5 Shockingly Dull Minigames (In Otherwise Awesome Games)

5. Planet Scanning - Mass Effect 2

Commander Shepard's second adventure is arguably the strongest of the trilogy as it takes everything good about its predecessor and improves it in every conceivable way. Combat feels much tighter, the story and moral choices are the best in the series, and it ends in a way that leaves you wanting more. The majority of the game is excellently paced; seamlessly balancing interesting conversations with shooting things in the face. It's a joy to play and if you're anything like us, you excitedly ran from one mission to the next, unable to wait and see what the game has in store for this highly likeable cast of characters. But then you get to the final mission of the game and have to take Shepard and the gang through the perilous Omega-4 Relay. Several ship upgrades are required to do this without killing squad members, which means that it's time to indulge in some tedious as hell planet-scanning. Certain death sure is one hell of a motivator. The aim is to search planets for the resources you need to carry out the upgrades. It's a simple case of exploring the surface with the analog stick, using audio and visual cues to locate hot spots rich in minerals. The sheer number of planets in the game makes finding the one with the stuff you need a time consuming and repetitive process. Even if you were smart and spaced out the planet-scanning throughout your playthrough, it's still mind numbingly boring and Mass Effect 2 would have been a much better game without it.
 
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Contributor

When I'm not playing games, I'm probably either writing about them somewhere or singing stupid songs inspired by them. Or eating pizza.