10 Outdated Video Game Design Tropes That Must Die

6. Tailing Missions

Ah, the tailing mission, where players are tasked with following a perp, but make sure you don't get too close, or you'll spook the mark and they'll flee the area!

The Grand Theft Auto franchise is largely credited with originating the tailing mission, where players would follow a perp in their car, and have to maintain a distance where they neither scared them off nor lost sight of them.

Like early stealth, escort and water missions, GTA's tailing missions were actually pretty novel and fun, but like any vaguely inventive mechanic, it's adopted by the industry as a whole until it's driven towards the Earth's core like a giant tent peg.

The Assassin's Creed series is especially guilty of this, generally using tailing missions to dryly deliver exposition, while failing to complete the tail as the game intends results in a Game Over.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots also features an infamously frustrating tailing mission in Act 3, and most recently, Sega's Judgment misguidedly over-indulged in tedious tailing.

These missions are almost never fun and just feel like bloated dead-weight intended to piss players off, especially as making even a minor mistake so often results in a fail state.