10 Games RUINED By a Single Character
10 Games RUINED By A Single Character
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we’re taking a look at 10 games that really ruined our fun with great games. The games are still great, but we’d really love to erase certain characters from them.
Kronika
“Mortal Kombat 11” (2019)
Fighting against a time god is absolutely something fitting for a franchise like “Mortal Kombat”. The IP is already ridiculous with its mix of ninjas, robots, mythical creatures, and the like. But Kronika was just…stupid in the worst ways. All she does is threaten, intimidate, and find a way to hamfist “time” into every other sentence. If you were a smart villain and a real force to be reckoned with, you would have reset everything as you have done several times before the second anyone opened their mouths about things feeling familiar. But no, now was the TIME to talk smack, wave hands around an hourglass, and get egotistical. Wow, I feel so intimidated.
Ashley Graham
“Resident Evil 4” (2005)
For a time, Ashley was arguably the worst part about RE4. We could easily say, “Oh, its because she’s an escort character, and escort characters suck” and call it a day. But it isn’t just the fact that we have to protect her. It’s the fact that she goes down so easily, so comically easy that you’d think she has zero skill in self-defense. Basically, if an enemy gets close enough to her and she takes a hit or two, it’s an instant game over. Other times, you may notice her AI just does not work…at all. And that’ll result in her getting killed more often than not. Yeah, she’s an idiot. So, thank Capcom for remaking the game and allowing us to direct her to hiding spots.
P-3
“Atomic Heart” (2023)
“Atomic Heart” isn’t exactly a bad game. There are some good ideas and some…not-so-great ideas in the game that made it a major letdown in 2023. But the worst part about the game is the very character you control. P-3 is so obnoxiously rude that it makes it hard to want to progress the story. If he isn’t spouting a smarmy quip, he’s being flat out mean to other characters or acting shocked at things that aren’t all that surprising. At some point, you have to wonder if he’s just arrogant or outright stupid.
Layla Hassan
“Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” (2018)
Whereas P-3 is just obnoxiously rude at the most inconvenient times, Layla is just a walking ray of sunshine. You can pick several moments between “Origins” and “Valhalla”, but “Odyssey” is where Layla is at her worst. She spends the entire game being a smarmy jerk to everyone around her, deliberately ignores Abstergo, and even manages to get her friends killed. Eventually, she starts making Desmond seem like the more interesting hero of the modern day segments. Here’s hoping the next hero of the modern day segments actually has some character outside of being a smartass or a miserable douche. Basim was a good start, but…who knows what the plan is anymore.
Chadley
“Final Fantasy VII Remake” (2020)
For as great as “Final Fantasy VII Remake” was, Chadley was the one glaring problem many players had with the remake. This guy just does not know when to leave you the hell alone! It’s always “I need more data, go do this thing, I need more data, go do that”, and it’s always at the most inconvenient of times. Why Tetsuya Nomura felt his addition was necessary is beyond us, especially since Chadley didn’t even exist in the original game. Couldn’t we have shoved all this into a general challenge list instead of this dweeb?
Frey
“Forspoken” (2023)
Despite what some grifters may tell you, “Forspoken” does have a lot to like between the world, the combat, and the different powers you can wield. It won’t strike a chord with everyone, but for some, it’s cool. But Frey, the main character, is definitely going to make the game tougher to sit through. You know how people complain about “Marvel-style writing”? You know, the lines that are like “did I just do that” and “well, that happened”? Well, Frey does have moments like that, and they are far too frequent. Eventually, you just end up skipping cutscenes or muting them entirely.
The Calypso Twins
“Borderlands 3” (2019)
Much like “Forspoken”, “Borderlands 3” has some redeeming qualities, but the gameplay is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. When you pay attention to the story, you’ll find the Calypso Twins to be some of the most insufferable villains ever conceived. No exaggeration. The cringey jargon, the snarky punk attitudes, the fact that they’re freakin’ streamers… Very much feels like they were written by old people. “How do you do, fellow kiddos” indeed. It doesn’t help that they appear just as frequently as Handsome Jack did in “Borderlands 2”, if not more. Gearbox, never bring these characters back. Ever. We’ll give you a pass for Aya. Not for these two.
The Narrator
“Biomutant” (2021)
Look, “Biomutant” is a cool game. The powers, the mounts, the environments, the boss fights - there’s a lot more to love here than our previous two entries. There’s a lot of imagination on display. Unfortunately, some of that imagination gets too excessive in story and terminology, which is what ends up making the narrator a bit annoying to listen to. There are just way too many nonsensical terms being thrown left and right. You can at least distinguish what the terms mean, but did we really need to get all Dr. Seuss with it?
Fi
“The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword” (2011)
“Skyward Sword” isn’t really among the best “Zelda” games, but it isn’t downright horrible either. It’s kind of inbetween, really, and it depends on how you like your “Zelda” games. But just about every player can agree that Fi is a major detriment to “Skyward Sword”. The number of times she will interrupt everything is excessive to such an absurd degree that Na’vi seems less needy. And half the time, the crap Fi interrupts you for is already something you figured out on your own or something you already knew long before she needed to say anything. In other words, she’s a prime example of video games holding the player’s hand.
The Arkham Knight
“Batman: Arkham Knight” (2015)
A common complaint about “Arkham Knight” is how the Batmobile was integrated into the game. But honestly, the Arkham Knight himself is what makes the game a total slog to sit through. Dude, can you say anything outside of calling Batman “old”? Say anything - a swear word, something crass, steal a joke from some standup special you watched. No, every call is the Arkham Knight just mocking Bruce and constantly referring to him as “the old man”. Gee, with that tedious kind of speech, I wonder who could possibly be behind the helmet? Certainly not a former boy wonder from years ago, right? Woowwwww, who could have guessed…
What’s a character that ruined a game for you? Let us know down in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe to MojoPlays.