Ingame Cliches

Yesterday, I put together a list of words and terminology which I thought was cliched in gaming. Now I will put together a list of concepts and devices which are in game cliches (for example, devices which are used in games which have become cliched).

Crates, Boxes and Barrells - Crates (now destroyable crates) are the ultimate gaming cliche. They have been around since the original doom and used in nearly every single first person shooter since. You think I am exagerating? Try to think of one FPS which doesn't involve a crate, barrell or box. More often than not these things hide equipment or health for the main character. As far as I was concerned the ultimate over use and final straw in these devices occurred with Half Life 2. The game which was going to be revolutionary over used these devices more than any other game. So what if some of the barrells explode. They are still barrells. Couldn't you have spend five minutes and thought of a more original concept? Obviously, not.

The Single Handed Hero Who Saves the World - Another completely over used plot device which is used in gaming to justify the single player FPS. Every time I start one of these games I think to myself, "Here I go, off to save the world, again." Surely plot based creativity is not so dead in the gaming industry that they cannot come up with a better concept to drive the story? Another which falls along this lines is to save a girl friend or family member. This too falls in th same category.

The Training Level or "boot camp" - This is more for the World War II shooter than anything else, but couldn't they come up with a better concept than boot camp to go through the commands. Even to incorporate it in to the first level as opposed to a crusty old drill sergeant yelling at you telling you what to do while incorporating words like maggot and yellow belly in to the dialogue. Even the latest Call of Duty 3 uses this same sort of device (without the drill sergeant) to guide you through the training. At one time it was common place to start the shooter with a version of boot camp. However, after you've done the same sort of boot camp five different times on five different games they all start to feel the same more or less.

Racing AI - While this may not be a cliche as much as problems with code I am going to include it anyway. I am sick of AI in racing games who continually perform the PIT maneuver on you when you are in front of them (for that matter also for those people who do it on Xbox Live and you know who you are). For those who don't know the PIT maneuver is a procedure developed by police in the US to flick the tail end of a car they are pursuing around to virtually immobilise the car. The most recent racing game I played which involved this was Project Gotham Racing 3 on the Xbox 360. This really irritates me. Surely, they could do something to stop the AI doing it. As for those people who do it online, well, you have no class.

Satanic/Pagan Symbolism in Games - This is another thing which irritates me is the overuse of satanic or pagan symbols in games. It seems that game developers are willing to use what they want from the "dark side" and push it in our faces. Doom is one of the games to blame for this, although it was set in hell. The inverted pentagram and crucifix is one of the most overused symbols in gaming. As far as I am concerned developers could spend five minutes and find something else to represent their dark side. Where are their imaginations?

Health Packs - Square packs which lay on the ground and when picked up restore health. Definitely a gaming cliche. There are some common variants on the theme. Needles are a good one. Where the main character injects themselves with a needle to restore their health (wouldn't want to be a junkie or ex-junkie picking up on the imagery). Every single shooter contains some form of health pack. They are so common I bet most people don't even think about seeing them any more. They are a part of the gaming landscape.

End of Level Baddies - Most games feature this device to signify the end of the game or level. Many people are going to say that this has been a signature move of gaming since its inception. This idea was a rite of passage for the player to feel that they have advanced to a better level of skill by defeating a superior character. While I would have to agree with them in relation to platform games or beatem ups the First Person Shooter does not necessarily require this. Doom 3 was the ultimate end of game baddie let down. The final monster was so easy to beat (once you worked it out) that you could virtually defeat them on the hardest difficulty without loosing any health. So much for making it difficult or even a rite of passage.

Levels - Working your way through one level of a first person shooter at which point the game stops then loads the next level would have to be another gaming cliche. With the development of more open world games surely this device is indicative of the limitations of older hardware and game developers who aren't willing to push the envelope. Sandbox games are here to stay.

Levelling - I think levelling in RPGs has become completely cliched. Nearly every single RPG has some form of levelling. Isn't there a better way to do this that challenges us far more than identifying where we are in the RPG by the numbered level we are at. However, I don't think Bethesda quite hit the mark with Oblivion and the scaled world they created either.

There are heaps of other ingame cliches and I will try to add to this list as time goes on.