Every game is unique, each with its own set of characters, stories and, most importantly, game mechanics. But just as common elements in fiction have become tropes or clichés, after all these years game mechanics have become tropes themselves.
There are good and bad mechanics but most of the time we think of them as a whole, as a set of mechanics for a given title. Individually however, we can see their flaws more easily and truly decide if they are fantastic or terrible.
There is a third option however, and that is neither good nor bad – just annoying. These mechanics are often used and almost every time they make us groan, but we can’t completely call them good or bad because there’s at least one instance when we’ve seen them work really well.
In this series I’ll go over a few annoying game mechanics, and for this issue I’ll start with one of my personal favourites and pet hatreds: mazes.
Mazes and labyrinths are classics, and from the moment we read or heard or saw the story of the Minotaur’s labyrinth from Greek mythology we imagined what it would be like to be in there, terrified at what’s waiting for us around the next corner.
That’s the purpose of a maze: to create tension, to make those inside nervous and even fearful of what’s waiting for them around the next bend. And, even if there is no danger to be found in them, every dead end increases the tension and the feeling of helplessness. The mind wanders and you start to think about what would happen if you can’t get out, every branching path and dead end making it worse, until you can’t do anything but help and scream at your fate. Mazes at best are mysterious places, and at worst are nightmarish locations.
Every corner contains at least one hidden goodie.
As a game mechanic however, they can go beyond the tension and into frustration, souring the experience and making the player want to walk away. Or possibly complete the maze but the aggravation makes anything on the other end not seem worth the effort. If done well, on the other hand, they can become the mysterious locations mentioned before and enhance the exploration value, making gamers want to reach the centre if there is one or the other end to see what the maze hides.
The following are just a few examples of good and bad mazes, but even at their best they are thoroughly annoying. Even the best of them make us wish they weren’t there in the first place, the realisation of being in yet another labyrinth making us groan and starting a slow trickling buildup of frustration.
The Legend of Zelda series has its own famous maze featured in almost every entry: the Lost Woods. From the original, where only a specific sequence of directions let you get to your destination to Ocarina of Time’s musical-cue-based location with a small labyrinth on the other side, the Lost Woods have always been an example of a well-constructed game mechanic. You can get lost in it, you can find yourself right at the start many times, but there’s always something waiting for you; be it enemies or merchants or even gateways to other regions, helping to keep the frustration at bay even if you’ll groan five minutes later.
The hilarity of the solution far outweighs the frustration.
The Monkey Island games have almost always featured a maze in one form or another and they’re usually unbeatable unless you have a very specific item, but they are never boring. Each screen contains something unique or the solution to the labyrinth reveals something hilarious that dispels what little frustration might have started to creep in.
Ys I on the other hand contains a random-portal maze that can get you to rage-quit the game very often, as there are too many portals to choose from and too many enemies to annoy you. Once you know the path it becomes easier, but it’s entirely possible to die over and over again until you do.
The recently released Moebius includes a maze as its final puzzle and, while there are some rooms with guideposts giving you a general idea of where to go, the multiple choice paths can get a bit frustrating. Not to the point of throwing the mouse away from you but it is a bit irritating.
This place almost made me want to quit and never come back.
Devil May Cry 4 included its own little maze and while the solution was extremely simple, the maze itself was a thoroughly annoying experience that broke the game’s flow; it seemed to be added only to extend what is already a short level. In fact, its extreme ease is what makes the thing so annoying because no thought of challenge was put into its creation.
One of the worst offenders however, is in what is otherwise a fantastic game: Silent Hill 2. It’s appropriately called the Labyrinth, a place with no maps and identical looking walls filled with enemies and puzzles and a couple of bosses. But by the time you reach any of them, you’ll already be thoroughly annoyed by the entire experience; and it’s made worse by the fact that there are two floors of this nonsense. There’s a Pyramid Head trailing the hallways, very capable of killing you and forcing you to re-do the entire thing.
