5 Irritating Things In Modern Gaming (Countdown).

With the new consoles on the imminent horizon it seems a goodtime to think about what I’d like to see in next gen games, which in turn got me thinking about the factors I find most annoying in games today. Here are my top Five most annoying gaming features:

Number 5-Bad Cameras:
Great games are completely Unplayable because of bad Camera Angles. No matter wether you Play with a Keyboard or a Joystick, the cameras always sucks in Games like Batman Vengeance. Because of bad Camera angles in some Games you lose your precious hard Battles that are completed.

Number 4 – Unskippable cut-scenes:
When you reload you are forced to rewatch the cut scene that you’ve seen already, why can’t I skip it!? I’m here to play the game not be bored for five minutes whilst I watch a poorly scripted and non interactive animated movie. I get the feeling that half of the game developers out there would rather be making films. The reboot of Mortal Kombat was the worst offender; I never managed to complete the story mode as I couldn’t face watching the cut scenes again, and again, and again.


Number 3 – Button tapping Quick time events can be immersive:
frantically tapping to avoid a rolling boulder in Resident Evil 4 springs to mind. However this finger-cramping mechanic seems to have unnecessarily worked its way in to many other scenarios. For example to open a vent in the Batman series, you have to frantically press triangle like it’s a mini track and field event. Why? There’s no pressure or sense of urgency, I’m merely opening a vent. Opening shutters in The Last of Us was just as bad.

Number 2 – Game introduction/ loading screens


The better half unfortunately has minimal interest in gaming and refers to anything involving gaming as ‘silly little boy stuff’. The result of this is that I try and cram in a bit of gaming whenever I have a free moment. Time is limited, but before I can start playing I have to sign-in, watch 50 screens that show me every minor company that was involved in creating the game, the game then has to check for patches, downloadable content, and tell me for the hundred-thousandth time not to turn off the console during autosave. What happened to the days of just putting in a game and playing?

Number 1 – The dumbing down of
first person shooters
For me there has been no other genre that has devolved like the first person shooter. For almost every modern shooter I’ve played it is the same story; during the first few minutes I’m told how to crouch, look, move and taken through the linear game world whilst never been let off the gaming equivalent of bicycle
stabilisers. Recently I played Duke Nukem 3D on Xbox Live Arcade and the difference to more modern games is astronomical. In the first few seconds of the game you’re required to shoot out a grill, crouch and are then immediately confronted with enemies, all without any tutorial. Exploration is essential for success; not only to find different routes through levels but to find enough weaponry and ammunition (There’s a rocket launcher at the start of mission one that helps greatly!). On my first play through I actually ran out of bullets – I can’t remember the last time that happened in a modern shooter!

So these are the four things I’d most like to see improved for the next generation.