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...Ville
As seen in: PetVille, VampireVille, FishVille, FarmVille, CityVille, Thrillville, ZombieVille, Smileyville, Pirateville, Mysteryville
Is it nonsense? Initially, the Ville convention was just a quirky way to evoke a games permeating theme. That was fine. But, as is often the case, once it becomes a go-to naming convention, things get silly. Look at the above examples. Imagine an actual town based on any of those themes. Youd never move to VampireVille or ZombieVille, even though the house prices couldn't fail to be rock bottom. And Pirateville would simply fail to function as a society. A town populated entirely by pirates? Who would they rob? Other pirates? They'd just have a very limited supply of booty being circulated ad infinitum by way of endless, mutually-assured plundering. That'd be miserable.
Mania
As seen in: Maze Mania, E.R. Mania, Match Mania, Bug Mania, ATV Mania, Pac-Mania, IQ Mania, Egg Mania, Mole Mania, Cake Mania, Aqua Mania, Race Mania, Loco Mania, Bomb Mania, Drop Mania, Pipe Mania, Video Mania, Total Mania, Ghost Mania, Nanny Mania, Sheep Mania, Mickey Mania, Track Mania, Arcade Mania, Flight Mania, Repton Mania, Soccer Mania, Mushroom Mania, Clown-O-Mania, Parking Mania
Is it nonsense? Oh good Lord, yes. The most egregious example of Heres what the game is about and we couldnt be bothered to think of anything for the title past that. And again, much like Ville, it makes for some utterly ludicrous and frankly disturbing game titles when looked at objectively. Who has a crazed enthusiasm for eggs? Or sheep? Or parking? And Clown-O-Mania just sounds flat-out terrifying, especially if you take the clinical psychology interpretation of the word into account. Or the fact that Mania is also the ancient Roman goddess of death. Yeah, Clown of Mania. The clown footsoldier of Death Herself. Sleep easy, guys.
...of War
As seen in: God of War, Gears of War, Men of War, Man of War, Dogs of War, Hogs of War, Prisoners of War, Contra: Legacy of War, Darksiders: Wrath of War, Quest for Glory III: Wages of War, Warhammer 40K: Rites of War, Command & Conquer: Theatre of War, Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War
Is it nonsense? Not particularly, but it is a rather depressing insight into how war has become synonymous with exciting and dramatic rather than nightmarish and tragic. Want to make your character/situation/vaguely-sketched scenario immediately more badass? Make it OF WAR. A game that lets you play as a god? Not cool enough. Make him a god OF WAR. Game actually set in World War II? Not of war enough. Add a subtitle to make it World War II OF WAR. Hell, even if your game already flaunts the excessively badass title of Warhammer, stick an extra OF WAR on the end just to be sure. No-onell know otherwise.
Revenge
As seen in: Final Fight: Revenge, Snakes Revenge, Bonks Revenge, WCW/NWO Revenge, Burnout Revenge, Doomdarks Revenge, Shantae: Riskys Revenge, X2: Wolverines Revenge, Star Wars: Racer Revenge, Cybernoid II: The Revenge, Mega Man: Dr. Wileys Revenge, Double Dragon II: The Revenge, Banjo-Kazooie: Gruntys Revenge, Spider-Man and the X-Men: Arcades Revenge, Castlevania II: Belmonts Revenge, Monkey Island 2: LeChucks Revenge, Boulder Dash II: Rockfords Revenge, Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge, Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusas Revenge, Terminator Revenge, Amadeus Revenge
Is it nonsense? Not as a concept, but its been used so many times to have long-since become a tired old stock joke when discussing sequels in any medium. Effectively its a neat hand-wave to say Yeah, weve made a sequel, and yeah, weve kept the same villain and general set-up, but its okay, because narrative justification! Though in the case of Burnout, what the hell? Whats even revenging? Cars? Burnout itself? Was it affronted by the way you played it the first time around, and now wants to come back to kick your arse by making you play it again? Sense. It makes none of it.
Extreme
As seen in: Every other game released during the last 20 years.
Is it nonsense? Almost always. Ive covered this one before, at length. Check it out..
Any more?
So that's my rundown of the game titles I'm sick of seeing, but how about you? Any other collection of words that's likely to see you throwing a box across the shop, before being swiftly escorted out? Stick it in the comments.
If you're still not convinced the problem is extreme, do definitely make sure to check out the feature I did on gaming's flagrant over-use of just that one word. And then check out our parody of overly-literal video game subtitles, a la Medal of Honor: Warfighter.
