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[Speevy]

After we've played a game until its conclusion or as long as we care to play it, our opinion of that game is pretty well set in stone. However, some characteristics of a game will bother you before even trying the game for a very long time.

Things such as:

-Technically deficient graphics
-Unacceptable framerate
-Bad art (probably the newest of the qualities)
-Poor controls
-Annoying voice acting
-Stupid premise
-Annoying gameplay mechanics/scenarios like stealth when you don't enjoy sneaking around.
-Drawn out cutscenes
-Ridiculous load times


These are just a few of the things which become immediately apparent and will almost invariably ruin a game for someone. For example, I cannot stand a game that controls poorly. I think that this is the very first thing a developer owes gamers, before any kind of presentation.

 

[Drinky Crow]

the stylus

 

[demi]

the nub

 

[Tain]

Not really drawn out cutscenes, but drawn out dialogue.

Hell, not even that. Stories that attempt to be serious, but are too full of shitty dialogue and acting (read: every recent JRPG ever).

Also, 'traditional' JRPG combat.

Looks like a winning genre for me.

 

[bobbyconover]

Bad Box Art
Black & White Manual

The sad thing is, I'm only half kidding.

 

[Madame M]

realism
car drivin'
stealth
Metal Gear
Madden
Electronic Arts

 

[Tiktaalik]

Un-necessary cutscenes: (eg. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The Prince putting his daggers back in the sheaths warrants a cutscene?)

Terrible dialogue: eg. FFX

 

[Tarazet]

I often get turned off by games so quickly that even if it's the day I got it, I might start thinking about how much of my wasted investment I can get back by selling the game... but it's usually not flaws in the gameplay. Every game is flawed. Hell, there are some games I love dearly that have all sorts of problems. It's a question of whether I want to forgive the game for those problems. If I'm not engaged enough to keep playing after an hour, then it goes in the resale queue, with no love lost. If I hear in a review that a game "starts slow" then it's almost a sure bet I'm going to hate it.

 

[Brannon]

Bad animation in gameplay or cutscenes.

WTF man. I don't care how pretty that model looks, it taks all of .5 seconds of movement for me to judge it as shit if it moves like a robot and runs in place while turning around. And what makes it all the more aggravating is that there's no real excuse for shitty animation. There's no special function or dedicated equipment needed to make people move like people for each different system; fucking METAL GEAR SOLID PSOne had decent animation. There was NO MORE EXCUSES after that game came out.

And yet some of these developers still have games that have fuck all for decent animation. They have no one to blame but themselves. They need to stop sucking and get with the program.

 

[Andy787]

Dual screens.
Touch Screens.

 

[Mupepe]

Bad voices and dialogue
Storyline cliche'
Lead Characters that obviously have manginas
Bad Art
Also, anything that makes me feel like "I've played this damn thing before."

Load times I can handle, but those just mentioned are a definite no.

 

[Sea-Dragon]

visible spawn points.
real time elements in a pure menu system (ATB).
reviewers that view a game as crap if it doesn't have a multiplayer component.
games that are afraid to let characters show any emotion but "bad-ass" and "pissed".

 

[spliced]

Long load times - Oh man did I hate the PSX for this.
Poor Control - I can't really get into GTA games because of this
Non gameplay story - I love you Half-Life. If I want to watch a story I'll watch a movie.
Nearly all flying and swimming, I hate this, it feels to slow and restricting or something.

 

[Kid Chameleon]

It's strange, but there have been quite a few games that I've not been fond of for no particular reason. However, when I look back at them they've all got long loading times.

Aside from that, choppy frame rates are a killer and dodgy camera angles are a real pet hate of mine. Oh, and I can't stand games which the developers have tried to make trendy or overly serious. What has happened to the Jak & Daxter series, for example? The first game showed real promise, but then it was more important to steal ideas from GTA and Halo, rather than building on the solid foundation already created. Duh!

 

[Kid Chameleon]

Poor Control - I can't really get into GTA games because of this

Agreed. I've always thought the on foot controls were just plain awful, especially during hand-to-hand combat and gun fights.

 

[rainer516]

Long load times - Oh man did I hate the PSX for this.
Poor Control - I can't really get into GTA games because of this
Non gameplay story - I love you Half-Life. If I want to watch a story I'll watch a movie.
Nearly all flying and swimming, I hate this, it feels to slow and restricting or something.

wait wait what?! Half Life 1 did not have ANY cutscenes what so ever. And for the matter, niether did HL2. Are you sure you didn't play another game?

 

[sangreal]

controls -- especially slow movement
camera angles
poor guidance

I keep trying to play Shenmue, but I can't.

 

[Mikazuki]

-Technically deficient graphics

Don't really care. I think the only game to turn me off that much was Daytona on Saturn.

-Unacceptable framerate

I hate inconsistent framerate's, but I'll play anyway.

-Bad art (probably the newest of the qualities)

I'd say it's existed since the 16-bit era, and I can't play a game if the characters and worlds don't appeal to me. I have a heavy dislike for most dreary/realistic worlds and dull colors.

-Poor controls

Poor controls are overrated. I can see why Tenchu and Jet Grind Radio have poor controls, but they're among my favorite games ever.

-Annoying voice acting

Don't care.

-Stupid premise

Sometimes that's good...

-Annoying gameplay mechanics/scenarios like stealth when you don't enjoy sneaking around.

I HATE mandatory mini-games that play nothing like the main game. Goron Racing in Majora's Mask....ugh

-Drawn out cutscenes

Very bad, especially when you can't pause at any time. What happens when the phone rings and the last chance I got to save was 20 minutes ago?

-Ridiculous load times

Load times never bothered me. I can just turn to my computer.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

Control, Nintendo has hit is sweet spot consistantly for 20 years, why can't others?

 

[spliced]

wait wait what?! Half Life 1 did not have ANY cutscenes what so ever. And for the matter, niether did HL2. Are you sure you didn't play another game?

What I mean is it tells it's story thru gameplay, I don't have to sit thru boring 20 minute cut scenes. I want to be the story.

 

[Wario64]

greatest hits labels
ebgames/gamestop used game stickers on box covers

 

[Troidal]

For me, these are the two:

-Bad art (probably the newest of the qualities)

Art is subjective, and I can be pretty picky. If I don't like the character design, I tend not to play it regardless how people say it's a good game. Also, even if it is good art, but the theme it's being presented is not in my taste, then I don't play it either.

Some examples:
FFX2 - Seemed like a fun RPG at least from the parts that I played, but the whoring out on the female characters like they were freakin' Charlie's Angels or a J-POP idol group was a huge turnoff. Please put this in the "doujinshi" or "fan faction" isle please.

PoP: Warriors Within - The 180 turn on the art direction from the perfect middle eastern magical setting of the first game to the "generic angst" and "I love death metal" setting of the two sequels was a good enough reason for me to avoid it.

-Poor controls

This too can be subjective unless it's really obvious that the game plays like shit. Also, unfortunately you wont know if it controls like shit until you buy the game.

Some examples:
MGS3 and RE4 - Sure it plays fine, but I consider parts of the controls "poor" when you've played a game that controls better. How can you not strafe or walk while shooting? Why do I have to switch between 3rd person to 1st person holding the R trigger to shoot at bosses accurately? It's like a step backwards from playing FPS games of today.

FPS and Splinter Cell does a much better at making these type of controls comfortable. There was a reader's letter on Edge UK magazine about how most games should adopt the dual analog controls of console FPS to 3D action games (especially shooters) because we've become so used to it. I mean, at least give us the option to use this control scheme.

 

[Kid Chameleon]

MGS3 and RE4 - Sure it plays fine, but I consider parts of the controls "poor" when you've played a game that controls better. How can you not strafe or walk while shooting? Why do I have to switch between 3rd person to 1st person holding the R trigger to shoot at bosses accurately? It's like a step backwards from playing FPS games of today.

This is the opinion I had of Metroid Prime - I loved the game, but the controls were a step backwards.

 

[miyuru]

Bad camera for sure.

Controls I can usually get used to.

 

[Companion Cube]

Bland music.

 

[PC Gaijin]

Random encounters in RPGs. I've gotten to the point where I usually cannot play an RPG with random encounters more than a few hours unless the battle system and/or story are extremely well done. Needless to say this eliminates a lot of JRPGs; the percentage that I have finished this gen has gone way down compared to 32-bit.

 

[GhaleonEB]

The tendancy for certain genres to throw more content on the fire instead of innovate. Tons of racing and fighting games, for example, throw shittons of cars, tracks, and characters at you. But they don't advance the genre any. It's just more of the same.

Very few games these days are really innovative. Seems like most just want to be 'bigger and more' - not better.

[/nextgenrant]

 

[Of All Trades]

Random battles in an RPG (not counting things like the random travel encounters in Fallout). It's completely retarded that the character is unable to see giant tree monsters right in front of his face, and is instead forced to wander until SWIRLY SWIRLY MUSIC SWIRLY I enter a different combat area.

 

[Striek]

Very crap graphics (see: Animal Crossing) and horrible load times are the only things I can't stomach.

Oh and thats not to say I don't play old crap looking games, but on a new system I don't consider low-end 64 graphics worth playing.

 

[Mr Gump]

i hate shit animation.. which is why no mercy was the last wrestling game i enjoyed, although i didnt pay def jam.

 

[MidgarBlowedUp]

Wow... I must have a lower tolerance level than most of you based on the posts.

I hate:
#4. Stupid Controls
#3. Stupid Controls without any form of user adjustments
#2. Too much backtracking.
#1. Lack of instruction to the player on wtf I'm supposed to be doing.

#1 happens quite often and it really makes me upset, especially if it is combined with #2 or 3.

Game Instruction at start of level: "Get power crystal from the bad dude"
What the game should have said: " Kill everyone on screen, stand on your head for 5 seconds to unlock door, take photo of fatman eating pizza, press x x ++ 0 while in mid-air near the water fountain, etc, etc, etc, until you figure out pressing Y+9 would have brought up the map that wasn't even listed in the game manual.

Oh, and this level was a decoy, the next level has the crystal.

Thanks developer for wasting 30 minutes of my life and giving me carpel tunnel in the process. Plus, my motor functions are so screwed up from the crap controls that I can't even beat off.

 

[_Angelus_]

For me it'd be turn based rpgs. Its to the point where I won't bother to play them anymore.

 

[Jive Turkey]

I honestly don't belive nobody has listed "Respawning enemies" yet.

Other personal gripes I have:

-- Reviewers/players thinking all games in a genre (or similar genre) should control the same.
-- Bad animation
-- Overused cutscenes
-- Clipping
-- Black and white manuals.
-- Bad voice work (nothing takes you out of the moment like a poorly delivered cheese platter)

 

[sasimirobot]

The whole Oddworld and PsychoNauts look. Dark muddy green, strange and semi-disgusting art design, overall "garbage pail kids" was cool when I was 12 years old video games.

 

[Zaptruder]

Wow... I must have a lower tolerance level than most of you based on the posts.

I hate:
#4. Stupid Controls
#3. Stupid Controls without any form of user adjustments
#2. Too much backtracking.
#1. Lack of instruction to the player on wtf I'm supposed to be doing.

#1 happens quite often and it really makes me upset, especially if it is combined with #2 or 3.

Game Instruction at start of level: "Get power crystal from the bad dude"
What the game should have said: " Kill everyone on screen, stand on your head for 5 seconds to unlock door, take photo of fatman eating pizza, press x x ++ 0 while in mid-air near the water fountain, etc, etc, etc, until you figure out pressing Y+9 would have brought up the map that wasn't even listed in the game manual.

Oh, and this level was a decoy, the next level has the crystal.

Thanks developer for wasting 30 minutes of my life and giving me carpel tunnel in the process. Plus, my motor functions are so screwed up from the crap controls that I can't even beat off.

I'll agree with your numbered list, although I'll have to call you an asshat for your provided example.

 

[TheDuce22]

The whole Oddworld and PsychoNauts look.

Let me guess, your another one of those people who saw a few bad screenshots and automatically labeled the style as crap. Psychonauts looks NOTHING like Oddworld. Not to mention the fact that every level in the game has its own unique style.

 

[OniShiro]

long cutscenes and or inability to skip them.
long dialogues.
long loading times.
badly placed checkpoints.
backtracking.

 

[Troidal]

Actually have a couple more that others just mentioned:

Lead Characters that obviously have manginas

Yeah I dont want the character I play to be some whiney ass teenager that's confused but is supposed to save the world. We need more gungho characters like Kratos and Sam Fisher.
Perfect example: FFX = Tidus. And other Japanese RPGs.

Respawning enemies

Acceptable back in the NES/SNES days, but not in this day and age. Perfect example: Ninja Gaiden. If I killed the f*ckin' white ninjas that were down the street, then they should be dead. I don't have to be fighting them again when I am backtracking. (Either that or this game must be faithful to the original NES game!) Btw, I've finished the game, but it still felt cheap to make it challenging like that.

 

[rod]

load times
jaggies
fog
slowdown
clipping
low rez textures

 

[ram]

01] non skipping tutorials

02] unconsistent framerate (look at god of war - its so smooth and look at pop: warrior within - where no smoothness is)

03] bad art - lately it seems that western games doesnt use any art (look at saints row or the licensed stuff - boring and lame as hell)

05] burned out genres (i dont want any tuning racer again - i want some future racer or arcade bike racer)

06] world war ego shooters (come on, i dont want to play some heroic american moron again)

 

[The Faceless Master]

bad controls

firmware updates

team based war fps

"music" games

 

[Ash Housewares]

really awful opening story
terrible over the top anime bad ass main character
lousy camera

 

[Applefiend]

Having to read a giant manual, I'm supposed to be having fun.

Generic quality. Go hire some great artists.

Having to spend most my my game time walking from one location to another, and that's it.

Arcade like playability, where the game is designed for keeping you amused for the 5 minutes it takes to eat your quarter.

When games designers are so in love with their graphics effects they forget to put the game design in.

Sequelism. First is great, second is the game we wanted to make first time around, third is unneeeded.

Nice new idea (hurrah) poorly exploited (booo)

 

[Papi]

Piece of shit camera
Load times

 

[djtiesto]

Tries too hard to be realistic
Bad control
Bad camera
Bad art
etc etc

 

[dark10x]

Poor, unstable framerates
Lengthy loadtimes and poor choice of load points (anything that damages the presentation)
Bad animation
Awful voice acting

Those things will totally keep me away. This is why I was unable to get into games like KOTOR. It suffered from an unstable framerate, lengthy loadtimes that occured constantly, and generally poor animation. Voice acting was not a problem here, of course...

 

[Geek]

- The licenses Dragon Ball and WWE
- Bad art
- Stealth
- Hip hop culture cash-in

I will give virtually anything a shot, but if it has bland character or environment design I tune out immediately. A good number of titles just can't hold my interest because of the boring subject matter.

 

[gollumsluvslave]

dark10x:-
Poor, unstable framerates
Lengthy loadtimes and poor choice of load points (anything that damages the presentation)
Bad animation
Awful voice acting

Exactly the reasons that make Deus Ex: Invisible War such a tragedy.

 

[etiolate]

Poor controls
Poor interface
Story driven cutscene heavy games
STEALTH
Load times

 

[Property of Jumpship]

Graphics Pop-in
Bad textures
Bad camera
Bad control