Net Ten: Top Ten Blatant Loading Screen Cover-ups (page2) Subscribe to this RSS feed

#5 Metroid Prime 3's Slow-Opening Doors

At first we weren't sure about this one. It seemed like Metroid Prime was glitching. Did the developers forget that when you shoot a door it should open? Eventually we realized that the delay between shooting a door and it opening was, in fact, an improvised loading screen that would have you standing idly by for up to five secods. This occasional, yet unbearable wait became even worse if you were trying to escape an enemy-filled room rather than just running about in a fit of exploration.

#5 Metroid Prime 3's Slow-Opening Doors

#4 Assassin's Creed's Fog

The first thing that came to our minds when we encountered this screen was, "Oh, how quiant. Yet another unecessary, convoluted plot feature to drag this game down." Instead of having Altair wandering aimlessly through the fog of his memories, they should have just plastered the screen with images of dressed as a schoolgirl pouting. That would probably make a little more sense. And by "make a little more sense", we mean "make us aroused".

#4 Assassin's Creed's Fog

#3 Fighting Game Versus Screens

During the days of Street Fighter II, we welcomed versus screens with open arms. Getting to see large, detailed portraits of characters that looked decidedly better than the four-inch sprites in karate getup was a treat and a respite from the fight. Most importantly, they were short, as they didn't buffer any load times. Now, with fighting games leaving the arcade and originating on consoles, we're forced to look at the same characters we've been gazing at for a decade now, except now the versus screens seem to stretch on just a bit too long.

#3 Fighting Game Versus Screens

#2 Mass Effect's Elevators

You know what's worse than suffering through a long elevator ride? Suffering through a long elevator ride knowing that the fate of the entire universe rests in your hands. And yet, that's exactly what you have to do in the Mass Effect. Never mind that it's set thousands of years in the future and that humans have mastered inter-stellar travel: they just can't seem to get a firm grasp on elevator technology. Heck, we would have even settled for a flight of stairs because at least we'd be actively moving around instead of just standing there, staring at the wall.

#2 Mass Effect's Elevators

#1 Resident Evil's Doors

As far back as we can remember, Resident Evil was the first game to really stylize its loading screens. The suspenseful door scenes were innovative and added a lot to the atmosphere of the original game. But, when we had to traverse the entire map for a single item, we'd play for about an hour, and fifty minutes of that would be spent watching a door slowly creak open. To exploit the door-phobic market they should just rename this game, Resident Evil: Doors.

#1 Resident Evil's Doors