Top 10 Worst Tutorial Sections in Video Games

#10: “Jet Set Radio” (2000)

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No matter how amazing at video games you think you are, you would have thought developers would still try to ease players into their respective game, especially when introducing new fast-paced mechanics that audiences aren’t prepared for. Well to that Sega said screw that since the tutorial here might as well be another level set on hard mode. Tossed right into the fray with a rapidly decreasing time limit, players have to complete a series of rollerblade based challenges, some of which aren’t made particularly clear. Between the clock running out and the tediousness of the controls it’s no wonder so many people decided to call it quits so early on.

You know you’re going to be going in pretty deep in terms of rich lore when you pick up a game set in the world of Dungeons and Dragons, but even this is a little far. Starting off with a lengthy but graspable character customisation system, by the time you get to the actual gameplay you’ll find yourself getting slowly overwhelmed with text. Loading screens, character stats, dialogue options, it just comes in too heavy all at one time. To rub it all in, it’s going to be a while before you see any of the cool magic and combat you’d expect to see in a D&D inspired game. Hope you’re a fan of festivals.

#8: “Monster Hunter Generations” (2015)

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This franchise has become a juggernaut for the 3DS as well as developed a strong fanbase who want nothing more than grab their buddies, layer up their Hunters with some exceptionally cool gear and head out to bring down some gigantic creatures. Tell you what they don’t want to do, go looking for ferns and mushrooms in a series of warm up quests. We understand that you need to start off slow especially for any newcomers but when you’re promised to hunt beasts massive in scope and size and all you’re doing is picking plants, it sort of takes away the grandeur.

#7: “The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings” (2011)

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Have you heard whispers of the awesomeness that is Geralt of Rivia and are dying to leap onto the bandwagon and experience this thrill of a fantasy franchise? Well before you start swinging that sword and sleeping with that succubus, you have two options presented to you. You can either go through the isolated tutorial ala arena-style which will most certainly put you through your paces, railroading you with each game mechanic in succession and forcing you to adapt without pause. Or you can say screw that and throw yourself into the opening level. We just hope you’re prepared to face the onslaught that is textbooks worth of story and a massive difficulty spike.

#6: “Kingdom Hearts II” (2005)

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Even discounting the uninitiated players who were probably utterly confused by the opening cinematics that blended together visuals and flashbacks from the original Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories, Twilight Town has earned the unofficial title as “the 3 hour tutorial”. It’s so mired down in cut-scenes and trying to force nostalgia down on us that if you look past it all it really amounts to is Roxas snagging a weapon and kicking the crap out of a bully. That’s not even mentioning how many mini-game challenges the intro puts you through. Can we get to the actual game now?

#5: “Assassin’s Creed III” (2012)

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Some people like to say Unity is when the Assassin’s Creed series started to get tiresome, but we have to say the start of the Conner Kenway’s adventure started that. Well not even that, since the start of the game has you playing as his father Haytham Kenway, whom to be fair; is a far better character than Conner, it’s just a shame his section is dreadful. During his sequence, there is little to no room for deviation down a heavily focused path, as you’re sent from one objective to the next with very little room for freedom or exploration, you know: The essential pillars of any Open World Game.

#4: “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” (2006)

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Lower those pitchforks people, we’re not hating on our boy Link in any way, shape or form. We just wish his tutorial sequence didn’t take so damn long! We understand what the game was going for in trying to show a day in the life for this version of Link in his village, all the while introducing us to essential mechanics like riding Epona and practising combat. However having to do odd jobs like herding goats in order to progress really start to grate on you after a while to the point that the jump to the Twilight Realm can’t come soon enough, at least there we have Midna!

#3: “Final Fantasy XIII” (2009)

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Sometimes the problem with tutorials isn’t what they fail to teach the player, it’s when they don’t know when to stop letting go of the player’s hand and no game does that worse than the Thirteenth entry in the biggest JRPG series. Even after the first of thirteen chapters, this game refuses to take off the training wheels as it constantly introduces new mechanics and features, all the way up until the 10th chapter of the game. Yes you heard right; The tutorials stick around for more than three quarters of the game, is it any wonder why the series hit turmoil with this entry?

#2: “Superman” (1999)

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This tutorial is in itself an extension of the overall putridness that is Superman 64, a rushed together project that some believe to be one of the worst video games of all time, just for how broken it is! What should be just a simple obstacle course is turned into a frustrating battle with your controller as the flying in this game is so terrible that even heading straight through a series of rings is a monumental task. Throw in the fact that the courses get far more complicated and you have a time limit, and chances are that after numerous attempts of trying to fly under a bridge you’ll be find yourself moving over to Lex Luthor’s team.

Behold the forced tutorial that none can escape from. Stuck inside a bleak-looking parking lot, all unfortunate drivers are given a list of manoeuvres to perform with their excessively fragile car which all have to be completed with a small timeframe. Straight away the biggest fail is that the game doesn’t explain how to do any of these manoeuvres, you know the very thing a tutorial is SUPPOSED to do. It also doesn’t help that the checklist goals very vague and the game will fail you if you smash the car 3 times. It’s such a mess that a lot of players couldn’t even get past this section to experience the open world of Driver.