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We have all played a bad game at some point in our lives. Not an average game. Not a game that failed to live up to the hype. A terrible game. The Bitmob Writing Challenge encourages our community members to try out new topics, and you can share your worst experiences with us for the October 2011 prompt: Levels of Shame.

While I could just have you community members write a review about a bad game, an article like that would likely give way to a lot of generalities and exaggerations. Instead, I want you to elaborate on a particular level or section of the game that illustrates just how awful the experience is. If you managed to avoid playing crappy games your entire life, you can also use a low point from a good game, like Halo’s infamous Library level, for example.

The rules are:

 
  • Write a 400-800 word article on a bad level in a video game. Include details about level design, cutscenes, enemies, glitches, and broken gameplay that make the experience unforgivable.

    Examples

    • A puzzle section that is very bland or very vague and confusing.
    • A boss fight that is either obnoxiously difficult or is underwhelming for what is suppose to be a major villain or final boss.
    • An arbitrary stealth mission in a game that isn’t about stealth or an escort section made difficult by the idiotic A.I. of the character you're guarding.
    • A poorly designed multiplayer map or race track.
    • In the case of fighting games and the battle system of a role-playing game, a playable character or class who is not intentionally bad but is nevertheless severely disadvantaged or useless. For the last two, please do some research and make sure that the character or map is exceptionally lousy. These articles will be subjective by nature, but try not to get too nitpicky about things.
    • Any stage in Superman 64.
       
  • Post the article by October 31, 2011 with "Bitmob Writing Challenge" in the tags, and it will appear in the Mobfeed for everyone to read.

If you need some inspiration, you can read my example piece on Mega Man X6. Good luck and look out for the results of Chase Koeneke’s Stick to the Script challenge soon.