I voted option 4. crazylegs summed it up for me, I want to enjoy a game, not get beaten up.
In my opinion games have got harder in the last five years or so and I've given up on several games now.
It seems to me that game-makers now seem to concentrate more on cut scenes and presentation than actual gameplay. You've got it wrong fellas, if I want to watch a movie I'll watch a DVD but if I want to play a game, well, I want to play a game.
Perhaps they make games harder now as they are so much shorter the difficulty makes them last longer. But if I get to the stage where I've played the same scene through twenty times not only do I get so mad steam starts coming out my ears but I tend to swear out loud, pace round the room, kick something and hit the uninstall button. Just as well I don't have a cat
The game then goes into the sack marked 'boot sale' or 'E-Bay'.
First time I play a game I always play on the easiest level. If I complete it then I usually go back a whiles later and play it on the next hardest level. Another factor that frustrates me is we now mostly have to rely on save-points or check points. At least with a random save function you could save at several different stages and revise your strategy if need be. Perhaps this is a result of so many console ports?
When I think of all the games I've enjoyed and completed - Both Quakes; both Unreals; Return to Castle Wolfenstein; all the Half-Lifes and add-ons; The Call Of Duty series; the earlier Medal Of Honors; all 3 Serious Sams and many others and then I look at all the newer games I've uninstalled or got stuck on, it makes me wonder if I'll carry on gaming or not.
This probably explains why I've gone a bit retro lately. There are still games about that suit me, have enjoyed Bulletstorm, both Bioshocks, Wolfenstein and others but the trend seems to be 'Crank up both the graphic and difficulty levels'. And then, of course, there's the issue of DLC and paid for MP maps, which I've touched on elsewhere here.
I also got stuck on Duke Nukem and gave up. As I recall there's about twenty five levels and I got stuck around level 22 or 23 when you have to swim underwater and breathe in bubbles whilst fighting off aliens. After a good thirty attempts I gave up.
And most games won't allow cheats anymore so I can't even use one of those to get past a hard bit.
My biggest disappointment so far has been Batman Arkham Asylum, I got stuck on boss level just 8% into the game and I was really enjoying it up until then. And I paid £25.00 for that game which is I will never ever pay full price for a game again.
Right, time to fire up Shadowman, Nocturne Sin & Ultima IX