10 Ways You Can Tell A Video Game Is Going To Suck

10. Mouse Cursor UIs In Console Games

One of the more groan-worthy console gaming trends over the last decade is the increasing tendency to have the game menus only be navigable with a mouse cursor, which the player moves with their controller's analog sticks, before holding a button to confirm their selection.

Popularised by Destiny and more recently adopted by the Assassin's Creed franchise, it's typically an agonisingly slow, unintuitive way to access menus, and rarely feels better or faster than simply cycling through menu options with the D-pad.

It's not exactly slanderous to suggest that making console players treat their controller like a mouse smacks of uncreative, even downright lazy UI design, as though the developers couldn't fathom an interface that caters to both those using a mouse and controller.

While not always the case, this stagnant design philosophy often trickles down to the actual meat of the game itself, whereby not nearly enough time has been spent polishing the finer details.

Though there have been good games released in spite of their poor UI design, it's absolutely an early telltale sign that you're likely in for a rough ride.