Hey guys! TheDannyMan here. I decided to start writing a small series of articles, where I like to express my opinions on everything video games. I might do more articles like this one, I might write a couple of reviews, etc. Everything I like to talk about regarding video games, I'll talk about rrrright here!!
Now, to explain what kind of games I'll be talking about here... The games on this list will all be good games, but had a combat system that sucked eggs. I apologize for a couple of entries on my list, because they're both games with a huge fanbase... Sorry if I pissed you off. ^^'
On with the list!
ICO (PS2)
ICO is one-of-a-kind, and not for everyone. Many have said it's not really a game, as much as it is an experience. The game is under three hours long, has very simple puzzles, and isn't very in-depth in terms of gameplay. Still, it is a must-play because of the replay value, and the fullfilling alternate ending. And there pretty much isn't anything like ICO. By all means, if you manage to get a hand on a copy these days (ICO is exceedingly rare these days), give it a try! However, do not get me started about the combat. For such a short game, this game is based fairly heavily on the combat. Every now and then you'll get attacked by dark, otherworldly entities who are after the princess, the girl you are trying to protect. The entire combat system revolves around swinging your stick/sword like a mad man. These monsters tend to gang up on you to floor you, and then grab the princess and take her away. The princess hardly does anything to get away from these monsters, the monsters are sometimes unfazed by your attacks, attacking them in narrow spaces is a no-go since you'll hit the wall instead of them... It's isn't fun. But that's not what ICO is about. It's about giving you an experience you won't forget. And that might might just involve your frustrations in fending off dark entities from your mentally defect princess.
Spider-Man 2 (PS2, Xbox, GC)
Spider-Man 2 is amazing. It's my choice for the best superhero game ever made. The Batman Arkham games are great, but nothing came quite as close to actually "being" your favourite superhero as Spider-Man 2 did. You could freely swing around in a massive, accurately portrayed New York City, and solve crimes as everyone's favourite wall-crawler. The swinging was challenging but fun to master as well, and it became the base of all future Spider-Man games to replicate/build upon. However, in terms of combat, Spider-Man 2 falls flat on its face. There's a load of moves you can use to attack the bad guys with, but nearly nothing works. There's one move you use to beat everyone, which is the whirlwind counterkick. Every other punch or kick gets blocked, for some reason. Spider-Man can bench press the weight of cars with ease, so don't ask me it's possible to block against these punches, but alright. No, you can't use your webbing, because these will be dodged. The web threads basically travel at mach-speed, but you know... that's nothing your average street thug isn't able to side-step away from! All you do in every fight you get into, is dodge, and whirlwind counterkick. Again. And again. And again.
Or you could just pile-drive them into the ground from twenty stories up, which is fun! Spider-Man! Hero of many! Murderer to some.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PS3, X360, PC)
Don't let this freakishly badass picture fool you; Skyrim's combat blows. It's one of the best games of the 6th generation, but the combat is not one of the reasons for that. There's a lot of stuff you can (or have to) unlock in order to make your character truly 'your own', so that's awesome. But getting into fights, which you will do a lot, isn't fun. A floaty camera, it isn't satisfying to hit your opponents, you constantly need to break up the fight in order to use items or spells, etc. I freakin' love Skyrim, I still haven't beat it. I will someday, though. But oh boy. I do have to get past the awful fighting mechanics.
Grand Theft Auto V (PS3, PS4, X360, XONE)
This entry is a little different from the other entries on this list, since Grand Theft Auto V's combat system actually works. I mean, come on, it's made by the folks from Rockstar Games, of course it works. That's the least you could expect from them. However, that it works doesn't mean that it's 'good'. What I loved about Grand Theft Auto IV's hand-to-hand combat, was that it involved a lot of skill, timing, and practice. Like real fighting (don't worry, I don't speak from experience in fights. Just taekwondo)!
Realism is key here, since that is the turn GTA has been taking lately. Whereas in GTA IV, you had to time your moves in order to dodge your opponent's punches and go in for a counter, in GTA V, you just hold down the Dodge button and you're unbeatable. This takes away a lot of realism, and may I say, credibility. As Niko from GTA IV should be able to handle all three of the characters from GTA V with ease (well, Trevor could be a challange), it's weird seeing him struggle as much against single people while watching grandpa Michael swerve through the one person to the next. Fighting fisticuffs in GTA V is boring. Knocking a person cold is sorta satisfying at times, but it's still boring and it doesn't make much sense.
Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Version (GBA)
Shots fired! Shots fired! Take cover!! Anyway, I don't like the battle mechanics in Generation 3 Pokémon. I still do recognize Pokémon Emerald as the best Pokémon game, but at the time Generation 3 came around, the battle mechanics were aging terribly. Why is that, you ask? The lack of the physical/special split. I am positive that this was easy to implement into the GBA games, but they somehow didn't. I'm willing to forgive Pokémon Gold and Silver for this, because they did so many things right that Red and Blue did wrong, but I can't let it slide for Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. So many Pokémon where just completely useless because they got an unfortunate typing that didn't match its stats (Absol being a Dark-type which is a special type, while it has a monster attack power and poor special attack), etc. Generation 3, why!?
Kingdom Hearts (PS2)
Ugh, I hated this game for its combat system. Well, I didn't really hate it, since the Kingdom Hearts series is such a big part of my childhood, but this combat system bugged the heck out of me nonetheless. You handle a command menu, and this is the key do do everything in the game. This means while fighting, you have to scroll through a menu IN REAL TIME. This game didn't have a very effective short-cut system yet, so you often had to stop concentrating on the fight itself and focus your attention on the menu to select the item, or spell that you wanted or needed to use. And, unlike Kingdom Hearts II, the first Kingdom Hearts is actually difficult, with random enemies that can surprise you and pack a whallop. If the alarm sounded, indicating that your health was low, and you saw a huge Heartless storming towards you, it basically meant 'Game Over' since you could hardly do anything anymore. The poop camera didn't help much, as well.
So, these are the great games I can think of at the moment which had a terrible combat system. What about you? Do you have a game that you love, but has a bad combat system? Don't hesitate to tell me in a comment!
Now, to explain what kind of games I'll be talking about here... The games on this list will all be good games, but had a combat system that sucked eggs. I apologize for a couple of entries on my list, because they're both games with a huge fanbase... Sorry if I pissed you off. ^^'
On with the list!
ICO (PS2)
ICO is one-of-a-kind, and not for everyone. Many have said it's not really a game, as much as it is an experience. The game is under three hours long, has very simple puzzles, and isn't very in-depth in terms of gameplay. Still, it is a must-play because of the replay value, and the fullfilling alternate ending. And there pretty much isn't anything like ICO. By all means, if you manage to get a hand on a copy these days (ICO is exceedingly rare these days), give it a try! However, do not get me started about the combat. For such a short game, this game is based fairly heavily on the combat. Every now and then you'll get attacked by dark, otherworldly entities who are after the princess, the girl you are trying to protect. The entire combat system revolves around swinging your stick/sword like a mad man. These monsters tend to gang up on you to floor you, and then grab the princess and take her away. The princess hardly does anything to get away from these monsters, the monsters are sometimes unfazed by your attacks, attacking them in narrow spaces is a no-go since you'll hit the wall instead of them... It's isn't fun. But that's not what ICO is about. It's about giving you an experience you won't forget. And that might might just involve your frustrations in fending off dark entities from your mentally defect princess.
Spider-Man 2 (PS2, Xbox, GC)
Spider-Man 2 is amazing. It's my choice for the best superhero game ever made. The Batman Arkham games are great, but nothing came quite as close to actually "being" your favourite superhero as Spider-Man 2 did. You could freely swing around in a massive, accurately portrayed New York City, and solve crimes as everyone's favourite wall-crawler. The swinging was challenging but fun to master as well, and it became the base of all future Spider-Man games to replicate/build upon. However, in terms of combat, Spider-Man 2 falls flat on its face. There's a load of moves you can use to attack the bad guys with, but nearly nothing works. There's one move you use to beat everyone, which is the whirlwind counterkick. Every other punch or kick gets blocked, for some reason. Spider-Man can bench press the weight of cars with ease, so don't ask me it's possible to block against these punches, but alright. No, you can't use your webbing, because these will be dodged. The web threads basically travel at mach-speed, but you know... that's nothing your average street thug isn't able to side-step away from! All you do in every fight you get into, is dodge, and whirlwind counterkick. Again. And again. And again.
Or you could just pile-drive them into the ground from twenty stories up, which is fun! Spider-Man! Hero of many! Murderer to some.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PS3, X360, PC)
Don't let this freakishly badass picture fool you; Skyrim's combat blows. It's one of the best games of the 6th generation, but the combat is not one of the reasons for that. There's a lot of stuff you can (or have to) unlock in order to make your character truly 'your own', so that's awesome. But getting into fights, which you will do a lot, isn't fun. A floaty camera, it isn't satisfying to hit your opponents, you constantly need to break up the fight in order to use items or spells, etc. I freakin' love Skyrim, I still haven't beat it. I will someday, though. But oh boy. I do have to get past the awful fighting mechanics.
Grand Theft Auto V (PS3, PS4, X360, XONE)
This entry is a little different from the other entries on this list, since Grand Theft Auto V's combat system actually works. I mean, come on, it's made by the folks from Rockstar Games, of course it works. That's the least you could expect from them. However, that it works doesn't mean that it's 'good'. What I loved about Grand Theft Auto IV's hand-to-hand combat, was that it involved a lot of skill, timing, and practice. Like real fighting (don't worry, I don't speak from experience in fights. Just taekwondo)!
Realism is key here, since that is the turn GTA has been taking lately. Whereas in GTA IV, you had to time your moves in order to dodge your opponent's punches and go in for a counter, in GTA V, you just hold down the Dodge button and you're unbeatable. This takes away a lot of realism, and may I say, credibility. As Niko from GTA IV should be able to handle all three of the characters from GTA V with ease (well, Trevor could be a challange), it's weird seeing him struggle as much against single people while watching grandpa Michael swerve through the one person to the next. Fighting fisticuffs in GTA V is boring. Knocking a person cold is sorta satisfying at times, but it's still boring and it doesn't make much sense.
Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Version (GBA)
Shots fired! Shots fired! Take cover!! Anyway, I don't like the battle mechanics in Generation 3 Pokémon. I still do recognize Pokémon Emerald as the best Pokémon game, but at the time Generation 3 came around, the battle mechanics were aging terribly. Why is that, you ask? The lack of the physical/special split. I am positive that this was easy to implement into the GBA games, but they somehow didn't. I'm willing to forgive Pokémon Gold and Silver for this, because they did so many things right that Red and Blue did wrong, but I can't let it slide for Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. So many Pokémon where just completely useless because they got an unfortunate typing that didn't match its stats (Absol being a Dark-type which is a special type, while it has a monster attack power and poor special attack), etc. Generation 3, why!?
Kingdom Hearts (PS2)
Ugh, I hated this game for its combat system. Well, I didn't really hate it, since the Kingdom Hearts series is such a big part of my childhood, but this combat system bugged the heck out of me nonetheless. You handle a command menu, and this is the key do do everything in the game. This means while fighting, you have to scroll through a menu IN REAL TIME. This game didn't have a very effective short-cut system yet, so you often had to stop concentrating on the fight itself and focus your attention on the menu to select the item, or spell that you wanted or needed to use. And, unlike Kingdom Hearts II, the first Kingdom Hearts is actually difficult, with random enemies that can surprise you and pack a whallop. If the alarm sounded, indicating that your health was low, and you saw a huge Heartless storming towards you, it basically meant 'Game Over' since you could hardly do anything anymore. The poop camera didn't help much, as well.
So, these are the great games I can think of at the moment which had a terrible combat system. What about you? Do you have a game that you love, but has a bad combat system? Don't hesitate to tell me in a comment!
