Are You Kidding Me? 5 Infuriating Game Moments

If playing video games has taught me one thing about life, it's that life is not fair. Just because you got though one hard part, it doesn't mean that there won't be another hard part just around the corner. So what do we do? Do we give up, hoping that the problem will just go away? Or do we take the logical approach by stepping back, calming down and go at it with a cool and collected head? Ok, this is getting too philosophical. We're here to talk about games!

I took a selfie just for this entry.

Most games are(for the most part) pretty easy to get through, but there are some that have parts in them that make you want to throw your console or PC out the window and pledge to become amish so you won't ever have to deal with technology ever again. Now, I'm not great at games. As much as I love them and want to make a career out of something to do with gaming, I probably need to practice more at them. These are in no particular order, as they were all infuriating at one point in my life.

1. Blood Line Jumping-Max Payne

Behold: the bane of my teenage years.

Max Payne is such a great game. It introduced us to bullet time and gave us a fun and fresh storyline. However, periodically throughout the game you had to endure flashbacks of your wife and child dying, making you relive the reason behind your vengeance-filled shooting spree. It's not bad, not until the walls and floor fall away, leaving just a trail of blood for you to follow. This wouldn't be so bad, except you have to jump from one line to the next. Still doesn't sound bad? Oh, did I mention that if you move one inch to the left or right you fall off and have to start all over? Or did I tell you that if you don't land perfectly from your jump you fall off, die, and have to start all over? Or that the controls are so loose, Max ends up skating off the edge before you even think about jumping? Yeah. Infuriating. As much as I love the Max Payne series, I have only beaten the first game once, for fear of having to play those horrible levels and ripping my hair out all over again.

2. Hoverbike Level-Battletoads

Spoiler Alert: He won't make it.

No one, and I mean NO ONE beat this game. Ever. Every single kid who played this game got to the third level, lost all your lives at the second or third jump, started the game over, got back to the third level, lost all of your lives again, tried this about 3,784 times, gave up, broke your controller, then took your copy of the game and buried it deep in cement so you would never have to experience this level ever again. I've often wondered what the rest of this game looked like. Just another unanswered question from my childhood.

3. The Piano Puzzle-Silent Hill

By far the most evil thing in all of Silent Hill

I'm going to put the puzzle on here for everyone to see:

 A Tale of Birds without a Voice.

First flew the greedy Pelican,

eager for the reward.

White wings flailing.

Then came a silent Dove,

flying beyond the Pelican,

as far as he could.

A Raven flies in,

flying higher than the Dove.

Just to show he can.

A Swan glides in to find a peaceful spot

next to another bird.

Finally, out comes a Crow,

coming quickly to a stop, yawning and then napping.

Who will show the way?

Who will be the key?

Who will lead to the silver reward?

Did you understand the riddle? Did you figure out that you were supposed to play the keys that don't work? Are you sure that you got the order in which you're supposed to play them in right? No? Of course you didn't. Don't worry, no one got this right the first time through. The Silent Hill series is by far my favorite set of games, but GOOD LORD was this annoying. In fact, I would dare say that this part caused more grief and anxiety than any monster you may encounter in the depths of Silent Hill.

4. Meteor Defense-Dead Space

Pew! Pew!

Hey I've got an idea! Let's make a completely original, genuinely scary game, with great controls, plenty of jump scares and mind-scarring visuals. THEN, let's stop everything about halfway through the game and put in a missile defense simulator with the controls of a steam roller! If you haven't guessed by now, I love horror games. The more scary stuff I can get, the better, so you can see why this would frustrate me so much. I must have done this part four thousand times. It just doesn't make sense to throw this part into such a good game.

5. Hide and Seek-Indigo Prophecy

"I blend right in with my mustard-colored shirt."

Once again, I have only played through Indigo Prophecy, a game that I actually really, really liked once because of one bad part. That may sound ridiculous to you, but this part is so bad that it absolutely KILLS the rest of the game. The story for Indigo Prophecy was kind of confusing anyway, but then to add a completely broken stealth mission about three-quarters into the game was downright pull your hair out bull crap. 

Honorable Mentions:

Knife Fight with Krauser-Resident Evil 4

Cue the Star Trek fight music!

This will be blasphemy to some of you, but RE4 is my favorite installment of the Resident Evil franchise. Smooth controls, good action, and some genuine freaky parts make it a classic that fits right in with the next generation of console horror games. Aside from the God of War series, no other game has utilized the quick time event quite like RE4. The boss fight with the charming Mr. Krauser is nothing but one big quick time event and man, is it frustrating. One wrong button on your controller and you're cursed to play through the entire thing all over again. Did I mention that it's about 15 minutes long? Imagine getting to the very last prompt and failing.

Crossing the Bridge-Half Life 2

"Oh goody. Something else to kill me very quickly."

This isn't so much infuriating as it is nerve-racking. I'm not one for heights, so being suspended 80 feet high, trying to cross a bridge on very thin platforms while being shot at by Combine soldiers and gunships? Fun! My controller was literally dripping with sweat after I was done with this. 

Well, that's it for this edition. Do you have any moments in gaming that really get your goat? Let me know! Leave a comment below and let's talk. Also, don't forget to check out The D-Pad Podcast on Facebook, Blogger and Twitch. Come say hi to us and if you have any recommendations for games you wanna see played or blogged about, drop us a line and we'll let you know. Thanks for tuning in!