10 Annoying Things That Are Ruining Video Games
Auto-aiming, X-ray vision and micro-transactions - kill them. Kill them all.
On the face of things, the video game industry is powering on - thundering forward even, with an unprecedented level of mainstream success. Graphics are breathtaking, profits for the big publishers are shooting through the roof, and VR looks set to give us a whole new perspective on literally everything. But bubbling under the surface is an underworld of demons and bad practices, threatening to undermine all the awesome things happening everywhere else.
Whether it's asinine in-game mechanics, the increasingly fragmented way in which games are sold to us - or just outright cowardice on the part of some publishers, there are too many signs that gamers are being taken for fools.
These things are ruining video games and need to stop. NOW.
10. Special 'Vision Modes'
Assassin's Creed brought us plenty of good things, all of which can be found in three of the best' games over the years (those being Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood and Black Flag, for the record), but it also gave us Eagle Vision - an x-ray mechanic that all-too-conveniently sees through walls, distinguishing between good guys, bad guys, other objects of note and everything in between.
Used sparingly, this mechanic would've been fine, but since then it's gone on to become a staple of AAA games, spanning the likes of The Last of Us, Hitman, Tomb Raider and Batman: Arkham Knight - even Far Cry Primal has it, masquerading as 'Hunter Vision'.
Only in Batman though, does its use really feel justified, seeing as the Dark Knight is a superhero kitted out with gadgetry that could feasibly let him do that. In most other games, it feels like a cheap cheat mechanic that ruins immersion, pitting you as God rather than making you to solve things yourself. X-ray vision, Eagle Vision, whatever you want to call it, is a symptom of publishers having no faith in the gamer's ability to handle problems.
It's as if they fear that the second a game gets tough or leaves us stumped for five minutes, we'll throw a tantrum and never play it again. Have these publishers not noticed that Dark Souls has been doing rather well for itself?