2. Backtracking
But it doesn't get to me quite as much as backtracking does, one of the most lazy mechanics that game developers dare abuse. Not only does it seem like a cynical attempt to not have to map a new area, but it's
so boring. Take the PAL card section from Metal Gear Solid, where you have to run back to the freezing warehouse and then to the furnace in order to access Metal Gear REX. That game also featured an only slightly less laborious section in which you had to run all the way back to the Armoury to grab a Sniper Rifle that could take out Sniper Wolf. The Devil May Cry games also require a fair share of this, and plenty of FPS games will have you fight your way to a checkpoint, only to find out that you've got to then fight your way back out. Halo has been notorious for this, and it feels like a lazy way to pad the game's length out, as right on cue, a bunch of enemies will have infested the building once again, and you'll have to spend another 10 minutes returning from whence you came. I would be perfectly happy for games to be a tad shorter and just change these time-wasting segments into cut-scenes. Or better yet, come up with more imaginative plot devices...