Action. I love it! God of War, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, Otogi... nothing beats a button-mashing, blister-forming beat 'em up. Throw in some smart platforming and basic puzzle-solving and you're golden. Too bad all action games suck.

Why do they suck? According to Ernest Adams' recent Gamasutra column, they're too hard for anyone but hardcore gamers and suffer from the action genre's arcade heritage. That heritage, Adams contends, unnecessarily forces players deaths and leads to frustrating gameplay.

Adams says that action games need to be accessible, not just to new players, but to disabled gamers as well. Certain design decisions can broaden the audience for the action genre, many of which he outlines in his Gamasutra article. Anyone with a passing interest in the genre and accessible gaming should take five and give it a read. Michael McWhertor

Why Action Games Suck (And What To Do About It) [Gamasutra]

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