Being Part Of The Clique Is Rubbish

Afternoon all! A thought occurred to your reporter during this weekend’s gaming, as he contemplated climbing the mountain that is Bayonetta once more. Specifically, games designed for gamers aren’t worth the dic they’re etched into.

Confused? You should be – but the crux of the point is simple. Over the last ten or fifteen years, a greater proportion of the gaming market has grown accustomed to shorter campaigns, simpler controls and, in short, ease beyond their wildest dreams.

So much so that even us hardened journalists, familiar with gaming’s occasionally dark arts, are occasionally unprepared to persevere through some punishing mechanic put in place with the sole purpose of keeping one set of players out and locking others in.

Your reporter gave up on the largely excellent Bayonetta somewhere just past its halfway point, tired of saving himself into near-impossible situations because a decision was taken somewhere along the line to not remind players of what they’ll need to take on a challenge they’re not currently aware of.

The, again brilliant (and not entirely cerebral) Dead Rising does its best to fall into this partiular bear trap, among others we’d like to mention if our temper allowed. The heart of the matter, though, is this: don’t punish gamers for crimes they haven’t committed. Please.