As a concept, the dangerously volatile barrel is a classic of this magnitude. Some things are iconic because they arrived perfectly formed, were instantly loved, and remain so good that to this day you're unlikely to ever get bored of them. It's like hating on Air Jordans, the climax of Madonna's Like a Prayer, or the colour yellow for being too perfect. I've been covering games for two decades, throughout which my peers have dumped on explosive barrels as key exemplars of lazy design. (Image credit: Valve) (opens in new tab) Exploding Red Barrels Without that frustrating first bit, the face punt wouldn't be nearly as satisfying. The ensuing rage from that event alone will carry me through the rest of the game, until that moment when I can kick them square in the face. In order to set up a truly despicable villain you've got to dangle their smug face in front of me very early on and have them say something like "you have no idea what you're messing with". It sounds like I hate this particular action adventure trope, but I really don't. Phil Savage The bit in every videogame where they show you the final boss early on but there's a minor obstacle in the way that you inexplicably can't overcome for at least ~20 hours of gameplay For all of Ghost Recon: Wildlands' many problems, coordinating stealth kills never got old. Bonus points for when co-op campaigns allow this, letting you make the call yourself. This trope is a mainstay of Call of Duty campaigns, as well as the series' many, many imitators, and it always feels cool. "You take the one on the left," he orders, setting up a synchronised takedown that keeps your mission alive. Only, you've also got an NPC companion, likely a grizzled veteran with years of stealthily crouch-walking through hostile territory under his tactical vest. You're sneaking through a level, when-oh no-two guards! And they're standing in view of each other! Disaster. Andy Kelly Pointlessly smashing pots, barrels, etc. I can stomach a cliché more if it's a knowing cliché.
It's almost like the developers are winking at you, nudging you in the ribs. It's overused, yeah, but I like it, because I know it's going to happen. Doom might be the first game that did this, but it's since appeared in BioShock, Resident Evil, and many more horror or horror-adjacent games.
Then, as soon as you grab it, the lights go out and the room floods with monsters. You grab a keycard or a shotgun, which is usually sitting tantalisingly beneath a spotlight to really draw your attention to it. Then in Saints Row 4 you have to reunite all the scattered Saints, putting your band back together, which is a concentrated dose of the same high.
#Video games cliche bloody screen tunnel vision series#
The Saints Row series do it well too, with each game adding a couple of new members to the gang with different specialties as well as personality clashes to resolve. I have to go on a bunch of missions to recruit people so I can then take them all on one big super-important final mission? Sign me up. There's an element of it in every party-based RPG, but Mass Effect 2 probably does it best.
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