Cliche battle mechanics we’re tired of

Trends in video games are one thing, but when they’re so cliche that you can successfully predict what happens next is something altogether more heinous.

Popular battle mechanics are usually popular in the first place because they worked a treat in their original iteration, so it’s understandable that other games appropriate that mechanic for themselves. We’ve got no issue with that, at least at first.

There comes a time, however, where their use will aggravate as much as they excite. Today, we’re looking at those battle mechanics so many iterate upon, but that so few actually evolve.

It’s time we ask ourselves, just what are the most cliche battle mechanics currently traipsing around the gaming industry.

Elevator Action

We have all experienced it, that moment when you’re heading up or down an elevator and enemies start to funnel in, usually from above. The elevator then either stalls in place or continues to climb or fall indefinitely, until you’ve killed everything that moves.

Why are the baddies even letting us board the elevator in the first place? Would it not be easier to just send the opponents they plan on funneling into the elevator before we actually step into the darn thing?

Then, should we still manage to get through their minions, just cut the cable or disable it. And what sort of TARDIS-like technology are these freaking elevators using? Their routes, up or down, are longer than the actual elevator shafts.

Protect me while I open this door

During the entire length of a game, you open doors, activate switches and turn knobs without resistance or issue, and then your AI companion gives it a go.

Nothing takes longer than an AI companion opening a door. Seriously, who hired them? Frankly, the moment we saw them struggling to use the kitchen pantry’s door knob, having stopped over for tea and crumpets before our next mission, we would have suggested a desk job at the agency.

And more than being incapable, your AI companion will also happily stumble upon an alarm, so now you have to defend their incompetent butt.

This typical gaming scene has been around for decades, and has gone from lowering a “jammed” ladder to hacking a keypad.

Any day of the week it would take a couple seconds for you to perform this mundane task, but leave it up to computer and get ready for a long, tedious wait.

You shall not pass

You’re running through the last area of a castle, dungeon, forest, prison or wherever else a game might take you, and you can see the exit in front of you.

The mini-map shows a fairly large room ahead of you, and against the wall you can see a save point and health and mana regeneration station.

This can only really mean one thing, there is a major fight on its way, be it against a couple sizable enemies, or even an especially powerful foe

We completely understand why the save point is there; the boss in the next room is likely going to wipe the floor with us. But when you start to think about it, what sort of antagonist leaves a regeneration station outside his room? An honourable one, we imagine.

It’s convenient, sure, but it’s hardly imaginative and never fails to remind us that this is just a game, rather than an immersive quest into the unknown.

Bosses become mini-bosses, who become common enemies

You’ve heard the tales of a ferocious beast that has been hunting the children of the village for weeks now. Cattle have disappeared, and the fate of the small fisherman’s village lies in your hands.

As the game builds up mystery surrounding an inevitable boss fight, you cannot help but feel that you are in for a long fight against the forces of evil.

You finally come face to face with the most fearsome werewolf you have ever seen and slay it after many close calls. You feel quite accomplished and praise the game for having such an intense boss fight, which you think is one of a kind.

Little did you know that the same werewolf design will now appear over and over again throughout the rest of the game.

How many games have had you ultimately slaying creatures, copies of what was once a challenging boss, by the handful? Why not keep the werewolf as fearsome and mighty as it was in your initial encounter? Surely you haven’t learnt enough from that singular fight that all werewolves henceforth are a piece of cake?

We think it’d be much more interesting for enemies to maintain their strength throughout a game, or have them grow as you do, and have their tactics change and keeping you guessing.

And just to play devil’s advocate for the moment, why don’t you ever face the hardest guys first? If we were the bad guys, we’d throw our most accomplished soldiers at the protagonist first. Wipe him/her out before they even get out of the starting area.

Funnily enough, there was once game that did do this. Have you ever heard of Outcast? The enemies you encountered were about as tough as they were going to get from the get-go. As you interrupted their supplies, cut off their rations and messed with their morale, they got less and less capable of fighting you

Predictable Bosses

Let’s be honest for a second, bosses these days are boring and predicable. They all do the same thing, and require the same attack pattern to take them down.

You either run around and tire them out, as you wait for an attack opening, or you make them ram into a wall stunning them, leaving them vulnerable.

Then we have those bosses who can only be damaged if you have a buff of some description, which you get from killing the countless minions that he spawns during the fight.

Let us not forget the fleeing bosses who take a certain amount of damage and then flee to another room, leaving you to chase after them, only to realize that they have completely restored their health upon the second confrontation.

Quick time Battles

Just when you thought that you were going to have an epic end-of-game boss fight, along comes timed button presses and the mashing of the circle button. We have trained the entire game for this moment, and it all comes down to following a few onscreen prompts.

It doesn’t matter that we’ve maxed out our equipment, bought enough potions to heal an army and perfected our approach to every situation.

What a pity that the coming battle is more cutscene than it is action. We understand that quick time events are meant to give the player a sense of control over a cinematic they’d otherwise have to watch, having just defeated a boss.

The production values, cinematography and choreography of a cutscene often trumps the in-game action available to you, fair enough, but give us that quit time-driven cinematic as a reward for a long, hard fought battle.

Instead, developers use it as a filler to a battle. Not cool.

What cliche battle mechanics do you find most tiresome? Let us know in the comments and forum.