Top 3… most difficult games
Right, today marks the start of a new gaming feature on this blog: Top 3.
When it comes to the gaming industry, sure I read the latest industry news, about what companies are buying what, the latest console sales, and assorted other behind-the-scenes wrangling, but ultimately for me the thing I’m most excited about is the finished games themselves.
New feature Top 3 will focus on my top 3 games in whatever category comes to mind. First up are my top 3 most difficult games. As always if you agree or disagree with me, or have any suggestions for future Top 3s, just leave a comment below.
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I do have to admit up front that I haven’t played a number of games that typically get slapped with the “most difficult” label in online discussions. These include MDK 2, Megaman, Battletoads, Contra, the Ninja Gaiden series and Devil May Cry 3. I’m someone who feels very guilty when I discard a game before finishing it, so after some serious thought, here are my 3 most frustrating, unfinishable games.
3) Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, the final instalment in the rejuvenated Prince of Persia trilogy, was the most well rounded of the series. It was also the most difficult of the games, by far.
Two things made this otherwise enjoyable action-adventure hard for me – the puzzle-driven boss battles (which typically involved timed button mashing), and the clock-watching sequences involving the Dark Prince, who continually needed a supply of Sands of Time to keep his powers charged while he traversed a multi-level stage.
Admittedly, the rest of the game, between the boss fights and Dark Prince scenes, was perfectly manageable, as well as a lot of fun. I’m thinking especially of the many opportunities to unleash the prince’s impressive acrobatic skills, and a challenging chariot race through Babylon, which combined steering and combat.
However, I just could not complete the final epic boss battle, which was divided into 3 stages, and systematically involved stripping away your nemesis’s armour and weakening him. As much as I stressed and struggled, I just could not finish The Two Thrones. I’d always enter the third stage of the challenge, a climbing puzzle, with too little time-reversing sand to save me from mistimed leaps and continually thrown energy balls.
Despite my love for the Prince of Persia series then, despite soldiering through all the challenges of Sands of Time and Warrior Within to complete those games, I just could not do the same for The Two Thrones.
2) Yo! Noid
Once upon a time I went into my local Chinese-run video game store in search of a game that would challenge me; something that I would still be playing at the end of the month. I was handed Yo! Noid, an obscure NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) cartridge game centred on the buck-toothed, rabbit suit-wearing Domino’s Pizza mascot.
And yes, Yo! Noid was challenging. Incredibly so. You got 3 lives in total. More importantly, there was no life bar. If you were touched by an enemy, just once, you died. Without fail you would then respawn right at the beginning of the stage to attempt it all over again.
I should have realised just how tough this one was from the moment the first stage loaded – a harbour scene where the crates under your feet continually bobbed beneath the water line, and fish would leap up unpredictably, striking you.
After much teeth grinding I eventually discarded Yo! Noid for the far less frustrating Darkwing Duck.
1) Ghosts ‘n Goblins
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that games have become easier over the years. Looking back at the old cartridge games, they were merciless. You got little to no second chances. Sometimes the only qualities that would see you through to the end of the game, apart from lightning quick reflexes, were truckloads of stamina and persistence. And sometimes even these things wouldn’t help you.
I never finished Ghosts ‘n Goblins. Hell, I never even reached the third boss. The game was just too bloody hard, with just a single suit of armour to protect your knight from unpredictable monsters and birds that would seemingly appear out of nowhere, either under your feet or right in front of you . Mostly you’d be running across stages in your underwear as you struggled to reach your beloved, kidnapped princess.
Perhaps most frustrating of all was that you were always well aware of what was ahead, and how far you had to go, thanks to a load screen that laid out the game’s entire map. I’ve always wondered what the later stages of Ghosts ‘n Goblins were like, and how tough the inhabitants of the final demon lair were. I’ll never find out though.
When it comes to the gaming industry, sure I read the latest industry news, about what companies are buying what, the latest console sales, and assorted other behind-the-scenes wrangling, but ultimately for me the thing I’m most excited about is the finished games themselves.
New feature Top 3 will focus on my top 3 games in whatever category comes to mind. First up are my top 3 most difficult games. As always if you agree or disagree with me, or have any suggestions for future Top 3s, just leave a comment below.
----------------------------------------------
I do have to admit up front that I haven’t played a number of games that typically get slapped with the “most difficult” label in online discussions. These include MDK 2, Megaman, Battletoads, Contra, the Ninja Gaiden series and Devil May Cry 3. I’m someone who feels very guilty when I discard a game before finishing it, so after some serious thought, here are my 3 most frustrating, unfinishable games.
3) Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, the final instalment in the rejuvenated Prince of Persia trilogy, was the most well rounded of the series. It was also the most difficult of the games, by far.
Two things made this otherwise enjoyable action-adventure hard for me – the puzzle-driven boss battles (which typically involved timed button mashing), and the clock-watching sequences involving the Dark Prince, who continually needed a supply of Sands of Time to keep his powers charged while he traversed a multi-level stage.
Admittedly, the rest of the game, between the boss fights and Dark Prince scenes, was perfectly manageable, as well as a lot of fun. I’m thinking especially of the many opportunities to unleash the prince’s impressive acrobatic skills, and a challenging chariot race through Babylon, which combined steering and combat.
However, I just could not complete the final epic boss battle, which was divided into 3 stages, and systematically involved stripping away your nemesis’s armour and weakening him. As much as I stressed and struggled, I just could not finish The Two Thrones. I’d always enter the third stage of the challenge, a climbing puzzle, with too little time-reversing sand to save me from mistimed leaps and continually thrown energy balls.
Despite my love for the Prince of Persia series then, despite soldiering through all the challenges of Sands of Time and Warrior Within to complete those games, I just could not do the same for The Two Thrones.
2) Yo! Noid
Once upon a time I went into my local Chinese-run video game store in search of a game that would challenge me; something that I would still be playing at the end of the month. I was handed Yo! Noid, an obscure NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) cartridge game centred on the buck-toothed, rabbit suit-wearing Domino’s Pizza mascot.
And yes, Yo! Noid was challenging. Incredibly so. You got 3 lives in total. More importantly, there was no life bar. If you were touched by an enemy, just once, you died. Without fail you would then respawn right at the beginning of the stage to attempt it all over again.
I should have realised just how tough this one was from the moment the first stage loaded – a harbour scene where the crates under your feet continually bobbed beneath the water line, and fish would leap up unpredictably, striking you.
After much teeth grinding I eventually discarded Yo! Noid for the far less frustrating Darkwing Duck.
1) Ghosts ‘n Goblins
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that games have become easier over the years. Looking back at the old cartridge games, they were merciless. You got little to no second chances. Sometimes the only qualities that would see you through to the end of the game, apart from lightning quick reflexes, were truckloads of stamina and persistence. And sometimes even these things wouldn’t help you.
I never finished Ghosts ‘n Goblins. Hell, I never even reached the third boss. The game was just too bloody hard, with just a single suit of armour to protect your knight from unpredictable monsters and birds that would seemingly appear out of nowhere, either under your feet or right in front of you . Mostly you’d be running across stages in your underwear as you struggled to reach your beloved, kidnapped princess.
Perhaps most frustrating of all was that you were always well aware of what was ahead, and how far you had to go, thanks to a load screen that laid out the game’s entire map. I’ve always wondered what the later stages of Ghosts ‘n Goblins were like, and how tough the inhabitants of the final demon lair were. I’ll never find out though.
Comments
Matthew, I actually managed to finish Flinstones, probably twice. And I'm looking forward to the PC release of Assassin's Creed very much. To my knowledge though the same studio worked on all 3 games. It was just publisher Ubisoft who insisted on the series' crappy change of direction in Warrior Within. Sands of Time is the best of the trilogy of course!