Video games can be relaxing. They can be stimulating or relieve stress. They can also be utterly rage inducing and that's what this post is all about: The Rage.
Only a few games that I've played actively make me angry. Final Fantasy 10 and its stupid, pain inducing side quests would be one. I was bound and determined to get a 0 second time on that miserably broken chocobo race. I did finally succeed but I probably peeled the paint with my shouted vitriol. I swear, if I ever meet the guy responsible for that blight I'll tie him down and extract all of this teeth with a pair of pliers, or worse, make him play his own creation.
Not everything that fills me with screaming rage is something I also hate; there's Mario Kart Wii. I play Mario Kart online on the weekends and my racing sessions can, and often do, cause my mood to deteriorate. I do despise that damned lightning cloud with an unhealthy passion though. Getting piled on with opponent tossed items can tick me off a lot but nothing causes my temperature rise quite like pulling a boneheaded move and screwing myself over. Truly, I yell at myself more than anyone else.
Controls that don't quite work as well as they are supposed to is another trigger for rage. A favorite game of mine, Zack & Wiki, is for the most part a wonderfully stimulating adventure game that uses motion controls to interact with the environment. Mostly it all works well, but there was this one rotating device that would just not turn correctly. I had to dial it into a certain position and no matter how I tried swinging or shaking the remote, it would not stop in the right place. I messed around with that frigging thing for a little over a half hour before finally, finally it stopped where I needed it to be. The people in the next town over probably could hear my yelled obscenities while I struggled with it.
I just noticed I seem to be asking a lot of questions of my handful of readers lately. Well, here's another one. What games have caused your temper to boil over? Ever gotten complaints about the volume of your game rage induced screaming? I haven't, but as I tend to have a window open during the summer time, It would not surprise me if my neighbors were a little worried about my welfare.
Realted Links:
F--k the Moon
Watcha Playing: Loving/Hating Mario Kart Wii
Love-Hate: In Defense of the Cutscene