Unexpectedly hard games

[Tanooki]

I agree with Circle of the Moon. If I didn't have that free sub to Nintendo Power Advance which laid out the entire map of the castle I'd have been screwed. Easy to get turned around and all that other stuff the last post listed too.

I know DK came up but really any of those DK Country titles 90s and 2010s are nasty. They start out smooth enough but it creeps up on you in some, others it hits you with a sledge after not long. I've got DKC1-3 and Returns on 3DS and they're not really cake by any means once you clear that first world or two.


I know I'll probably get a 'really?' out of it, but Ikaruga. I never played the game that inspired it, nor the DC release either. I went into that one blind on the gamecube and didn't think it would be that bad because you could switch the shield polarity to absorb hits instead of blow up. Yeah...not so much, it's mean, even on easy.

[Sarge]

I can't disagree with the DKC mentions. I've only completely finished the first game, but there were moments where it felt like it was going all Battletoads on me.

[fastbilly1]

Yeah...not so much, it's mean, even on easy.

The only thing the difficulty change does on the Gamecube version is if enemies shoot at you when they blow up. On easy they do not, on normal same polarity does, on hard everything does.

[ExedExes]

The last game I finished that was testes crushing hard much more so than I actually expected was:

Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (PC)

I had beat the game previously on Xbox, and it was a little tough on that platform but no big deal. But holy shit balls man the PC version was totally different and psychotically difficult.

Great. I got that and the sequel last year. GR2 on the Gamecube was pretty hard too only because of the occasionally sparse objective info, leaving you to figure out what to do, and watch out for enemies stuck in the walls or well hidden! As well as the final mission.

[Snatch1414]

Yeah...not so much, it's mean, even on easy.

The only thing the difficulty change does on the Gamecube version is if enemies shoot at you when they blow up. On easy they do not, on normal same polarity does, on hard everything does.

I actually think the polarity screws me up as much as it helps me find refuge from bullet hell. When things get frantic I'm taking five tries to switch it because I'm all panicky haha

[fastbilly1]

Yeah...not so much, it's mean, even on easy.

The only thing the difficulty change does on the Gamecube version is if enemies shoot at you when they blow up. On easy they do not, on normal same polarity does, on hard everything does.

I actually think the polarity screws me up as much as it helps me find refuge from bullet hell. When things get frantic I'm taking five tries to switch it because I'm all panicky haha

Same here chief. I first beat it buy taking the shoot button out of my gamecube controller and only flipping - aka "doteater"

I have gone back and beat it with flipping and shooting, but it took time to get there.

[dsheinem]

and

You crack me up, d00d.

[Exhuminator]

Great. I got that and the sequel last year.

After a little research it turns out the console and PC versions had totally different developers.

I should note that we all know the Ghost Recon games on PC are known to be challenging. However, even with the oldest ones you could save and reload at any time (hallmark PC feature). However, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter for PC does not let you save when you want. Instead you have to use sparse checkpoints that are always placed in the least beneficial pacing possible.

For what it's worth, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 on PC does let you save and reload wherever you want. But the developers took that as a license to make the game even harder. I just don't hate myself enough right now to endure it.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I love puzzle games, and I consider myself reasonably intelligent. Nonetheless - and contrary to my expectations - I found this game to be almost unbearably difficult:



It is much harder than Toki Tori, and its puzzles are much more difficult than any of those found in the Professor Layton games. I still have not completed it.

EDIT: I must also note that I found Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams to be much harder than many of its 2D platforming contemporaries. I am not sure how much of that difficulty to attribut to poor design, however.

[dogman91]

I really don't think the Donkey Kong Country games are that hard at all... Battletoads is much tougher IMO.

DKC:Returns difficulty I think had a lot to do with bad controls (eg. the shake the Wii remote to roll nonsense)