Red Faction

At first, it's an amazing experience full of enjoyment. Difficulty is just right and progress is rewarding. It has a length that no modern linear shooter could rival. Then comes the inevitable part where developers run out of ideas and want to make the game harder. New bullet sponge enemies are introduced along with new weapons with insane damage and lots of chances to insta-kill the player(enemies using railguns with merciless accuracy and one shot kills at full health on medium difficulty, are you stupid?). The game becomes cheap and unfair. Any enjoyment gets drained out and it just becomes an idiotic chore. Steady progress at a fair pace gets replaced with trial and error, and skill-based gameplay becomes luck-based. There's no option to change difficulty mid-game and no cheat codes even to help wade through the trash, hoping to see a glimmer of hope again.

It's such a shame. The game is so thoroughly enjoyable at first, but then it needs to show you why it was never considered a classic. I haven't been so deceived and disappointed in a long time.