Don't you hate "countdowns" in games?

Ugh, I'm almost through the Droid Control Ship in "Republic Commando", and I have to do everything in four minutes. What a pain.

I also hated the countdown in "Halo 1".

Why do gamemakers feel like they have to do this in games? It just makes you feel so rushed.

 

It's simply a narrative device used to create tension. And it does.
Not that I can talk for Republic Commando, but the Halo ending would have been a dull series of triggered set-pieces if it were'nt for the countdown.

 

But it's just stupid. Why did I go through all those levels at my leisure, and then wind up with something I have to do in four minutes? It's just bad planning.

 

They can be, at times, quite frustrating, but I don't quite hate them. To be fair, though, every time limit I've run across in a game has a good reason for being there.

 

I feel for you. It took me something like 30 tries to get past that damn bridge

I guess it works as a device, though. Highly annoying and very effective at the same time. And there are only few alternatives to spice things up.


The only countdowns I liked were the asteroid early in Mysteries of the Sith
and the bomb in the burning Kalinatek building in Splinter Cell.

 

well i got the Republic Commando and Halo ones on my first try, so i didn't find them so annoying, but i've played games where I swear its impossible and you just give up and quite. So yeah, if can go either way.

 

Well, I was really enjoying RC. It's a kick a-- game. Then, this countdown thing happened, and now I'm stuck. Gah. Right on the first level there's a countdown.

On Halo 1, I haven't even finished the game, It was just too hard, and sad to come all that way and then I can't finish it.

I did finish Halo 2, though, so I know I'm not a crappy gameplayer.

 

I rather like it, creates extra tension and sometimes extra difficulty . Unless its really frustrating and seems like its in the way.

 

I always enjoy the countdowns at the end of (some of the) Metroid games. But they never were particularily difficult though...

 

Try playing Superman Man of Steel for the Xbox. That'll cure any joy someone has for Countdowns in a game.

That game was nothing but one insanly short count down after another. Never had time to enjoy flying around as Superman.

 

There was a free-roam mode in the Super-Man game but I do understand where your coming from Doright.

Wow! I cant believe I bought and completed that game...

 

"On Halo 1, I haven't even finished the game, It was just too hard, and sad to come all that way and then I can't finish it."


I finished it on my first try with more than a minute left on the countdown. n00b.

 

especially on Super Metroid if you decided to take the detour and help save the Etecoons and Dachola.

To me it's no detour, it's the only way. I always save the Etecoons and Dachola, and I complete the game in less than 3 hours.

At least when I last played the game completely through, probably more than 5 years ago...

 

I still say he sucks.

 

I really hated fighting Krueller in Resident Evil 4 for the sole reason of that stupid countdown they throw at you. It took me days to beat him and get away in time to survive the explosion.

 

That was Weskers Lacky right?

I didn't have a problem with the countdown part of that one.. But it took me forever beat him enought to get to the part of the fight when the countdown started.

 

I didn't have a problem with the countdown part of that one.. But it took me forever beat him enought to get to the part of the fight when the countdown started.

Agreed, just getting to him was a pain as well. My problem wasn't with killing him, it was killing him and then making it out of the area in time. I always wound up just a few seconds late, but eventually got by him.

 

I have to say, the worst two countdowns in games must have been: the escape off the asteroid in MotS. And in the otherwise great game Hitman, after you auto-bombed a terrorist into oblivion, you had to find a nuclear bomb on a freighter in Amsterdam, which was quite a pain if you didn't know where to look for. Plus, there was no possibility for in-game saving, so you had to repeat the mission over and over again.

LL

 

My favorite countdowns have always been in the Metal Gear Solid series. In MGS3 you have acouple of countdowns during the boss fights. The first one is when you plant C-3 at a warehouse to destroy the Shagohod but ofcourse you get caught and you have 5-6 minutes to fight Col. Volgin. Then at the end you have to fight the Boss, and you have 10 minutes until the airstrike happens.

 

In my opinion the greatest "countdown" level was in Jedi Knight. Well, there wasn't really a countdown, but your time was rather limited. I'm talking about the level where the big spaceship is crashing and you have to do some tasks and then escape it before it crashes, and all the while the ship is tumbling down a canyon, so everything is twisted and walls become floors. I thought that was very difficult and nerve-wrecking, but very satisfying and realistic.

 

There surely was a countdown on that level, I remember sitting in a corner of the map and just listening as the computer counted down through the minutes and then seconds, so I could see the mission failed cinematic.

That being said, now that I remember it, the last Kyle level in Mysteries of the Sith on the Imperial Assault Asteroid, after he destroys the reactor cooling system, the 2 minute "THIS ASTEROID IS GOING TO BLOW UP. GET OFF IT NOW." countdown was utterly horrific.
I recall there was this particularly tricky chasm jump that I kept falling in because I was speeding around too fast just to get out of there, oh yeah, and there were rocket troopers on the opposite ledge as well; and even after that, I was racking my nails as the 20 second warning piped in as the escape platform elevated at what seemed like the slowest possible speed with the exit at the top.

MotS was quite fiendishly hard at times.

 

Dude Sithman you have some anger issues...calm down a little kid and stop complaining.

 

Why not? It adds to the tension. "The tension mounts! On with the bodycount!" Anyone who can guess that quote will be rewarded!

 

I'm a gaming pro, i think countdowns are absolute rubbish, they are rushed, and have no point. the timer had 1:37:96 on Halo when i finished it on legendary, i thort halo was easy, i hate phony countdowns tho