How hard do you like your games?

[floppybootstomp]

Poll posted, you like to be bashed round the head or cruise?

 

[PotGuy]

I like it to be challenging, but not frustrating. Rewarding, but not impossible.

I never play on 'novice' or 'easy', but I never usually play on 'veteran'.

Never understand people who play a game through without wanting a challenge. That is whole point.

 

[V_R]

What PG said.

 

[Taffycat]

I like it to be challenging, but not frustrating. Rewarding, but not impossible.

Yes, I'd go along with that too. I enjoy a challenge, as long as the odds are not completely impossible.

 

[crazylegs]

I like a game to be challenging but not stupidly difficult, hate games where you just cannot figure out what to do next, and have to keep going over the same level or part trying something different everytime but not actually knowing what the hell it is you need to do to get through..

Lots of games are very much like this now and half the time you just struggle through until you hit a brick wall then give up entirely either through boredom or just plain fed up of a game that is not rewarding you in any way!

Seems to be about eye candy nowadays and actuall gameplay has gone by the bye!

 

[Ian]

PotGuy summed it up for me too.

I've given up on a game for the first time in a long while - Duke Nuken Forever... I wasn't that keen on the gameplay but then there was one particular level that I must have repeated 50 times and couldn't get past (never had that happen before!), so just gave up.

 

[floppybootstomp]

I voted option 4. crazylegs summed it up for me, I want to enjoy a game, not get beaten up.

In my opinion games have got harder in the last five years or so and I've given up on several games now.

It seems to me that game-makers now seem to concentrate more on cut scenes and presentation than actual gameplay. You've got it wrong fellas, if I want to watch a movie I'll watch a DVD but if I want to play a game, well, I want to play a game.

Perhaps they make games harder now as they are so much shorter the difficulty makes them last longer. But if I get to the stage where I've played the same scene through twenty times not only do I get so mad steam starts coming out my ears but I tend to swear out loud, pace round the room, kick something and hit the uninstall button. Just as well I don't have a cat

The game then goes into the sack marked 'boot sale' or 'E-Bay'.

First time I play a game I always play on the easiest level. If I complete it then I usually go back a whiles later and play it on the next hardest level. Another factor that frustrates me is we now mostly have to rely on save-points or check points. At least with a random save function you could save at several different stages and revise your strategy if need be. Perhaps this is a result of so many console ports?

When I think of all the games I've enjoyed and completed - Both Quakes; both Unreals; Return to Castle Wolfenstein; all the Half-Lifes and add-ons; The Call Of Duty series; the earlier Medal Of Honors; all 3 Serious Sams and many others and then I look at all the newer games I've uninstalled or got stuck on, it makes me wonder if I'll carry on gaming or not.

This probably explains why I've gone a bit retro lately. There are still games about that suit me, have enjoyed Bulletstorm, both Bioshocks, Wolfenstein and others but the trend seems to be 'Crank up both the graphic and difficulty levels'. And then, of course, there's the issue of DLC and paid for MP maps, which I've touched on elsewhere here.

I also got stuck on Duke Nukem and gave up. As I recall there's about twenty five levels and I got stuck around level 22 or 23 when you have to swim underwater and breathe in bubbles whilst fighting off aliens. After a good thirty attempts I gave up.

And most games won't allow cheats anymore so I can't even use one of those to get past a hard bit.

My biggest disappointment so far has been Batman Arkham Asylum, I got stuck on boss level just 8% into the game and I was really enjoying it up until then. And I paid £25.00 for that game which is I will never ever pay full price for a game again.

Right, time to fire up Shadowman, Nocturne Sin & Ultima IX

 

[V_R]

PotGuy summed it up for me too.

I've given up on a game for the first time in a long while - Duke Nuken Forever... I wasn't that keen on the gameplay but then there was one particular level that I must have repeated 50 times and couldn't get past (never had that happen before!), so just gave up.

Ah what level by chance?

 

[floppybootstomp]

Edit:

Duke Nukem has 23 levels. I'm stuck on level 20.

I did actually enjoy Duke Nukem up until that point but will confess it's terribly dated. And not in a good way.

It had it's moments though.

 

[Zema Bus]

I also got stuck in Duke Nukem Forever - in the flooded restaurant kitchen level, after about 25 attempts, surviving all kinds of edge-of-the-seat stuff, enjoying a series of little triumphs which got me further than I had ever reached on previous attempts, then getting too close to an edge, falling in the water & instantly electrocuted and sent straight back to the beginning of the level I first encountered maybe two hours before = an instant 'frak this' moment

I chose #3 in the pole, but I like games that let you change the difficulty on the fly - the older FEAR releases were like that. Reach a hard part, just drop your difficulty down to 'easy' until you're past it

 

[Anon_F]

Theme Hospital can get quite tense at times!
I voted 6 just to buck the trend.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Holy thread revival Batman

I bought Crysis 2 when it came out and got stuck on level 10 (of 19 levels) 'Semper Fi and Die' and gave up.

After recent machine upgrade re-installed it and went back to give it another try.

I have just completed it

And a very enjoyable game it was too. All it took was a strategy revision of the harder parts and a little patience and there really aren't that many frustratingly hard parts and it's odd that the hardest part (imo) should come exactly half way through the game.

Might just give Battlefield Bad Company 2 another go now.

Whilst I'm here will mention I bought Rainbow Six Vegas 2 on Amazon for a fiver and have been playing a bit of that. Very much stealth and tactical oriented, not sure if it's the sort of thing I'm going to like but I'll carry on a bit more.

Graphics aren't top notch but acceptable but the game itself, imo, has been very well designed, quite realistic and good fluid gameplay, if you like that sort of thing - taking out terrorists by stealth and brainpower - well worth a fiver.

 

[crazylegs]

Happy re-gaming Mr Flopp's!

Glad you went back and gave Crysis 2 another go, I'm always gutted when I pay good money for a game and I can't complete it..Its good that you did..

 

[Reefsmoka]

It was either 3 or 4, and I picked 4. I play games to have fun. not stress me out. I don't know if I have ever played a game on its hardest setting, in fact the only one was probably unreal tournament 2004 setting the bots on the hardest setting on a rail gun match . I very rarely complete a game more than once, only a handful of the hundreds of games I've sampled deserve my time to be played through twice or more.

Most of the time when you set a game on a harder setting it just becomes unrealistic, enemy's taking far more to die and ammo becomes a problem. Can ruin the experience.

 

[captain zed]

I'm playing duken nukem now and the loading times are killing me.....a minute and ten seconds to reload after ya get killed.....ps 3 sucks.

 

[floppybootstomp]

cz: I don't think the ps3 sucks, me reckons Duke Nukem Forever kinda sucks

This evening I finally got round to starting to play Mass Effect 1, bought it on Steam a long time ago cheap and as I recently bought ME2 cheap online thought I best play the first one through first.

Not sure if I like it tbh but I will say one thing - it is certainly different to any other game I've played before, quite unique. Oh, I know it could be compared with this and that but taking the game as a whole package, it's original.

The parts I don't like are upgrading team members and team member strategy, finding it a little hard going to remember all the commands and options but other than that, it's very good.

On Xbox360 picked up Brutal Legend for 8 quid, enjoying this one, great fun, especially if you like Heavy Metal/Rock Music. Which I do

 

[captain zed]

I played resistance 3 recently on the ps 3 and load times were really slow on that too. Xbox 360 is much faster.