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"Rubbish Game Cliches"

Been playing The Thing, Mafia, Medal of Honour and some others, and there are certain things that have come to light as being generic game cliches.
Some are alright, some really really really aggravate. And I mean REALLY aggravate. (I'm not stuck on a certain section or anything)

1) Having your weapons stripped.
Why? Why must I suffer this cruel fate? It sucks. It's taken me many hours and many many reloads to get to the point where I no longer have a pistol with 5 shots. Nope, I now have a flamethrower, machine gun, shotgun, pistol and enough ammo to sell under-the-counter to 3rd world dictators that we don't like anymore.
But what's this? I've been captured and drugged/knocked out and have come to with no weapons?
Ahahaha, this is sure amusing to be right back where I started, but with angrier and bigger enemies to defeat. What I'd love to do is charge around
for a while until I find a tossy little handgun and then start all over again building up my arsenal.
Rubbish. I earned those weapons, let me keep them. It doesn't conjure emotions of fear and "Oh no!", it conjures emotions of "Oh for fu...." and a turning off.

2) Having crap AI mates that just stand there and let you get dead.
It's in Mafia, it's in The Thing and it's in Medal of Honour.
You round a corner and meet a whackload of enemey. Now, the usual response is to hide and shoot.
Nope, what you should do (if controlled by the computer) is to stand in the middle of the corridor/room/wide open space and try to stop the bullets with your big stupid AI head. Thereby losing the mission and making you start again.
Or, if The Thing, stand directly in front me trying to incinerate a Thing by blocking my way past and getting dead.
I mean is it that hard to programme "RUN AWAY" when faced with insurmountable odds? I think not, but it would appear to be the case. Or, and this is my personal fav, in Mafia.
Sam & Paulie, garage level - You've spent 20 mins reloading and retrying to get to the bottom level of the garage. What happens? Sam decides to run down the staircase, taking on 5 tommy-gun wielding blokes with what?
Thaaat's right, a pistol.
Dead. Restart level.

3) End of Level Bosses
Rubbish.
Castle Wolfenstein is an prime offender. You are working your way through the game, and meet periodically, end-of-level bosses. Does this happen in real life? No. There are no end-of-level supervisors at work are there?
Yet here comes Blaskewitz, shooty shooty and....HERE'S A MASSIVE LUMBERING NAZI DEMON.
*yawn* I dont want mid-level bosses. Continously.
Medal of Honour didnt have these did it? No. Seamless "Blast to the end" gaming with no stupid hulks to kill to progress.

4) Timed levels.
Max Payne, Castle Wolfenstein etc etc etc. Be it a building collapsing on fire, or having to drive to a certain point or win a race. You design a level, you pack it with detail and gorgeous eye-candy. Then you ruin it by putting a time limit on, so the player has to mindlessly run through the level, concentrating only on reaching the final goal.
Why? I want to take my time, plan my attacks. Not dash like Daley Thompson on a benny. Stupid idea.

5) Locked doors.
I have guns. Lots of guns. And some grenades. And C4. And bazookas. But do you think I can get through that flimsy door? Nope. Which means I now have to spend 20 mins searching for a key/switch/trapdoor that I missed (usually whilst dashing on a time-limit). This is a silly thing.
I have the means, why I not able to smash the door down? I would do in real-life, and this game purports to have incredible AI, realistic setting blah blah blah. But no, the trusty hero is foiled by a paper-thin door bought from "Evil Doors R Us".

6) Incredibly accurate AI Shooters.
You didn't see him. You had no idea where it came from. You only poked your head around the corner for 1/10 of a second. Or you rounded the corner and what happens?
BANG YOU'RE DEAD. RELOAD HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
A bloke 150 meters away, armed with a pistol has managed to see through the foliage, across the expansive level or through the window and suddenly develops into the world's greatest sniper.
That sucks.
---

There are more, but I'm determined to get through the "Death of Art" level on Mafia. A perfect example of weapon stripping + too many enemies and no weapons, incredibly accurate AI and very annoyed reloads.

Bah

The race was easy, and all you need to do in Death Of Art is to take out the first two guards with headshots. They both die with one headshot, then more guys come, who take more shots, but shoot them quickly, and they leave lots of ammo. After that it's easy.
Oh, and on the way to the museum, you can pick up guns from the gun shop. I think...

Regardless of day delay, you need more than a pea-shooter to take on 4 cops at the flat and then loads at the museum.
Still, it's not as frustrating as the race.

Worst level ever.

gerrid wrote:
> You have misunderstood the cutscenes, I think, Ant. There is a one day
> delay between the Bank level and when you visit Paulie. He tells you
> earlier that you should meet in his apartment the next day/later.
> That's why you don't have your guns, because you're not expecting to
> have to use them.

Still... you do start the level stripped of all the weapons you gained previously in the game?

Ant wrote:
> I agree about the time limits, I can't enjoy a level unless I have
> time to explore it.

The only game I ever remeber playgin that had a fantastic timed level was the first Spiderman game on the PS1 (though I played the PC version)...

Other than I find they all tend to be frustrating and repetitive... Its hard to build up a any level of tension hen you have to redo the same thing over and over until you figure out how to get past the obstacles...

Maybe its would be better if your character was chased/hunted rather than having the usual obsticle course escape... it would add a level of dynamasism to the game?

You have misunderstood the cutscenes, I think, Ant. There is a one day delay between the Bank level and when you visit Paulie. He tells you earlier that you should meet in his apartment the next day/later. That's why you don't have your guns, because you're not expecting to have to use them.

I agree about the time limits, I can't enjoy a level unless I have time to explore it.

It's funny because it's true.

I'm with you points 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6. Oh and 4.

gerrid wrote:
> The Death Of Art level has no weapon stripping, if I remember
> correctly.
---

I fear you may be wrong. Level before, the bank raid, I finished with a Tommy-Gun, Colt 11, Detective Special and a pump action shotgun.
Then, mysteriously, I find myself in Paulie's apartment with a gun with 6 shots in. And 4 cops coming.
Defeat those and you'll have about 24 shots.
Get to the museum and TA-DA! A detective special with 24 shots and 5 thugs coming at you.

Desert Storm has it's own stupid moment, why does it take one of my guys on elite level several seconds to stop, aim and fire a RPG when the enemies can dash around and use pinpoint accuracy in under a second ? Same for snipers, can I pick someone off with an AK47 in the game ? Nope, but the enemy can from a place I can't even see because of fogging !

~~Belldandy~~

The Death Of Art level has no weapon stripping, if I remember correctly.
It's a very good level, requiring a lot of skill. I didn't find any overly acurate enemies or unfair play. It was very atmospheric, though.