Friday, May 15, 2009

At what point does game difficulty cross the line into bullshit?

I've been playing X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and up until last night I was really enjoying it. Then I came to a point where I died 32 times attempting the same jump.

Someone at Raven got 3D platforming in my brawler, and unless you work at Nintendo you're not any good at 3D platforming.

I'm not sure who came up with the idea for a fixed camera in a 3D platform game, but I know this person is a sadist.

In the old days of 2D platform games the camera was fixed at a 90 degree angle from the action, and it made it a simple thing to judge the placement of your character and where and when to jump. It worked in Super Mario Brothers, and it worked in Mega Man. Even when those games became fiendishly difficult the precision of the controls and simplicity of the view kept things from getting out of hand.

In Wolverine the camera is not at a 90 degree angle in the platforming sections. It is closer to 80 degrees, which makes judging distance, angle, and placement difficult. This problem is exacerbated by the game having depth. Caution must be thrown to the wind because this particular section of the game features a helicopter that shoots at regular intervals, and the platform on which I'm standing is rapidly collapsing beneath me. So there is a lot of trial and error that brings this particularly fast paced portion of the game grinding to a frustrating halt. A few times the jump didn't even register when I pressed the button, and Wolverine simply walked off the edge of the platform. And that is the point where the game crossed into bullshit territory.

Despite the fact I was really enjoying the game I might not pick it back up. There is a line between a difficult challenge I will rise to, and bullshit I will not endure. This is bullshit.

Seth from Street Fighter IV is also bullshit.

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