Well it's been a few weeks since I last posted anything, feeling somewhat inspired to write something I decided I'd make a new post on something that take up a fair amount of my free time, video games. I don't know if I'll turn this into a "running topic" (Things that piss me off about X genre) or if I'll just make this one, only time will tell :P.
I've been a gamer for a long time, ever since I first got an NES back in the late 80's (almost 20 years ago). And over time there's been certain flaws that seem to creep into every genre of game, and today I'm going to explore one of my favorite game genres, racing games. Let the list begin:
*Retarded AI drivers Sadly this is a FAR to common flaw found in almost every racing game I can think of. You always have cars that refuse to brake to avoid collisions, or cars that sideswipe you as go down a straight away. I honestly can't understand how designers can make games with flawless graphics, and insanely accurate physics, yet can't design AI drivers that will slow down in a corner to avoid ramming me in the ass at 120MPH and sending my car flying off the track.
*Inconsistent difficulty: I understand that a game should get more difficult as it progresses, but far too many racing titles have seriously flawed difficulty curves. Usually at the beginning the cars are slow and the AI is slow and shitty, basically it gives you time to learn the game, and not get frustrated trying to figure out the controls and the physics while the AI completely leaves you in the dust. Sadly in too many games, the last 25% or so of the races always seem to fall somewhere between "Jesus fucking christ! hard" and "This is fucking impossible! hard". Races where the AI will intentionally wipe you out in the last few laps (or last few corners) of a race. my common responce being screaming "You fucking cock suck", then restarting the race (likely multiple times), and hoping I can avoid the AI till the end. On a similar note, the races seem to reach a point where anything short of Mario Andretti driving perfection means you'll lose. I understand that the game should be a challenge, but honestly, having to sit on the verge of mental breakdown for 10-15 minutes in order to beat a race driving some ungodly fast rocket car with the AI right on your ass, no matter how hard you drive, is honestly asking a little much out of a casual gamer.
*Taking "realism" too far: This is mostly a flaw of "simulation" type racing games (ex. Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport). For one thing, endurance races, Gran Turismo 4 being the biggest culperate. I don't think it's unreasonable to have long races (30-40 laps, 1-1 1/2 hours), but GT4 truely takes the cake for the "lets see how ridiculous we can go" prize. With most of it's "short" endurance races taking around 2 hours, and a few taking 9 or even 24 hours (seriously WTF!), I really can't understand the attraction. I mean, look, I realize that there are some crazy ass gamers out there that are gonna dedicate a day of their life to slamming some energy drinks and pulling an "all-nighter" so that they can get the "nerd glory" of beating the "Nurburgring 24h Endurance race". But for basically everyone else, it's a giant ass waste of time. And it leaves you with an annoyed feeling that you can never really beat the game. Unless you; a) dedicate a day of your life (technically 3, since there are 3 different 24 hour races), or b) use the games "B-spec" mode on 3X speed, and spend 8 hours "babysitting" the game to make sure the AI "driver" driving your car doesn't do anything retarded and blow the race.
There's plenty other things, but these seem to be the main "flaws", that I find really often, and they usually end up with me getting annoyed and never acutally finishing the game, which kinda takes the fun out of the whole experience honestly.
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