Games that put you to sleep

[Tim Janssen]

Although the Amiga is a great machine with a nice games catalogue available, some games tend to get very boring when playing it for a while. Here is my Top Three list of contenders for the title 'best insomnia-curing game':
It is remarkable these games are all from the later commercial period of Amiga gaming. Maybe they heralded the diminishing quality of games?

Death Mask, Apache Software, 1994:
One of the first attempts recreating Doom on Amiga which, apart from the title-music, failed miserably. You are lost in a bad created 3D world consisting of mazes. Only a few textures are used and they are repeated in almost every level so there isn't enough variety. The action is also extremely repetitive: shoot blocky baddies, collect keys and find the exit. I cannot see anyone doing this in 40 repeating levels.

Trolls/Oscar, Flair Software, 1993:
You control a sprite with a high inertia-factor and a miserable weapon (a jojo) at its disposal. Collect up to forty babies ( in Trolls) or cameras (in Oscar) and you progress to the next level which may look different but plays all the same. It is very unlikely anyone would have wasted his/her time playing this game for hours over and over again.

Impossible Mission 2025, Microprose, 1994:
This Nineties update of the Eighties classic will put even the most insomniatic (does this word exist?) to sleep. If you aren't impressed by the dull backgrounds, grey sprites, the boring layout of a level or the repetitive action, the ever-repeating music will put you to sleep. Definitely my numero uno contender for 'best insomnia-curing game'.

Any other contenders?

I cannot see anyone doing this in 40 repeating levels.

Well, I did.

How can anyone remember a boring game?

[7-Zark-7]

I'd nominate Harpoon. I got this game as a gift & only played it about 4 times. A legacy of the bad old days when strategy games were boring,thank goodness for StarCraft.

And I'd add an arcade game called Shackled. Apart from being a gauntlet clone, its extremely repeatitive & boring,with the same old layouts-like watching an old cartoon with the looping background!

[Muzkat]

I liked Death Mask too. I reckon the atmosphere in that game was great.

Sport games always put me to sleep, because I simply don't find sport games entertaining. The only exceptions I can recall are Speedball 2 and Ballistix.

Another extremely boring game was Moonshine Racers. Race? What race? The game was very slow for a racing game, and not all that challenging.

[Drake1009]

I spent hours playing Trolls/Oscar just to make a point of it. Most games I found boring were PC games such as waiting for Daikatana to upgrade (I tried to give it a fair trial, I really did but after waiting 50 minutes from the time I started the upgrade program (not needing further downloads) I turned off my computer).

Other games that put me to sleep, well I can't remember names, but I do recall a good bunch of shmups doing that for me. Morrowind was close to doing it as well. Large pretty game, but walking from city to city manually because you need money gets very very boring when you slay the 40th monster of the same kind.

[Twistin'Ghost]

I really can't remember Oscar, so I may have to go back and have another look. Especially if it's similar to Trolls, which I never found boring. It was like a pot of coffee gone dayglo for me. The sounds were cool, the visuals bright and well drawn/designed. The only way I can imagine someone finding this game dull is if they find platformers dull in the first place.

[Dizzy]

UMS II, this could have been made on a c16.

Horror Zombie from the crypt, Boooooooooooooooooring


I liked Death Mask 2 (not two but too (sorry)

[Twistin'Ghost]

Originally posted by Dizzy
I liked Death Mask 2 (not two but to)

er, that should be too. See Cody's Guide To The English Language ...

[Shatterhand]

Death Mask is average IMO. For a FPS anway

I like Trolls a lot, I think it´s a very good game IMO.

But Impossible Mission was really boring as hell.

A game I find incredibly boring is the much overrated Resident Evil.

[Drake1009]

Resident evil definately didn't play on gameplay but on atmosphere, much like Alone in the dark. The Gamecube version of Resident Evil is incredible though, the neat graphics really add to the atmosphere. Still have the perspective cameras but the backgrounds have been made really really detailed, as has the characters.

[alkis21]

Noooooooo don't pick on Trolls, it was a fantastic game!
The Police Quest series put me to sleep with their complete lack of storyline.

[Tim Janssen]

@Burseg,
Have you completed Trolls/Oscar? My congratulations. I think it would have taken many, many hours to complete the game. What is the outro like?
I really love platformgames, but with Trolls/Oscar I cannot let loose the idea it is repeating the same trick over and over again. Once you have played a single level, you have played them all. There is no real incentive to progress to a next level because there is not enough variety in gameplay and graphics and there are no end-of-game bosses to defeat.

Death mask was the last 'new' game I got for my original Amiga 500. Around the same time I bought a PC and played Descent on it for days. Somehow I started to compare both. As I have written before, the lack of decent scenery and use of the same textures over and over again make Death Mask only enjoyable for people who want to see the end. I found the title tune atmosperic, but the ingame 3D-engine too cumbersome to enjoy for more than five minutes..

[alkis21]

Come, no variety in graphics? There are dozens of different enemy sprites, more than most platform games I can remember, and every 'world' has a unique background setting.

[Burge]

Originally posted by alkis21
Noooooooo don't pick on Trolls, it was a fantastic game!
The Police Quest series put me to sleep with their complete lack of storyline.

You must admit you did enjoy the first though. Gritty police drama/thriller with atmosphere thick enough you cut it with some sort of sharp, cutting implement. One of my all time favs.

[alkis21]

I enjoyed them because I liked the puzzles, they were ok as adventure games. I just found the stories boring. I have to admit I'm not much of a detective movies fan, however I loved Deja Vu I&II and Cruise for a Corpse.

[Twistin'Ghost]

I agree with Alkis here. When I played Trolls, I couldn't wait to go into a next doorway because I was so anxious to see the uniquely designed levels and the way they had your miniaturized character moving about on all sorts of areas that were delightfully illustrated, loaded with good color, and inventive application of the areas as platforms. I'd be interested in what you consider a good platform game if you don't like Trolls.

[7-Zark-7]

Originally posted by Drake1009
Resident evil definately didn't play on gameplay but on atmosphere, much like Alone in the dark. The Gamecube version of Resident Evil is incredible though, the neat graphics really add to the atmosphere. Still have the perspective cameras but the backgrounds have been made really really detailed, as has the characters.

@Drake. Agree with your comments dude! Where as all FPS games on the PC at that time were nothing more than Quake & Doom clones, or multiple CD-Rom's with B-grade hollywood actors in "interactive movies", Resident Evil managed to combine both genre's together into a damm good game.

Though on a downer,don't get me started on Nintendo & Resident Evil. Yes,agreed it's a fine looking game,but feel Sony gamers have been cheated that they're being denied further instalmnmets of Resident for no good reason....

[Tim Janssen]

@Twistin,
For me, a good platformgame is a game which keeps you hooked with surprising elements (bonus games, graphics) and the use of new gaming styles. It must also give you an incentive to play one more time only to see what will come next.

Personally, I think the best platformgame ever is Turrican. Some would call this game a shoot-'em-up because of the huge amount of weapons at your disposal. Turrican features big end-of-level bosses, graphical variety and most important of all variety in gameplay: It is a platformgame (World 1), shoot-'em-up (World 3, Levels 1 & 3) and maze-game (World 4, World 5) in one.

Other platformgames that I really like are Fire and Ice, Brian the Lion and Robocod. They all have in common that different aspects of gameplay are used.

[Drake1009]

Originally posted by 7-Zark-7


@Drake. Agree with your comments dude! Where as all FPS games on the PC at that time were nothing more than Quake & Doom clones, or multiple CD-Rom's with B-grade hollywood actors in "interactive movies", Resident Evil managed to combine both genre's together into a damm good game.

Though on a downer,don't get me started on Nintendo & Resident Evil. Yes,agreed it's a fine looking game,but feel Sony gamers have been cheated that they're being denied further instalmnmets of Resident for no good reason....

I know that Nintendo with the Gamecube sort of got Capcom to betray the Sony users. The Resident evil on GC isn't a new game though, it's resident evil 1 with better graphics and some extra areas. Besides, looking at the graphics I think a PS2 would be very hard pressed to manage that. Dang I think a PC would have trouble with it. Maybe I just need a graphics card update from my GF1, but moving grass in the wind, branches, ripples across water and particles of dust of moths flying around the screen without a lag or visible boxy polygons really impressed me and isn't something I've seen on a PC yet, except seperately in computer intensive graphics demos.

Another game which managed to get a decent atmosphere in a horror game was Realm of the haunting. A FPS/Adventure game where there was just something making it more adventure like. For the non-adventurous gamers you could make simple puzzles which meant you just had to find the items and the engine would select the right objects to combine or use on it to solve the puzzle. There was plenty of story embedded in it, characters you could meet through your venturing through the large mansion. A nice game but a bit too much shooting action for my taste.

As for the platform game issue. To make a platform game captivating for me (and basically any game) it must have the follwing,
- Varying levels, wether that be design wise or graphics wise, best would be both.
- Simple but fun gameplay, it shouldn't be too hard to learn how to play the game
- Plenty of action, I think this speaks for itself, just running along with no challenges for a while isn't fun.
- Original twists, there should be an original twist to every platform game, for example James pond had missions, James pond 2 had a way to extend yourself, Benefactor had a great puzzle solving part.
- Difficulty is the last thing it should have. Something which isn't too hard for any mortal to complete (Difficulty levels around Project X for example), but it shouldn't be too easy though that can be fun at times just blazing through a level feeling godlike.

Ruff and tumble did a nice job of a platform game. Aliens 3 was too repetitive, so was BC kid and Bart vs the space mutants was just a spin off to make money. Impossible mission 2025 was somewhat good looking and fun for the first level or so, but then it just became a chore because there was nothing new and interesting which you couldn't get playing IM1 or 2.

[7-Zark-7]

Originally posted by Drake1009


I know that Nintendo with the Gamecube sort of got Capcom to betray the Sony users. The Resident evil on GC isn't a new game though, it's resident evil 1 with better graphics and some extra areas. Besides, looking at the graphics I think a PS2 would be very hard pressed to manage that. Dang I think a PC would have trouble with it. Maybe I just need a graphics card update from my GF1, but moving grass in the wind, branches, ripples across water and particles of dust of moths flying around the screen without a lag or visible boxy polygons really impressed me and isn't something I've seen on a PC yet, except seperately in computer intensive graphics demos.

I know its a remake of Resident Evil,& like I said, I'm not denying that the screenshots I've seen do look good. However,given that healthy Sony sales of the Resident Evil Series have helped Capcom, I think it's pathetic that they so hastily turned their back on Sony owners for a few dollars for an "exclusive" tie-in.
But,I'm not saying Sony & M$ don't do the same thing either Drake,I'm just getting sick of the virtual need nowadays to own 2-3 systems to play all the top games, due to "exclusive" tie-ins.

Regardless of certain technical Gfx eye-candy,I'm certain that gameplay-wise Resident Evil 4 for the GameCube,(the latest,newest R.E. game), could be done exactly the same on PS2 but for Capcom chasing the dollars.

To get back on topic,I also recall Global Gladiators being another boring console port.