3. Tutorials in Sequels
I have been playing computer games since the early nineties. My first console was a Sega Mega Drive (Genesis to our American and Japanese readers) and over the past twenty years I have gained a decent understanding of the control schemes for most types of games and at the very least I can figure things out through a few moments of trial and error. If I had my way, I'd remove tutorials from all but the most complicated games and games aimed at younger players who don't have experience with the control schemes most of us have used dozens of times, but I do recognise that not every gamer is equal and many gamers will appreciate a quick refresh of how each game works, but it should at least be optional. Ironically I loved XCOM: Enemy Unknown's tutorial; it was story driven, contained some flexibility and crucially didn't feel like a tutorial. If all games followed this formula, I'd happily play each and every one. In general though, sequels do not need tutorials and developers need to start trusting gamers again. It seems that every sequel resets all the abilities gained in the previous game and starts again; I want a sequel, whether it picks up ten seconds or ten years after the original story, to drop me in at the deep end and not hold my hand through the first 20 minutes of gameplay.