Monthly Musings: Good Idea, Bad Idea

If you don’t know what the Monthly Musings are, go here and educate yourself.
This month’s Musings topic is a little something I like to call "Good Idea, Bad Idea." Basically, you take one or more individual gaming mechanics — double jumping, context-sensitive cover, dialogue trees, what have you — and discuss the merits or faults of each mechanic. Ideally, the two mechanics would come from the same genre, so as to provide a solid base for comparison and contrast. 
For example, say I’m interested in third-person tactical shooters. I might talk about how I love the alternating first and third person views in Rainbow Six: Vegas (good idea), but how I hate the context-sensitive use of the A button in Gears of War (bad idea), and why.
This is your opportunity to show your critical eye for game design: what do you think works or doesn’t work, […]

Original post by mrdestructoid@gmail.com (Destructoid.com) and software by Elliott Back