Game Cliches/Stereotypes

Post any game cliches or stereotypes that are increasingly popping up in recent games or games in general.

Here are some of mine:

Barrels - If its red and cylindrical, it will explode on contact.

Sandbox - Here is a description for many games nowadays; "Like GTA but..."

I'll post more when i think of them.

Secrets - Most game characters never keep anything secret. If they do have a secret, they will give you the fattest clues ever so that you can expose them and progress the plot. (Examples: Deus Ex, most RPGs)

S-curves in corridors - 99% of the time there will be a "loading..." message popping up when you traverse the middle of it. (Example: Half-Life and most shooters like it)

No HUD - Many games today aim for a cinematic feel by removing the HUD completely. To make up for the lack of information conveyed to the player, you often have to pause the game and go through tedious menus for many important tasks. (Examples: Far Cry 2, Call of Cthulhu)

Ironsights - In addition to removing the HUD, many games try and incorporate ironsights for the sake of "realism". Nevermind that the perspective is almost always wrong and very few games warrant such realistic implementation of weapons. (Examples: Far Cry 2, Vietcong)

Realism - Tied in with the previously mentioned No HUD and Ironsight trends, many game developers today incorporate alot of things that are boring in real life into games, making them tedious and unforgiving to play. (Example: Far Cry 2)

Open-endedness - When "multiple endings" mean you can go 2 or more routes in the last 10 minutes of the story or when "writing your own story" means you can choose in which order to do predefined missions (Examples: Assassin's Creed, Crackdown, Far Cry 2, most singleplayer games in fact)

Licensing - It is becoming more and more common to stuff as much advertising as possible in new games and buying the rights to whatever music 16 year olds listen to at the moment (Example: Virtually every EA game since 2005)

Wii - Innovation by Wii-developers means taking things that work on a gamepad and make them just barely work with a Wii-mote

I think Sufyan won.

Generic Shooter Weapons -  Peashooter Pistol, Runtling Rifle, (Over)Abused Assault Rifle, Simple Shotgun, Rocking Rocket Launcher, etc.

Grenades - Either massively overpowererd or totally useless

Tanks - (In RTS) Only seem to use their main gun for shooting, making them useless against infantry OR (In FPS) Only really seem to need their main gun, and the coaxial is either overpowered or utterly useless.

Buggies - Realistic and make sense yes, but variety?  Not ever.

Destrucatble terrain= laggy all the time

Jumping onto peoples heads is a truly effective form of combat.

You can carry 10 different guns with oceans of ammo without being encumbered.

If its a 2D game, and not metroid or castlevania, go right.

Women in videogames are required to be hot, and often poorly covered.

If you're a puzzle game, you can describe it by saying "Its like tetris only..."

The graphics are never good enough.
The storyline is never engaging enough.
The online is never stable enough.

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Although unrealistic, games are more fun when you don't have to worry about what two rifles' ammo you plan to run into the most.

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To further this, women are either weak stereotypes or overly aggressive anti-serotypes.

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Exception - comedy value

In any medieval style game with femle characters their armour will cover 50% less of their body than the males but will offer the same protection. (Guild Wars / WoW and many many more)