We've all been there. Casually involved in your game, moving from objective to objective and PRESS A TO DODGE THE BOULDER! too slow. You're crushed. Oh, but you've got it this time, with your finger delicately hovering over the A button BUT THIS TIME IT'S Y! Nice try. Load from last checkpoint?

Quick-time events have become all too prevalent throughout the gaming industry, which wouldn't be a problem, if everyone used them correctly. But they don't, do they? Instead of neat little occasional distractions to keep us on our feet, we get games that just replace the good stuff with timed button presses. Off the top of my head, I can't think of many games that utilize them the way they're supposed to, but let's take a look at the ones I can think of.

PRESS B TO ENJOY YOURSELF!!


God of War
God of War's regular gameplay is a lot of fun. Action-adventure combo system with light and heavy attacks and brutal endings. While it does have a decent amount of quick-time events, I find that they're used as a bit of variation from the regular gameplay, and not a crutch to fall back on. On top of that, they're quite the show if you actually watch what's going on. Ripping out a cyclops' eye doesn't really get old. Another key thing about these quick-time events is that they're not usually GAME-ENDING. If you happen to fail a QTE, generally the worst that will happen is that the enemy will slam you down and you'll lose some health, brush off, and try again. Now, if you were getting your ass kicked before that it may kill you, but that's only because you suck. Why do you suck so much?!


MadWorld
As a game, I found it pretty good, bordering on mediocre. And I think if it weren't on the Wii I would have enjoyed it far less. The reason being that the quick-time events are actually....fun! Call the Wiimote a gimmick if you wish, but it makes QTEs much more enjoyable. Instead of rapidly pressing X to swing the guy around your head, you actually have to swing the Wiimote in circles. In order to shove the thug into spikes, you have to shove the Wiimote forward. It gives you a sense of control during these QTEs, which makes them fun, as well as visually entertaining. Because, you know deep down that ripping someone in half by swinging the Wiimote and Nunchuk in opposite ways is BADASS.



Super Mario RPG
Now, these are quick-time events in the traditional sense. But it does use "timed button presses" which is essentially what QTEs are. If you haven't played SMRPG, first off shame on you GO PLAY IT. Secondly, in order to do extra damage you need to press the attack button at the right moment, and that moment varies depending on character and attack. The thing is, it doesn't tell you EXACTLY when, so you need to figure it out for yourself. It just tells you in the beginning of the game that they exist. There's no button display when you need to do it, you just need to figure it out yourself or head over to GFaqs if you want to do 9,999 damage to non-bosses with Geno Whirl.

PRESS Y TO QUESTION YOUR PURCHASE!!


Ninja Blade
Ah, yes. The game that uses quick-time events as a selling point. First off let me say, I did not buy and play this game. I played the demo, which was more than enough. First thing you do is go through a series of QTEs in order to not die. That's when you know you're in for a long ride. I've read a bunch of reviews and seen gameplay, and it's bad enough that the cutscenes are frequent, but to drive the nail further into the head is the length of them. GameTrailers claims that QTEs make up about a quarter of the game. That's NO GOOD.


Resident Evil 4
Don't get me wrong, RE4 was an awesome game. I own it on the Wii and I've seen it played on the PS2. However, the quick-time events in it really took me out of the game. The Wii controls didn't do what MadWorld did, probably because it was a port (albeit a very good one). In fact, the example in the very beginning of this post is a direct example of an experience in RE4. There's something about surprising you with a button press that, if you fail, kills you and forces you to reload your last checkpoint that is just so unappealing that it's hard to see it actually making it into the game. I didn't play RE5, but Umbrella Chronicles is also a culprit of this "gameplay."


Sonic Unleashed/Sonic and the Black Knight
I am a huge Sonic Fan, and I enjoy (the day time parts of) Sonic Unleashed. But even they have quick-time events. Not as much as night time, but they're there. Luckily, the worst thing that will happen is that you'll have to take a less-than-favorable path to get to the end. But they do ruin the sense of speed. For those unacquainted, sometimes you run into these pod looking things with a button on them, and if you don't push that button, you won't be shot up into the nice little shorter path. Also on occasion you'll be launched into the air and met with a series of button pushes to do a "trick" and gain some extra points. Night time uses the same QTEs as God of War, in which they're used to finish off enemies. The main reason it doesn't work as well as GoW is that it happens way too frequently and is NOT visually appealing. They're very bland and boring.
As for the Black Knight, those of you brave enough to get to the King Arthur fight (like I did) were met with a boss of EPIC PROPORTIONS!!! [/sarcasm] The boss was nothing new, learn his patterns, punish him when you're supposed to, etc. The problem is that to do the real damage you're thrown into a series of quick-time events that simply don't work. It does that thing where every time it gets a little more strict on the timing of the QTEs, and they're waggle-tastic. They are ALL waggle and you basically have to anticipate (or memorize) when the events show up and start a second beforehand because they're just that broken. It's annoying, and doesn't make for a fun fight.

Quick-time events are very tricky. If a developer decides to add them in, they need to make sure that it's within reason. An overabundance of them can just create movies with button presses, which doesn't equate to much fun. Sometimes I actually, you know, what to just WATCH a cutscene. At times I'm too busy waiting got a button prompt to pay attention to the damn cutscene because I don't want to have to sit through this again. But who knows, maybe Heavy Rain will prove me wrong.