptable, plain and simple.
-Lives- Perhaps worse than having no mid-mission checkpoints, lives are an outdated frustration from the arcade era that refuses to die. Why should I restart the whole level again instead of using the checkpoint five minutes back because I failed one too many times? Even fairly recent titles like Psychonauts are guilty of this.
-Cineractives / Quick Time Events- Ever since Resident Evil and God of War, there has been a disgusting tidal wave of games whose developers felt the need to steal a bad idea. While the worst of the fad is happily over, it should never have existed. Idea-thieving at its worst?
-Uncustomisable Controls- What if you prefer to use the triggers to shoot rather than the usual button? Tough, punk. No-one bothered to make the controls editable so deal with it. Some recent games still do this, which is insane considering that Timesplitters (a PS2 launch title, no less) let one fully adjust the controller setup. No excuses.
Although I guess some of these aren't implemented (or taken out) for the best. But they can still be pretty... horendus. And camera angles; ugh. Those are major killers.