2010 AG Awards: The Broken Controller Award for Most Frustrating Gameplay

Feature from Nat - Saturday, 18 December 2010 @ 5:34pm

The 2010 AG Awards #6: The Broken Controller Award for Most Frustrating Gameplay

Anybody who played the final mission of Driver knows just how much games can make you want to snap a controller in two at times. Frustrating AI, ridonkulously difficult combat and online griefers all contribute to the continued sale of new controllers for each console. Today we celebrate the games that are the very best at bringing out the very worst in all of us.

The AG Nominations:

Why oh why did Nintendo hand over the revered Metroid series to Team Ninja? Retro Studios had done the seemingly impossible job of translating the atmosphere and mechanics of the side scrolling incarnation to a first person shooter and received critical acclaim … so why break what didn’t need to be fixed? And by break, I mean REALLY break. Third person Ninja Gaiden style Samus simply doesn’t work, and the auto lock system is clumsy at best. And don’t even get me started on the stationary transition to first person.

Notable runner up for me was No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle … simply because after hours of playing it, I still have no idea what the hell was going on orwhat I was supposed to be doing. Then again, that seems to be the idea, so who am I to judge.

This is not what a Metroid game should look or play like.

If you've played it, you'll know why. This video game is pure frustration. I'm normally a pretty relaxed guy when I have a controller in my hand, but just a few minutes of gameplay has me screaming out F, C and every other type of bomb you can think of.

Fuck this game, seriously. So much fun, but so god-damn hard.

Whoever at Platinum Games decided to make this game stupidly difficult deserves a smack on the head. Twice. People tend to associate difficulty with hardcore-ness but I disagree. A game should not have to be punishingly hard in order to be labelled hardcore. The elements of game play are what really count. Bayonetta is a game that has hardcore elements but also a frustrating level of immersion. The one part that sticks in my mind is facing two opponents upon an inclined set of steps. These opponents had massive claws and were hard as fudge to dodge. One is bad enough but two meant I spent a good hour or so repeating the task just to get past them. Platinum games seem to have learnt from this in their second title of the year, Vanquish, which was thoroughly enjoyable especially because you don’t feel like you’re being raped in gaming slot.

I have no idea what is happening here. Likely some form of hair-based, nudity-creating attack.

That video says it better than I ever can – I played that level for over an hour and a half to complete it, lest I lost my streak and couldn’t finish it again. It’s soul-crushingly difficult, but the worst part is that the rest of the game is identical – frustrating to the point of insanity due to its extreme difficulty and complete lack of random elements. Any mistakes you make plunging you to your death are purely your own fault, and that somehow makes it almost worse.