I just beat Sleeping Dogs, after spending the whole Saturday playing. Not much to sightsee in Tournais. Anyway, I liked it. It was fun. What was not fun were the minigames.

Minigame for hacking. Minigame for lockpicking. Minigame for calibrating bugs, for open safes, for... whatever. Stop with those already!

Sometimes they are cool, I get it. When there's a countdown and you're under pressure, you have to beat the blasting minigame and it adds to the atmosphere of "I need to get this done fast, but if I don't do it well it will just take longer". But most of the time, they're just a waste of time. They are not fun, they add nothing. Instead of opening a locked box I found in a corner in 2 seconds, I have to go through a minigame and it takes a minute. Why? It's not like an open world game like that needs even more padding!

They seem to be the standard these days. Minigames for lockpicking are everywhere, be it Skyrim or DX3... didn't the new Hitman have one as well? Do you guys enjoy them? Are they that expected by current players?

I like minigames when the minigame itself is fun, like the snowboarding of FFVII. If you force me to do the same hacking minigame over and over and over, it stops being fun pretty fast, and becomes annoying. Why not do it like the first DX, where the guy would just take X time according to his skill? Or at least make them optional!

Anyway, pre-going to bed rant. Needed to vent a bit.

I love all of the mini games in the GTA series but in KOTOR they can get a little annoying, especially the racing. I'm trying to think back to the first time I ever saw one but I'm having a brain fart right now. :P

Do the arcade games in Doom 3 count?

Are you forced to play them? If not, I don't think they do.

I won't speak for others, but I like minigames when they are short, sweet and to the point (Without many explanations of how you are supposed to play them). When they overstay their welcome (take too long to complete), that's where I get annoyed by them.

Even the DDR and dating sim crap in GTA:SA? (I frikkin' LOVE GTA:SA, BTW, not saying I don't!)

The definitive cool sub/mini game in all of gaming and my personal benchmark is still the taking control of another robot minigame in the various versions Paradroid! Yay the 80's!

The special ability minigames in Anachronox were a mixed bag but an interesting addition - felt like they were getting a bit desperate to think of something different for all 8 characters to do IMO

Not sure if it qualifies as a minigame, but I cannot stand the conversation system in Oblivion. It made me cringe whenever I had to speak to anyone in that game.

Okay I hate the Car hopping and dancing but the dating is mostly avoidable but for Denise. The rest you can can skip without too much worry.

I don't mind mini games being used sparingly, and in ways which complement the overall gameplay, so I agree. But I don't remember SD having an unnecessary amount of minigames. Maybe I don't remember it well.