Readers discuss the least favourite parts of their favourite games, from the sewers of Final Fantasy 7 to Super Mario Galaxy’s controls.
The subject for this week’s Hot Topic was suggested by reader Simey, who asked readers to find fault in even the best games, whether minor irritations or serious problems.
Nothing is perfect and everyone seemed to find it relatively easy to pick holes in even the most celebrated games, from Zelda: Breath Of The Wild to Metal Gear Solid.
Imprecise fun
My all-time favourite game is Super Mario Galaxy 2 and my main complaint with it is that the final jump of Mario’s triple jump is performed by a waggle and not a button press. This therefore makes it less precise than I would like (but is also more playful/fun). A button option was present in the Super Mario 3D All-Stars release of the first Mario Galaxy but sadly the sequel was not part of that collection.
A topical bonus is that I would have liked some form of quest log in Elden Ring. I definitely do not want Ubisoft quest markers but a journal recapping what characters have said and what happened to them based on the player’s actions (if the player knows), would have been nice. I am thinking of something similar to the log in Divinity: Original Sin 2.
Note that the recent patch to show some characters on the map does partially achieve why I wanted the log (as I can now find the characters again and can sometimes remind myself what they want from me). This is therefore already improved compared to the launch version of the game.
PazJohnMitch
Bossed around
The final fight with main villain Lazarević in Uncharted 2. You were essentially running around in circles shooting at tree resin, to make it explode to weaken him, only to finally leave the Guardians of Shambahla to finish him off!
Uncharted 2 is my favourite of the series and one of my all-time favourite games but that ‘fight’ was decidedly lacking.
The third and fourth games got it better, with a fist fight with Talbot (who also has a knife!) as The Atlantis of the Sands crumbles around you in Uncharted 3, and a sword fight with Rafe Adler on a burning pirate ship in Uncharted 4
They weren’t the greatest boss fights, especially compared to, say, Resident Evil 4, but they felt dynamic and gave the games a thrilling final act.
LastYearsModel
Less than fantastic beasts
Zelda: Breath Of The Wild easily makes my top five games of all time, and possibly takes the number one spot, but I really didn’t enjoy the Divine Beasts at all.
The smaller shrines replacing large puzzle-focused dungeons was a key reason why I enjoyed Breath Of The Wild more than any other Zelda title, as I’m generally not a puzzle fan. What really didn’t help however was the fact that all the Divine Beasts were so similar, and it felt like I essentially had to do the same thing four times.
My biggest hope for the sequel is that, if they are going to include longer dungeons, they at least make them as different and imaginative as some of the older titles.
drlowdon
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Water disappointment
I am not a fan of underwater levels, I really liked Sonic The Hedgehog 1 on the Mega Drive when it originally came out (and still do) but the Labyrinth levels, where some of the level is underwater, I dislike and it makes you sluggish as water does. Underwater isn’t so fun in a video game, like a fast action game like Sonic, for me. Also, the fact that you have to keep looking out for bubbles so you don’t run out of oxygen(!) which I don’t like to. I always dreaded the Labyrinth levels when playing through from beginning to end.
I am also a big fan of the mainline Mario 3D platformers but I never enjoy the underwater parts in them, especially in Super Mario 64 and also Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, which I love but not those sections. I do like the circular water level in Super Mario Galaxy 1, where you get hold of a green shell and jet through the water in a race, but otherwise I find the controls underwater very annoying in a game that I think otherwise is great!
I find those levels quite infuriating. I am hoping they will re-release Super Mario Galaxy 2 on the Switch soon, after buying the original game for the Wii originally.
Andrew J.
Favourite problem
What a difficult Hot Topic. Not because I can’t think of things wrong with games, but because I can’t decide what my favourite is.
I’ve settled on Metal Gear Solid. This is probably my favourite game ever. Every time I think something has surpassed it, a few years later it settles back to the top of the list inside my head.
There are of course a few problems with it, you could go for the low-hanging fruit and say the cut scenes are too long, but personally the movie presentation and serious storytelling was a major plus point for me at the time, and properly groundbreaking for games. Besides, you can always skip them.
No, for me the biggest gripe was the control scheme. Press square to choke someone but press square+direction to throw someone. Couple this with you always have to be running at someone (forget the subtle input of an analogue stick back in 1998!) to approach them, and I lost count of the amount of times I’d sneak up perfectly on someone, only to have Snake throw them over his shoulder instead of silently incapacitating them.
Very honourable mentions go to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for having a trophy that required four hours of killing the same guy over and over just to get the last skill point required for platinum. And to Zelda: Ocarina Of Time for that horrible Water Temple which still gives me a headache when I play it, despite finishing the game multiple times over the years.
Henshin Agogo
It stinks
Maybe this counts as a cliché as much as anything but I’ll give Final Fantasy 7 as the specific example if that’s necessary. But basically: any sewer level ever. Just why?!
Video games are meant to be about extraordinary adventures beyond your imagination, who imagines wading through a sewer for hours on ends fighting giant rats and crocodiles? (It’s always rats and crocodiles.)
I guess it’s because it’s just all grey corridors and you can call it a day but really, when did anything interesting ever happen in a sewer level? You’re either escaping from somewhere good or tying to get into somewhere good, the sewer is just the boring slog in-between. So here’s an idea: don’t have the boring slog!
Danson
Too much of a good thing
A good game is a good game period! It’s true nothing’s perfect but I am not going to blame graphical glitches or any frame rates or weird story decisions. I find I am one of those mellow gamers who can accept a lot and just look at the sum total of the product.
The games I experienced the most irritating moments include Fallout 3 on PlayStation 3 freezing. It was not game breaking because the majority of game was just so awesome to experience. The games I don’t get are when the whole game is playable and well-designed but the formula throughout the whole game series does not change.
Far Cry and Assassins Creed are decent enough games, and I enjoyed the first few, but the continuing of the same basic gameplay in the both of them, and never seeming to change, , put me off from getting the most recent ones.
When I see Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and the many bloated missions it just never ever seems to end! It Is just pure overkill. Far Cry’s formula is the same too. It’s way too much of a good thing, that can kill a series or just make it more annoying and chore-like.
But I feel gamers in general can tolerate the gaming cliches and the odd bug here and there. We’ll just absorb it all, roll our eyes up to the ceiling and just carry on. Which seems the best way to deal with it.
Alucard
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The small print
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