5 Brilliant Ideas In Modern Games That Had Horrible Executions

By Javy Gwaltney IV / January 13, 2013

4. Alpha Protocol: The Hacking Minigame

There are two types of difficulty when it comes to hard games. The first is of the harsh but fair variety; these are games that will challenge players but will never throw insurmountable odds at them and will often reward the players with a sense of accomplishment that far outweighs the value of any unlockable costume or concept art. Some recent games that fall under this umbrella are Super Hexagon, Dark Souls, and Max Payne 3. And then theres the other type: derp-hard, an intense level of difficulty that not only fails to fit the game's design, but it also doesnt leave the gamer with any sense of accomplishment or reliefjust annoyance. It pains me to say that Alpha Protocol is an example of derp-hard at its finest, not because of the primary cover & gun gameplay. No, were talking about a certain hacking minigame that has driven even the most hardcore fans of the game bananas. To be fair, having a hacking game in a James Bond/Mass Effect inspired game makes sense and is a good idea. To make it excruciatingly difficult and hideous is not. Just look at this. Behold the Medusa of minigames, my friendsFor many, this makes the game almost unplayable due to the frequency of these ineptly designed segments, which is a shame, really, since Alpha Protocol is, at its core, a great game featuring one of the best uses of branching storylines ever (seriously, anyone who feels like their choices didnt matter in Mass Effect should give this game a whirl). And to think that all Obsidian had to do was make this tiny game a little less hardyou know, like a certain relatively recent bypass minigame: