12 Awesome Video Games With One Awful Mechanic

3. Malaria - Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2 helped put the series on the map, and without it, it likely wouldn't be the AAA sales juggernaut it is today.

That said, players had to persevere through the game's horrendously ill-conceived malaria mechanic, whereby the protagonist would suffer malaria sickness every 30-40 minutes, at which point the screen would tint yellow, your vision would blur, and the player would be unable to sprint or jump.

At this point, players then need to administer medicine, and if you've run out of malaria pills, you'll pass out and wake up in a safe room.

It added little enjoyable strategy to the game and basically just served as an irritation that would routinely take hold during the most inopportune moments. Modders eventually patched malaria out of the game completely, to a rapturous response from the rest of the fan community.

Ubisoft at least appeared to take fan criticism on-board, because it's been mercifully absent from all later titles.