It must be really hard to be a game designer. Having to come up with fresh ideas all the time. And these days, gamers won’t stand for nonsense like blue hedgehogs wearing red sneakers. You have to come up with stuff that’s novel AND realistic.
Or not…here are the top five most overused game concepts from the last couple of years.
N.B. Spoilers ahead if you’ve been living under a rock for the past five years.
5. The Brooding, Buzz Cut (or Hooded), Anti-Hero Protagonist
It seems like almost every game we get stars a brooding and rebellious anti-hero. Possibly in an attempt to capture the lucrative, emotionally angst ridden, teenage boy market, developers have decided that the way to go is to let you play as an angry young man with issues – “hey! that’s just like me!” Only, he looks like Justin Timberlake, and you look like McLovin. There I said it.
4. Surprise! You’re The Bad Guy!
Surprise! That's you!
Hey it was really cool when you found out in Knights of the Old Republic that you were actually Darth Revan, the evil Sith Lord who declared war on the Republic. And when you found out at the end of Shadow of the Colossus that you actually released a demon into the world. And in Bioshock when you found out you were a programmed pawn, sent to kill your own father. And in Braid when you found out you weren’t saving the Princess, you’re actually her delusional, creepy stalker.
Actually, all of the above games were great, so I’ll cut them some slack, but now, every time I play a game, I assume at some point it will be revealed that my character enjoys torturing puppies and kicking babies in his spare time.
3. Parkour
I’m under the impression that Parkour is actually quite difficult to do. So why can everyone since Assassin’s Creed’s Altair climb up walls and leap between building tops.
I suppose if you explain it away by giving them ridiculous super powers like Alex from Prototype then it’s okay; but someone explain to me how Cole’s lightning powers in Infamous suddenly give him the ability to climb skyscrapers?
2. The Indecently Dressed Woman
No complaints here. More chainmail bikinis please.
1. Quick Time Events
The earliest I can remember playing a game with Quick Time Events was Shenmue; but they were most recently popularized by God Of War, whose designers, at least realized that they should save the concept for epic finishing moves involving dismemberment, or sticking sharp pointy things into people’s eye sockets.
Recently, with games like Force Unleashed, Ninja Blade, Marvel Ultimate Alliance etc, it seems like the trend is to turn everything into a QTE. You want to sell junk at the shop? Press X…NOW. Oh, you missed it. Let’s rewind time or something… because that’s not an overdone concept either. Yeaaah.
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ironically “lists” are an overused concept in online content?
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@ Marcius
Ah well okay then. I thought he was just a regular bike messenger.
I swear,I hate QTEs. They make the game too easy,I want to finish off the boss myself. I want to do cool shit myself,not some button prompt. Notable offenders:WET
“but someone explain to me how Cole’s lightning powers in Infamous suddenly give him the ability to climb skyscrapers?”
Cole was an urban explorer before the blast that gave him lightning powers. So before the blast, he was already climbing skyscrapers and exploring the sewers.