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8 Blatant Loading Screen Cover-ups in Games

omglists.com — Back in the early days of disc-based gaming, companies weren't afraid of sticking a "Now Loading" screen in your face every two minutes. Now, companies employ stupid tricks to avoid them. Here's the worst ones

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  • zerobackup, on 12/08/2007, -0/+131Resident Evil's doors, that "creeeeeeaaak" is still etched in my brain.
    • honeymustardn, on 12/08/2007, -6/+4The article kind of implies that they were the first to use them, but actually, Sweet Home on the NES used them as well, which is where RE took the idea from.
      • triblinator, on 12/08/2007, -1/+14Ummm... Maybe you don't get this... but... the NES didn't have loading times. Very rarely to cartridge games have to load at all - if so it's fast enough that they don't need to cover it up.
        • honeymustardn, on 12/09/2007, -2/+1I didn't say they were used as loading times.
    • Chan815, on 12/08/2007, -7/+9ugh lemme go ***** my 8 year old pants agian
      • Dylson, on 12/08/2007, -26/+1o________O Go ahead, weirdo. Why are you on digg? Why doesn't your mother monitor your language more carefully?
        • geekoid, on 12/08/2007, -0/+17Uh... you kind of missed the point of that comment. He was 8 when he played the game the first time, and the zombies behind the door scared the crap out of most first time players.
        • ikickass, on 12/08/2007, -0/+3sure scared the crap out of me. I didnt see it coming.
    • monkeyboyhero, on 12/08/2007, -0/+14Resident Evil 2 had a bit where the doors would labourously creak open, and they'd be three freakin' zombies behind it! It only happened once during the game, but first time through from that point the doors opening when from tedious loading screen to tension filled mini-cut scene. For me anyway.
      • TrogdorSmash24, on 12/08/2007, -0/+3LOL on the police station roof.
    • xxNIRVANAxx, on 12/08/2007, -0/+4It's still better than NOW LOADING in the Sonic the Hedgehog:
      http://digg.com/gaming_news/The_Worst_Load_Times_E ...
    • roguetel, on 12/08/2007, -1/+0 Naw it's gotta be walking up or down the stairs.

      Damn I hated having to walk up those damn steps.
    • VaticanSlayer, on 12/08/2007, -0/+1I hated when you went through the doors, then had to go back through the same ones cause you forgot something.
  • SkippyDoorknob, on 12/08/2007, -1/+37Another more recent example is the ship-in-warpspace-tunnel effect in Ratchet & Clank Future on the PS3.
    • JayD16, on 12/08/2007, -0/+15Or Metroid for that matter. I think they're getting better at hiding them though.
      • superal1394, on 12/08/2007, -0/+5Valve should take a note from some of these games that hide loading screens

        Freakin action stops, "Loading" down in the corner

        I HAVE 2 GIGS OF RAM!! PRECACHE!!
    • MattnJax, on 12/08/2007, -5/+1Yeah that jet flying through the cosmos. It's deffinately better than a loading screen though.
    • Tyrghast, on 12/08/2007, -33/+8rofl you wasted money on a ps3
      • Dylson, on 12/08/2007, -0/+23*sigh.....im just sayin, its gettin KINDA old now.
      • geekoid, on 12/08/2007, -14/+4At least he can afford one, Tyrghast... unlike you and your welfare sucking mama.
      • oogee, on 12/08/2007, -0/+2I have 5 PS3s.
      • yobbo, on 12/09/2007, -0/+1piss off
    • zwaldowski, on 12/08/2007, -0/+5It's always been like that, although it's always been obvious. I personally think loading times will never be completely obliterated, and Ratchet and Clank at least masks it well. They could have it randomize, though, right?

      By the way, here's when I found out that they were loading times: my R&C2 disc got scratched to hell, and the ship kept flying in space... forever...
      • Lyph5, on 12/08/2007, -4/+1" personally think loading times will never be completely obliterated, and Ratchet and Clank at least masks it well. They could have it randomize, though, right?"

        It's called 'installing the game to a hard drive' try looking that up.
        • Wartz, on 12/08/2007, -0/+3many hard drive(pc) games still have loading issues.
          See The Witcher.
  • MikeonTV, on 12/08/2007, -5/+152How about the famous "Oh noz, I broke your comments"
  • ircgoliath, on 12/08/2007, -6/+23I personally don't consider the Symphony of the Night loading gimmick to be bad. I would rather have uninterrupted game play by running through an infrequent, empty hallway for 3 seconds than be stuck with a "Now Loading" screen.

    Although it might have been nice if Dracula decorated each hallway differently and the Black CD decoration in the center is kind of goofy... cute but goofy.
    • bigdave_48875, on 12/08/2007, -0/+3I personally thought it was a nice inside joke with from the developer for all of us who started on cartridge based games.
  • estvir, on 12/08/2007, -4/+42I hate ME's evelators oh so much.
    • DrywallThief, on 12/08/2007, -1/+25At least there are sometimes funny announcements or dialogue between characters during the elevators.
    • dyranios2, on 12/08/2007, -0/+14Well it's either that or a loading screen personally I think that is okay it doesn't kill the atmosphere.
    • fiftyeggs, on 12/08/2007, -0/+18I love how the article stated that Mass Effect was "thousands of years in the future, but we just couldn't master elevator technology." Did these guys actually play the game? It's only a few hundred years in the future.

      Tiny error in journalism, I know... But careless none the less.
      • lcmatt, on 12/08/2007, -0/+9I don't mind the elevators but the one on the Normandy takes so long. Also some of the doors which require you to manually open have a slight pause while it loads the next section.
    • buryyourhead, on 12/08/2007, -0/+5haha right when i clicked on the click i was like "oh i bet they mention the elevators"

      yeah i agree they take a bit long, especially the one on the normandy. is that slow POS _really_ necessary?
    • shadoturtl, on 12/08/2007, -0/+2ahh the elevators. forget that you can run down a flight of stairs to reach the second level on the Normandy, but you have to take an elevator to get to the floor below. They can render great expanses of a city, but an extra floor on a ship is too much. love the game, but its the first time I've ever longed for stairs.
    • shinynew, on 12/09/2007, -0/+4You know what's worse than suffering through a long elevator ride?
      suffering through an ungoldy loading time such as half life 2's only to be thrown directly back into gameplay as soon as it is done?

      Stop ***** bitching, all of them are better than 'now loading'
      • estvir, on 12/09/2007, -0/+2Elevator rides wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so damn common.

        I HATE doing side-quests in the Citadel, especially ones like where I need to take City Transit to Wards Access but to get to Wards Access I need to take an elevator, just to talk to a guy, than I need to head back to the Normandy which requires a elevator to a Transit which than goes to C-Sec which than goes to an elevator which than goes to the Normandy.

        That's like 7 [long] loading moments for an incredibly simple quest that if you add up all the things involved with said quest, which is a tiny bit of talking, is about 5 minutes but thanks to so much loading it takes 4x times as long.

        Otherwise, I love the game.
    • keviniskool, on 12/09/2007, -0/+2ME's elevators crash every five seconds.

      Oh wait, we're talking about the game?
  • Canadianbacon1, on 12/08/2007, -1/+33my favorite load screen was from Phantasy Star Online with the twinkly stars.... so much fun
    • ArcaneDruid, on 12/08/2007, -0/+0Loved Phantasy Star Online, especially the twinkling stars
  • ZzizZ, on 12/08/2007, -6/+179What's wrong with trying to entertain us while we wait for our slow-ass console games to load? It shows craftsmanship on the part of the game designers.
    • Math, on 12/08/2007, -1/+36Exactly. A door that takes a couple of seconds to open or an elevator is much better than the atmosphere killing black 'Loading ...' screen.
    • ByteGuerilla, on 12/08/2007, -0/+35Indeed. There's a great one in Fifa 08. When waiting for the match to load, you get a one-on-one scenario, where you're the striker vs. a goalkeeper, and you get to keep taking shots, trying skillmoves, etc, and then when the match loads you can either keep on shooting or hit start to get to the match.

      If only they'd put as much attention into crafting a realistic offside rule, or realistic tackles, or realistic AI instead of scripted toughness.
    • dorkino, on 12/08/2007, -1/+4Nothing is wrong. People just need a reason to complain.
    • Homoomo, on 12/08/2007, -1/+5I agree, I guess the guy who wrote this list would rather see "now loading" screens.
    • Cyber_Akuma, on 12/08/2007, -1/+2Agreed.

      It felt like this guy was whining for no reason, what, was he expecting to have no loading at all?

      For some games something like this is possible, Soul Reaver comes to mind as after the initial load as it streams the data of the next area as you play (though the areas are slightly linear so this isnt too much of a problem) but on others where you move extremely quickly, large areas need to be loaded at once, or you can pick what level to go to next, such a thing is basically impossible.

      Most people realize these are loading screens, its not like they are trying to hide the fact through a conspiracy or something, in fact IIRC one of the things the King of all Cosmos says is that the game is now loading, and the corridor in Symphony of the Night has a picture of a disk with "CD" written under it.

      Not to mention he contradicts himself, in one part he claims the loading screen in SOTN is boring because theres nothing to do (for the love of, it takes five seconds to walk across) then in the Tony Hawk tunnels he claims you just grind the entire time.

      I would much rather have these kind of screens such as grinding down a tunnel, walk down a corridor for 5 seconds, etc then be taken out of the game to stare at a static "now loading" screen.

      And finally, Metroid, I dunno about Prime 2 and 3 as I haven't gotten to them, but in Prime 1 most of these doors usually had hallways and corridors with debris, bombchus, or other hazards designed to slow you down while you reach the next door, if the door isn't opening by the time he got there then hes just gotten good enough to blaze past that area faster than the game expected him to. Again, what would have been a better alternative? The game pausing to say "now loading" when you shoot the door? The game opening the door to a halfway loaded level and likely crashing?

      What was the point of his argument?
    • MacPh1st0, on 01/07/2008, -0/+0Jade in a schoolgirl outfit works for me!
  • jewdiknight, on 12/08/2007, -0/+40Who here remembers the first time the door opened and a bunch of Zombies poured out in RE2?
    • mst3kcrow, on 12/08/2007, -1/+13Yeah and you only started off with a clip or so and the knives, still to this day, do almost nothing. I remember in RE1 if you opened the first door you came from a dog jumps at you.
      • xino, on 12/10/2007, -0/+1Yep and then I think in the remake for Gamecube, you have the same thing happen except that it goes to a cut scene and you shut the door before the dog gets in.
    • buryyourhead, on 12/08/2007, -0/+13i remember when RE1 first came out, my cousins rented it and came over (we were probably like 10-12) and i remember being scared ***** by the first zombie cutscene where it's eating some dead stars guy and then slowly comes after you while you're backing up through the crappy camera angle hallway............oh those were the days.........oh and we played it in the dark in my cold basement
  • exninjahunter, on 12/08/2007, -0/+44Resident Evil: Doors really does sound like an appropriate title for the series.
  • dansmeek, on 12/08/2007, -1/+22this is immediately what i thought of when i read this: Resident Evil. I'm glad they put it at number one. When I first played RE i thought -- wow, how cool, they just use this to cover up load screens. But by the end I was thinking, GOD DAMNIT! IT DOESN"T TAKE THIS F"N LONG TO OPEN A DOOR!! ARGGHHH!!
    and arguable worse.... was when you went up the stairs. you would walk up step by step.... really slowly. and all the stairs looked the exact same, whether it was 5 steps, or 30. ugh. and nothing was worse than finally getting that slow-ass door opened only to see an ambush by some brain munching zombies.
  • ChromaVita, on 12/08/2007, -2/+109I like when they put little mini games during the load time like pong or something. Because when I'm waiting for a video game to load, I need to be entertained, and the best way to do that is by playing a video game. It sucks when you get really into pong, and then you realize that the game you're playing sucks, and you really just want to play pong.
    • bakatrinh, on 12/08/2007, -3/+29I think some jerk actually copyrighted the whole putting a mini game into the loading screen technique thing, so now if video game makers want to do that they gotta pay him royalty or something. That sucks for us consumers.
      • Lou3000, on 12/08/2007, -3/+4Yeah you can't copyright a gameplay element. You can PATENT them.
    • LusikkaMage, on 12/08/2007, -0/+30Actually loading-screen-mini-games are now patented by Namco, so only they can use them, which is teh pewp.

      Quick source: http://www.answers.com/topic/loading-screen
    • skywake, on 12/08/2007, -0/+22Smash Bros Brawl apparently has a "beat the ***** out of a bag" thing while its loading. Not exactly a full blown mini-game but still a damn good idea.
      • Inferny, on 12/08/2007, -15/+1That wasn't a loading screen thing. It was a full blown mini-game where you tried to hit the bag as far as possible in 10 seconds. My record is 706 meters with Gannondork.
        • macweirdo42, on 12/08/2007, -1/+16Please, go back and re-read the comment you replied to.
      • Cyber_Akuma, on 12/08/2007, -0/+2Actually, I think that is while waiting for players to join in online match, not just general loading.
  • str3ama, on 12/08/2007, -0/+12elevators FTW ..I've noticed that used in a lot of games. The only game that I was ever impressed with for hiding the load time was the Prince of Persia series. You can literally walk back and forth 'levels' (hehe I guess that's what its called now thanks to the show Life), without ever seeing a load screen.

    I'd include San Andreas but there were those brief seconds between entering shops at least on the pc version.
    • isunktheship, on 12/08/2007, -2/+5it's in all valve games, but they're kinda enough to say "LOADING..."
      • str3ama, on 12/08/2007, -0/+8putting a load screen with the words load is not a cover-up, it's when you try to hide it like with elevators (the textures remain the same in an elevator ride, so it can load the new textures/graphics/bumpmaps, etc) and the player is 'tricked' into thinking that there are no load times but just one hell of a long elevator ride to get to the 2nd floor. Some games use progressive streaming - which means that they continuously load the next part as you play (like POP) but I really don't know enough about it to explain how it works so well without slowing the game to a crawl.
        • Wartz, on 12/08/2007, -0/+1Crysis does this to load various areas of a level.
          But they still use a static screen when loading the next level.
    • Camphlobactor, on 12/08/2007, -0/+1Yup, God of War did that too. The end of levels involved long and simple hallways.
  • Puffball, on 12/08/2007, -0/+54They may be blatant, and we may be able to figure out the next level is loading, but that shouldn't knock developer's effort to entertain the player the whole way through. They're better than most games normal loading screens ("Now Loading") and its kind of annoying that someone came up with a bitch list about one of the finer improvements to console gaming.
  • shadyacres, on 12/08/2007, -0/+232Um. . .whats with the picture?
  • rarson, on 12/08/2007, -1/+18The best load screen was in Ridge Racer for the PSX. It was Galaga. I would always end up playing that for longer than it took to load.
    • InitialDMP5, on 12/08/2007, -0/+7that game was so awesome for more than just that reason. You could play the game without the disc even in the system. You could put in a music cd and play it as the soundtrack to the game. And it was my first PSX game.
    • Ssj6Kirby, on 12/08/2007, -0/+1Also, if you got all the enemies in the Galaga minigame, you got about 6 additional cars in the game.
  • brucebeh, on 12/08/2007, -0/+17fifa 08 has cool loading screen.. you get to play free kick :)
  • Tyrghast, on 12/08/2007, -2/+26dugg for link to jade raymond's site
  • Rupan, on 12/08/2007, -0/+4the only ones that are an issue to me are Katamari and ME
  • davidrools, on 12/08/2007, -10/+3how about in wow when you stand around waiting to attack. i don't play but i'd glance at my roomate's computer from time to time and they were always just standing around getting ready to do something. i know it's not a loading screen but it's sort of the wait while your impatience loads...
    • bakatrinh, on 12/08/2007, -5/+5it's called attack speed. certain weapons like a 2 handed weapon has an average attack speed of about 1 swing every 3 seconds. At level 70, there's about 2-3 moves (mortal strike, whirlwind, hamstring, sinister strike, eviscerate, etc.) you can do in between those 3 seconds. So attacking something is not as passive as you think it is (especially against another player)
  • omgwthlol, on 12/08/2007, -1/+6I hate call of duty 3 and the cutscenes you cant skip between each level. ***** gamr 1,2 and 4 are great though.
  • Mishkin, on 12/08/2007, -2/+37the person who wrote the article is an idiot. His information is good, but his OPINION is dumb. It's all about suspension of disbelief in video games, and having a simple screen that says LOADING breaks that suspense. With methods like the slow doors/elevators/corridors/long grinds, it keeps you IN the game, therefore increasing your enjoyment.


    • grumbel, on 12/08/2007, -1/+13The problem is that a bad load screen cover up breaks the suspension of disbelief much more then a screen that simply says "loading". The reason for this is that a real loading screen is a 'meta-game' element, its not part of the game, its like an commercial break on TV, it annoys for sure, but you know its not part of the movie/game, you expect it and simply wait till its over.

      With some loading screen cover ups you don't have that clear distinction, the loading screen becomes part of the game world and instead of keeping the game world believable, you end up with never ending elevator rides, doors that won't open or weird zig-zak corridors that make the game world very unbelievable. The problem here is that you often don't expect them, it just happens that the game world starts to behave weird, doors don't open, elevators aren't fast enough and such. The whole game begins to feel fishy and wrong, which is much more distracting, since you start thinking what the hell is wrong, this is especially true when the gameplay doesn't stop on loading (i.e. trying to run away from monster when a door doesn't want to open isn't fun).

      All that said, many loading screen cover ups work great, but when they become obvious and just take to long they can get really annoying and distracting. In the end the only real solution for the problem is keeping loading times short, since no matter how good your cover up is, loading times still annoy.
      • nastajus, on 12/08/2007, -1/+6I hate the word meta. Everything get's intermediately confusing when meta is introduced.
  • Calculon, on 12/08/2007, -1/+48So everyone complaining about them "covering up" loading times would rather just stare at a "Please Wait..." screen for 5 seconds? I thought the load time cover-up was a GOOD thing?
    • dronkmunk, on 12/08/2007, -2/+3Yeah its not a huge deal to me. I can wait 5 seconds to continue playing my video game, unlike all these ***** with no attention span..
  • theparttime, on 12/08/2007, -1/+4i think in RE games, it kinda added to the scariness of the game. doesn't everyone remember during the open door animation, oh *****, holding the trigger button expecting a zombie in the next room.
    in the castlevania games, at least it lets you know your going to the next area.
    i've heard bad things about mass effect's elevators (see penny-arcade, http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/11/16)
  • superrobot92, on 12/08/2007, -17/+1duggmirror.com
  • batshitcrazy, on 12/08/2007, -3/+46whoever wrote that needs to lighten up... loading times are for having a drink or taking a hit
  • doyoulikeworms, on 12/08/2007, -8/+3Portal's elevators, man!
    • thecosmicpope, on 12/08/2007, -0/+13I think you misunderstand the concept of loading screen "cover-ups". Portal doesn't attempt to hide the fact that the elevators are used for loading new rooms.
  • defectDS, on 12/08/2007, -0/+22My new favorite loading screen cover-up is in Super Mario Galaxy. You click a galaxy, the little spinning star animation goes wooooosh and you're already in the galaxy. Very subtle.
    • Romanito, on 12/08/2007, -0/+27Actually the best thing about loading time on Nintendo products is that they are short. It is one of the best Nintendo policies. They don't really need cover-ups.
      • juicebag, on 12/08/2007, -19/+3They were only really short before because they never used CDs or DVDs: they always used proprietary cartridges or discs before the Wii.
  • tvnation, on 12/08/2007, -3/+1its tekken 3 not streetfighter ii. idiots
  • HHP2K, on 12/08/2007, -0/+39Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has your mission briefing while it loads, which is actually rather good looking. A small, innocuous loading bar chugs away at the bottom and you can skip the brief when it's done.
  • spooky07, on 12/08/2007, -9/+3Hey you forgot the one game in which you had to walk on this one red line without falling into darkness. The game was called Max Payne.
    • mookieXL, on 12/08/2007, -2/+15That wasn't loading screen.
    • insertAliasHere, on 12/08/2007, -0/+1Dammit, now I have to go and dig up a copy of Max Payne and play it again.
  • SohailKhanifar, on 12/08/2007, -0/+8I thought Zelda:Windwaker had some pretty subtle/well done loading screens.
    • Syphon8, on 12/08/2007, -0/+7Holy *****, it never even occured to me before.
    • Cine, on 12/08/2007, -0/+1I never even noticed any WW loading screens? Where were they?
      • Syphon8, on 12/09/2007, -1/+2The sailing.
      • trdrstv, on 12/10/2007, -0/+0Sailing was one, the non skippable "teleport" animations were another, as were the "camera focus" flashes when you went inside or outside of a building. (remember when it flashed a white light, and took about 3 seconds to "clear up" before you could see again?)

        Yeah, those were all "load screens". A great example of hiding them well, IMHO.
    • doshindude, on 12/09/2007, -1/+1there were no loading screens in Wind Waker......

      fail.
  • synce, on 12/08/2007, -0/+5They forgot cutscenes. Recently games like Heavenly Sword have been using pre-recorded cutscenes to mask loading times. Try skipping the cutscene and you'll be treated to a 30 second wait.

    And to those who don't understand, the writer isn't complaining about developers disguising load times. He's complaining that these methods aren't well hidden enough, or there should be no loading altogether.
  • Kyan, on 12/08/2007, -3/+97Loading screens are fine - they should just come with a timer like this:

    "Loading - you have 30 seconds to sprint to the kitchen and get a soda".

    "Loading - you have 75 seconds, if you hurry you have time to take a dump."

    "Loading - you have 25 seconds to daydream about sex. If you do not know that word because you haven't been out of your basement for three years and aren't getting any, when you finish the next level, you will have 2 minutes to consult a dictionary."
    • juicebag, on 12/08/2007, -1/+34A dump in 75 seconds? Takes me about 5 minutes.
    • Kallahan, on 12/08/2007, -2/+8375 seconds for a dump? what do you only eat bran muffins? If you tried to pull that ***** in real life you'd blow your ***** out.
    • tektalk, on 12/08/2007, -1/+17I genuinely lol'd at your list. +1
  • bpacana, on 12/08/2007, -0/+2The original Dragon's Lair animated game! They made the load screen part of the cartoon!
  • chrismcABZ, on 12/08/2007, -0/+0The C64 had some brilliant loading sequences (which were looong and frequent in those days). One game (I think it was Ghostbusters) had a Space Invaders mini game while you waited for the main game to load. A few other games had similar mini-games as well. Then there were the psychadelic loading screens most games used. Good times all round.
    • Fracture98, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1The psychadelic color-bar loads on C-64 were because you could gain about a 10% increase in load speed by shutting down the display chip. All you could do then to show you were still alive was cycle the "border color" (which was now the entire screen).
  • avisotin, on 12/08/2007, -9/+1Top X list article = instant fail and burial.
  • Izacus, on 12/08/2007, -0/+3The Darkness has nice loading screens, where protagonist explains the story. Very nice solution and they rarely repeat themselves (except if you really go around from area to area alot).
  • doshindude, on 12/08/2007, -1/+4Guitar Hero's loading screens have always been entertaining.
    • Ataxia87, on 12/08/2007, -2/+0No, they get annoying quickly.
      I'd prefer things like total playing stats or recommendations for other bands, etc
    • joegibes, on 12/08/2007, -0/+3I like Rock Band's tidbits about the artist of the song you're about to play. Who knew Trent Reznor was a janitor in the studio where he recorded his first NIN stuff?
  • rmeddy, on 12/08/2007, -1/+12The Metroid Prime doors always pissed me off, in the beginning I thought something was wrong with the game.
    • colinmhayes, on 12/08/2007, -0/+4I thought it was a problem with how far away I was when I shot the door. like maybe it was a motion detector like thing. I would go into morph ball and roll around and jump out doing all kinds of things.

      boy do I feel stupid.
  • bigdave_48875, on 12/08/2007, -0/+1Remember legacy of kain soul reaver one of the first playstation games to boast no loading but those long empty hallways always seem a little to convenient but it really did fit the game its a shame we never got to see the final version.
  • markperia, on 12/08/2007, -2/+6People just find anything to complain about these days. I mean covering up loading screens is good isn't it? Rather than stare at a freaking picture with a bar below it, wouldn't you rather have something interactive or entertaining while the level is loading?
  • NYC10004, on 12/08/2007, -2/+5The Mass Effect elevator complaint is retarded.
    Even if it wasn't a load screen they should definitely have kept it in. The dialog between your team and the constant reports and follow-ups about the aftermath of your missions really give the game atmosphere. The fact that its actually a load screen on-top of that just makes it brilliant.

    If your ADHD is so bad that load screens make you want to slit your wrists keep it to yourself or take a pill.
    • HolyChimp, on 12/08/2007, -0/+5I agree with you everywhere, except for the lift on the Normandy. That lift only moved about 5 metres, between 2 reasonably small areas, with no news updates or party banter, yet it still takes about 30 seconds.
      • Immune, on 12/08/2007, -2/+1So did writing that reply. If you think about how long a game is compared to how long the loading screens are I think people would appreciate and bitch less about it.
    • DigDugDigger, on 12/08/2007, -1/+1Maybe us old folk are more patient because we remember the days when waiting for things to save on 5.25" floppy disks and download on dial-up were cool.
  • hmunkey, on 12/08/2007, -2/+5Assassin's Creed has the best loading screens ever. You could play while it loaded in a blank world. So I would pretty much try out new moves or weapon types while a massive city loaded.

    IMHO, I wish it loaded more. :-(
  • zongamin, on 12/08/2007, -3/+1I hate you.
  • citizensnips, on 12/08/2007, -0/+0What was that one racing game for the ps2 that had you play pong while it loaded, in might have been midnight club, but damn even with pong the loading times were horrible.
  • JigoroKano, on 12/08/2007, -0/+1The Adventures of Willy Beamish on the old single speed Sega CD put mini games during loading.
  • zackintosh, on 12/08/2007, -0/+2I remember Fatal Fury on the SNES had loading screens that lasted for a good 30 seconds that just said WAITING. A friggin cartridge with load times.
    • DarkSamus, on 12/08/2007, -1/+1that was the first game i bought, please never mention it again
  • Goobernutz, on 12/08/2007, -0/+3Buried for subject-verb disagreement. Grammar nazi...out.
  • rowmz, on 12/08/2007, -0/+3"Never mind that it's set thousands of years in the future and that humans have mastered inter-stellar travel: they just can't seem to get a firm grasp on elevator technology."

    not quite ready to bury as inaccurate, but Mass Effect's set less then 200 years into the future, in 2183
  • kobura, on 12/08/2007, -0/+2I never minded the Castlevania SOTN loading halls, it was always a note to say "new area coming up". Not much marred that game in respect to playability and fun factor.

    The Katamari loading screens... yeah they were slightly ridiculous, but it added to the whole "the king is bat sh!t insane" mood throughout the whole (wonderful) series. He really needs to stop wearing tights...

    Res Evil doors... who here didn't open some creaky door in their house after playing, expecting some brain ingesting zombie to be sitting on the floor dining on some hapless victim? ... ok maybe it was just me.
    • liquidsunshine3, on 12/08/2007, -1/+0hahaha I've only ever heard the phrase "bat sh** insane" used at DigiPen in Seattle.
      That really made my day. I love Katamari. Long live the king!
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