10 Things Everybody Hates About AMAZING Video Games
9. Backtracking - Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid is undeniably one of the most important and influential video games of all time - a phenomenal achievement in game design that single-handedly pioneered the stealth-actioner.
Yet as excellent as its story, gameplay, and overall presentation are, there's one part of the game that even its defenders can't stand: the damn, dirty backtracking.
Twice during the game, players are made to double back on themselves in order to carry out a fetch quest.
First up, you need to grab the PSG-1 sniper rifle in order to take on Sniper Wolf, forcing you to traipse all the way back to the armoury near the start of the game to pick it up.
And later on, you're made to backtrack twice in succession in order to change the shape of the PAL card, in an attempt to stop Liquid Snake launching Metal Gear REX.
The card changes shape according to temperature, so you first need to take it to the icy warehouse where you fought Vulcan Raven, return it to the computer, then backtrack again to the blast furnace in order to turn it hot, and finally return to the computer once more.
Both of these tasks feel like massive busy-work, and while they ultimately don't take that long, they're by far the laziest and most padded aspect of the game's overall design.