10 Irritating Video Game Tropes That Refuse To Die
5. Useless Collectibles
If you've enough optional content smothering the skyline, streets and undercity of your sandbox world, fans will never go wanting for content to consume. That's the dream, isn't it? To keep the player base hooked indefinitely beyond the end credits.
Sorta. That only works if the seasoning sprinkled over the core dish isn't bland as all hell. Ubisoft and Rockstar, in particular, have always been two particularly bad offenders in the collectables department. Content to ensure that its players pursue the proverbial dangling carrot for the sake of the chase.
Even on the rare occasion where scouring the landscape for every last bit of tat bestows some sort of tangible benefit, the ends don't justify the means.
Audio logs, as rote as the feature has become, at least promise the reward of additional backstory for seeking them out in plain sight. Alternatively, you can go out of your way to murder 200 innocent pigeons in Grand Theft Auto IV for nothing more than a congratulatory message.
Bravo, Rockstar. Bravo.