Quick time events need to die a slow and painful death. Nice article.

How about downloadable items(maps, characters, clothes, etc...), f*uck them in the ass! How about putting them on the disc in the first place.! We are already paying 60 BUCKS!!!!! for the dam game to begin with. Rape them with a rusty pipe, put them in a bag, and drown them...downloadable content, that is.

@neo
Um, DLC is on the list...

your giving us the cliches but you don't have any advice to developers?

It isn't always the developers want to charge for DLC. Take Valve with Left 4 Dead and TF2. If you have the PC versions the DLC is free, but Microsoft requires that it has a price to go on their marketplace.

Of course, it doesn't make sense would have free DLC from my point of view.

Forgot pwn, pwnd, pwn4g3, pwny mcpwnerson, teabag, headshot, beatdown, killing spree...

Of course, it doesn't make any sense that Burnout Paradise would have free DLC from my point of view.

Stupid list

You forgot alternate endings and time control as in rewinding, and replaying around with time (not as a plot element but as an actual game mechanic - POP:SOT and Warrior Within and Timeshock, etc)

Playing with Physics - Portal, Ragdoll mechanics, etc

Headshots - killing someone with a sniper by blasting off their head. relatively recent concept..

Dynamic lighting to convey creepiness like darkening a coridoor to make it scary so that a goblin or something can jump out. Look at doom 1 and you'll see what I mean, there's a lack of lighting in terms of what they did on doom 3 or quake 4 or oblivion or cod etc.

Music games - how many rock bands and music games can we have - seriously. Every band seems to have their own limited edition version of rockband.

boooo

How is deathmatch a NEW gaming cliche?

Whoa whoa whoa, Ninja Gaiden II accused of dual-wielding weapons unrealistically?? There are only three weapons that are dual-wielded, the Falcon's Talons (basically Wolverine's claws), Tonfas (real weapons, like police batons, usually used in pairs), and the Dragon's Claw and Tiger Fang (which is where an uneducated person would call shenanigans). Obviously, whoever has a problem with this has never heard of the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi.

Shishido Baiken was a practitioner of the kusurigama (also a NG2 weapon), and Musashi had never seen this weapon in action before. Musashi asked Baiken if he could see the weapon in action, but Baiken refused unless he was challenged to a duel. Musashi challenged, then arrived to the duel dual-wielding swords, one short and one long. Rather than letting Baiken take the first swing, Musashi charged and forced Baiken off balance. With the short sword he knocked the weight of the kusurigama off target, then slashed Baiken with the long.

Even in Ninja Gaiden II, one sword is shorter than the other, possibly in honor of the greatest swordsman of all time.

[Reference: Robert Greene, "The 33 Strategies of War," Chapter 2.]

Another cliche

All games use a form of input control... OMFG THEY ARE SOOOO LAME!!!!11111

Yeah try not to confuse cliches with functionality?

I think you forgot achievements... and stupidly difficult and or time consuming ones.

I have not had to pay for Left 4 Dead DLC; I don't know why that game qualifies for DLC if it's full of free updates.

.............L4D dlc was free

clearly doesn't understand the meaning of the word "cliche"...

Sounds like you just played Halo 3:ODST and decided to make this list. I guess it is pretty cliched though.

Totally agree with most of these. Lots of the problems with current games is the rehash of the same old gameplay, storyline elements, mechanics, etc... as you mentioned. Open world gameplay should have a damn good reason for being implemented, not some random "oh hey let's make the game longer (and more boring) and seem more in depth by making it open world". Don't make the user able to go strolling through the world like some open garden when there really isn't any depth to the game. Focus on making the game more engaging.

As a general rule of thumb, anything that interrupts the flow of a game is bad. Hiding behind a corner to regenerate health is gimmicky and shows the linearity of the combat mechanic. Audio tapes that reveal backstory are ok, but personally after a while I don't give a shit about them any more. The only game whose story has kept me relatively engrossed was Deus Ex, due to its immersiveness. Directional indicators? Unless you're making a labyrinth (or have terrible level design), I don't think you need them... see games from the past. Dual wielding pistols or melee weapons is fine, just not rifles and above. QTE are great when done well, dark characters aren't bad as long as they have depth, and DLC should be distributed with love... a.k.a TF2.

Yeah, there's a major difference between a cliche and the progress of modern game theory. The bald space marine is essentially the only cliche.

tea-bagging

Wow, the dumbest article I've read in a while.

You critizise some of the best changes/innovations in modern gaming and got no advice what direction would be better? Pathetic.

And btw: There are no QTEs in inFamous.

I guess "bullet time" is such an entrenched cliché it doesn't warrant a mention?

he wasnt stating that all DLC was costly only that alot of games are currecnt usuing DLC, and that some times you have to pay for it, his cliche is that games now plan early ahead to have DLC.

god, read before you bitch, i hate ppl like you

i thought the article was entertaining, unlike some of you idiots out there you cant actually just enjoy something, you find the faults in everything instead of just going, "oh thats an interesting article" instead of reading for the fun of it you meretriciously go through each paragraph just looking for a reason to bitch and say "oh hes wrong, hes soo wrong and i found it first!!" so why dont you go fuck your selfs because i doubt he gives a shit if your reading his work or not any way.

Don't most marines in the real world also sport short hair or bald heads? It's part of the uniform. How about "heroes wearing pants" as a cliche?

(secretly looking forward to the first hippie marine shooter...)

this is one of the stupidest articles i've read in ages.

instead of elves and things that actually could easily be different without fucking up the game, they are pointing to features like "deathmatch" and "directional indicators" as cliched items that people should work on replacing or doing without.

totally ridiculous.

sounds like some halo nubs wont accept the reality of its failure. seriously, you pay 10+ dollars for maps that should have launched with the game? you must have no sense of worth

I'll admit upfront that I'm a Shenmue fanboy, but to talk about such a hugh cliche like QTE and not mention where they originated seems to shows a little bit of ignorance. And also, did you just play ODST or has it been a day or two before last picking it up?

lots of the honorable mentions are the real cliches

The only thing I agree with you on is DLC. Everything else you've confused with functionality. I'm not entirely sure what you're expecting from a character that's in the military--a mullet perhaps?--but military regs on hair is either shaved or a crew cut (worn short and no bangs for women). That's probably the only "sorta" cliche topic you graced on. Everything else was indeed functionality.

In fact, DLC would've saved this from not being such a terrible article if there weren't numerous spelling mistakes. I also don't remember there being DLC for Left 4 Dead. I remember Valve finally fucking added the two original maps that were missing from launch into Versus Mode, and then I remembered this really shitty game mode called Survival that no one plays, but that was about it. Last time I checked L4D's DLC is being marketed as a sequel.

Here are some examples of cliches in video games: a series about the same plot recycled and regurgitated in a matter of a year or less (Halo, Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty, Crysis, FEAR); the world is going to end unless you and only you can save it (uh...ANY game out there?); a BFG or an end-all weapon that renders all others useless (Just about any shooter); Grr, zombies! (Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising, Time Splitters, Killing Floor, Stubbs the Zombie, Dead Island, Plants vs. Zombies, Zombie Apocalypse); Oh noes, nuclear holocaust! (Fallout, STALKER, Fallen Earth, Borderlands, Rage). Those are just a FEW examples of cliches in video games. Just a protip: know what the word is before using it.

The QTE's in RE5 ruined it for me. The bald space marine is based on Bruce Willis, right?

I have to object to including the elder scrolls as an open world cliche just because they could; pretty much the entire main series (Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion) were based on having a true open world.

Andrew I'm not sure who you're referring to, but most ppl are just pointing out things that the author may have overlooked or giving their own perspective on the issues.

I'm the anonymous that posted at 10:29:18 AM, and I certainly wasn't bashing the article or bitching. In fact, i was agreeing with a lot of what the author said. As he said in his own words, the list doesn't mean each of these things is bad, though he does talk about the cases where they are used badly. I was merely complimenting his article with a few points here and there.

The majority of the other comments aren't flames either, they are just random points. Adding to the article certainly does not mean we hate the author or are trying to flame him, it just means we see it important enough to add to his article. Also, it is beneficial to analyze whether what one is reading is true or not... otherwise this becomes nothing more than idle gossip.

I can't deny a good antihero.
I love some inner conflict.

how about any ass hat that uses "fail, epic fail, any form of fail"

If you guys liked my Bald Space Marine collage so much, you should have asked. I still have the original .PDF.

Can a guy get some credit here?

http://zeus.mirtna.org/blog/2009/03/eat-lead-return-of-matt-hazard.html

Audio logs first appeared in System Shock 1, Anton.

clusterf.cks

Where you stand in a spot and hold off a 360 degree attack. Then you have to reload. Then you're dead. And you start the level over.

As seen in Left 4 Dead... Ummm... I guess L4D is cluster-y enough for 3 games.

Not just barrels- anything that is red explodes in the realm of gaming.

I think OP is confused on what cliche is, this is not really cliches but more personal pet pevs. The bald marines and anti-heroes should be removed or at least renamed to be a bit more specific. Being bald headed in the marine core is required as it is part of the code they have, to be honest its more realistic, while of course being easier to create. The new games with old characters are trying to be realistic, i don't really think they will have long hair or short young scrappy hair, doesn't suit the characters, SC and Max Payne need that bald look.

Anti-heroes is more story based, to claim a standard story forumula is cliche is a bit petty. I just think you can't claim that to be cliche. Then why not say being a hero is cliche. America/allies always wins is a cliche.

Your list is good but these aren't really well though out specific ones, needs a bit more thought in areas. =/

I personally enjoyed the article. It was entertaining, and brought up some valid points that I might not have otherwise thought of.
I completely agree about DLC.
The recent Force Unleashed DLC really had me chapped.
Thanks, I traded that game in MANY months ago.
WTF!?!
Way to capitalize on that one.

Left 4 Dead just dropped DLC that costs points this time, and again, it really seems like something that should've come on the disk... it's just one 2-chapter campaign that takes about 30 minutes to finish... and it costs 560 ms points

LOVE these people that are all up in arms over a video game article. Get out much?

Yes! That's why I love Devil May Cry, the only cliche' that it fits in this list is the dual wielding, but you can't even really put that in the same category in my opinion.