The Nightmare – Max Payne
Max Payne was an underrated shooting classic that pioneered the use of bullet time. Sadly, for the Nightmare stage at the beginning of the game’s second act, Remedy Entertainment though it would be prudent to remove the game’s slow motion dives and cool action sequences in favour of narrow corridors and small platform navigation. If it weren’t for the affecting psychological horror and tense atmosphere of these nightmare sections, they’d be a right off. Even as it is, this maze-like stage makes this part of the game virtually unplayable.
Seth – Street Fighter 4
I like to fancy myself as a reasonably competent Street Fighter player. I win the odd match online, know the majority of cancel combos off by heart and have even become “that guy” among my social group who you’re warned not to play fighting games against. For all my self-professed skills though, I still can’t beat Seth without a generous helping of retries; even on the easy difficulties. The guy is just overpowered, but the joke comes that his character actually blows when you finally unlock him. The phrase “cheating AI” comes to mind.
Cortana – Halo 3
Bungie managed to just about get away with the travesty that was The Library in Halo: Combat Evolved, but to make the same mistake twice is unforgivable. The flood are just plain annoying, so having yet another level where you fight them continuously in tight and winding corridors is the worst idea since the Virtua Boy. I don’t know who thought this was a good plan, but I hope they got fired. Twice. This level blows, and totally ruins any enjoyability you might get out of Halo 3’s campaign.
