Worst Gaming Experiences: The Shotguns of Railroading

So, imagine this situation. You’ve been shot on a train full of enemies. You blow up the train in some vague hope you’ll survive because you’ve been able to survive every explosion imaginable and you do, indeed, survive. You climb out of the wreckage, surviving explosions and your body slamming into all kinds of surface. You shoot a few people on a way to safety. You traipse through snow in just a t-shirt and jeans. 

You come across a large group of enemies and you know you can take them out silently. You do so, in the meanwhile looking for an exit. No one has found you and you are pretty sure all enemies have been dispatched of. You find a way you can climb out. Your first instinct is to climb and escape. However, as you are climbing two people appear behind you from nowhere and shoot you before you can react.

Thanks, this guy. You cause me pain and misery.

Now, imagine this in terms of a video game. You think you might not have taken everyone out, so you start trying to stealth kill everyone, making sure to leave none behind. You try to sneak past everyone, taking out no one. Neither of these tactics work: you get shot. Suddenly you think that maybe you should kill everyone. Loudly. With guns. More enemies start coming, so that can’t be the way, surely? But it is. 

In this scenario you have to kill everyone who comes your way, and there are waves and waves of enemies. When you have killed them all, your character slows down, exhausted, climbs up and you get away. The game has artificially constructed a situation to increase tension. No, not artificially, it’s straight up unfair. No game should set you on the rails like that, cheating you out of continuing the game because you are doing to logical thing and trying to get away without bringing attention to yourself and thus preserving your life.

Well, I have to say thank you, critically acclaimed Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. You have possibly the worst moment in gaming I have ever experienced. I am glad I have to understand exactly what the developers wanted me to do because they think action is a better way of dealing with what should be a tense and slow paced moment. You have shown me that instead of giving players a choice you should just shoot them in the back without warning with teleporting, psychic, shotgun-wielding soldiers.

Yeah, I don't like Uncharted 2 that much...