Your most hated game mechanic

[FightThePower]

Forced 'get-detected-and-you-instantly-lose' stealth sections.

The Wind Waker was an amazing game, but that bit where you have to crawl around the Forsaken Fortress in a barrel was so fucking boring.

 

[ZacktheWolf]

Add another to the tally for those who hate escort sections, especially if the thing or person you're escorting can't take a single hit. It's a lot more tolerable if what you're escorting can be USEFUL (like the parties to the train in HLE1), but still.

RETARDEDLY SLOW RUN SPEED.
Games where the character can "run", but it's about the speed of your grandmother shuffling to the kitchen for a kettle of tea DRIVE. ME. NUTS. Good examples here are Galerians:ASH, and I think it was Fatal Frame (don't remember which one).

Inability to jump (or even just walk) over small, easily-passable obstacles. Like a fallen ceiling beam, a cinderblock, or a step that's more than 3 inches off the ground.

Auto-battles. Games where you are otherwise in control of your character until you encounter an enemy, then the game takes over (and not for the purpose of a cutscene or plot-related battle), and you just sit there. Recent Final Fantasy games have made this a terrible, terrible habit. As much as I love the series, I outright stopped playing 12 after the first fight, and never picked it up again. =/

 

[Exia91]

The underwater levels. I detest all underwater levels where you actually have to fight enemies. It's even worse if you have an air meter!

This.

Oh, and Quick Time Events on the most unexpected of times. Yes, those 2.

 

[Davey Woo]

The mechanic that puts you in a situation where the first time you play through it, you will die/fail. Because you needed to jump out of the way or whatever. So it only lengthens gameplay because it makes you start from the last checkpoint again, I hate it.

A (sort-of) example for this is the "Mile High Club" level on Call of Duty 4, at the end the guy comes out holding a hostage, and it all goes slow-mo and looks pretty cool, and then you kill him and save the day. However on Veteran, you HAVE to kill him with a headshot, but the game only tells you this after you've spent about 30 minutes trying the level over and over (there are no checkpoints) and then have the audacity to shoot him in the leg or something. It's really irritating.

Other examples of this are in Halo 2 where you have to walk around the city with loas of jackal snipers everywhere, on Legendary they kill you instantly, so the game becomes less of a challenge, and more a case of trial and error.

 

[tharglet]

> QTEs also get my vote.
> Escorts with bad AI is also a big hate, but games seem to be getting better at actually having the escorted person hiding, or actually being useful instead of dying. Escorts I like the most are where the person follows YOU. Following a slow-walking suicidal person is NOT fun.
> Forced walking. Stealth is OK, but in some games where you're forced to walk slowly annoy me. Assassin's Creed does this - I love the games still, but hate it when the char can't do anything but walk (consequently I'm pretty good at fighting the guards... but there's buildings you can't run in, even if you want to).
> Games you can't jump in - not always a dealbreaker, but annoying.
> Stuff that your character doesn't seem to want to climb over, but looks as if you can. I climb over fences in RL, so why won't my Superhero of Awesomeness save himself a 5 min walk and jump over the darned fence?!
> Awkward terrain that forces you to take the long route - sometimes is OK, all the time is NOT. Some games really break the immersion with convoluted paths. And Ashenvale could do with a bulldozer.
> Unskippable cutscenes - also a pet hate of mine. I like dialog that can be skipped through too.
> Badly placed subtitles - games with a lot of dialog I tend to like the subtitles up, as a personal preference. In ME2, the subtitles for the cutscenes are almost in the middle of the screen, rather than on the black border... which is kinda WTF. I like having the words there, just not obscuring the action!

 

[Shycte]

Forced 'get-detected-and-you-instantly-lose' stealth sections.

Totally agree, it's stupid, I mean, at least give me a chance to fight them. The Theif series did this amazing.

But it works in Arkham Asylum, mostly because good AI and not a "turn-around-when-you-are-close" kind of sixth sense.

 

[FightThePower]

Forced 'get-detected-and-you-instantly-lose' stealth sections.

Totally agree, it's stupid, I mean, at least give me a chance to fight them. The Theif series did this amazing.

But it works in Arkham Asylum, mostly because good AI and not a "turn-around-when-you-are-close" kind of sixth sense.

Well, it's not an instant lose in Arkham Asylum anyway cause you can get away even if you are detected, it's just that you're heavily punished for messing up, which I don't mind.

 

[Dragonforce525]

It seems to have popped up in this thread alot, but mine is also time limits, Dead Rising is the first to come to mind, that game would have been awesome, but then they decided to make you rush everywhere so you can't enjoy any of it.

Also degenerating health, most recent is Lost Planet I think, but that isn't really an issue as most game companies know this is a fucking stupid idea.

Now that I think about it, my answer is Capcom, they just suck at making games, they have these great concepts for games, then ruin them by adding these stupid little quirks:
Resident Evil - The aiming and save system
Dead Rising - The aiming, save system and time limit
Lost Planet - Degenerating health
Devil May Cry - That stupid arse score system, fuck you giving me a D, I completed the level...bastard.

So yeah, any game made by Capcom is bound to have a design flaw I hate.

 

[Dxz5roxg]

I hate missions where you have to defend something. It seems like you're suppose to be guarding a piece of styrofoam while nukes rain down on you.

 

[Premonition]

Badly executed stages like the Space battle stages in Ratchet. And, not so much mechanic, but the near god-like enemies sometimes with sniper perfect aim, twitch reflexes that would make a four year old be jealous and more health than it really needs.

 

[captainwolfos]

Quick time events if they're just random and you basically have to redo an entire level because you were expecting a cutscene and not a quick time event. Damn you, Lara Croft.

Also, escort missions. I like to not have to look after someone else when I'm busy killing off a shitload of enemies, ESPECIALLY when the NPC I have to protect has no survival skills whatsoever and most of the time it's like he/she/it WANTS to die. I don't mind escorts so much with essential characters 'cause they can pretty much look after themselves.

Also parts of games where you get penalised for dying, but then get killed later to carry on the story. Seriously, would it make much difference to the story if you get killed there and not about two feet in front of you?

 

[Kurokami]

What game mechanic(s) do you scoff at every time it comes up? For me, I'm going to go with unnecessary time limits. I don't mind them when it makes sense in the story, like if there's a bomb or some other bad thing will happen if you run out of time. But a time limit for the sake of having a time limit?

WHY!?

For a prime example of this, look no further then 2D Mario games. They may not seem like a big deal since they always give you way more time then you need, but that actually just further's my point that it's retarded. It has nothing to do with the story, and it isn't short enough to really affect the gameplay...so why does it exist? Though this isn't the case for everyone. My nephew loves New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and for him the time limits are very real since he doesn't quite get the concept of the 'run' button and takes his time exploring the levels. (Keep in mind he's only four, I'm trying to ease him into gaming one step at a time) So again, what purpose is the time limit serving and why isn't there an option to get rid of it?

DOUBLE JUMP.

Look, I'm fine with it so long as its logical, but I F**KING HATE, that's right, HATE the idea that after reaching your vertical peak in a jump, a simple somersault or midair 'f-u' to gravity is enough to allow you to reach new heights.

(In GoW (or was it Darksiders?) your double jump consisted of growing and flapping wings, which is fine.)

 

[Sion_Barzahd]

QTEs easily are the bane of me. That and "bullet time" sequences which put you into slow-mo. Neither have much point to them at all and lead to my annoyance.

 

[The Procrastinated End]

The required karma levels of Mass Effect, where you need to go all the way good or bad to make it have any effect.

 

[AlphaOmega]

Not really most hated but I tend to dislike games that combine these things:
Regenerating health
Focus on multiplayer

 

[saxist01]

I always thought they put in time limits so you'd have to keep feeding quarters into the arcade machines. Can't say I remember to many modern games with time limits.

Yeah, it made sense in the arcade. But what possible purpose can they serve on consoles? None, none at all.

Yeah, they don't make sense now, but they stayed in older games because it was easier to port it that way from arcade to console.

 

[Shycte]

Forced 'get-detected-and-you-instantly-lose' stealth sections.

Totally agree, it's stupid, I mean, at least give me a chance to fight them. The Theif series did this amazing.

But it works in Arkham Asylum, mostly because good AI and not a "turn-around-when-you-are-close" kind of sixth sense.

There are plenty of ocasions where it's a insta-lose, like when you rescue Gordon.

Well, it's not an instant lose in Arkham Asylum anyway cause you can get away even if you are detected, it's just that you're heavily punished for messing up, which I don't mind.

When you rescue Gordon?

 

[Voodoo_Person]

A wild Zubat appeared...FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-