New video games are spectacular, and you can argue that they're more fun to play than ever.
But the stories told by video games?
Pretty whack.
Here are a few examples of storytelling gone awry.
These games don't have the worst stories, in fact some of them are pretty good.
But they all show some of the traps that video games can fall into.
Horizon Zero Dawn is one of the best games I've played in years.
But the story was a weak link.
The post apocalyptic world was fascinating, full of mystery.
But the characters within the world, not so flash.
Aloy was cool as an action hero but fairly bland outside of that.
Her story was an unexceptional one about the outsider who becomes a hero.
The side characters are at best just there and some feel like empty troves.
like the morally ambiguous Sylens who the game tries way too hard to make feel mysterious.
But I never told you the full extent of my culpability.
2013's Devil May Cry reboot was awesome and the story was good right until the end.
The original game saw protagonist, Dante, and his brother, Virgil, as deadly enemies But in this game they're good buds and work together to defeat Mundus, a demon king.
Their new buddy buddy relationship was a fresh take and totally believable, which made the plot twist at the end all the more groan inducing.
Yes, free from the demons.
The path is clear for us to rule.
It really wasn't worth it just for an extra boss fight.
What did you just say?
Okay, unpopular opinion out of the way first.
I love the story in Kingdom Hearts.
Well, at least I did.
It got super freaky when it came to Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance.
Previous games in the series had complicated stories, but you could follow them if you try.
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Kingdom Hearts 3DS is almost incomprehensible, as it introduces the always risky plot element of time travel.
My future self gave me the task to visit the splintered versions of myself in many worlds.
A lot of Japanese games get accused of being too convoluted.
The Kingdom Hearts 3DS is among the worst examples I've found of a game that doesn't even try to make sense.
The Mass Effect games are often touted as having some of the best stories in the genre.
But I call foul on that.
Mass Effect 2 was one of the many games I picked up, but couldn't really get into.
In this case it wasn't necessarily about the story but more the story telling.
The game uses conversation wheels to tell much of it's story, where you choose what to ask characters in the game.
You're encouraged to ask as much as you can.
But since the dialogue isn't written to be performed in any specific order, answers come out unnaturally long and feel really tedious.
It's not just mass effect that's guilty here, as the Wishigans and Horizon Zero Dawn do the same.
Wanna let me know how bad my opinions are?
Hit me up on Twitter or check out the full Boom With a View article on cnet.com.
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