F#$%ing Difficulty Spikes

You might recall, from last week’s check-in, how much fun I was having with the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider. And I was. I was having a blast jumping and running and fighting and puzzling my way through a haunted Japanese island…

Until I didn’t, and I’ll tell you why. Things were cruising along. The story was brisk and the gameplay was popping…until this one part where it’s Lara Croft against a seemingly unlimited number of zombie Japanese warriors who come in all shapes and sizes. There are few places to hide or run, and eventually Lara — and I the player, of course — get overrun and overwhelmed.

I tried this portion of the game a good dozen times until I just gave up. I HATE when games pull this kind of crap. They have a specific momentum, a flow, and then throw a spike into things to — it seems to me — infuriate the player. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me either:

• Driver: San Francisco – I LOVE this game. LOVE. I was having so much Quantum Leaping from one driver to the next, doing hilarious missions and moving through the story. That is until this one specific mission, wherein I’m supposed to steal three classic cars and — without getting them damaged — get them to a truck for loading within a specific amount of time. I’ve never been able to pass the mission, and therefore finish the game, even after at least a dozen attempts.
• Infamous – This might’ve been the first PS3 game I really fell for, and I had a BLAST with it. The missions, the superpowers, the movement, ALL so fun. That is, until this one mission wherein I’m supposed to protect a bus. It’s a multi-tiered mission, and the game doesn’t save between tiers, so every time I’d fail I’d have to go all the way back to the beginning. Like Driver, I’ve never passed this mission.
• Infamous 2 – I loved Infamous so much, I figured I’d just jump into this one. Like it’s predecessor, I was having a great time until one particular mission. Something about turning on electrical junction boxes that are relatively a billion miles away from each other within seconds of each other, if I recall correctly. Again, I’ve never been able to pass this mission.

WHY do developers do this? I will never understand. Is it a punishment? Is it a way to pad out the gameplay? Is this a way for devs to show they hate players? Because that’s what it feels like.

As for Tomb Raider, I’ll likely look at walkthroughs — like this one I just found — to try and get through, because I was REALLY enjoying the game until this point. I just need time to get over the anger I feel about it and try again.

So what about you guys? Is there a game that did this sort of thing to you? I’d love to read your thoughts here or on the forums. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!