The soft underbelly of games you like

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Librarian Mike

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May 16, 2008
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Film critic Pauline Kael (I think) once said that every movie has a soft underbelly, meaning that even the greatest ones have a flaw that can be exposed. So, I thought it might be interesting to apply this to games.

*I'm looking for legitimate criticism here, so if all you have to say is "Halo 3 is stupid" or "Zelda is boring", don't bother and this thread will just float away.

Anyway,

Portal: I love this game, like lots of other people. The one thing that doesn't sit right with me however is that once you've played through and solved the puzzles, there's not much there in terms of replayability. Sure, there are the achievements, but it feels like a letdown knowing that a room that took 30 minutes to figure out can be done in 1.

So, I leave it to you...
 

Axolotl

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Fallout 1: Whilst the setting is executed brilliantly and the combat is also compelling enough to get me to thnk more than most CRPGs. The balance in the game is dire, st the beginning Small Guns is the best stat in the game but after the first quest it becomes near-useless.
 

afrophysics

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I thought Snow Brothers' punishing difficulty detracts from it's quality as it can get seriously frustrating at times. I'm just glad I emulate it and don't play it on the arcade, it would suck up all my money.
 

Xvito

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Bioshocks lack of multiplayer sucks.
The same goes for all single-player games. At least add Co-op.
 
Feb 14, 2008
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I'd say balancing the amount of grind needed in Guildwars.
Guldwars: Prophecies (first installment) was "grind tastic" after completing all one man quests available for the first half of the game you where halfway to maximal level (level 20, wich incidentally was the level required to accomplish most missions).
Guildwars: Factions (second installment) was a game that you could play for 3.5 hous and get to at least level 14 effordlessly.
Guildwars: Nightfall (latest installment) are a well balanced game, with equal amounts of grind and quests.

Now for something else.

Half-Life 2 has one minor flaw that catches my eye. The weapons are really weird. Take the smg, the barrel that shoots 5.56 mm rifle bullets are just as big as the barrel shooting 45 mm grenades o.0
 

opium of the people

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May 20, 2008
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halo 3 lack of recoil and bass when firing a gun was my only real criticism of the game from a technical point, i know i am a super solider, but when firing my Assault Rifle i want it to feel like its shooting more than dried peas!
 

Theo Samaritan

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Xvito said:
Bioshocks lack of multiplayer sucks.
The same goes for all single-player games. At least add Co-op.
Yes, add co-op to all single-player games. JRPG's, Sim City and Homeworld would all benefit from a good co-op mode [/sarcasm]

Fallout 3. Vampires are the only downer in that game. Why the hell are there vampires!?
 

Altorin

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May 16, 2008
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Librarian Mike said:
Film critic Pauline Kael (I think) once said that every movie has a soft underbelly, meaning that even the greatest ones have a flaw that can be exposed. So, I thought it might be interesting to apply this to games.

*I'm looking for legitimate criticism here, so if all you have to say is "Halo 3 is stupid" or "Zelda is boring", don't bother and this thread will just float away.

Anyway,

Portal: I love this game, like lots of other people. The one thing that doesn't sit right with me however is that once you've played through and solved the puzzles, there's not much there in terms of replayability. Sure, there are the achievements, but it feels like a letdown knowing that a room that took 30 minutes to figure out can be done in 1.

So, I leave it to you...
I played through Portal 4 times the first day I played it.
 

Umwerfer

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Nov 3, 2008
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hmm, which games heart should I drive a stake through? The fact that every zombiefied citizen in half-life2 wears the exact same clothes? or bioshocks checkpoint system? the latter hardly need explanation; there really should be at least some consequenses when you die! You're simply not meant to respawn ten feet away with a fresh supply of ammo and health!!
 

Xvito

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Theo Samaritan said:
Xvito said:
Bioshocks lack of multiplayer sucks.
The same goes for all single-player games. At least add Co-op.
Yes, add co-op to all single-player games. JRPG's, Sim City and Homeworld would all benefit from a good co-op mode [/sarcasm]

Fallout 3. Vampires are the only downer in that game. Why the hell are there vampires!?
FYI they actually had Co-op in a LotR Jrpg-esque game and it was totally sweet.
 

Theo Samaritan

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Xvito said:
Theo Samaritan said:
Xvito said:
Bioshocks lack of multiplayer sucks.
The same goes for all single-player games. At least add Co-op.
Yes, add co-op to all single-player games. JRPG's, Sim City and Homeworld would all benefit from a good co-op mode [/sarcasm]

Fallout 3. Vampires are the only downer in that game. Why the hell are there vampires!?
FYI they actually had Co-op in a LotR Jrpg-esque game and it was totally sweet.
Are you talking about the hack'n'slashers that were Two Towers and Return of the King?
 

Xvito

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Theo Samaritan said:
Xvito said:
Theo Samaritan said:
Xvito said:
Bioshocks lack of multiplayer sucks.
The same goes for all single-player games. At least add Co-op.
Yes, add co-op to all single-player games. JRPG's, Sim City and Homeworld would all benefit from a good co-op mode [/sarcasm]

Fallout 3. Vampires are the only downer in that game. Why the hell are there vampires!?
FYI they actually had Co-op in a LotR Jrpg-esque game and it was totally sweet.
Are you talking about the hack'n'slashers that were Two Towers and Return of the King?
Yeah... No.
Is that your vision of Jrpgs?
 

Theo Samaritan

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Xvito said:
Theo Samaritan said:
Are you talking about the hack'n'slashers that were Two Towers and Return of the King?
Yeah... No.
Is that your vision of Jrpgs?
I have quite a few JRPG's and I fail to recall any LOTR JRPG-style games, hence my questions. I was going to ask if you knew what a JRPG was if you said yes to that.
 

Xvito

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Theo Samaritan said:
Xvito said:
Theo Samaritan said:
Are you talking about the hack'n'slashers that were Two Towers and Return of the King?
Yeah... No.
Is that your vision of Jrpgs?
I have quite a few JRPG's and I fail to recall any LOTR JRPG-style games, hence my questions. I was going to ask if you knew what a JRPG was if you said yes to that.
Well, I'll end this off-topic discussion by saying that the game is called LotR: the third age or something. It was kinda fun. Also at your earlier post, I would like to say that Co-op Sim City would be Awesome.
 

sheic99

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Oct 15, 2008
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This has probably already has been beaten to death, but games that decide to switch genres on you. That includes any action game with a stealth sequence.
more specificaly: Drakengard 1

We don't need the final battle of a hack'n'slash to be an impossibly hard rhythm mini-game that very few people can beat. Seriously watch the boss fight on youtube.
 

DirkGently

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Dead rising's lack of free-roam, care-free sandbox mode. Let me run around and kill zombies at my leisure goddamnit.
 

black lincon

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Tales of Symphonia had multilayer, but Tales of Symphonia was an RPG, it didn't work out very well.
 

DiamondJim

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NHL 09... The announcers have no frigging clue as to what's going on in the play, and repeat themselves 5+ times a game. Also, I've mentioned this in another thread, but the ability to accidentally score on yourself in front of your own net is easily the worst thing about the game. Besides that, thoroughly entertaining.

Fallout 3, which has been excellent, has a few graphical errors I've encountered on the 360. Every so often, I stumble into what I like the call the "kaleidoscope of death", which involves a rapid, vibrant amount of colors radiating from the center of the crosshairs whenever you move. I think it's just the system having trouble processing, but damn, is it annoying when you have pissed off, irradiated bears chasing you and thirsting for blood.

And Fable 2? Yahtzee took the words from my mouth.
 

Altorin

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DiamondJim said:
Fallout 3, which has been excellent, has a few graphical errors I've encountered on the 360. Every so often, I stumble into what I like the call the "kaleidoscope of death", which involves a rapid, vibrant amount of colors radiating from the center of the crosshairs whenever you move. I think it's just the system having trouble processing, but damn, is it annoying when you have pissed off, irradiated bears chasing you and thirsting for blood.
I'm not sure, but you may be suffering from concussion. Is your head crippled?