It's ok to quit games.

There's a certain instinct that is in us gamers that forces us to play our games either to completion, or until we forget about the game entirely. Very seldom do we drop a game because we just plain don't want to finish it. Unless the game is really bad of course.

But occasionally a game will come along that truly tests the limits of your patience, either skill wise or there's an issue of fairness, or the game just went downhill from where you started and you weren't interested anymore.

For many people, this instinct will drive us to even further try and beat the game, to prove to it that its not the boss of us and we shall persevere.

To date, i have given up on exactly 2 games, and 1 technicality in a game (green grass and high tides on expert guitar). Tonight was the 2nd game.

The first game:

Prototype.

In prototype you star as Alex Mercer, a mutated human being who doesn't know what the hell happened to him, all he knows is that the government is looking for him and he has a big chip on his shoulder and he is going to exact harsh vengeance on whoever did it to him.

You have a huge array of powers and abilities, and you can travel with an incredible ease. Running up vertical buildings, flying from rooftop to rooftop, throwing tanks at helicopters, and many more fun things are possible.

When i first got into prototype, i really enjoyed it. It was the strongest i ever felt in a video game. The feeling of power and the relative ease made it really exciting and you never felt like the game would beat you.

The quest was OK, nothing special. It was enough to keep me playing in combination with the ridiculously powerful abilities Alex had.

But towards the end, the game took a major turn for the worst. The game hopped massively in difficulty, and threw a brick wall in the way of fun. Despite your ability to cleave tanks in half and disguise yourself as literally anyone in the game, the game became incredibly difficult and ended up "stuck locking" you with rockets. No amount of armor or dodging or stealth would stop these stunlocks, and i got to a point where fun had left the building, and all that was left was straight up frustration.

Despite being literally 3 quests away from the end, i called it quits and uninstalled the game from my computer cold turkey. I never regretted it.

Today i quit the 2nd game of my life.

The Second Game:

Infamous.

Infamous is highly similar to prototype. Both games give you super powers in a world of the super powerless. However there are a few differences.

Infamous has a much stronger story line that is truly intriguing and keeps you drawn into its world. I really enjoyed the storyboard comic art cut scenes and was eager to see the story evolve.

Cole's powers, while significantly more diverse than Alex's from prototype, are significantly weaker and harder to use. While Alex would cut down entire swaths of enemies per swing, Cole requires pinpoint accuracy and multiple shots per kill. Eventually even head shots (or "head shocks" as the game refers to them) take multiple hits to kill a target.

He has some powerful attacks, but they quickly drain energy and the enemies are rather good at avoiding them. Or, more commonly, your too busy running away trying not to die so your not really able to effectively use your powers.

Whereas Alex has the option of being super fast with a massive shield, or slow but completely encased in armor, Cole has pretty much nothing of the sort. Late in the game he gets a shield, but it requires you to aim it specifically instead of being able to use powers. Its also mostly ineffective and i barely used it unless i was fighting specific enemies.

Infamous started out pretty good, the strong story and polished game play definitely had me drawn in from the start. My initial complaint that still occurred throughout the entire game was Cole's weakness. He dies very quickly and his primary attack takes many hits to kill with, and the game throws truly ludicrous amounts of enemies at you which exacerbated that problem.

But, i wasn't really getting beaten down much. I would get hurt and eventually best the enemies and move on. This kept me playing the game and i was doing all the side quests the game had to offer even though they weren't very exciting.

And then the similarities to prototype became even more apparent as yet again it threw a massive brick wall in the way of the fun.

The boss creatures (conduits) would eventually become commonplace and the amount of enemies would increase exponentially in number. Couple this with Cole never actually getting much stronger, and you have a recipe for disaster.

The number of deaths started climbing up rapidly. Many times i found myself in situations where i literally would just let myself die because its so much of a hassle to try and fight my way out of it. The enemies pinpoint accuracy and refusal to die to my barrage of attacks really was taking its toll on me, and i could feel that same feeling of pure annoyance and frustration that i felt in prototype.

I got to the final area of the game, a mere handful of quests away from the end, and simply could not take it anymore.

My radar utterly full of red dots, the screen filled with a hail of bullets coming at me with surgical precision, i let Cole die, and i turned off the game and put it back in its case. I wont be playing it again.

That brings the number of games Ive quit up to 2.

I heard someone in a movie say once "people do not keep doing that which they do not enjoy."

I play games to have fun. I play games to beat challenges and experience something you can share with others.

If you are no longer having fun, its time to move on.

Sorry Infamous and Prototype, you stopped being fun and don't deserve my time to be finished.

But, its OK. Its just a game, its OK to quit games.