The Video Game Critic

-any game with a faster-paced, arcade "feel"
-a leveling up system
-challenging platforming

Probably my favorite thing is really satisfying hit detection and a good combo system in a beat 'em up. Streets of rage 2 and mortal kombat shaolin monks are so satisfying in that sense.

Favorites:
- Engaging storyline
- Good voice acting
- Fun combat
- Creative enemies/monsters
- Being challenging without being frustratingly difficult
- Good soundtrack

Least favorite:
- Choppy cutscenes
- Turn based combat (I'll tolerate it, but I won't like it!)
- Long load times
- Long stretches with no save points
- Unskippable cutscenes (I like a good story, but I don't want to have to watch the same scene every time I die)
- Being taken to the main menu when you die
- When the game tries to be a different genre than it is (example: platforming in Final Fantasy XIII-2)

I'll probably think of some more later. I'll edit them in if I do.

Favorite thing - Defending a choke point.

Least favorite thing - Medics or Tankers than can refuel others like them back to full supplies. How can an ammo truck with 1 unit of ammo left resupply another empty ammo truck back to full, which then returns the favor so they are both close to full? What is this, ammo mitosis?

Favorites:
Achievements
Games with easy difficulty levels

Not favorite:
Multiplayer only games

Here's a few contenders.....

GOOD:
-Run button (which I will hold down while moving throughout the entire game)
-Unlimited continues (no time for mastering games anymore)
-Double jumping
-High jumping ability
-Character building/leveling up
-Achievements
-Weapon upgrade powerups
-Cheat codes
-And, of course, 8 & 16-bit games set during years that have already passed, like 2005, with flying cars, crazy futuristic technology, and robots that have taken over the world (it's great how the '80s had such high expectations for the 2000s...notice how we don't do that anymore; like you don't see games doing that now for the 2030s).


BAD:
-Limited inventory space (like Resident Evil)
-Limited saves (like Resident Evil)
-Limited save spots/check points
-Starting way back at the beginning of a level when you die
-Collection missions
-Long/pointless/frequent backtracking
-Quick time events
-Any event that requires tapping one button as fast as you can (like in Track & Field/Olympics games)
-Long single player campaigns (ain't nobody got time for that)
-Multiple endings that require separate full playthroughs (one ending is ideal; any more than two separate endings is terrible, except maybe if the event that changes the ending occurs at the very end...but of course, it never does)
-And, of course.... bats, birds, and any other flying enemies, especially in side scrollers (you always know you're done with the easy levels once the bats show up... and start draining your life with cheap hit after cheap hit)