The highest difficulty...

[bimbley]

The God of War games have got it just right so far. It's a good casual slice 'em up on normal, and then when you up it to God Mode it becomes like those really old school games where you have to learn and keep an eye out for the little signifiers that an enemy is going to do a certain move. Adds a great little technical element, and a genuine feeling that you've learned a skill when you finish it.

-Bimbley

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Anyone done the Mass Effect 2 side missions on Insanity?

Some of them are just ridiculous.

Like the timed one where you have to stop the missile launch, or the Blue Suns base where you fend off 2 YMIR mechs then get flanked by a buttload of Mercs...

Doesn't help that the friendly AI gets really stupd at all the wrong moments.

 

[Christemo]

DONT EVER PLAY DANTES INFERNO ON INFERNAL. the game will rape your face, then poop down your neck and make you choke on it. already on hellish (2nd hardest, im almost done with this mode), half the enemies can take you out in 2-3 hits, so if you arent playing ressurection mode (all your upgrades stay to the next playthrough), you are severely effed in the a.

a game that did it right, however, was Warcraft 3. in the campaign, your enemies didnt get tougher (unless you had to kill a specified bad guy), your objectives just became tougher. in TFT, the first undead mission for example, you couldn´t let as many villagers escape, and they came running more often. it was actually quite fun, if a bit challenging.

 

[Galad]

I'm playing ME1 now on hardcore, and I think it's well done. Being the free explorer I am, I'm going to leave the main storyline for dessert, so I got 3 times less planets done in the same time with an Infiltrator Sheppard(pistols for the most part, sniping occasionally), Garrus and Wrex with Assault rifles..

Also, Dragon Age - Since I got accustomed to the gameplay I've always played on Hard, and had to reload only a few times on certain fights, but I never switched up to Nightmare.

 

[TheTrips]

It's gotta be Dead Space for me. Played it on Normal first three times through to get the achievement for fully upgrading all weapons then I switched over to Impossible. Hmm that's funny theres no + mode where I can carry over my arsenal of upgraded weapons....Fair enough carry on anyway...Hmmm it seems that the normal ten a penny necromorphs take three quarters of my health with one hit.....Oh look a black necromorph, one hit kill imminent...Second to last level right I just need to escort this big statue through the hanger.../RageTrade-in at Gamestation

 

[inpachi]

Ok the hardest games of all time!

Battletoads(Single player is hard enough! BUT I DARE YOU I FUCKING DARE YOU TO DO MULTIPLAYER!)

Contra 4! The fact that a cheat code was made famous because of this game says enough 30lives code FTW!!!

Henry Hatsworth on the DS!

Silver Surfer on the SNES or was it the NES?

And thats all i can think of off the top of my head..

 

[Klepa]

Dragon Age was pretty good on Nightmare. It got me on the barricades a few times, especially during the solo mission, where my enemies kept spamming their 5 second stun/freeze ability, every four seconds.

Haven't played other games on hardest difficulties recently.

 

[Rolf]

Brutal legend was piss easy. The only time i realy failed when i played on Brutal was on the first escort and the last battle. Rest of the time i could have played on normal and got the same challenge

 

[Marmalade]

Wolfenstein has to be the easiest game ever.

I mean the hardest difficulty is a cake walk (I dont know why you would want to walk on cake but still it's easy). I thought über insane or whats it's called was supposed to be hard but it's not harder then normal, you maybe die a LITTLE faster but thats it.

 

[brunothepig]

I think Doom 3 was a bit sadistic, but rewarding for it. No I haven't done it. Your health drains to 25, and if you get medkits it just starts draining again. Enemies do more damage so you basically die from a few bullets, or a monster nibbling your toe. Resident Evil 4 did well, cause the different game modes added more. Play on easy, it skips a little of the content. There's a hedge maze with zombie dogs, a tower you go inside to lower a drawbridge, some more stuff. And it actually rewards you for playing on the harder ones, by unlocking some cool weapons or suits. But it can be a fair bit harder. Guitar Hero probably deserves a mention, nothing more satisfying than five starring that ***** of a song on expert. (Pick almost any one from GH:Metallica)

 

[MurderousToaster]

I think that Gears of War 2 did Insane right. I can do it solo, but it's challenging, and yet immensely rewarding.

 

[Urgh76]

Kingdom Hearts One, that game is difficult enough to begin with. Mostly because Sora is a whiny little kid in that one

 

[JEBWrench]

Honestly... I never bother to even attempt to try the hardest difficulty in games. Nearly every one i have tried just gets me so frustrarted..

So i think fuck it, put it on easy and have fun.

I agree with this - my gaming time is limited, so just let me unwind rather than play through a battle of attrition.

Ok the hardest games of all time!

Battletoads(Single player is hard enough! BUT I DARE YOU I FUCKING DARE YOU TO DO MULTIPLAYER!)

Contra 4! The fact that a cheat code was made famous because of this game says enough 30lives code FTW!!!

Henry Hatsworth on the DS!

Silver Surfer on the SNES or was it the NES?

And thats all i can think of off the top of my head..

Did somebody say BATTLETOADS?

And, if I recall correctly, isn't Battletoads technically impossible in multiplayer, on account of the handlebar-unicycle level with the killing death ball?

And Silver Surfer was on the NES. And was god-awful. You should be ashamed.

 

[JaymesFogarty]

Well, I used to keep every game on normal, for fear of being seriously out of my depth. But when I got Dead Space, I decided to go for hard. And damn, hard mode on that game makes it one of the scariest, ammo-conservationist, rewarding experiences that I've ever had with a game. All the other difficulties were ridiculous though, and stopped it being scary at all.
After Dead Space, I tried to best game ever created, (MGS3, naturally) on the hardest mode. That game took me forty hours to complete, it was so punishingly merciless. But it was worth it.

 

[Professor Cubbage]

MW2 was a bit too easy, COD5 was an absolute pisstake with all the grenades and narrow levels, but I think COD4 got it right as it was challenging and extremely satisfying when you finally finish it.

I'd agree, although it could have done without certain spikes like 'Heat' and 'No Fighting in the War Room'.

I think it was the timers that made those such miserable experiences.

Fuck timers.

So true. It was always a close call with only 3 seconds left in each. A great excuse to say "Woah, that was too close!" Cookie for reference.

 

[Professor Cubbage]

HAWX is quite broken, less ammo and more damage (you can only survive being hit once with a missile). The AI doesn't get any smarter or anything, just more damage and less ammo. ARGH

Must be horrible as I remember some levels being murder on easy.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Viewtiful Joe and F-Zero GX. Really, really hard but not unfairly so, and I felt so triumphal when I managed them

Ah, g.x, I do miss thee... My greatest sense of achievement in a game was unlocking all the arcade racers; story mode was absolutely fucking impossible on the hardest difficulty but damn it was satisfying.

Also, the grand prix on master is the only racing game I've seen that doesn't resort to rubberband A.i., they beat you fair and square. You can target the leader specifically and kill him to get more of a chance at winning. Hell, just straight racing, placing consistently 4th/5th will probably win you the competition, there's no mario kart destined winners here.

It's a monster to beat, because it's insanely fast, but the grand prix is always fair I found, I never got pissed at the computer, I knew if I lost it was because I messed up. I can put up with any insane difficulty when it's like that!