Ya know, I really don't mind infinite continues, and I don't even think about it that much, but there are moments where I'm just baffled by some people's comments about this feature. One particular time that comes to mind is when I read a staff mini-review of a shump (I think it was R-Type Delta, I'm not sure) in EGM a few years back. The guy was moaning about the inclusion of infinite continues, and kicked the score down a few notches because of that. I thought it was stupid, but I didn't get all bent out of shape. It was just one person, no harm done, I let it go.
But it has really gotten out of hand lately, and with the recent port of Metal Slug 4&5 for the PS2, I've had it up to here with the complaints. When I read people's comments about the title when it was released, most of them were about the infinite continue feature; they moaned and groaned about the lack of challenge because all they had to do was keep continuing until they completed both games. I've heard this excuse come up time and time again with games that have infinite continues, and I'm really getting tired of hearing this pathetic reason gamers use to bash these games.
Um.... people.... I don't know if you knew this, but.... *clears throat*.... CONTINUING IS AN OPTION!!
Do you ever notice that after you lose and the continue screen pops up, the game is asking if you want to continue? Not only that, but they usually give you TEN SECONDS to make a decision. I don't recall once where a game forced you to keep going at any of these screens. I mean, yeah, it'd be cool if a game told you to continue or be forced to eat cow shit, but that's not the issue here.... The point is this: if the game asks if you want to continue, and you continue every time that happens, and you piss and moan about it, THAT'S YOUR FAULT. The solution is ridiculously easy: if you want a friggin challenge, then don't continue; let the time run out, restart, and see how far you can go on your next play-through.
Pretty simple, isn't it?
No?
Well, then bite me.