8 Worst Video Game Mission Types Done RIGHT

If you must.

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Disney

Despite how much we all enjoy playing video games, there are some times where even the act of kicking back and relaxing is made challenging by video game devs.

For whatever reason, time and time again, video games present the player with missions that for lack of better words absolutely suck. They're too hard, too drastically different, too constraining, or are just downright boring that they stick out like a sore middle finger amongst the rest of the game.

Such missions often end up grouping together in the big toilet bowl of the internet and yet try as we might some of these gameplay tropes will never, ever flush.

Thankfully though there are some publishers and devs ready to roll up their sleeves and lose their watches to the filth and plumb through the goop in order to deliver players a brilliant take on an otherwise hated gameplay angle.

These are such shining examples, and we should be shoving them in the faces of other developers as an example of how to do even terrible missions right.

8. Escort Mission - ICO

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Team ICO

Let's face it when you read the title of this list, you likely thought that escort missions would be rightly held over the fire, as when it comes to things players can't stand, it's dropping weapons and holding hands with a braindead AI that needs their trousers changed for them every time a firefight breaks out and they promptly s**t themselves.

And you'd be correct my friend! As this is like taking a hammer to the flow of gameplay and turning you into a glorified and even more underpaid babysitter. I've enough responsibilities in my life and here I can't seem to bloody escape them here!

However, sometimes developers actually consider that maybe, just maybe, guiding a character with the life preservation skills of a dog that gets turned on by chewing electrical cables isn't all that fun, and so does a Wizard Of Oz trick and pours a brain into their slop bucket head, making for escort missions that are, dare I say it, fun?!

And in some rare cases an escort mission can be the entire game and still be a blast, which is the rare position that ICO finds itself in, as here the name of the game is keeping Yorda alive at all costs, yet never feels like trying to herd your younger siblings through sweet and toy aisle, as here Yorda is still vulnerable to kidnapping attempts but can't be killed by other elements meaning she rarely gets in the way and any moment where she needs to be saved is a tense action setpiece.

It's outstanding that such a hated mission type was delivered on so well and is yet another reason why ICO overall is so bloody special.

Contributor
Contributor

Jules Gill hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.