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00:00Welcome to Mojo Plays, and the PS3 might be almost 20 years old, but we're still thinking
00:14about the ass-whooping these games handed us back in the day.
00:26Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
00:30about our latest videos.
00:34Vanquish might be one of the greatest action games ever created, but you need to get past
00:50a pretty steep learning curve to fully enjoy it.
00:53The game has a ludicrous amount of mechanics and combat options available for the player,
00:58and early on in the heat of battle, it's pretty easy to get overwhelmed and enemies will not
01:04take it easy on you just because it's your first time playing.
01:08Between the constant gunfire, explosions, and unending waves of enemies, your health
01:12will hit the critical line almost as soon as you step foot into the combat arena.
01:18Difficulty settings can help ease this frustration, but until the combat clicks with you, you're
01:23going to be fighting an uphill battle each time you pull the trigger.
01:40On the surface, the most difficult part of Catherine is deciding which Catherine will
01:45be your Catherine.
01:47Unlike more traditional dating or life sims, Catherine forces the player to confront their
01:52decisions head-on in nightmare puzzle scenarios.
01:55Between juggling the multiple Catherines as well as other social situations, players are
02:00dropped onto massive puzzle walls in which they must plan their path up the wall of shifting
02:05blocks all while the many layers collapse beneath them.
02:08This alone can already lead to many players scratching their heads with the increasing
02:12difficulty and stress of each puzzle.
02:15However, it's when the game wants you to not only find a way up, but do so while being
02:20pursued by monsters born of Vincent's subconscious, and you thought just navigating everyday life
02:26was a struggle.
02:33Metal Gear Rising Revengeance
02:45Mostly leaving the series' trademark stealth tropes behind, Revengeance is by far one of
02:50the most high-octane and unrelenting action games of the last decade.
02:55With numerous enemy types, all with their own unique attack patterns and mechanics,
02:59even playing on normal difficulty will challenge even the most seasoned hack-and-slash fanatic.
03:05Bosses offer their own set of difficulties as well, with many leading to as many broken
03:09controllers as a typical Dark Souls playthrough.
03:13However, all of this is only exacerbated if players are unable to get a handle on the
03:18game's all-important parry mechanic.
03:20In some cases, many enemies and bosses simply cannot even be beaten without nailing this
03:26too crucial to Overlook's system.
03:28And even if you think you've mastered it, all it takes is one slip-up to send you back
03:33to the beginning of an intense boss encounter.
03:43Terraria While at first glance, Terraria might appear
03:47as a 2D Minecraft clone, it's more hardcore than Minecraft's Hardcore mode.
03:53Terraria's procedurally generated world offers its own challenges with each dive into the
03:58depths throwing new enemies and obstacles at the player.
04:02The desire to find and collect better items and gear constantly drives players to dig
04:07deeper, but the randomized enemy encounters, which are affected by time of day, depth,
04:12and sometimes just good old rotten luck, means that players will be fighting for every scrap
04:17they find.
04:18Even as players can recruit NPCs into the dungeons to offer much-needed aid, these NPCs
04:24are often just as particular about where they're forced to set up shop or home base and could
04:28end up even hindering the player's progress more than helping.
04:32Basically, everything in Terraria is actively fighting against the player, but that only
04:37seems to drive players to dig even deeper.
04:41XCOM Enemy Unknown
04:52For anyone familiar with the tactical strategy series XCOM, you already know what we're talking
04:58about.
04:59However, for those unaware, the first entry in the relaunch series Enemy Unknown is hard.
05:05The game allows you to completely customize your squad as they are sent out on missions
05:09to combat the many invading alien species, and despite your best laid plans, there's
05:14a very good chance not everyone is coming home thanks to the game's permadeath system.
05:19While the game's combat scenarios are the main focus, players will also need to research
05:24their enemy to develop better weapons and gear, as well as maintain their base operations,
05:30and depending on how well and how quickly they respond to threats, will affect how much
05:34money they receive for resources or risk losing the support of the world's nations and losing
05:40the game through democracy.
05:42Seriously rough stuff.
05:49Spelunky
05:50We can't talk about Terraria without talking about another of the OGs of mining roguelikes,
05:56and Spelunky is arguably even more difficult than its contemporaries.
06:01Spelunky makes great use of its procedurally generated levels and punishes players for
06:05getting careless with its devastating permadeath system.
06:09Much like the best roguelikes, you don't win, you just do a little better each time.
06:14But Spelunky seems to revel in its difficulty, sending players back to the beginning with
06:19nothing but the basics to start all over again.
06:22The game refuses to hold players as hands, resulting in a steep learning curve which
06:27can immediately put off only the most diehard roguelike enthusiasts, and the game's unrelenting
06:32waves of enemies can oftentimes force even the most dedicated to need a break.
06:37You're going to die, and die a lot, but you're going to have a hell of a good time doing
06:42it.
06:43Insomniac's Resistance 3 Insomniac's Resistance series might not
06:54have been the Halo killer Sony was hoping for, but over the course of three games, it
06:59managed to tell an incredibly engaging story of a worldwide alien invasion.
07:03While the first two games put players in the mutated boots of Nathan Hale, Resistance 3
07:08set players out to travel across America as one of the last members of Hale's squad,
07:13Joseph Capelli, who also happens to be a normal human.
07:18Which means without the regenerative health fans of the series had become familiar with.
07:22This wasn't the only significant change either.
07:25While the game's arsenal made up for Joseph's lack of superhuman abilities, the Chimera
07:30were arguably their most dangerous and downright terrifying in the series' final entry.
07:36With overwhelming odds stacked against the player and Joseph one health pack away from
07:41death, Resistance 3 significantly upped not only the stakes, but also the challenge.
07:52Warhawk Large-scale combat games are nothing new,
07:56but Warhawk encouraged players to become a jack-of-all-trades, master of none, with numerous
08:01gameplay mechanics players were expected to learn to fully enjoy the scale of Warhawk's
08:06battles.
08:07Everything from boots on the ground to vehicular and tank combat as well as taking to the skies
08:12were all available for players to engage in so they could rise through the ranks to unlock
08:16better equipment and customization options.
08:19The massive scale of the battles themselves often led to a lot of frustration as battles
08:24could often become so chaotic it was impossible to tell where you were being shot at from
08:29any given time, leading to a lot of unfair deaths and restarts.
08:34The forced use of the 6-axis motion controls also actively worked against the player at
08:38all times, making certain flying controls almost impossible in the heat of battle.
08:44Trash Panic Tetris is one of the most cloned puzzle games
08:48of all time, but Trash Panic manages to put an interesting spin on the genre.
08:54Instead of slotting a specific set of blocks into place, Trash Panic instead wants players
08:59to design their own blocks using a myriad of gadgets to smash, break, and bend their
09:04many pieces of rubbish into usable shapes to solve the escalating rows of refuse.
09:09This unique approach encourages experimentation and allows players to solve the puzzles their
09:14own way.
09:15But the further into the game you progress, and with the ever-increasing scale of the
09:19puzzles themselves, the more increasingly difficult the puzzles become, leading to some
09:23truly head-scratching moments that could have you throwing the game in the real bin
09:27for pick-up.
09:29Drakengard 3
09:38Before they created the incredible, successful NieR Automata, the same team was testing players
09:43as patience and goodwill with their Drakengard series, and arguably, their third entry is
09:49by far their most demanding.
09:51Featuring the traditional hack-and-slash combat fans of the genre are familiar with,
09:55the game demands a near-perfection in every combat encounter, despite the game's incredibly
10:01clunky implementation.
10:03Boss fights offer another substantial hurdle as the game's combat system is especially
10:08unforgiving during these encounters, and even one slip-up can result in a game over screen.
10:14Drakengard 3 is also ridiculously grindy, requiring players to replay the same maps
10:20multiple times, and with frequent drops in the framerate, the game's demanding combat
10:24becomes even more tedious and infuriating.
10:27Sadly, unlike their future success with NieR Automata, and despite an intriguing story
10:32if you stick it out, there's very little rewarding or worthy effort with this one.
10:43Kratos' final confrontation with the gods of the Greek Pantheon was never going to be
10:54a cakewalk.
10:55As the God of War challenges and faces down each of the remaining gods, the stakes and
11:00difficulty continue to escalate.
11:03Even with Kratos' god-like powers and abilities, the sheer number of powerful basic enemies
11:08the game throws at you can make it extremely difficult to maintain the upper hand.
11:13Numerous mini-bosses will become regular enemies later on, and the game relishes in throwing
11:18multiple of these at Kratos at once alongside generic fodder foes in an attempt to overwhelm
11:23the player.
11:24Each boss often requires their own specific strategies, with the final confrontation with
11:29Zeus proving to be an especially demanding multi-stage gauntlet.
11:33On higher difficulties, this can oftentimes result in near-impossible odds and can leave
11:39even the most dedicated enthusiast contemplating lowering the difficulty.
11:50Tokyo Jungle
11:51Survival games pit the player against the elements and tell them to survive by any means
11:55necessary and will often give them the tools for their survival.
11:59In Tokyo Jungle, however, not only do you battle the elements, but the food chain itself.
12:05The game features numerous roguelike elements like Permadeath, meaning your little creature
12:10is literally fighting for their life as they explore the world and scavenge for food, while
12:15narrowly surviving encounters with creatures just as hungry, but far deadlier.
12:20The species you start the game with also has a direct effect on the game's difficulty,
12:25as playing the game as a herbivore will make you pray for almost every other species in
12:30the game.
12:31The game also doesn't scale difficulty, making it all too easy to be minding your
12:36own business and end up face-to-face with a hungry lion that will send your little critter
12:41back to the start screen.
12:42Wipeout HD
12:48Racing games tend to offer their own version of difficulty that usually revolves more around
12:52the difficulty of your opponents rather than the race itself.
12:56While Wipeout HD still offers this option to a point, the game is still relentlessly
13:01aggressive against the player.
13:03The speed at which players whip around the track is almost impossible to comprehend,
13:08often leading to the player ping-ponging off the walls and restarting the race rather than
13:12playing catch-up.
13:13Wipeout HD is also very lenient when it comes to teaching players the intricacies of its
13:19mechanics, leading to quite a lot of frustration until they find the sweet spot and are able
13:24to effortlessly glide around the track at breaking speed.
13:27You'll find your moment of zen, but you're going to have to fight for it.
13:37Killzone 2
13:44Another Halo killer that ended up as a solid franchise, Killzone 2 is not only the series's
13:49strongest entry, but also its most challenging.
13:52Killzone 2 actively encourages the player to seek cover from the unrelenting gunfire
13:57of the Helghan forces.
13:58With this new focus on cover-based gameplay, the cover system is not only somewhat uneven,
14:04but cover is also temporary and can be rapidly destroyed if you don't continuously stay
14:09on the move.
14:11However, considering the player is invading the planet of Helghan this time and the enemy
14:15is on their native turf, the opposing numbers are far greater.
14:19The enemy AI's sole focus on the player while almost completely ignoring the rest of your
14:24squad further adds to this frustration.
14:27Killzone might very well be one of the most realistic depictions of actual combat, with
14:32the amount of sheer chaos and death raining down from every direction and death a single
14:37lucky bullet away.
14:45Heavenly Sword
14:57While initially dismissed as a God of War clone, Heavenly Sword still has its fair share
15:01of fans, but few can argue that one of Ninja Theory's first titles has the same polish
15:07as the God of War series.
15:09Much of the game's difficulty stems simply from the game being unbalanced and the camera
15:14being a greater threat to the player than the enemies themselves.
15:17That's not to say the game itself can't be challenging.
15:21Many of the game's boss fights will test even the most dedicated fan's patience, especially
15:25the big bad King Bohan himself.
15:28The game throws multiple powerful enemies at the player simultaneously, and given the
15:32titular sword's limited range, it's all too easy to get caught in a downed state you
15:37can't recover from.
15:39The secondary character Kai is also especially frustrating given her lack of defense and
15:44focus on imprecise sniping controls.
15:56Helldivers Long before Helldivers 2 became the legendary
15:59Fight for Democracy and Ultimate Combat Simulator fans know and love today, the original Helldivers
16:06offered players a different perspective on the fight for democracy.
16:09A top-down twin-stick shooter, Helldivers would relentlessly overrun players and their
16:14squad with innumerable bugs and other enemies just waiting to squash your efforts to save
16:20the galaxy.
16:21As in real combat scenarios, ammo management is key as well as managing friendly fire,
16:27as it's all too easy to end up as the last man standing if you get careless with your
16:31spray and pray.
16:32While not nearly as intense as its modern counterpart, Helldivers still offers enough
16:37challenge to get the blood pumping, the palms sweaty, and the knees weak all in the name
16:41of democracy.
16:43Hotline Miami Gamers have been conditioned over the years
16:46to bust in, guns blazing, and emerge as the complete and total video game badass that
16:52they are.
16:53Well, Hotline Miami said not anymore.
16:56While you can still break into every room, guns blazing, this is a quick and easy way
17:00to get sent back to the start screen.
17:03Enemies are relentless, and the 1 HP of the player means death is always watching just
17:08over your shoulder.
17:10Nailing a perfect run oftentimes requires numerous tries and memorizing the layout of
17:14the rooms as well as the enemy placement adds additional strategic depth alongside its glorious
17:20pixelated valley of blood.
17:23Hotline Miami will test every ounce of will you have, and if you even attempt to get on
17:27the leaderboards, the game can and will become the main source of stress in your life.
17:33Ninja Gaiden Sigma Ninja Gaiden was Dark Souls before Dark Souls,
17:49and Ninja Gaiden Sigma, the PS3 exclusive port of Ninja Gaiden Black, remains not only
17:53the best version of the game in the series, but also its most challenging.
17:58Punishingly difficult, oftentimes to the point of being unfair, Sigma somehow managed to
18:03up the stakes from the original with its new powerful versions of enemies, bizarre implementation
18:09of the much maligned PS3 6-axis controls, and additional chapters with all new bosses.
18:15The game focused more on precision strikes than a traditional hack and slasher, but still
18:20threw multiple enemies at the player at once, leaving very little room for any mistake or
18:25even a counterattack, and the fixed camera angles make it all too easy to be struck or
18:30killed by some enemy or projectile fired from offscreen.
18:34The Ninja Gaiden series has a reputation for its crushing difficulty, and only the truest
18:39ninjas can complete the game unharmed.
18:53Hardcore Uprising For our money, there's no old-school series
18:56more difficult than Contra.
18:59So naturally, a spiritual successor to that bullet hell would make the list of the most
19:03difficult PS3 games.
19:05Hell, the term hardcore is right there in the title.
19:092D run-and-gun shooters have been testing players' skills and patience since the days
19:13of the NES, and Hardcore Uprising continues that tradition with great enthusiasm.
19:19Besides the typical onslaught of enemies and artillery assaulting players from every direction,
19:24players will also need to contend with back-to-back boss fights that can easily send you back
19:28to the start of a level as the game offers no checkpoints in between.
19:32Couple this with numerous unexpected quick-time events, and hardcore truly is only for the
19:37most hardcore.
19:38At the very least, you can still use the classic kunami code for whatever little assistance
19:44that might offer.
19:46Demon's Souls While the original Dark Souls easily could
19:55have taken this spot, we're giving the nod to the OG Demon's Souls that introduced the
20:00world to the phrase, get good.
20:02For those taking their first steps into the world of Bolteria, Demon's Souls seems to
20:06actively work against the player.
20:09Even basic enemies can easily lay you out for even the most minor mistakes, and the
20:13lore is so obtuse and hidden, you could often find yourself at a loss for what all this
20:18suffering is for.
20:20However, for those who persevere, Demon's Souls became more rewarding the more you played,
20:25forcing the player to come to grips with the game's mechanics to survive reminiscent of
20:29older generation RPGs that didn't hold the player's hand.
20:33While understandably not for everyone, given the game's difficulty curve, Demon's Souls
20:38is one of the most difficult but rewarding experiences for those who live long enough
20:42to get good.
20:50What video game did you struggle with most back on the PS3?
20:54Share your frustrations down in the comments.
20:56Did you enjoy this video?
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