Popular games you just can't get into?


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Bioshock was something that I was really looking forward to but at some point during the game I just completely lost interest in it and haven't bothered with it since... still got Bioshock 2 sitting on the shelf waiting to be played as well.

- Starcarft (series)

- Diablo (series)

- Doom (series)

- Mechwarrior (series)

- Duke Nuke 'em (series)

- World of Warcraft

- Final Fantasy (series)

- Street Fighter (series)

- Mortal Kombat (series)

- Call of Duty (series)

- Medal of Honor (series)

- Soldier of Fortune (series)

- Grand Theft Auto (series)

- Dead or Alive (series)

- Megaman (all but Legends and the first X game)

- God of War (series)

- Gran Turismo (series)

- Guitar Hero (series)

- Kirby (series)

- Donkey Kong (series)

- Command and Conquer (series)

- Resident Evil (series)

- Halo (series)

- Starcarft (series)

- Diablo (series)

- Doom (series)

- Mechwarrior (series)

- Duke Nuke 'em (series)

- World of Warcraft

- Final Fantasy (series)

- Street Fighter (series)

- Mortal Kombat (series)

- Call of Duty (series)

- Medal of Honor (series)

- Soldier of Fortune (series)

- Grand Theft Auto (series)

- Dead or Alive (series)

- Megaman (all but Legends and the first X game)

- God of War (series)

- Gran Turismo (series)

- Guitar Hero (series)

- Kirby (series)

- Donkey Kong (series)

- Command and Conquer (series)

- Resident Evil (series)

- Halo (series)

Ah, youngen. The only reason you couldn't stomach most of these is because you werent around when they came out. Especially stuff like the later Doom games, later C&C games, etc. You pretty much listed every highly held game in each genre possible, save for Half Life.

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I'll add a genre onto my list: Hack-and-Slash games. I have tried on many occasions to get into them, but it never works out. I got a couple of hours of fun out of the first Devil May Cry game, and that was about it. The Bayonetta demo kept me happy for about 10 minutes, and the God of War III demo was about the same.

I just don't really see the point in having so many hack-and-slash games, because the gameplay is literally summed up in the genre. The only usual addition to that is quick-time events, which are just plain annoying, unless they're a common part of the game, similar to Shenmue.

Ugh, why add genres?! It's like sending a guy who hates chili off to review a chili contest. Why bother?

It's much more interesting to see why some people didn't like a game in a genre they favor. Otherwise, it's just typical "because I hate [genre]".

A polite suggestion as someone who values your opinion.

  • Like 1

recent games i couldn;t get into include aion and dragon age. aion was just grindy and terrible, dragon age had good voice acting but too much cliche and poor itemization/character building.

tried me1 on both xbox and pc, but didn't like the clumsy xbox controls and it corrupted on my pc so that large sections of planet maps didn't show up. plus the vehicle controls were still clumsy.

haven't been able to play through the stories on a gta game since vice city. within ten to 20 hours of playing i just ended up doing nothing but driving around. and when i played on a gta4 save that had the whole city unlocked the newer areas seemed to have less character than the starting area.

didn't like fallout 3, although i beat the campaign and killed all the baddies on my good toon and all the goodies on my bad toon. campaign was short and the map felt smaller than oblivion

oblivion was ok, but didin';t like the introduction of mob scaling, the generic dungeons or teh fact that it was best to complete the campaign before leveling past 1. also leveling up properly took alot of effort to plan out and visit trainers for half of the points needed for each level or else you were gimped out. itemization was also unappealing and DLC felt like they removed parts of the game just to charge more for them later.

RTS games have been mostly dead to me since i overplayed starcraft 9 years ago, although i have enjoyed sins of the solar empire, dawn of war(wh40k) and supreme commander, but not enough to go and play them online.

FPS games have been dead to me since counter strike for the most part. played quite a bit of tf2 with friends when it first came out but didn't really like it. loved portal though. newer fps games are too consolish or try to incorporate RPG elements which i find distasteful. last FPS game i played was crysis, both single player and online. single player campaign was ok until the aliens showed up, but was more or less just a slight step down from farcry, mp was a badly done sort of battlefield meets cs thing with people dominating in vtols that couldn't be shot down because you could only afford a sub machine gun. tried farcry 2 but it seemed to be alot of driving around between 2 minute pieces of actual action.

wow i liked in tbc, but just found it really boring in wotlk, especially playing alone. went back for the 7 day trial with a friend and only played for 2 hours, after which i got an email saying i had to change my 2 man guild name for not meeting rp server rules(we RPed klingons on a pvpRP server for a year with no issues from the GMs at the time during tbc). played quite a few wowkillers/clones in the past couple years, which were ok for a week or so, but dried up fast even if i met cool people playing them.

Halo.

I've tried 1, 2 and 3. Don't like anything about any of them. Strange, huh? And I adore FPS games.

That's exactly how I feel. Even when I played Halo 1 I didn't feel as though I was playing anything ground breaking, captivating or fun. It felt like a dull shooter to me.

I guess that would be all of them now. Used to be I couldn't get enough and bought new PC games all the time, downloaded every demo that came out. Then suddenly I just stopped playing them and completely lost interest. I don't know why, I just don't play them any more. Browsing my favorite web sites and reading forums is more entertaining.

A short list of popular PC titles (I don't play console games these days) I can't stand for any number of reasons:

Bioshock series

GTA series

Far Cry 2 (GTA Africa)

Just Cause (GTA Latin America)

Crysis series

Assassin's Creed

Diablo series

Counter Strike series

Battlefield series

Gears of War

Any MMO

Any RTS

Any online only game.

Nearly all 3rd person shooters

All sports games

All GTA3 clones.

Suffice it to say maybe 90% of all games in the last 10 years, to me, are total crap. Nothing but eye candy, no story, no gameplay, nothing but glitter on a turd.

I'm pretty sure it's because I've seen it all and played them all. Nothing is really new to me anymore.

Been playing video games since Pong, and started computer gaming with Frogger and Zaxxon on an Apple 2e, then on to King's Quest on an IBM PCjr. I've been a PC ever since, though I've had a couple consoles (Atari 2600 and the original Playstation) and played many games on them and many other consoles I didn't own.

I used to play games from every genre and loved easily 95% of them. I guess I'm simply burned out and getting too old for it.

Ah, youngen. The only reason you couldn't stomach most of these is because you werent around when they came out. Especially stuff like the later Doom games, later C&C games, etc. You pretty much listed every highly held game in each genre possible, save for Half Life.

I see, because I don't like these games then I must not have been old enough to play them. Unfortunately for your assumption I was old enough to play these games and many of my friends at the time enjoyed them. However, I never got into them.

Half-Life is a series I never got into either.

Anyway, as far as some games that I did enjoy:

- Heavy Gear (series)

- Earth Seige

- Warcarft (except for 3)

- King's Quest (except 8)

- Quest for Glory (series)

- Stellar 7

- Rebel Runner

- Iron Blood

- Commander Blood

- Myst

- Journeyman Project

- Elderscrolls (older ones)

- Herzog Zwei

- River City Ransom

- 1943

- Demon's Crest

- X-Men (Four player arcade game)

- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Four player arcade game)

- Earthbound

- Megaman Legends

- Zombies Ate My Neighbors

- SOCOM (Except for Confrontation)

- Little Big Planet

- Armored Core (series up until 4)

- Sim City (Older series)

- Mario (series)

- The Legend of Zelda (series)

- Secret of Mana (only the first)

- Secret of Evermore

- King of Dragons

- Katamari (series)

- Metal Gear (series to include Solid)

- Battlefield (series)

- Dynasty Warriors (series up until 6)

- Simpsons Hit and Run

- Battalion Wars

There's many more. But notice the list is mostly 90's to early 00's. Notice that I have very few current generation games listed.

I see, because I don't like these games then I must not have been old enough to play them. Unfortunately for your assumption I was old enough to play these games and many of my friends at the time enjoyed them. However, I never got into them.

Half-Life is a series I never got into either.

There's many more. But notice the list is mostly 90's to early 00's. Notice that I have very few current generation games listed.

Yes, my assumption was wrong. You just have a cult taste. I enjoyed most of the games you listed as hating and enjoying.

That's exactly how I feel. Even when I played Halo 1 I didn't feel as though I was playing anything ground breaking, captivating or fun. It felt like a dull shooter to me.

Did you play it on the console? The PC versions was a sad iteration of the console one. The only thing the PC version had going for it were more multiplayer maps.

Any of the warcraft stuff, too cartoony i guess for my liking, which is odd cuz i loves me some d2, LADDER RESET ON TUESDAY DON'T FORGET!! lol

Edit: hmmm seems i missed my 6year anniversary last month, maybe this is the year i break 300 posts?!?!

Halo. I played it before I even know it was a critically acclaimed game. I really found it boring and repetitive whole game play is not everything special, it is either alot of cat and mouse or mass slaughter. But having said that, I always liked shooting games that is a lot more stealthy/strategic based as opposed to action or skilled base. Mainly because I'm a poor FPS player and like to think it through.

Half-Life. Just not my cup of tea

Forza. Call me a GT nut. But I'm still astounded that game is comparable in graphics and game physics. I would say it is very average even when compared to less sophisticated games like Need for Speed or PGR.

God of War. Tell me why this is very popular and Ninja Gaiden is not. Wait, don't bother, because I probably won't listen or understand. It is a very average hack and slash-ish game with puzzles

Prince of Persia series. Maybe I'm just not a platforming nut.

Fallout 3. Loved Oblivion. Not this one. Didn't even had the urge to play again, and I play RPGs over and over and over again (that is why I love the genre, is value for money to me anyway). I guess it is a darker game and much more shooting based. I just cannot immerse myself into the game

GTAIV. I just felt it took too much of the fun and game satirical rhetoric of the series and turned it into a serious gang game.

Resistance. No urge to go past first level. This bad.

Note: Motion sickness. A lot of people suffer from it, a lot don't. Like allergy to bee stings. And also like it, you are lucky you don't get it. I myself get very dizzy and even have an upset stomach even if I just played 40 minutes of a fast shooter. I'm alright if you get a regular break, like online COD, but single player campaign for the most part, I really have to soldier it through.

Never could get into Halo - I'm more of a fan of WWII shooters, and there are plenty of excellent ones of those.

Oblivion - the story just didn't grab me - I've got it on both PC and 360 and I've tried on multiple occasions to play it, but I just can't stick with it. It's odd, because I absolutely loved FO3 (over 160 hours in it) which is just Oblivion with a different skin and story, and really like other RPGs (Dragon Age, ME1&2).

Gears of War - played about the first 2 missions and just lost interest. The gameplay was pretty decent, but I just couldn't stick with it.

Any JRPG - I just can't stand the art style, and hate that crap turn-based stuff they use for combat.

CoD4 and MW2 - I played split-screen with friends on CoD4 and had some fun playing it, but not enough to justify buying the game, especially since even a used copy was still $40+ up until about a month before MW2 dropped. MW2 - I just had no interest in whatsoever, and I'm sick of hearing about it.

Those are just some relatively recent ones; I'm sure there are others.

Oblivion - the story just didn't grab me - I've got it on both PC and 360 and I've tried on multiple occasions to play it, but I just can't stick with it. It's odd, because I absolutely loved FO3 (over 160 hours in it) which is just Oblivion with a different skin and story, and really like other RPGs (Dragon Age, ME1&2).

I won't say I couldn't stand Oblivion but I will add I found FO3's story far far better along with the side missions. They involved things I cared about where while Oblivion may had had more to do, I found too many of them to be rather wish washy and inconsequential. Having the ability to outright destroy a major town for instance was just great.

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    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it by Steven Parker If you have been reading Neowin for any length of time, you may remember that I reviewed the Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro back in April. I found it to be an excellent budget sound card, even though it lacked support for formats such as DTS over the included SPDIF port. Anyway, Creative reached out to me again asking if I was interested in reviewing the Sound Blaster AE-X. It is a card mainly targeted at headphone wearers, which I'll get into a bit later. Before we get underway, here is a disclaimer: Creative Labs provided a free sample without any review pre-approval. Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? 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    • $80 or 90%, anything else would be financial suicide one way or another.
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