CoD4 playing the "one shot, one kill" mission on veteran not only do you have to deal with twenty or so enemies as soon as you exit the sniping building as soon as you scrape by to the point where a chopper comes to pick you up and you end up fighting somewhere between 150-500 enemies that only need a fourth of a second to kill you the chopper takes somewhere between 7-14 minutes to even get there but as soon as it lands to pick you up you only have 30 seconds to get on it while carrying your commanding officer and unable to shoot, you still have a small army shooting at you on your way over. the entire mission is unfair.(I gave up on finishing veteran because of that mission's last part with the chopper.

Swenglish:
SPOILER

The end of HL2: Episode 2 when you are forced to watch the advisor sticking its tounge into Eli's brain when all you want to do is to smash it so bad with the crowbar. That scene was so damn sad, I actually cried.

I'm really glad I finished this game about 10 minutes before that was posted (I need to start bypassing spoilers!)

Let's see... when I learned Krogans aren't affected by basic Singularity. I'm running into three Salarian criminals and a Krogran and I do what any good vanguard does. Singularity so as to set up for a carnage. The Salarians start spinning in air.... but the Krogan? He punches me dead. Freaking turtle people.

Also, when I first learned that criminals can pick weapons back up in SWAT 4 mixed in with the somewhat bad physics on stairs. The guy drops the big angry revolver but it falls into the stairs. I decide to ignore him while I clear out the adjacent room. I can come back. I then get a nice bullet in the back of the head.

i cant remember very well....

oh wait COD4 I shoot a guy like three times then when they see me Bam one shot and im dead

gh3 passing like 5 minutes of one on expert only to reach the impossible solo

Saskwach:
I may be a little bitch but I found the holding action of One Shot, One Kill in COD 4 so immensely frustrating that I went down from Hardened to Normal JUST to pass that section. There was literally NO cover that couldn't be rushed or shot at from at least two other directions.

On veteran this was frustrating me enough to make me want to throw the controller through the screen, but then I found a spot that you can sit in through the entire hold. From where you set your partner down in his sniping position, go to the left and you will see a line of concrete walls set up. Hide behind the concrete and wait for the enemies. They will run for cover behind a car right near the concrete. Just pick them off one by one as they run by.

Okay, the most unfair, was Call of Duty 4 veteran. the level where you are stopping the warheads from hitting the USA, i got into the facility, and it announced i had 9 min

"Okay, im fine with that"

I get HELLA close to the end.... and die
i get sent ALL the way back. too little save points in CoD4 Veteran, and i played through only good enough for Regular by the games standards

EDIT - And for the post above me, Vet, Mcmillan, what i did -
Put him down, and as you are facing where the enemies come from, run to the right, and lay behind the bumper car arena. Once the time is up, get mcmillan without dying, and you are good, you take no damage with him on your shoulder
Beat the game, proved them the hell wrong lol =P

God of War 2 titan mode, the room before the last sister of fate. Spent about 4 hours before I developed a good method of getting through it taking minimal damage.

For some reason I always hated Tick Tock Clock from Mario 64...you fall once and go down like 50 stories. I can do it now but back then...Jesus.

Maybe this seems pitiful, but beating your father in Prince of Persia: Sands of time.

Rilak Thunderheart:
Maybe this seems pitiful, but beating your father in Prince of Persia: Sands of time.

I was just playing that the other day, and yeah, that kinda sucks

Hmmm...
In some strategy games, when I use up my entire population limit building an army of all shapes and sizes, only to have it decimated rather quickly by my already-crippled enemy. I don't even get the game at this point.

heh.

in the first Thief game, there was one mission where you had to find some fucking key (if i had a nickel..). looked around for a long fucking time...turns out it's on some shelf just BARELY visible from below...like barely hanging off the edge so you can see just a sliver of it.

i guess that's a spoiler but what-fucking-ever. that was a stupid level.

Alpha001:

Rilak Thunderheart:
Maybe this seems pitiful, but beating your father in Prince of Persia: Sands of time.

I was just playing that the other day, and yeah, that kinda sucks

speaking of SoT, how about... running into a bug after i saved so i can't get past a puzzle half way through the godamn game?

The first time you see a colossus in Shadow of the Colossus.

In Bioshock, when Fontaine activates Code Yellow. My maximum health, which cost me precious ADAM to upgrade, goes down. This angered me. And when you get the cure your plasmids get randomized!

Video games these days are way, WAY fairer than they used to be. You guys are quoting all these really recent games - but it used to be a lot worse than it is now.

Almost all of the first generation of FPS games had a lot of pits where you'd fall down and be trapped forever, but if you lived through the actual fall itself then you couldn't die. Too bad if you saved your game down there and it was the only save game you had... back to the very start of the game for you, no matter how many levels you were through it... this was also before splash damage weapons were really common so you could rarely suicide with them, either.

Who remembers the "jail" in early 3D sandbox pioneer Mercenary? The absolute pinnacle of unfair gaming. The jail was a room that you could get into, but not out of, and there was no way of telling which door would lead there until you went through it (some were marked with a big X but some were not). And you couldn't save or load your game, either. The end, thanks for playing.

The funniest unfair one was the "Trumbles" in 3D space trader game Elite (EVE's primary template was Elite, not Freelancer, Privateer, I-War, X3 or any of that other rubbish). At one point in the game Elite you'd be approached by a traveling salesman selling Trumbles. If you buy them they start filling up your ship and eventually they crawl right over your cockpit view and interface so you can't see - and there's no way to get rid of them! If you didn't have a save game from before you said yes to the guy, then you go waaaay back to "harmless" rating and 100 credits.

Randomised plasmids? One shot kills? You don't know how good you've got it.

stevesan:

you had to find some fucking key (if i had a nickel..).

wow that made me laugh a lot, f#@%ing epic man. so true :-D

Poisoned Al:
Oh, and I must add the Meat Circus level from Psychonauts. Who thought THAT was a good idea? Hard level with tricky to time jumps? Okay, I can handle that. On a timer you say? Well, okay but I hate being rushed. Blind jumps that send you to the beginning if you fall? Er.... No checkpoints so you start the whole thing over if the time runs out? OH EAT SHIT AND DIE!

On the other hand, that's the only hard part of the entire game ^^

-- Ninja Gaiden (Xbox)
The final bosses are just way overboard.
It's not just ONE boss, not TWO, not THREE, but *FIVE* bosses in a sequence.
And you do *NOT* have any chance to re-fuel for health potions in between fights (you just get teleported to the next boss)
Two of the bosses are bosses you've already beat before, but the latter 3 bosses are ones that you've never ever seen before.

To put matters into perspective, imagine the early MegaMan games, where at the end just before Dr.Wily you have to beat all the 8 robot-bosses AGAIN, you have 1 life, and you're ONLY allowed to use the arm-cannon. That's about how fair it is.

-- Far Cry
This is my favourite game of all time, (yes I think it's better than Crysis) but I have one major gripe with it.
My problem with the game is not that enemies can spot your from miles away - that's not my problem at all. My problem is that they are able to shoot AND HIT you from miles away with deadly accuracy - with ANY weapon. They can even snipe you with a gun-emplaced Minigun from miles away and HIT you. (and usually kill you) The guys with the rocket launchers are the worst.

I can accept that they hit me with a sniper rifle from those distances, but Jesus Christ.

Dead Rising, when I realised the insane shopkeeper with the newly-spiky trolley had a shotgun too.

Failing Raining Blood @ 99% On GH3 Expert, Yes, i missed the last note, the easiest of the whole song.. =/

L4Y Duke:
Dead Rising, when I realised the insane shopkeeper with the newly-spiky trolley had a shotgun too.

Dear God, so many bad memories...of course, after you kill him, that is one sweet cart. :)

thebobmaster:

L4Y Duke:
Dead Rising, when I realised the insane shopkeeper with the newly-spiky trolley had a shotgun too.

Dear God, so many bad memories...of course, after you kill him, that is one sweet cart. :)

I never had trouble with that guy, just brained him with a 2x4 and circled around. But what pissed me off most was I killed the convicts with the Jeep in the courtyard right when they appeared. Then, as I am trying to escort Isabella back to the safe room later in the game, they magically respawn and kill me with the machine gun, forcing me two hours back because I didn't save. Good game, though.

Poisoned Al:

"The Banyan Tree"

That's a little unfair given that Matthew Smith actually admitted it was impossible.

Try Monty on the Run.

Or when you're just coming into Lave Station and a Viper rams you.

The funniest unfair one was the "Trumbles" in 3D space trader game Elite (EVE's primary template was Elite, not Freelancer, Privateer, I-War, X3 or any of that other rubbish). At one point in the game Elite you'd be approached by a traveling salesman selling Trumbles. If you buy them they start filling up your ship and eventually they crawl right over your cockpit view and interface so you can't see - and there's no way to get rid of them!

*whistles innocently* Oh yes there was....

I don't know how often any of you play sports games, but has anyone ever noticed how in earlier versions of FIFA, on higher difficulty the opposing Goalkeeper played out of his skin every game and saved every single perfect shot, only to have your goalkeeper give up ONE complete howler and lose the game? I broke alot of controllers because of that one.

Also...

Not really a gaming moment but, when Gaz is shot at the end of COD4. NOT FAIR.

Prince of Persia on the Amiga 500. Playing for ages, only to mistime an impossibly long jump and fall on the spikes. Hearing the death music and having to repeat from the start. Sometimes I contemplated throwing the Amiga out my window.

Or from most recent games. Any of the Call of Duty series. Running round a corner to be sniped. Killcam comes on so you can see how your execution commenced, only to notice you were blatantly round the corner and completely out of sight. The sniper round had clipped the side of your ass, even though it says ingame you were headshotted.
I'm also relieved to read that it isn't just me who gets infuriated with CoD4. Shooting someone in the head at point blank range with an AK-47 only for them to turn around give you a grin and headshot you unscoped with a sniper rifle. Grr.

The_root_of_all_evil:

Poisoned Al:

The funniest unfair one was the "Trumbles" in 3D space trader game Elite (EVE's primary template was Elite, not Freelancer, Privateer, I-War, X3 or any of that other rubbish). At one point in the game Elite you'd be approached by a traveling salesman selling Trumbles. If you buy them they start filling up your ship and eventually they crawl right over your cockpit view and interface so you can't see - and there's no way to get rid of them!

*whistles innocently* Oh yes there was....

I never found it. You can't sell them. I even tried ejecting out of my ship, but a trumble would follow me in my escape pod, and then the whole process would begin again!

Hitman: Codename 47 had some unforgiving game mechanic where there is no save/load system. You can only restart missions if you mess up. It apparently just saves your previous set-up so at least you don't have to buy your weapons again, but consider this scenario:

You have to infiltrate a restaurant-mansion of 4 distinct levels, each hundreds of feet across, and kill a very, very well-protected Triad leader. That doesn't seem very bad until you realize that the slightest mistake makes you a dead man because there are henchmen everywhere with Uzi's and AK's ready to burst your supple, shaven ass. This is also not so bad until you learn the hard way that even after an hour and a half of straight, perfect execution, you can still glitch or swing at the wrong instance, giving yourself and your time away to the power of restart.

Next you get to the Columbia missions, which are anywhere from 4-8 hours of goddamnit.

I couldn't get the Grub achievement for H-L2: EP2, because the few I missed were in a few cavern intrances at a dead end past the antlion guard. If you make it to the caverns, which is not that hard, you have to escape back the way you came, and guess who's waiting to maul your brains into DNA glop? I tried, tried, and tried, and still couldn't make it past that insect. I probably won't until a mod comes out that introduces some sort of insecticide weapon... Oh, right! You can't kill it. I forgot. Great fun.

I did the Little Rocketman, though I agree it was atrocious and frustrating at times, because there's no place to put the thing in the car without the gnome sliding out at the first slight change of velocity. That train part where you're chased by the bomb-dropping chopper? Yeah...

F*ckin crysis boats with laser vision that run away if you try to shoot/swim at them

Turok is driving me insane. First when I kill the damn Trex and are left in the jungle until night knocked out and wake with only a bow and knife and seeing 2 big dinos in the distance. You then pick up the shotgun you find next to a tree and remember your achievement says no shotguns. You then swear and move on. It took me a while and I could never win. In the end I found a knocked over tree and just ran through it and found the enterance to the base. The second is when you have to kill the sea serpent. The fight first off is hard but right when I am about to win she goes under to change attack. I know I can dodge whatever she throws at me and double check the guide. "She will either use her tenticles or throw rocks at you" it says. I sit near the fire vent and wait. She resurfaces and grabs two spikes from the ceiling and impales me with them in about 3 seconds before I even get the chance to yell out "WHAT THE FU-".

Oh! And Paul Rodriguez challenge in skate. That took a while until I eventually got it.

Double Oh! When I played the Darkness I had just left hell for the first time. I was relieved of being back in the reel world and looked at the guide and it said chapter 2 complete. I am thrown on my ass onto a subway station and wait a second. I wait about 3 minutes and it still doesn't say achievement unlocked. I sigh and think it must be further... I continued on for another 2 hours and got nothing. I still haven't gotten it and said that that game had the worst achievements due to the fact that I never could unlock them (It took about 1 hour for the achievements "Get Darkness Arm" and "Get Darkness Guns" to activate).

BonsaiK:

I never found it. You can't sell them. I even tried ejecting out of my ship, but a trumble would follow me in my escape pod, and then the whole process would begin again!

Trumble, or rather Tribbles, have a high body heat, being mammals; so you just sun skim a couple of times and listen to the little squeaks of the dying. Fun, Educational; and if you have Fuel Scoops, Rewarding.

come to think of it, just about any old skool shmup has mega unfair levels. R-Type anyone?