Ten clichés in gaming (this list is a bonus one)
by Blake Snow 
{ Mar 2nd 2007 at 3:14PM }
A gamer will come across several "familiar roads" during the course of his/her tenure. You are familiar with these roads, be it a similar plot twist, story line, or gameplay mechanic. Though the overuse doesn't make it wrong or right (what medium doesn't use familiarity when engaging their audience), it does make the strategies cliché. Game Informer examines 10 of the most popular ones in no particular order. So who are you going to pick? The slow guy that does a lot of damage or the speedy, weak hipster?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
hegemonyhog @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:45PM
You do a story about the top videogame cliches, and not a single mention of mine carts?
Weak.
steve17 @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:36PM
an exerpt from the last one listed.
"Apparently when the Cold War ended, so many Soviet mercenaries were out of jobs that video games become the hot place to work. If you’re on a mission that involves shooting, there’s a good chance your enemy has an AK-47 and loves Yakov Smirnov jokes. We’ll see you in the warehouse level, comrade."
i hate this one. as a die hard FPS player this one struck me.
IF I NEVER PLAY A MISSION IN AN OLD SOVIET REPUBLIC WHERE I USE NOTHING BUT A KALISHNIKOV I WILL BE ONE HAPPY GAMER!!!!!!!
White Rose Duelist @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:45PM
Eh, I've seen this list done better.
Anyway, why stop at 10 clichés when you can have 192?
http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html
NintendoFanbot @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:51PM
Yeah, pretty much everything in the present day is a farce of something else. I mean, when you see a spoof movie spoofing Borat the world seems more and more like a wasteland. At least in videogames (and especially fighting games) there's an excuse in trying to maintain character balance.
But I don't get that far away from TV or the internets so I probably wouldn't here about all that new, unprecedented stuff.
Almack64 @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:56PM
@ 2
Actually they talk about minecarts in the second sentence.
UserDoesNotExist @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:27PM
This isn't really a top ten list, since they even mention that they took out all the obvious cliches. And yes, they do mention mine carts as one of the ones they left out. I was struck by the following comment: "During one of our office chats, the subject of games popped up." This article was written by Game Informer. I'll let that sink in for a moment.
Now, as for a cliche that rocks, killing Nazis. That never, ever gets old.
grant @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:58PM
Top 10 list top my cliche list.
Mr Khan @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:14PM
Same Roster, different game
That is true for virtually every video game, book, or TV show i have ever seen
all characters can basically be typecast
(like the moody anti-hero, off the top of my head, Knuckles, Shadow the hedgehog, Midna, Vegeta, Piccolo, Wolf O'Donnell, Meta Knight, MAX)
32_Footsteps @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:16PM
Heh, I do one of these lists every so often, when I run out of column ideas.
I like the one about rats. Those little bastards are everywhere. To be fair, though, they're extremely effective at getting into all sorts of places, they're small and thus difficult to catch, they're remarkably effective scavengers, and they have a notably high fecundity rate. I always thought rats in video gaming was a concession to reality - either rats or some monster in a similar ecological niche should be damn near everywhere in video games. Particularly since most video games do not take place compeltely in extremely clean, almost sterile areas, you should run into lots of rodents.
32_Footsteps @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:40PM
Oh, the hierarchy of things to murder in games is another list entirely. In fact, I might make it my next column. The absolute top, of course, are undead alien Nazis. Nothing is more fun to kill than those.
TheKingInYellow @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:48PM
Crates, crates and more crates.
mercuryswitch @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:59PM
Explosive barrels.
Rubang B @ Mar 2nd 2007 5:04PM
I don't get all these crate jokes. I store all my video games in crates and I keep all my gold in barrels.
Diskoboy @ Mar 2nd 2007 5:05PM
Speaking of cliche, that pic you chose to use makes me think of OutRun.
Obvious @ Mar 2nd 2007 7:35PM
Maybe I'm a freak, but I always liked the kill-a-second frantic elevator battles. SOR2 FTW.
Josh @ Mar 2nd 2007 8:37PM
this list sucks so bad.
Imadogg99 @ Mar 2nd 2007 9:07PM
@ 8: "'During one of our office chats, the subject of games popped up.' This article was written by Game Informer. I'll let that sink in for a moment."
This is what they wrote:
"During one of our office chats, the subject of games popped up. Imagine that."
It was a joke. Imagine that.
I like the same roster and the keycards the best... and yes I did keep trying to open those doors that said I need a keycard... hehe
Nintendophile @ Mar 2nd 2007 9:40PM
No mention of huge caches of ammo and health just before a boss?
Also I think Mexicans maybe taking over from Soviets and Nazis as the generic bad guy du jour
fanan89 @ Mar 3rd 2007 3:44AM
Now that's a beautiful pic. Just love it.
LaughingTarget @ Mar 3rd 2007 10:22AM
The last one about the AK-47s is a little off. That is possibly the most realistic aspect any video game could ever create. The AK is the most prolific weapon available on the market, black or otherwise. If I'm playing any game involving guns in any place around the world that isn't the US, Canada, or Western Europe, then I'd damn well expect most, if not all, of my opponents to be carrying the AK.
High-end weaponry is something I expect from advanced and organized criminal groups, not third-world soldiers. Third-world armies can't afford the latest and greatest, which is why the AK is so popular.
Nintendophile may be onto something, but only if we look at UbiSoft.
yonderboy @ Mar 4th 2007 1:07AM
How can Mexicans take over as the villains when the Arabs are so convenient?