I hate busy work...

I guess I should explain that.

See, I have no problem doing boring, mindless repetitive tasks if I'm at work. In fact most jobs I've had have had at least an delement of repetition, if not specific daily routines. Now, I don't necessarily subscribe to the 'if you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean' philosophy, but if there's work for me to do, even if it's of the abovementioned variety, most of the time, I'll just work

I'll work through breaks (wait what are those), Hell, half the time I'll forget to take a lunch

No, what's been pissing me off lately, is the busy work in video games.

Again, I think I only have one regular reader that's a gamer, so if you want to leave now, I'll understand.

If you've been reading here lately, you may remember that I've been playing a borrowed copy of God of War III. Or maybe you don't, but for the purposes of today's story, it really doesn't matter. There are many things I expect in video games.

I expect my FPS to have a badass sniper rifle.

I expect my RPG to have great combat and spell effects.

I expect my action/adventure games to have puzzles.

These are all good things.

Even quests are good things. Go here, kill this guy, get a part
of the puzzle/weapon. I'm fine with that kind of stuff.

Tough bosses, locked doors, and hidden passages; I'm good with all that.

No, I'm talking about the annoying 'time wasters' that the designers toss in just to make the gameplay longer.

Things like timed puzzles. These just piss me off. I just got to a spot in GoW that goes like this: You're locked in a room, and there are flame jets on both sides of the room, and yes, the fire will kill you.

Fast.

Above you, trapped in a glass box is the person you're trying to save (escort missions suck too). If you take too long solving the puzzle, the box fills with water, she dies, and you fail. That's where I shut it off this morning. I hate when the set some arbitrary time limit and expect you to
work on their timetable.

I probably died 15 times before I shut the game off. Bullshit like this serves no purpose but other than to rack up some deaths, and make the game last longer. Time should only be a factor in sports games, or racers, where times are actually used, either as limits, or scores to beat.

Something else that pisses me off are fucking rythym puzzles. I'm a whiteboy from NorCal. I've got no rythym. I mean, I've made my peace with it and everything, but I also choose not to play games that utilize it.

Well, in case you couldn't see it coming, GoW III has one of those too.

Man, was I pissed!!!

That was another of the places where I just turned the fucking thing off. There's a reason I don't buy that type of game, and I resent the designers forcing me to.

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Ok, enough of that.

I'm going to look for the space station again tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned.

Buenos con queso,

T.